Three different types of hands are used in doll sculpture: human-like but abstracted; "play doll," humanlike in proportion but smooth and static; character or realistic, part of the total expression of the character. In most cases, you will have already finished the head when you sculpt the hands. To make hands proportional to the head, there are two quick rules: from the bottom of the palm to the end of the middle finger will be as long as from the chin to just above the eyebrows; the nose will be about as wide as the index finger. . | SCULPTING THE BODY HANDS Three different types of hands are used in doll sculpture human-like but abstracted play doll humanlike in proportion but smooth and static character or realistic part of the total expression of the character. In most cases you will have already finished the head when you sculpt the hands. To make hands proportional to the head there are two quick rules from the bottom of the palm to the end of the middle finger will be as long as from the chin to just above the eyebrows the nose will be about as wide as the index finger. There are three different ways to sculpt hands. I suggest you try all of them. Ball-built on a wire armature Construct a wire armature as shown. Finger wires may be wrapped with a thin layer of florist s paper tape to provide a non-slip surface for clay. Roll ball shapes and put on finger wires in the same way as stringing beads. Add larger clay balls to rough in the palms and back of hand. Smooth and blend. This method is used for working with plasticine or wax sculpture and when the sculpture will be used to make a mold. Polymers and paperclays tend to slip on bare wire armatures. Incomplete blending of joints may also cause cracking or areas of weakness leading to breakage. For these reasons I recommend the other two methods instead. Sausage shaped Roll long sausages of clay and press them together. Smooth and blend the hand back and the palm area. Bend the fingers into the desired position and sculpt the details. Add balls of clay for the knuckles and the pads of flesh on the palm. This method is quite simple to describe but requires sculpted detailing in order to be successful. A common failing among beginners is that they tend to stop at the sausage stage so the resulting hand looks like an odd collection of boneless wieners. feCi c-f Palm ci hand hpind Scissor-cut I prefer the scissor-cut method as it enables exact shaping without pressing. The principle of physics that for every action there is a reaction .
