He Has A Head!

He may be bald and hatless but at least he has a head.

Anniversary Sale On Mittens

Last August 29th I opened a knitting and felting shop on Etsy called: Fuzzy Knits (fuzzyknits.etsy.com). To commemorate my first year’s anniversary, I decided to run a sale on my best selling item- mittens. It will be interesting to see if anyone will decide to purchase mittens with the record high temperatures we are currently having this summer. Time will tell. In any case I have enjoyed running my shop this first year although I must admit to neglecting it during the spring and early summer months- even I had trouble focusing on woolies with the onset of warm weather. But now I am back with a passion- knitting and felting mittens galore.

Cloak Finished

Maybe it’s just my monitor, but this costume looks purple when it is really a stone grey with purple accents. But in any case. it is done. The cloak is not removable however the hood is sized to actually fit and can be raised over the head if wanted, (if he had a head that is). I used more jewelry findings- this time on the cloak closures. These were part of the toggle that I took apart for the shoes.

Time to turn my attention to old Dumbledore’s head. I am making this figure for a woman that works with me- we both teach sixth grade on the same team. She is an avid Harry Potter fan, and is planning on giving this figure to her daughter as a Christmas present. She asked her daughter which character in the series was her favorite and Dumbledore was the reply. So my challenge is to be able to interpret the character as I see him and, at the same time, please one of his greatest fans. I think the only way I can accomplish this is to pay attention to the details of the character. That’s my plan anyway. When I accepted this challenge I had the entire summer ahead of me, plenty of time. Well, long story short, it’s back to the classroom next week and my poor fellow is not nearly done. Where did the time go?

Inner Robe Completed

His inner robe is finished. A year or so ago, I purchased a new sewing machine that has a number of decorative stitches. Prior to that my machine could only straight stitch and zig zag (quite old but very reliable) The majority of my figures were made on this old machine. Anyway, I bought a new machine but have as yet I have not used many of the “fancy features”. So I was determined to try some of the embroidered stitches on Dumbledore. Although it is difficult to see in the photo, he has embroidered stitching on the hem of his sleeves and up the side of each sleeve. He also has it on the hem of his robe. The most intricate stitching in on the yoke of his rode. I have also beaded this area using silver and purple beads. All that work and in the end because of his outer cloak and his long beard very little will show on the finished piece.

Hands

I think the hands are a critical component to any figure. So often I have seen dolls with beautiful faces, fabulous costumes, and then for me the entire piece is ruined by thick fingers and puffy fat hands. I’m no expert, my hands are not the best to be sure, but they are important to me so I am always working at improving this component in each figure I make. It starts at the very beginning with the drawing of the pattern. For the longest time I was positioning the thumb wrong in the pattern piece- I finally corrected that mistake. Once the hands/arms are sewn and turned I am very careful about the amount of stuffing I place and where it gets placed. I fill each finger with a pipe cleaner only. I bend the tip of the pipe cleaner and wrap the raw edge with white floral tape to keep it from poking out. Otherwise, no stuffing the fingers. As for the hand- very little stuffing. Instead, I fold over the extra fabric in the palm of the hand and sew it to encircle the thumb at the fatty part. The little bit of stuffing that i put into the hands increases at the wrist. I do stuff the wrist firmly and continue up the arm firmly stuffing.

I color the figure using colored pencils. I pencil the hand and arm to the point where the costume will cover. Once I pencil the flesh tone, I rub lightly with an extra piece of skin fabric to blend. This figure’s flesh was penciled using Spectracolor Blush 1442. I then draw in the fingernail outlines using a dark brown pencil (Prismcolor Dark Umber PC947) and highlight the joints and the flesh area between the fingers. I would not have used such a dark outline color on a female figure, but this is a wizard’s hand, and a very old wizard at that. I spray the hands/arms with workable fixative to prevent the pencil from rubbing off. I will spray it a few times. The nice thing about workable fixative is that you can add more pencil work between spraying each coat if needed.

Finally I add the fingernails. I simply paint on coats of Mod Podge. The more coats added the thicker the nail becomes. If you want to have a white nail edge, or colored fingernails, paint it on and then add another coat of Mod Podge to seal.

Shoes, Socks, and Undies

Finally the costuming has begun. I decided to give him some pretty fancy underwear. It’s white polyester but I upscaled it up with the addition of a nice black trim. Dumbledore is a wizard so I suppose anything goes when it comes to undies.

The stockings are non-existent but since his skin will not be pure white in the finished product, the white legs will pass as stockings.

His shoes are leather and somewhat elfish style with pointed toes. I used an old pair of leather gloves (men’s size). They were well worn so the leather was very soft. I removed the inside lining and have made many pairs of shoes and belts from this one pair of gloves. I dressed them up a bit with silver toggles. A while back I thought I’d try my hand at jewelry making. And, after purchasing a box of assorted findings, I made my first piece- necklace with matching earrings. It didn’t take me long to determine I absolutely hated jewelry making (beading in general is a nightmare for me), so now I am experimenting with different ways to use the findings. They make pretty effective shoe decorations.

Standing!

Stuffed and standing. The legs are sewed to the torso; the arms just pinned. I usually don’t sew the arms until I complete the costuming on the lower half (sometimes it is easier to costume without the interference of the arms). In any case, the next step is to costume the lower half with underwear, stockings and shoes.

The neck is obviously too long. About half of it will be inside the head on the finished piece. Also, he is currently standing on a piece of styrofoam that includes an anchor tube that extends partway into the leg support tube.

I have read that you should costume only what will show in the final piece so why the underwear? Well, in my experience when I bring my completed figures into work, half the people don’t dare to even touch them and the other half can’t touch them enough which includes lifting skirts and peeking under. I want the piece to be finished no matter where anyone looks. With that said, my costumes are not removable so sometimes I do only construct what will show, for example if making a shirt that will be beneath a vest I will not make the entire shirt only the collar and sleeves.

Stuffed and Ready to Go!

The body parts are now stuffed and ready to be attached to each other. I hate doll stands so I always include some type of internal support. I stuff parts quite firmly, often the figure will stand by itself, but I still add an internal support tube so that the figure will not topple off the base whenever anyone picks it up or moves it. The brass tube extends from the leg into the torso for increased stability. It protrudes from the foot to accommodate the shoe. Once the figure is complete the base of this tube will be flush with the sole of the shoe. On the base itself, I will adhere a second smaller tube which will fit inside the one inside the figure. That way he will stand on the base securely and can easily be removed from the base by lifting upward.

The Chronicles of Dumbledore Begin

Today I am starting this blog which will chronicle the creation of Dumbledore, a literary figure from the Harry Potter books. My first step when making any fabric figure is to determine the size and pose of the final piece. This figure will be about 19 inches tall. This character wears glasses which I have already purchased so that restricts my decision concerning size: the glasses must fit the face...the face must fit the figure. He will be standing holding his wand in his right hand which will be down by his side. His left arm will be bent with his hand gesturing forward.

    Next I draw the different body parts on freezer paper ( I use an artist’s wooden model to help with proportions); cut them out, then iron them wax side down on to white cotton fabric. Freezer paper will adhere to the fabric until it is sewn then can be peeled off easily. Once sewn I clip the inner/outer curves and turn the pieces right side out. Hemostats help with the turning of such small pieces. When turning the fingers I use little brass tubes; slipping a hollow tube inside the finger to hold it erect and sliding the fabric over a smaller solid tube that is held above and outside the finger. Difficult to describe, but the fingers end up turned out sitting inside the unturned arm. Now it really sounds confusing..

    The picture shows arms, legs, and torso- the head is obviously missing. I am somewhat intimidated by the head so I have decided to do it last, that way I can stress out about it longer. Stupid decision, but none the less mine.