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Materials Pressed felt dolls anyone?

Aug 24, 2012

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    1. Has anyone tried to make a pressed felt/wool doll like Lenci, John R. Wright, or (in particular) Maggie Iacono as a ball jointed doll?

      I've been toying around with the idea to make a doll like this for awhile now but information on the process is severely lacking.

      So far I have come across these tutorials:
      Pressed Felt Doll Head using Sculpey
      Pressed Felt Ornament (not a doll but the writer says this is similar to what she uses in her doll classes)
      A cloth doll head picture trail (might be useful)
      Covering a Paperclay Doll Mask with Felt - Part I, Part II

      Wright has a plethora of production photos and Maggie has a few images as well as a small blurb in the Anatomy of a Doll book.

      I'll be posing a similar question over at the felting forum. If anyone is interested I'll add a link here.

      So input?

      Additional links:
      R. John Wright production footage Skip to 7:15
      R. John Wright interview w/ Martha Armstrong-Hand Part 1Part 2
       
      #1 lily_dragon, Aug 24, 2012
      Last edited by a moderator: Nov 16, 2012
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    2. Yes! I have made several pressed felt dolls, with varying success. I am in the process of designing my own Maggie Iacono type ball jointed doll now. I started by wrapping sections of pvc pipe with quilt batting and then covering that with felt so I would have hollow pieces. I was unable to get this body to stand or hold a pose the way Maggie's do. I'll keep posting my progress if people are interested! Also, have you seen the Cloth Bleuette class by Judi Ward?
       
      #2 ghostdollie, Aug 25, 2012
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    3. Oh gosh thank goodness I'm not alone! @w@
      Yesyesyes! Please post your progress! I'd love to see how someone else goes about making them. My partner told me I'm not aloud to start anything new until I finish my current projects lol.
      Coincidentally one of them is Judi's cloth Bleuette. So far it has been interesting but not exactly the style I'm going for. The arms are attached by stitching a button joint and the head and legs attach to the torso a stitch. It seems to have a decent amount of flexibility but no where near what I'm wanting. (I probably should have also used the fabric recommended instead of some felt I had laying around lol.)

      I've also had my eye on a cute Bleuette crochet pattern to make. Still not the poseablily I want but gosh it's adorable!

      As for the interior, Wright appears to use a combination of buckram and wood and wood under the felt. link Perhaps Maggie's dolls are similar?
       
      #3 lily_dragon, Aug 25, 2012
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    4. Those archive links are so wonderful !!!
      I have learned two new words: buckram and kapok.
      What a fascinating doll making process.
      There is an old interview with R. John Wright,
      featuring Martha Armstrong-Hand here and here
      where he talks about how he got started making dolls.
      (^_^)
       
      #4 kwmelvin, Aug 26, 2012
      Last edited by a moderator: Aug 26, 2012
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    5. Oooh! What a cool find! I love how excited the older lady is about the dolls. :)
       
      #5 lily_dragon, Aug 26, 2012
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    6. #6 kwmelvin, Aug 26, 2012
      Last edited by a moderator: Aug 28, 2012
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    7. I own a Maggie Iacono, and when I (carefully!) prod around inside and between the joints it seems to be made of turned wood tubes covered in batting and really thin wool felt The ends of the felt are tucked up inside the tube opening, but not glued. What's amazing is how well the bead shaped ball joints fit into the sockets... very custom. The doll is elastic-strung just like a resin or porcelain bid. My efforts to replicate this method resulted in uneven sockets that caused a wobbly fit for the bead joints. I understand her husband makes all the wood parts just for her dolls. He is, to me, a genius! I've been making cloth ball jointed dolls for years, trying to get them as close as possible to fully posable bid, but they just won't stand like Maggie's. Ah well...
       
      #7 ghostdollie, Aug 26, 2012
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    8. It's always sad to find an awesome artist and then find out they've passed away. :(


      Huh, well poop. I know diddly squat about wood turning. But I assume the wood is there to keep the felt from collapsing on itself. Wouldn't a paperclay base work just as well? At least, that's how I was planing to go about it.
      I think I remember reading that someone was using the little metal tubes you can get from hobby car/airplane places. That might work a little better than PVC pipe.
       
      #8 lily_dragon, Sep 4, 2012
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