Homemade toys are affordable, fun to make, and can end up being cute little souvenirs. You can also make some nice gifts. Read the following steps to learn some different ways to build one of the most representative childhood toys, the doll, in the comfort of your home.
Steps
Method 1 of 4: Assembling the Parts of a Doll
Step 1. Buy what you need
Go to a store and buy a doll head, body, arms and legs. Make sure everything is about the same size. Some specialty stores may sell pre-packaged kits. You will also need paint and thinner, a small brush and some doll clothes.
- Doll heads range from pre-painted vinyl with synthetic hair to simple basic elements that can be tailored. Be aware that if you purchase a doll head, eyes, and wig separately, you will need to do a little more work to put the doll together.
- The wigs can be made of any type of fabric of your liking. Special yarns such as alpaca, mohair and boucle make hair captivating, but classic colored wool threads, Raggedy Ann style, that characteristic cloth doll with a triangular nose and red wool hair are also fine.
Step 2. Put the doll together
The softer pieces of plastic can be pressed into the pre-mounted holes on the body to make a doll with moving joints. Alternatively, use an appropriate type of glue (for concrete, plastic, or wood) to secure the doll's limbs in place or to build it from the simplest or most rigid parts.
If you're using glue, remove the excess from the joint when you're done
Step 3. Paint a face on the doll
If your doll's head isn't already pre-painted, it's time to paint the makeup and eyes on it if needed. Acrylic paint should work for most materials. Use a small brush to paint and start with the base colors first (for example, white, then color, and finally a black pupil for the eyes). Let each layer dry before starting the next one and allow the whole doll to dry for a few hours once you're done.
- Consider adding blush to your doll's cheeks with pink paint made finer with some thinner.
- If your doll's face is shapeless, you will need to paint a nose in it, as well as eyes and mouth. Use a vertical or side U shape to make one easily.
Step 4. Add the wig
If your doll requires a wig, now is the time to add it. You can make a simple fixed wig by densely gluing pieces of yarn to the top of the doll's head with strong adhesive or you can make one to change by embroidering yarn into a cut piece of fabric to put on the doll's head. There are also pre-made wigs available for purchase.
Step 5. Dress up the doll
Using the clothes you purchased, dress the doll as you like. If you are unable to find some nice doll clothes, put it aside for now and think about finding some. Once the doll is assembled, painted and dressed, you are done!
Method 2 of 4: Make a Doll with Corn Husk
Step 1. Get what you need
To create this American - rustic style doll, you will need corn husks again with the silk on top. A dozen (one or two ears at most) of corn stalks should be enough to make a doll. You will also need a large bowl of water, scissors to cut the peels, pins and string to keep them in shape.
Step 2. Dry the peels
These dolls are made from dried shells. Use a food dryer or place the stalks in the sun for a few days until they become dry and no longer green. Sun drying is the preferred method because it is the most traditional (these are dolls typical of American Indians and also of colonial tradition), but, if they are dried well, the result will be more or less the same.
Step 3. Remove the silk
Before the next step, remove the dried silk from the skins and set it aside. You'll use it soon, but it'll need to stay dry to keep it from softening as you moisten the shells. Spread all the silk generally in the same direction rather than piling or tangling it.
Step 4. Wet the skins
When you're ready to make your own doll, soak the dried stalks in a bowl of water for about 10 minutes. While it sounds counterintuitive, it's not really about rehydrating the shells you dried so thoroughly; rather, you will temporarily make them more flexible, so that you can get them into shape without breaking them. Once the peels are soaked, dab them with absorbent paper to dry them and set them aside.
If the peels are significantly different in size from each other, now is a good time to tear or cut the larger ones so that they are all roughly the same size. This will help prevent the doll from becoming all crooked
Step 5. Prepare the head
Take a corn husk and lay it in front of you with the pointed end outwards, then place a bunch of corn silk along its length. After that, lay two shells on top of the first layer of husk and silk, even with the tips away from you, and add more silk. Repeat all of this one more time (for a total of six shells and four silk sections) and then tie the entire bundle together about 4cm from the flat ends. Use scissors to round the flat ends of the peels.
Step 6. Make the head
Take the husk and the silk package and hold them firmly by the twisted ends, so that the pointed ends of the shells are facing up. Peel each shell at a time, pulling each in a different direction than the other, so that each peel falls on a different side. Once all the shells have been peeled, you will have a head of corn silk "hair", which emerges from the center in a rounded shape. Knot the string around the shells again to create a "head" about 3 centimeters high.
Step 7. Do the arms
There are two basic styles to choose from: braided or tubular. To make the tube arms, cut a 6-inch piece of peel and twist it lengthwise into a tube shape, then tie it with string near both ends. To make the intertwined arms, cut 6 '' of peel into 3 strips (lengthwise) and weave them together before tying them. Just make a hose or braid to insert through the shells under the head so that an equal length of arms protrudes from both sides.
Step 8. Tie life
Using the twine, wrap the shells under the arms and tighten them to create the waist. Double check to make sure your arms are positioned at an appropriate height before you finish tying them, so you can readjust them if necessary; the arms should generally be 2.5 to 3 cm from the waist. Once you are satisfied, wrap a thin piece of peel over the twine on the doll's waist to create a belt or sash and hide the twisted thread. Tie it in the back by making a bow.
Method 3 of 4: Making a Cloth Doll
Step 1. Collect everything you need
The most important component of making a cloth doll is the model. There are many fabric doll patterns available for free online, but you can also buy them at fabric and craft stores. Look at the picture of the finished doll and choose one you like. Together with the model, buy any fabric and / or padding, such as cotton wadding, that you may need.
A typical fabric doll will require a rectangular piece of natural-colored cloth (and more for clothes), wadding, colored thread, a sewing needle and pins to hold the pieces in place while you work. Read the model directions for specifications
Step 2. Cut the fabric
Following the pattern you bought, you need to cut each piece of fabric with a pair of fabric scissors and set it aside, being careful not to fold or crumple any pieces. Remember to keep some extra fabric, generally about 3mm, around each piece for seams.
Most doll models should provide clothing in a contrasting color, either in the form of a different colored silhouette or a simple dress; don't forget to cut those parts too
Step 3. Sew the pieces
In order for your doll to be properly stuffed with batting, you will usually need to make stitches to help you define the curves. Again, follow the specific instructions on your model.
Step 4. Add the wadding
Ball up your stuffing and insert it into each part of the doll that needs stuffing. Use a thread of the same color as the natural cloth you have chosen for the doll's body to tie the open ends and prevent the padding from coming out. Once each piece has been filled in, join them all together following the instructions on your pattern.
- The wadding tends to come out of the bag in tufts or strips, but you can make it uniformly in the shape of a sphere by overlapping the smaller pieces cut in a star or triangle pattern and rolling each one in turn to obtain the desired size.
- Fill the head until it is full, so much so that it is firm. Pad the body more loosely.
Step 5. Add facial features and hair
All of this requires some colored thread and a little patience. Use black, brown, blue or green thread for the eyes and red or black thread for the mouth. Sew each feature into the doll's face using a threaded needle with a length of embroidery floss to help pull the colors. Spun hair can simply be sewn on top.
- To make sure your eyes and mouth are placed evenly, make a mark where you intend to sew in the first place with pins. Remove each pin as soon as you start working on that part.
- If you had pulled the yarn round when you fixed the doll's hair, cut out the circle to give her a full, messy lock of hair.
Method 4 of 4: Make a Doll with Clothespins
Step 1. Gather what you need
To make this simple wooden doll, you will need large craft clothespins (the type with a rounded knob at the end of the handle), which are usually found in craft stores. You will also need acrylic paints, a fine-tipped marker, and some materials to make a dress, such as felt, ribbons, or scraps of cloth.
Step 2. Paint the clothespin
The knob in the pin vise will serve as the head and the split at the bottom will become the feet. Use acrylic paint to color all desired features, including shoes, which can easily be hinted at by painting one color about 5mm up above both "feet", letting them dry and then painting them black or brown over that color until about halfway. The dark color becomes the color of the shoe; the one below is the color of the sock.
- You can paint the clothespin with skin-colored paint if you want, but it's not strictly necessary. If you do, be sure to let it dry before adding any more details.
- Paint the face such that it makes sense to how the feet are split, otherwise your doll will look very strange.
Step 3. Add the details
Using the pointed marker, draw any extra details you want on the doll, such as the pupils of the eyes or a smiling mouth.
Step 4. Dress up your doll
Using scrap materials, scissors and carpenter's glue, think of a fun kit for your doll. Remember to pin things in place before cutting them to make sure they fit. Think about making a hat or wig of some kind for your doll's bald head. When you're satisfied, glue each item in place with some carpenter's glue.
