Tutorial for Mahdreen the Elf of Wisdom

Hello.....well here goes!           This is the making of Mahdreen.

She is an all cloth doll, sculpted, painted, clothed & bejeweled!
Mahdreen sits about 6 1/2 inches tall, she does not have the ability to be posed. Her face is sculpted cloth but has been painted with gessoe, then designed with water color & acrylic paint. She has sculpted clay eyes that have been hand painted & inset. Her ears are wire rimmed and painted with the same flesh colored paint as her face. Her hair is a specialty yarn that has been hand sewn, braided and trimmed. Mahdreen has one wire sculpted hand and one jeweled mystic hand. Her coat, pant and shoes are scrap fabric that has been pieced together to make the beautiful outfit that you see here. As for the amount of fabric it took to make her...it was minimal ! When I mention that I used scraps..it truly is what it took to make her. The fabric for her body is a one way stretch faux flannel piece that I had in my scrap box. I had used it previously to make a larger 2 headed doll, a pattern that had been handed down from my mom. I rarely ever throw away any scraps...I love fabric and unfortunately I cant find anymore of this fabric ( I bought it that long ago!) I'm sure there are comparable fabrics that can be used, in fact the  next doll will be made of something entirely different (as I said, I don't have anymore of it left :)

I will post a progressive pictures of Mahdreen from inception to completion next...ENJOY!  and if you have any questions please feel free to leave a message and I'll get back to you asap ;D

Mahdreen's head before sculpting

                                              Her body, legs, arms & hands before stuffing

                                                Mahdreen's head after being sculpted

Elf ears pinned in before sewing & eyes that I drew on a separate piece of material with watercolor pencils. I cut them out and pinned them in to see what my actual eye drawing on the face itself would look like. I changed my mind along the way and used clay eyes that I painted & set into the material.

Her body has been stuffed and ears have been attached. Legs have been sewn on and arms and hands were next on the agenda.

clay eyes were molded and painted.....dried & glazed. Piercing a hole in the clay allows you to sew it into the cut in the fabric.

 

trying them on for a fit before painting

Her eyes have been set in and her face has been given the first coat of gessoe

Mahdreen completely sewn together and with her first round of face paint..I did repaint her face several times. Changed the flesh color the eyeshadow and mouth color a few times, I just kept going until I was satisfied.

!Well I'll leave her at this point and be back tomorrow for more...she was a process, but well worth every minute of her creation!

I hope you are enjoying "The Making of Mahdreen" the Elf of Wisdom ;D

Be back tomorrow! & if you have any questions in the meantime please feel free to leave a message for me. I'd love to answer any that you may have.

Thanks for taking this adventure with me,

Michelle