Art Spirit Doll Amphitrite

I like Spirit Dolls and Art dolls so I made Art Spirit Doll. Spirit Dolls are an ancient talisman against all negativity and in the Greek mythology, the goddess of Amphitrite is the goddess of the sea. So I choose those two concepts for my doll. 

Supplies:

120 g Natural Makin's Clay®

Makin's®  Basic Tool Set

Tissue paper 

Painters tape

wooden skewer

driftwood or something else as a base

Acrylic Paint

aluminum wire

Crinkle wire

Instructions:

It all started with some natural Makin's Clay®, tissue paper, a wooden skewer, painters tape and driftwood.

As a first step, I wrapped some tissue paper around the wooden skewer. I spritzed it lightly with some water and pressed it together. With the painters tape I attached it all together to the dowel. Make sure that you leave enough skewer uncovered for the later montage of your doll. But make also sure that your skewer goes up into the head. Depending on the size you plan your doll you need an according skewer length. (Mine was peaking out about 2 inches) Remember you always can cut back, but not add....

 

For the arms I used aluminum wire. I wrapped it around the upper body and crossed it in the back.

Next I added a bit more tissue paper and again wrapped it with painters tape.

Now it was time to grab the Makin's Clay®. I used little pieces and formed them by hand in little oval thin pieces. I simply pressed them right onto the painter's tape, starting from the bottom and overlapping them.

I didn't smooth out anything except the face, for which I used a wet towel. I also used a tool from the Makin's Clay®  Basic Tools to define the neck a bit.

For each arm I formed a more elongated piece from the clay and wrapped it around the wire. I made sure that the seam is in the back and went in again with the tool to smooth out the gaps.

I let the figure dry for two days before I went in with some acrylic paint. I started by adding some black all over and then remove most of it with a wet towel. This leaves more paint in the crevices and gives a more aged look. Next I went in with some transparent acrylic paint, it is the easiest if you use some fluid paint. I applied it all over wearing gloves, so I could massage the paint in.

Again everything had to dry before I could apply different types of Rub on Waxes. I choose the colors blue iridescent, copper and just a hint of black again. Don't forget to polish the waxes afterwards to get a nice sheen. I also added some crinkle wire all around. 

I added my doll to the driftwood by making a hole into the driftwood and adding some beads as little feet for the lower driftwood. This step is very much depending on what base you use. So there are no further instructions for this step.