OT/General "Learning to be A Doll Artist" by Martha Armstrong Hand on Ebay

I was one of the bidders trying to win the book. Over $100! Maybe next time!

 

Whooph... is that book written in golden ink or something?

I'm sure it's very informative, but $250 for a book... nu-uh.

 

The thing about LTBADA is that it is not even remotely as step-by-step as say, Yoshida Style BJD Making Guide by Ryo Yoshida.

Martha Armstrong-Hand gives many suggestions about how to approach making a porcelain BJD, not a step-by-step tutorial.
Basically, her method is closer to making traditional sculpture than making a doll.
When her book was still available, it sold for about $18 USD.
You can find her method at Woodland Earth Studio.

She starts out by suggesting ways to come up with an idea for a doll. She also mentions some things about planning for a doll.
The two most important things to know about the doll you want to make are size and materials.
Shrinkage of materials is important to know for planning. There is a chart of different materials with shrinkage rates.
She suggests making a full-size working drawing of the proposed doll, with at least front and side views.
The full-size working drawing takes into consideration the total shrinkage of all materials.
She designs and constructs a wire armature for the doll, based on the full-size working drawings.
The armature is supported by a modeling board with an armature support attached to it.

Martha recommends modeling the original doll in oil-clay. I believe she used Chavant NSP (Non-Sulfur Plastilina) #2.
The oil-clay is modeled over the armature, starting with large forms, and working with smaller pieces of clay as the surface is reached.
When the original doll figure has been taken as far as you know how, it is removed from the modeling stand.
Really, this is as much as she tells you in the book, other than repeating traditional generic clay modeling advice.
As for myself, I was always curious about how far Martha took her oil-clay figure. The answer is simple, really:
Oil-clay is very easy to model. Yet it is too soft to test-string, or to refine to a high finish.
So you take the oil-clay doll figure as far as you can, knowing that certain things are easier to do with oil clay,
and other things are easier to do with carving wax. Her whole method is about translating the oil-clay figure into carving wax.
Carving wax is tough enough to test-string, and it can be refined to a high finish. This is the secret of LTBADA.

Then the doll figure is cut into doll parts: head, arms, legs, torso.
Waste molds are made of the oil-clay doll parts (she calls them rough plaster shell molds).
She has a recipe in the book for the carving wax she uses, and she mentions ways of working with it.
The plaster waste molds are saturated in water, and molten carving wax is cast in the waste molds.
When the carving wax thickens to the desired thickness in the molds, the excess molten carving wax is poured back in the wax pot.
This results in hollow carving wax doll parts.

She does talk about designing ball and socket joints in LTBADA.
You can get the same information from twigling's Zen booklet.
Martha made plaster molds of various round objects, like wooden balls, and so forth.
Then she cast carving wax balls in those molds. She says that over the years she made a collection of ball molds.

Then she proceeds to cut the carving wax doll parts apart at the neck, elbows, wrists, knees, and ankles.
She uses a wax pen to weld the balls to the limbs.
Basically, she works with carving wax by adding (wax pen), subtracting (carving), then smoothing with various grits of sandpaper.
My favorite quote of hers from the book is:

The carving wax can be taken to a high finish, even glass smooth, if that is what you want.

Once she has designed the ball joints for the doll, she proceeds to test-string it.
After making the necessary adjustments to the carving wax doll parts, she refines them to use as patterns for making the final slip casting molds from plaster.

The chapters about designing plaster molds, and making plaster slip casting molds are very good,
and probably come closer to a step-by-step tutorial than any other chapter,
except maybe the China Painting chapter?

She makes plaster slip casting molds of all the carving wax doll parts.
She then lets the molds dry with plenty of airspace around them.

When the molds are ready, she casts the porcelain slip in them.
This information about making plaster slip casting molds, and casting into them can be found in other, available books.
In fact, most of the information in LTBADA can be found in available books, or online.
This is important to remember! LTBADA is unavailable, but the method outlined in it is available.
You do NOT need the book to follow the method outlined in the book.
What you DO need is to understand the overview of her method, then follow it.

After casting the porcelain doll parts, she finishes them, then fires them in an electric kiln.
It would be impossible for any ceramist to tell you exactly how to fire your porcelain doll.
That is because every kiln is different, slips are different, doll parts are different sizes, thicknesses, and so forth.
So what she describes is a very general and generic way of firing porcelain doll parts.
You would not be able to read LTBADA and know how to fire your kiln, and your doll from just reading her book.

The chapter about China Painting is very thorough, and it is certainly worth knowing.
She talks about mediums, and pigments, and grinding and applying the China Paints.
However, this information can also be found in other doll books.

One thing that she does go into is how she uses springs, swivels, and s-hooks to tension her dolls.
Once again, much if this information can now be found online, at Woodland Earth Studio, and other sites as well.
Tensioning dolls with springs has been done since the 1800's, and is not a new idea with Martha.

Once assembled, she covers making a wig, making doll shoes, designing and making clothing, and making accessories.
Finally, she covers displaying and photographing the finished Multi-media Figurative Sculpture (your porcelain BJD).

That's it.
It is an involved process, but it is one that she developed over many years of making sculpture professionally.

Idea + planning --> working drawings --> armature + modeling stand --> modeling oil-clay -->
Removing oil-clay from modeling stand --> cutting oil-clay figure apart --> making plaster rough shell molds -->
make carving wax --> cast carving wax in shell molds --> working with carving wax --> designing joints -->
sculpting carving wax --> test-stringing doll --> refining carving wax --> making plaster slip casting molds -->
casting porcelain slip --> finishing cast porcelain doll parts --> firing porcelain in electric kiln --> China Painting -->
Assembling BJD with springs, swivels, and s-hooks --> make wig --> making clothing --> make shoes -->
make accesories --> display and photograph finished Multi-media Figurative Sculpture (your porcelain BJD).

Oil-clay and carving wax are both reusable sculpture modeling materials.
You will be able to use and reuse them for the rest of your sculpting life.
Once you finish one doll, you reuse the oil-clay from the previous doll to model a new doll.
Once you have made the final molds for a doll, you can melt the carving in a wax pot to cast a new doll.

The full title of the book is LTBADA: an apprenticeship with Martha Armstrong-Hand.. The apprenticeship part of her book consists of reading books, then practicing. She says that a traditional apprenticeship, like the one she had when she was 17-19 years old, in Berlin, Germany, is very difficult to find these days, so she recommends reading books to learn all the steps of the art and craft of making a BJD. List of recommended books from LTBADA.

If you can get your head wrapped around her method, as presented at WES, there is no need to spend hundreds of dollars on a book that once sold for about $18. Instead, spend the money on sculpture materials.

(^_^)

 

That's exactly what I am going to do! I want to get out of the planning stage and just start working on one.

 

I love the Idea and planning stage of making a BJD.

Some of the resources you might look into during this stage of doll development include:
Character development for fantasy writers. <-- one of my favorites !!!
Character development for animators. <-- another one of my favorites !!!
Both of them include thinking about a character's backstory, which can bring a BJD to life.
Sometimes, you'll need some inspiration to keep the creative juices flowing, while making a BJD.
It is a complex process, and takes some time to do, especially if it is your first BJD.

Some of the most basic things you need to know are: gender and age.

Gender: Males and Females are different.

Underlying bone structure and musculature are different (after a certain age).
Vive la différence...

Age: This has to do with overall proportions.

Usually, human figure proportions are based on head lengths.
So age has a lot to do with proportions.
For example, a newborn has the proportion of one head length to four head lengths in height (1 to 4).
An adult may be from 7.5 to 8 head lengths in height.
Children and teens are somewhere in between.
See this Human Proportion Calculator.

Besides Gender and Age, there are other considerations as well, such as Fantasy or Realistic.

Fantasy figures may be nine or ten head lengths in height (for Heroic or Mythical figures).

Then there are realistic and ideal proportions.

Gnomes, dwarfs, faeries, elves, hobbits, and others, may have different proportions.

BJD makers often make anthropomorphic figures as well.

The possibilities are endless. The ideas and planning stage is one of the most exciting parts of the process !!!
Often, beginners will want to skip over some of the early stages of the process, and dive right into modeling clay.
In traditional sculpture, planning is a very important step.

As far as planning goes, it is very important to know your process, and know your materials.
If you want a finished BJD that is 60 centimeters tall, and the total shrinkage of ALL your materials is 20%,
then you will need to make your working drawings, and original clay figure, at least 75 centimeters tall !!!
If you don't plan for the shrinkage, and you make your original doll figure in clay, 60cm tall,
then your finished doll will be about 48cm tall. That is quite a big difference !!!

Using Martha's method as an example, and you want to make a finished porcelain BJD that is 45cm tall:
Shrinkage of Materials:
Oil-clay: 0%
Carving Wax: 3%
Ultra Chic Porcelain Slip: 17%

Total shrinkage of materials: 20%
ONE minus 20% = 80% (1.0 - 0.20 = 0.80)
45cm finished porcelain BJD divided by 0.80 = 56.25cm (45 / 0.80 = 56.25).

You will need to make your working drawings 56.25cm in height,
and model your original oil-clay figure, 56.25cm tall to get a 45cm porcelain BJD.
You will use your working drawings to design and construct the armature.

See the importance of planning?
Go easy on yourself. Head over to Woodland Earth Studio and read up on Martha's Method.
If you have ANY questions, there is a discussion thread for each stage of the process.
Use it, and ask questions. That is why it is there. It is a tool to be used.
Know your process, and know your materials.
Drawing is the foundation of all the visual arts.

(^_^)

 

So much helpful info! Thank you very much for the tip on character developement. I never would have thought about creating a backstory to help bring out the life of a doll.