I just had to hop on and crow, because I know this is a holy grail book for so many. I managed to get lucky when a bookseller in Australia listed it on Abebooks for $35 USD. I had an alert set up for both Abebooks and eBay, but the darn thing keeps selling on eBay for $75-125. Ugh. the book is really way more comprehensive than I expected, including wigmaking, stringing, and shoe and costume production. I admit that I'm very tempted to scan it into PDF, but the Armstrong-Hand estate still holds the copyright. It wouldn't be nice to them, but they won't reprint the book either. ~sigh~ ~happy dance~
That's great - good for you! For the rest of us - don't despair! kwmelvin has pretty much 're-written' the book and shared a huge wealth of information publicly and free in a thread called 'Martha's Method', over on the forum at Woodland Earth Studios.
Thanks everyone Still thrilled. aneemal, I thought that I had seen the "reprint" somewhere, but I couldn't find the site again. Thanks for posting the link!
Isara, you should be thrilled !!! LTBADA is a classic porcelain ball-jointed doll making book that should never have gone out-of-print. While LTBADA is not a detailed step-by-step tutorial, all the information that you need to make a porcelain BJD is in it. That is what makes it a valuable resource, all the information is in one place. Martha Armstrong-Hand (1920-2004) was an amazing woman, artist, sculptor, and doll maker. I, for one, am a big fan of her work, and especially of her method, which is more of a traditional sculpture process. Her use of studio-made carving wax is brilliant, and I am currently working with a modified recipe of it. I wish I had learned about carving wax when I first started making sculpture. It is an amazing design material. Right now, my work-in-progress BJD is at the carving wax stage of development. BTW, I made my own wax pen for a total cost of less than $30, and I am very pleased with it. I am loosely following Martha's Method, and I post my daily bits and pieces of doll making on my weblog. If you decide to follow her method, I think you will be pleased with how each step flows. Also, if I can be of any help, just let me know, and I will try my best to help, any way I can. (^_^)
