Dollhouse Baby Sculpting Tutorial

Page 1 - Sculpting the Head

What you will need:

Prosculpt Polymer Clay, Baby Color
Clay Knife
Toothpick
Sewing Pin (wrapping the end in a rubber band is a good idea)
Wire
Wire Cutters
Needle Nose Pliers
Baby Oil
Smooth-Handled Small Paintbrushes

This tutorial is for sculpting a sleeping 2” baby girl, but feel free to work on a larger baby by doubling, tripling, etc. the described amounts of clay until you’re comfortable with sculpting. You may find it handy to start sculpting bigger babies and then work down to 1:12 scale.

Before you start, make sure you have a lint-free surface to work on so that your clay stays clean (working over a piece of white paper and washing your hands frequently will help).

Step 1

For the head, you will first need to sculpt an armature. For larger dolls, armatures are usually made out of foil, since miniature babies are so small I prefer to make their armatures out of clay.

Let’s start by cutting off a piece of wire about 2 1/2 inches long. Use the needle nose pliers to bend and twist about 1/4 of the wire over itself. This will give you something to grip while sculpting the head. At the other end bend a very small amount of the wire over itself, but instead of twisting it, just crimp it with your pliers. We’re going to use this wire a little later so just set it to the side for now.

Step 2

Next roll a ball of clay that’s just a little smaller than a ½”. Make sure there aren’t any creases in the clay and that the ball’s surface is smooth. Using the handle of the paintbrush, press it horizontally into the clay a little less than halfway down the ball. What we’re doing is creating the dip in the face where the eyes, nose, mouth, cheeks, and chin will go. Use your fingers to smooth out the dip and try to make the lower part of the face (where the facial features will be) tuck in more than the brow.

You should have now what resembles a head but without the features. Baby heads come in many different shapes and sizes so you may want to get some pictures of real babies to help you. Now take the wire that we had set aside and poke the crimped end up into the bottom of the head until it’s about halfway into the clay. This wire will make it easier for you to hold on to the head while you sculpt the features (later we’ll use it to keep the baby’s head attached to its body).

Before we bake the armature, you’ll want to add two holes where the ears will later be attached. To find the placement of the ears, imagine that the side of the head is divided halfway by a horizontal line and halfway by a vertical line. Use the end of you paintbrush to make a little dent in the clay where the lines intersect on both sides of the head.

Now preheat the oven to 275 degrees and bake the armature for 10 minutes. Be sure to pad the baking pan with an old shirt or any piece of smooth cotton fabric to protect the impressionable clay.

Step 3

After the armature cools, spread a very thin layer of clay over the front of the face, where the features will go. If you have trouble attaching the soft clay to the hardened clay, use some baby oil on the tip of your finger to encourage the clay to stay put. Make sure the soft clay is well smoothed and blended against the hardened clay .

Step 4

Cheeks: Now roll out a small ball of clay for the cheeks (the size of the ball can vary, depending on whether or not you want your baby to have fat cheeks, but I usually use a ball that’s a little less than a ¼”.) Using your clay knife, divide the ball in half and flatten each half slightly between your thumb and forefinger. Press the halves where the cheeks would go on the armature, leaving a small space between them for the mouth and chin. Use your toothpick to roughly attach the cheeks to the face. Don’t worry about smoothing them out right now; we’ll do that after the rest of the features are in place.

Chin and Mouth: Next roll out two more small balls, making each approximately 1/8” across. Press one ball (this will be the chin) at the bottom of the face between the cheeks, and the other ball above it (this will be the mouth). Roughly attach them to the rest of the face.

Nose: Roll out another 1/8” ball, this time rolling it between you fingers until it becomes a tapering log shape. Place the thicker end of the log right above the mouth and let the rest of the log climb up the head. This will be the nose. Roughly attach it.

Step 5

Okay, now you can take your toothpick and the smooth handle tip of your paintbrush to begin to smooth out the face. As you smooth, begin shaping the nose, cheeks, mouth, and chin the way that you want them. If your tools are “sticking” to the clay, dip them in a tiny bit of baby oil.

Step 6

Now using the tip of your pin, carefully begin parting the clay where the lips will be. You can also use the pin or the toothpick for indenting the nostrils. I recommend having some photographs of babies to follow, as the detailing of the features is mostly trial and error.

Step 7

After the face has been smoothed out for the most part (it’s not necessary to completely smooth the clay yet) make another 1/8” ball and cut it in half. Place each half where each eye would be on the head and attach them with the toothpick. Switching between the toothpick and the pin, begin defining the closed eyelid of the baby.

I’d like to mention that while facial features vary among babies, knowing the proportions of a baby’s face can give you basic guidelines to follow. Generally a baby’s eyes should fall a little below halfway down the face. The eyes should be spaced one eye-width apart and the nose should fall between them. The mouth usually stays within this width as well (though that depends on whether it’s smiling, open, etc.). When looking at a baby’s face straight on, the nose will most often be positioned just a little below the level of the eyes and will usually turn up. Also, from a profile view, the chubby cheeks will hide most of the lips and chin.

Step 8

Once you have the features how you like, use your paintbrush, dipped in a small amount of baby oil, to smooth over the entire face. Be careful not to use too much baby oil because it will cause your baby’s face to “melt”, especially in the delicate areas like the nostrils. Sometimes at this point, I’ll suddenly realize that my baby’s forehead has shrunk while sculpting. If it has, just add a thin layer of clay to build the forehead up until it looks like a baby again and not a little old man:~)

You're doing great! Now preheat the oven again to 275 degrees and bake the head for ten minutes. Oh, and don’t worry—we haven’t forgotten about the ears. You could add them before baking the features if you want, but I prefer to add them last because I’d risk messing up the rest of the face at this point.