Saturday, August 2, 2014

Applying Cloth Over

This is the least favorite part, but the fastest.  After sanding the head, I dry fit  the fabric. Better too large than not large enough and you can also see if there are any bumps that require more sanding.  Ask me how I know!  And once it has stuck enough, pulling it off may also pull off some clay.   I then apply a coat of Tacky Quick Dry glue to the front of the whole head making sure to get glue in all the crevices.  This glue is fairly thick but does spread easily.  Do NOT add water as this will make it seep into the fabric and that causes lots of other problems.  I also start with just laying it on the nose and then start pressing it into the face using my fingers and nails. Further burnishing can be done with something smooth and round like the end of a Hemostat or a crochet hook.  I add pins at the nostril flares top, the nostrils, eye corners and between the lips. The pins penetrate the paperclay very easily as it really isn't that thick.  The overlay takes about 3 minutes to get to the pin to dry stage.  Leave the pins in long enough to make sure the fabric is secure in these areas then carefully remove them.  Don't worry about the holes, they will self heal and be covered with color.  Then I pin the excess to the head back pulling it carefully.  Opps!  Forgot to add that pic!It is OK to stretch now to remove the wrinkles.  This keeps the fabric knit tight.  I pull it tightly under the chin to remove as much of the wrinkles as possible, then I tuck the excess into the neck opening.  You will need to trim away the excess before you sew it in place.  I use large running stitches around the head.  The hair will cover the raw edges.
For the overlay, I use a 4 way stretch cotton with about 5% Lycra.  It is about the thickness of Leotard fabric.  Not as thin as a t-shirt.  On this face, I sprayed the head with Krylon clear Matte finish to seal it.  I want to see if this will prevent pulling.  I will NOT use that again!  It actually brought up a little nap on the fabric!  GRRRR.  Will see how it takes colored pencils and fine tip markers.  Now off to draw and color.

1 comment:

SFM Cloth dolls With Attitude! said...

This is a fascinating process to me!
Is the clay unbaked, that you can push pins into it?

Thank you for sharing this!