Where do you buy your faces?

Ok, so I have been asked this question quite a few times now. “Where do you buy your faces?”

I do not buy the faces I use on my art dolls. I make them! I start out by taking a lump of cold porcelain clay and shaping it into a basic head shape.

Then I “rough in” the eye’s and add a ball of clay for the nose and a half circle for the mouth area.

This is the point where the sculpting begins. I move the clay around to make the nose and mouth area .

The face is beginning to look face-like now. I like my Santa faces to have rosy cheeks so I make bigger cheeks. This is the point where I add the chin. Round balls of clay serve as the starting point for the cheeks and chin.

I smooth out the clay pushing and moving it around. Then I add the semi precious gemstone eyes and sculpt the clay around the eyes.  The face is done at this point. I will have to wait for it to dry some before doing more finish work on the face. I will continue to work on the face throughout the week as the cold porcelain dries.