MK on creating a doll from silicone sealant. Silicone reborn: description, cost, photo

Collectors love them. Interior dolls made of silicone are created by master Irina Ermolova from Vladivostok. About yours unusual hobby she told our magazine.

Irina, many dolls are knitted and sewn, but you, perhaps, went your own way difficult path- you work with silicone. Tell the story of your hobby.

In 2009, my husband and I saw silicone dolls on the Internet for the first time. It was delight and surprise that human hands could create something so realistic and so similar to real person! At that time, I was graduating from college and was supposed to become a certified psychologist. I couldn’t even imagine that my future life and work would be closely connected with the creation of these same silicone dolls. I graduated from the institute and defended my diploma, but new plans and dreams have settled in my life, which I am realizing in my new job.

What are the pros and cons of this material?

It's difficult to answer such a question. There are pros and cons to any material used in art or creativity. Silicone, for example, has one of the advantages that the doll can be movable if it has a skeleton and joints. Silicone is not afraid of light (like vinyl), water, or temperature changes.

Of the minuses: silicone is a very capricious material at the stage of making a doll. Requires accuracy and cleanliness of the casting mold. For example, a casting mold can be accidentally “poisoned” with a substance containing sulfur, the same plasticine or clay used to create the “master model”. In this case, complete polymerization of the silicone will not occur in this form. The casting will be sticky and not suitable for painting. Only in the trash, after cutting it into small pieces.

How long does it take for a doll to be “born”, where does the process begin? Tell us about its stages? Who is helping you?

The process of “giving birth” to a doll is long and sometimes difficult. The very first stage is the creation of a model (sculpture). It can be created from any material (clay, plastic, etc.). Then, the molding process occurs (creating molds for casting). This stage is perhaps the most difficult and important, because... after molding, the sculpture is destroyed and if for some reason the form turns out to be defective, then all the work has to be started from the very beginning. So, it took me two years to create my first doll. The reason for such a long process was precisely a defect in one of the forms.

After successful molding, the process of developing a movable skeleton for the future doll begins. An equally important and time-consuming process. Development of the skeleton and all technical side My husband is in charge of creating the doll. Then the doll is cast. And only after successful casting the most interesting part begins - this creative process, work on the image of the future doll.

How do people react to creativity? I know that many people find it strange those who are interested in reborns - babies made of silicone? Your dolls are older children.

I do not classify my dolls as reborns. “Reborn” translates roughly as “reborn”, “reborn”, some prefer the option “reborn”. And these dolls are made from factory blanks. I create dolls from scratch and this process is similar to creating a porcelain doll. The only difference is in the materials and the presence of a movable skeleton.

People have different reactions to dolls: from “Oh, I’m afraid” and “I would be scared to be in the same room with such a doll,” to sincere admiration. To be honest, I don’t think much about it, since I’m doing what I really like.

Do they buy these dolls for children or do they only use them as home decorations?

Dolls are also ordered for children, but most often they are purchased by collectors. The price of such dolls, taking into account expensive materials and work, is quite high. So far, I have only purchased a doll once as a gift for a girl.

You even use children’s natural hair in your work; is it sold to hairdressers?

In my work I use both natural and artificial hair. I buy hair either at a hairdressing store or through an advertisement. Most often, this hair is intended for extensions.

How is hair fixed? Everything looks very natural.

The process of hair implantation is called micro-rooting. Each hair is embedded into the scalp one at a time. For a large doll, this process takes me three weeks, and this takes into account that I will work every day for at least 4-5 hours. Since the doll’s head is not hollow, but has a skull, the process of attaching the hair becomes more complicated. When the entire head is stitched, I make an incision in the skin and carefully, so as not to damage or tear the silicone, I pull back the scalp and glue the hair from the inside. When the glue dries and the smell disappears, I carefully glue the incision site, mask the scar with silicone and implant hair into this place. You can, of course, do without sizing the hair, but then the doll can under no circumstances be combed.

You even make the eyes yourself. What is this jewelry resin probably made of? How do pupils get their color?

Now many people are starting to make eyes for their dolls themselves. The master himself can create exactly those eyes that he needs for a specific image of the doll.

Everyone has their own secrets for making eyes. IN general outline the technology is approximately as follows: the sclera of the eye is made of white plastic, then a pattern of the iris and pupil is applied, if required, veins and wreaths are made on the sclera. Then a transparent layer of plastic is applied to simulate the cornea and “anterior chamber of the eye.” After which the eye is polished.

The dolls' skeleton is movable, due to what? How much does this doll weigh?

We also make skeletons for dolls ourselves. The advantage of making your own is that, firstly, you do not depend on anyone for your work. Secondly, and most importantly, at any time, at any stage of making the doll, improvements or any changes can be made to the design of the skeleton. It is made of thin-walled steel pipes or PVC to lighten the weight, the joints are made of a monolithic steel square and steel plates fastened with a bolt and nut.

Hard polyurethane foam is applied to the manufactured skeleton in special casting molds where needed (skull, chest), and flexible polyurethane foam in other forms. Thus, the doll’s skeleton acquires “bones and muscles.” Once it has acquired bone and soft tissue, a final casting mold forms an outer shell of platinum-based silicone. On average, the weight of my dolls is 10-11 kg. It turns out even lighter than a similar livingdoll doll.

Do you give each doll a name?

What would we do without this? Certainly. After all, everything that surrounds us has its own name: be it a typhoon, a collection of furniture or a car. And when working with a doll, the master spends not only his time and work, but also puts his soul into it and worries. A name for a doll is not just a sound, but an image, a character, an individuality.

Do you also sew your own clothes and shoes?

Unfortunately, I don’t know how to sew and I don’t like it. I buy ready-made clothes. Of course, this won't always be the case. I think that in the near future I will dress my dolls in dresses made according to my sketches.

Where, besides the Internet, can I see your dolls, a show room, for example?

Currently, you won’t be able to see it anywhere except the Internet. I don’t have many works yet and everyone has already found theirs new home. And the newly created dolls are exhibited at special trading platforms, or for auction.

Good day!
After much thought, I finally decided to “bring out” my silicone young ladies. I have been making dolls all my adult life, but until recently I was not satisfied with the results, quickly becoming disillusioned with own works. And at the beginning of this year I tried to make dolls from silicone and felt - this is my thing, with this material you can achieve amazing results, although, of course, the path to perfection will be very long and thorny.

While I am at the very beginning of this path, I am developing technology and very often fail, wasting my nerves and expensive material, but I do not allow myself to become discouraged and get back to work.
To date, I have completed three dolls (unsuccessful castings do not count), and the fourth is still in shape and waiting for tomorrow morning, when its fate will be decided. Maybe tomorrow will be a good day for me, or maybe the unsuccessful carcass will go into a box with defective castings. Don't know…

It all started with the creation of a master model. I made it from scratch, studying materials on anatomy. After a month of work, this faceless girl was born, who became the progenitor of all my silicone dolls.

Then there was the dreary work of removing the mold, the first failures with casting, and then two nameless young ladies were born, who, having barely escaped the plaster captivity, hurried to sunbathe in the sun, and at the same time take a photograph for memory. They borrowed wigs from their older friend, didn’t have clothes yet, and put on make-up hastily, just to quickly participate in the photo shoot.

And then it was time for make-up. Working with silicone dyes has its own specifics; of course, I have never worked with them, and therefore I had to experiment a lot, sometimes not very successfully. Then came hair stitching and costume creation.

And now, after a long introduction, let me introduce Ninnet and Sasha, my first silicone girls.

I managed to photograph Sasha only before she went to bed, because the girl looked a little sleepy and had a careless outfit.

Well, the third girl, Kemma, is still not dressed, I’m about to finish her outfit and then I’ll tell you more about her. Kemma deserves such attention - she has a very unusual fate, and life was full of mysterious adventures. After all, this is not just a doll, but a character of two mystical stories, but I'll tell you about this next time...

Maximum realism of silicone sex dolls is achieved not only due to the detailed appearance and body structure, but also due to the special mobility provided by a high-strength metal skeleton. It works on the principle of human anatomy and assumes all the poses that our body can assume. Absolute similarity, everything is thought out to the smallest detail! The joints rotate and bend, the limbs repeat all natural movements, every finger works, there are possibilities of turning the body, tilting the head, raising the arms and fixing in each pose.

Here is the skeleton itself silicone doll(click on the picture to enlarge). It can support 150 kg of weight. On the feet you can see supports that give the doll the ability to stand on its own. If you choose a doll that does not have “standing legs,” then the skeleton will not be equipped with these details and adjustments will be made to the center of gravity of the skeleton.

Do not force your doll into unnatural positions to avoid breakage. The pictures show the capabilities of our dolls' bodies.

With every month and year of production, the functions of sex dolls become better and better. For example, the latest released models have a special skeletal design that allows you to stand without metal support in your feet, and the neck joint has been replaced with a hinged one. The articulated joints do not creak when moving, and they increase the strength of the doll's neck. Additionally, the wrists and ankles are also fully articulated.

The following dolls have a different head mount, more modern, which embody more realistic head movements. You don't need to screw your head in. Instead of a screw-in mechanism, there are connections like plugs. You just need to click to connect the head with the neck, and that’s it. The joints are modern, more advanced.

And these dolls, in addition to a plug-in head mount and an improved skeleton, have added shoulder movements. The shoulders can be moved back and forth and up and down (shrugs).

Hello! I invite you to follow with me step by step the creation of this doll:

Doll "Fly!" made of paper glue, painted with acrylic. The height of the composition is 27 cm, width is 25 cm.

There are a lot of photographs, so I divided the master class into several parts. In the first part I will show how I sculpted the doll's head, painted it and glued the hair. Many stages of sculpting the head of this doll are similar to those that I showed in MK for a souvenir doll:, but there are some differences.

Paperglue,

Stacks or dental tools for sculpting,

Water to moisten the material,

Medium and fine-grained sandpaper for surface treatment,

Brushes for smoothing hard-to-reach places,

Dried wet wipe, nylon tights or polishing sandpaper for final smoothing.

Let's get to work.

1. Roll a ball out of foil. It will be a blank for the doll's head.

2. I compact the ball. You can roll it on the table.

3. I mark the place under the eye sockets. Wooden stick in all subsequent photographs it is used to fix the head in in the right position, she does not take part in the work

4. I prepare paper glue - the volume of the material ball is approximately equal in size to the volume of the foil ball.

5. Roll out the Paperglue into a flat cake about 5 mm thick.

6. I wrap the foil ball tightly in Paperclay. I make sure that no voids form between the clay and the foil.

7. I select the area of the eyes and the bridge of the nose in the place where I made a notch on the foil ball. I correct the shape of the head, outline the back of the head, the crown, the jaws.

8. I press the eye sockets with my fingers.

9. Using a toothpick, I outline the mouth.

10. Moving the material over the face, I outline the nose and chin. I just move the clay in the right direction. From the cheeks - to the nose, to the chin.

11.I attach a small “potato” from Paperglue in the nose area.

12. I add a strip of material to form the lower lip under the mouth opening, and apply triangular clay cakes to the bottom of the cheeks around the smile.

13. I smooth it out and apply paper glue.

14. I add material to the cheeks and cheekbones. I shape the nostrils, the wings of the nose, and correct the shape of the lips. I check the symmetry and, if necessary, adjust the volumes.

15. I smooth it out and apply the clay.

16. I place paper glue balls in the eye sockets.

17. I apply it and add thin strips of Paper Glue under the eyes to form the lower eyelid area.
18. I smooth and smear the material.

19. Add strips of paper glue to form the upper eyelids. I want my character to have “cartoon” eyes in the shape of a semicircle, so I shape the upper eyelids in the form of a wide and high arc.

20. I straighten and adjust the shape of the upper eyelids.

21. I add clay above the upper eyelids from the outside. I place thin strips of Paperglue under the eyes, from which the lower eyelids are formed.

22. I apply and smooth the material.

23. Place a large piece of clay over the eyes to form the forehead.

24. I apply and smooth the material.
25. I outline the ears, the lower edge will be located at the level of the tip of the nose, the upper - approximately at the level of the upper border of the eye.
26. I shape and work on the ears - in this work I highlight only the curl, lobe and tragus of the ear. I smooth it with a brush; it’s uncomfortable for me to work with stacks in the ear area.

27. I sculpt and smear the neck.

28. Drying, sanding, polishing the doll’s head.

I paint the doll's face.

- artistic acrylic,
- thin synthetic brushes (000),
- tea for toning,
- palette (I have a faience plate without a picture),
The head is prepared for painting, sanded and dried.
The whites of the eyes are covered with white acrylic.

1. I tone my hair with tea. To do this, I dip my head in a solution of strong black tea for 5 seconds, take it out, and dry it. The color must first be checked on a sample so that there are no unpleasant surprises.

The workpiece after drying.

2. I cover the whites of the eyes with another layer of acrylic and dry it. You can apply acrylic after tinting with tea, I do this earlier so that the color of the whites of the eyes is not snow-white, but has a light beige tint.

3. I again tint my hair with tea to get a more saturated color.

4. I outline the iris of the eye with a pencil. This should be done with barely noticeable lines, I drew The lines are bold so that they can be seen in the photo.

5. For painting I use acrylic in the following colors: burnt umber, FC green, light ocher, medium yellow, black, zinc white, cinnabar.

I mix green paint and light ocher and paint the iris evenly.

6. I add white to the resulting color, paint the lower and middle parts of the iris. The brush moves in an arc, repeating the shape of the iris.

7. I lighten the paint even more and paint the lower left part of the iris.

8. I depict the pupils. You need to make sure that the eyes “look” in one direction, the pupils are the same size and round in shape.

9. I darken the upper part of the iris. To do this, I add a microscopic portion of black and burnt umber to the tone that was originally used to paint the iris.

10. And once again I highlight the lower part of the iris, apply a couple of strokes of almost white color. To obtain it, I strongly dilute the color that I used in step 7 with white.

11. I tint the whites of the eyes - I create a shadow from the upper eyelid. I dilute a small amount of black acrylic with white and apply the resulting tone to the upper quarter of the eyeball. The closer to the upper eyelid, the more intense the shadow; the further away, the less it appears.

12. I paint over the lash line on the upper eyelid. I use black acrylic, whitewash, burnt umber and light ocher.

13. I add highlights. You should try to place them symmetrically and at the same height, the highlights should be the same size.

14. Using a pencil, I outline the position and shape of the eyebrows. The pencil lines should be barely noticeable. I pointed them tightly so that the lines were clearly visible in the photo. I like to place my brows very high, in fact they should be almost twice as close to the eye.

15. I paint my eyebrows. I use burnt umber, light ocher, and whitewash. I use several tones of different intensities. I paint the eyebrows with short strokes that follow the hair growth lines. After the doll got hair, I had to change the color of the eyebrows. This color did not suit red hair at all.

16. I paint my lips. First I applied an even, fairly intense color, using white, cinnabar, a little ocher and umber.

17. I tint the lower eyelid along the lash line. I use a shade slightly darker than the overall complexion tone.

18. I create teardrops in the inner corners of the eyes, darken the nostrils and ear cavities, and lighten the inner parts of the upper eyelids. I slightly darken the lower part of the eyeball.

19. I darken the wings of the nose, the area under the corners of the lower lips, under the chin, behind the ears. I lighten the back of the nose.

20. I lighten the lips (I dilute the tone with which I covered them with white). The most convex parts of the lips will be the lightest, the indentations will be darker. I apply blush to the cheeks, cheekbones, earlobes, tip of the nose, chin, forehead.

21. I make the blush on the cheeks more intense.

The face is painted, now I start gluing the hair.

To work you will need following materials:

Hair for the doll (tresses, yarn, ribbons, etc.),

Glue Moment Crystal transparent,

Toothpicks or gypsy needle (straighten strands, remove excess glue),

Scissors.

I choose the color, decide on the hairstyle.

I start gluing the hair from the back of the head, moving from bottom to top.

I showed this process in detail in this MK: I will briefly duplicate the gluing steps.

1. Since the boy's hair is short, the lower strands will also be short. In this photo, three rows of hair are glued to the head.

2. The upper strands are a little longer, this is necessary for the hairstyle to be voluminous at the back of the head. The fifth row of hair is glued.

3. I shape the temple area, glue thin strands, starting with the lower and shorter ones, gradually moving upward. I ended up with three rows of hair at my temples.

Rear view - the seventh row of hair is glued.

Front view - 7 rows.

4. Now I glue the strands closest to the face, form a hairstyle, parting. Now there is a bald spot behind the facial hair.

5. I fill the entire space behind the bangs, glue the strands of hair tightly and thickly, moving towards the top of the head. The hairstyle is ready.
As I already wrote, later I changed the color of the eyebrows and highlighted the fold of the upper eyelid, after which the doll’s face began to look like this:

Now you can begin to form the frame for the doll.

For work we will need the following materials and tools:
- wire (I have a knitting wire with a cross-section of 1.2 mm),
- electrical tape,
- tapeplant,
- paper,
- pliers,
- scissors.

Let's get to work.
1. At the first stage, I prepare five to six pieces of wire; the length of the pieces relative to the size of the head is visible in the photo. Approximately, we will need three pieces of wire about 50 cm long and two about 30 cm long (for arms and legs). If the wire turns out to be longer than needed, it's not a big deal. You can always bite off the excess length with pliers.
2. I shape a piece of wire about 50 cm long, as in the photo (the letter “P” with a tail on top). The top element will be located inside the doll's neck.
3. I shape the wire as in the photo. On the left is a blank for the doll's hands. On the right is a large arc for the body, a small arc for the doll’s legs.

This is how they will be located in the frame:

4. For structural rigidity, I intertwine a large arc with the first element (the letter P").

5. I intertwine a small arc in the same way with the workpiece from step 4. I attach my hands. I fix the workpiece firmly and securely. I use thin wire and electrical tape to secure it.

6. I fold the remaining workpiece in half in the shape of a narrow arc. The upper element of the arc is attached to the doll's neck area, middle part forms the buttocks, the ends of the wire are still free (on the right in the photo).

7. We wrap the free ends of the wire around the horizontal jumper in the pelvic area. We bring them forward and lift them up. We attach the tails of the wire on the sides of the neck. Thus, the volume of the abdomen and sternum was outlined.

This is what the frame looks like from the front:

Now you need to carefully fix the wire in the neck, shoulders and pelvis. You can glue it with epoxy or wrap it with thin wire and insulate it.
After this, you can begin to gain body volume.
To work at this stage, you will only need toilet paper, tape and sewing thread. I tear the paper lengthwise into strips of different widths with my hands. Wider strips can be used to wrap the body, and narrower ones for the limbs.

So, let's get to work.
1. Big lump toilet paper I place it inside the doll's body. I compact the paper tightly.

2. I wrap strips of paper around the body, grabbing the shoulders one at a time. I fix the winding with thread. When wrapping, I stretch the paper so that it fits as tightly as possible.

3. I continue to increase the volume of the body, carefully compacting each new layer of paper, pressing it, and wrapping it with thread.

4. In the area of the buttocks and tummy I increase the volume.

5. I move on to gaining volume of the limbs. Using narrow strips of paper, I tightly wrap the doll’s legs and arms. I move from the body to the free part of the limb and back, placing the coils diagonally. I fix and compact each layer with thread. I repeat this procedure several times. It is imperative to ensure that the arms and legs flow smoothly into the body. To do this, each time you wind your hand in the upper part, you must also grab your shoulder. And when wrapping the thigh, grab the area of the buttocks and lower abdomen. And be sure to secure each new layer of paper with thread.
When the preliminary volume has already been collected, you can play with the workpiece. It’s also better to finally decide on the pose now; it will be more difficult to do later.

6. I give the workpiece the selected shape. I’m finishing up gaining body volume. I no longer work with legs below the knee and forearms at this stage. These body parts will be sculpted from Paperclay.

7. When the volume of the workpiece has been completely filled, I wrap the body with tape, leveling and compacting the surface. I wrap my arms and chest area first, then the lumbar area. I wrap my legs last.

That's all, next we will work with the sculpted part of the arms and legs.

Paperglue,

Dental instruments or sculpting stacks,

High quality instant glue

Dried damp cloth for ironing,

Water for moistening the workpieces,

Tea for toniroki,

Medium and fine grain skins,

Taplenta.

I start by sculpting the doll's hands. You can see the process of sculpting a pen in detail here; in short, it looks like this: First, I sculpt four sausage fingers and outline the nails.

I sculpt my palm into a rectangle.

I sculpt and attach a carrot thumb. I will correct all unevenness and inaccuracies after the pen has dried, but now I need to give my fingers the intended position.

I also outline the lines on the palm and phalanges in a raw way.

These are the handles after drying, they still need to be sanded and the shape adjusted.

It is more convenient and easier to work on sculpting both handles at the same time, then they will turn out to be equal in size. The size of the handle relative to the doll's head.

While my hands are drying, I move on to working on the doll’s body. I gradually gain volume in the legs, drying the intermediate layers of material. I outline the feet.

I'm trying on my hands. On the wrist side there are holes in the handles into which the forearm wire enters.

I clean my forearms from excess paper and tape. If necessary, I adjust the arm length.
I glue the wire into my hands using instant glue.
Gradually, in thin layers, I gain volume in my arms and legs. To ensure that your hands adhere well to the forearms, I first moisten them. I dry each layer of paper glue.
Now you need to gain the missing volume in the upper parts of the arms using tape.

I'm working on shoes.

I skin the legs and arms, first using medium-grained skin, then fine-grained. I polish lightly with a dried damp cloth.

After this, I tint the completely dried, sanded body blank with tea. I dip it in a solution of strong tea for 5 seconds, take it out and dry it thoroughly.
After the body blank has dried, I repeat this procedure again so that the tone becomes more saturated and equals the tone of the doll’s head.

The photograph gives the impression that the doll's arms and legs are colored unevenly. This is not true; when the body dries, the color will even out. But when tinting a doll in this way, you need to ensure that there are no tea drops or stains left on the wet blanks after dipping into tea. Otherwise, when drying, these areas will become darker. I use this feature to darken certain areas of the skin - areas around the elbows, elbow crease, behind and under the knees, wrists, base of the thumb, etc. I also used acrylic (umber + whitewash + tea solution) to darken and tint the body. Using a thin, semi-dry brush, I worked on the areas between the fingers, the phalanges of the fingers, and outlined the elbow bend, popliteal area, ankle bones, kneecaps, etc. more clearly. On the contrary, the protruding muscles of the arms and legs were slightly lightened, and the doll’s fingertips and palms were given a slight pinkish tint.

After the body has completely dried, we move on to making clothes.

First of all, I sew a doll cover from flesh-colored knitwear. It will not be visible after the doll is dressed, but I will know that under the suit the boy looks decent and neat). If this point is not so important for you, you can skip all the points that relate to the knitted cover and go directly to creating the doll’s costume. I’ll tell you how I dressed this doll in the final, fourth part of MK.

For work we will need the following materials and tools:

Sewing threads, scissors, sewing needles,

Hot glue,

Monofilament,

Nude knitwear,

Acrylic for coloring shoes.

I must warn you, I have poor command of sewing terminology, if I name any operation incorrectly, please correct me.

Working on the case:

1. I prepare suitable knitwear. I liked this color. I will sew the cover without creating a pattern, applying the fabric directly to the doll’s body.

I cut a rectangle of fabric, the width of which is approximately equal to the circumference of the body at its widest point, the height is a couple of centimeters greater than the distance from the knees to the doll’s neck. I cut the fabric from bottom to top in the middle to the height, equal to the distance from the knees to the doll's crotch (pants).

I cut the fabric from top to bottom in the places where the doll's arms will be located. I determine the height of the cut by trying the fabric on the doll’s body, slightly stretching the knitwear. Average upper part the canvas will be located on the doll's chest, and the narrow left and right parts will be on the back. There will be a seam running down the middle of the back. You can see from the photo what I mean. I hemmed the bottom of the future panties with a basting stitch. I could not have done this, they were not useful to me)

This is how the cover will be located on the doll’s body:

I turn the body over, pull on the knitwear, wrapping it around the doll’s body, and sweep away the details of the cover in the middle of the back. I pull the fabric down from the back and stomach, and temporarily fasten it between the doll’s legs to correctly determine the location of the shoulder seams. While stretching the knitwear, I baste the shoulder seams. I make sure that the fabric is positioned evenly, without wrinkles, sagging or excessive tension. I cut the stitches between the doll's legs, in at the moment I don't need them anymore.

I cut off the excess material and finish the shoulder seams.

I do the same with the seam on the back. I cut off the excess material close to the seams and rip them out. I use a hidden seam to connect the parts of the cover.

Now I'm working on the bottom of the case. The pants turn out to be very wide, you need to make darts and remove excess material. At the back I collect the excess fabric into two darts and lay basting seams. I also connect the parts of the panties between the doll’s legs with basting seams, stretching the material. I cut off the extra length of my pants.

I cut out the sleeves, determine the length and width of the sleeves by applying a piece of knitwear to the doll’s body. The width is approximately equal to the circumference of the arm, the length is slightly greater than the distance from the edge of the shoulder to the expected length of the sleeve.

I sew the sleeves into “tubes” and put the dolls on my hands. I'm working on the seams on my pants.

I cut out the trouser legs in a similar way.

I sew the sleeves and legs to the cover.

I try on the head and determine its exact position.

I cover the shoes with acrylic. For now I’m using green FC + light ocher, I’ll adjust the shade later.

I glue the doll's head using hot glue, trying to work carefully so as not to stain the knitted cover. I immediately remove protruding excess glue using a thin knitting needle.

I decorate the neck of the cover using a two-layer strip of knitwear. I sew it on with a hidden seam.

The doll's underwear is ready, you can move on to creating a suit.

Lyudmila Dunaeva (Children of Dreams

Update: I added a few photos here. For liveliness.

Apartment renovation is natural disaster. Some argue that the number of survivors of such a cataclysm can be counted on one hand; it’s just that the Ministry of Health is hiding the real statistics of civilian deaths as a result of local overhauls. Therefore I can be proud twice:
1) I survived.
2) I didn’t throw away the unused tubes along with the waste. silicone sealant.

Upon calm examination, it turned out to be suitable for more than just seams in the bathroom. Still in a somewhat altered state of consciousness (for this is the only way to explain the insights that befell me), I discovered several more ways to use of this material. It turned out that it can be worked with both by casting into molds and by sculpting; it is quite unpretentious in work, strong and durable in quality finished product. The main property - elasticity, which plastics and other materials for modeling and modeling lack, gave me the idea to fulfill my childhood dream of a flexible doll without seams, hinges and textiles. I made my first elastomeric dolls from construction silicone sealant.

The time has come to share transcendental experiences. So.

Introduction.
Types of silicone sealants.

Construction silicone sealants are:
- acetate, that is, acidic (they stink of acetic acid, which is a product of vulcanization (hardening); you can determine it by smell, or by the inscription on the tube (or tube): on acetate sealants it is either written that they are acetate, or it is simply not written on them, that they are neutral)
- neutral
Neutrals, in turn, are divided into:
- oxime
- alcoke (alcohol)
again, according to the vulcanization product. They say this is an incomplete list, but in principle this is no longer important.
Oxime sealants are cheaper than others, but they are already being phased out because the substance they release - oxime - is a carcinogen.
Alcoke sealants release during the curing process methyl alcohol. It’s also nice, but in order to inhale even to the point of a slight headache, you need to sit with your nose in the material in an unventilated room for several hours in a row.

After completion of the vulcanization process, all silicone sealants become environmentally neutral. Therefore, the choice of material is important, first and last, only for the health of the master himself and his household.

So, I think it's pretty clear that we don't really need a neutral oxime-curing sealant. Inhalation of acidic fumes may cause injury to the mucous membranes if the product is intended to be used large size. I'm not even talking about instant metal corrosion, which is bad for frame products. But methyl alcohol in small concentrations, on a balcony or under a hood, is almost not scary for us, especially if you stock up on a gas respirator (a mask that filters fumes. The cost on the Internet is somewhere around 220 rubles, I don’t remember exactly, I haven’t used it for a long time).
The only problem is that neutral sealants do not indicate whether they are oxime or alcox. Unless the cheapness and the word “quick-drying” should be alarming: in theory, this is a sign of oxime. It took me a couple of hours of digging on the Internet to find out the fact that neutral sealants from the company "Macroflex", with which I actually worked, are still alcoholic. However, I also work with acetate “Macroflexes” if the product does not require a lot of material.
Sealants are sold in construction stores and in the construction departments of hypermarkets. They come in tubes and tubes. The cost of a tube (400 grams) uh... to be honest, I don’t remember. Last winter, a tube of Macroflex cost from 170 rubles. It was enough for me for two 1/6 scale dolls (Barbie size).
Must be purchased for the tube special gun for squeezing the sealant out. Pistols come in blue and red. Red ones are good. Cost 54 rubles. The blue ones are cheaper, but you don’t need to take them: your nerves aren’t real, and it’s not good to swear.
However, I do without a pistol at all if I need to. small quantity sealant (for example, on doll shoes - we’ll talk about them next time). I press the bottom with any long hard object like tailor's scissors, a toothbrush or a chisel (whatever comes to hand).

The main thing: do not forget to close the lid tightly after squeezing out the desired portion. Silicone sealants cure under the influence of ambient humidity.

Construction sealants Today there are five colors: translucent colorless, black, white, beige and brown.
I always have a set of four colors (except beige). Mixing them together in different options in itself it gives a good palette, but, of course, this is not enough. Fortunately, sealants work very well with dyes. For which I personally use expired or simply cheap cosmetics from the series “that no one will approach in the store.” Cash register owners at Auchan are not supposed to experience any emotions other than joy at the sight of another customer, but I hope that my visits bring nice variety. Of course, because I don’t explain why I need forty-three boxes of Marilyn eyeshadow, eighteen jars of Fennel powder and two bottles carrot juice"Teddy".
What does juice have to do with it? Just for the beauty of the composition. And I also drink it.
Of course, I use powder so that I don’t have to worry about reproducing different skin tones when making a doll. And shadows are mainly for drawing on the finished product.

Basic methods of work.

As already mentioned, sealants can be handled in different ways. You can sculpt, you can cast into molds, you can brush on different surfaces.
For sculpting a sealant mixed with some filler is used. I like to use starch. I accidentally discovered a pack of corn starch, so I... You just have to take into account that the density and elasticity of the finished product depends on the amount of filler: the more filler there is, the denser and less elastic the product turns out after hardening.
Even when mixed with filler, sealants remain quite sticky. But no problem. Vaseline or glycerin applied to fingers large quantities, makes it easy to solve the problem. Oils do not affect the quality of silicone in any way, since oil is still used in the sealant as a plasticizer.
Which is amazing. Even after the product has cured, new layers (no matter pure silicone or mixed), if they are necessary for finishing appearance, are applied to the frozen surface seamlessly and stick tightly. Even if I didn’t bother to degrease anything there first.

Example of a sculpted model:

For casting into molds Either pure sealant or diluted sealant is used. The most common type of mold is plaster. To prevent silicone from getting stuck in them forever, various release agents are used, which are applied to the molds before pouring silicone into them. I use regular Vaseline. In molds, construction silicone hardens completely in two to three days, depending on the size of the product. My largest products were, as already mentioned, dolls up to 30 cm tall. Therefore, I cannot say how long it will take for a life-size pumpkin to dry.

Akhtung. The main disadvantage of sealant for sculptors is its shrinkage. Even undiluted sealant, after curing, will shrink over time, which can significantly adjust the artist’s plan, by the way, not always for the worse. The effect is corrected by applying a new layer. The shrinkage of diluted sealant increases in direct proportion to the amount of thinner.

I use white spirit to thin sealants. Xylene will most likely work too. Thus, in particular, I make mixtures for painting (a drop of sealant, a teaspoon of white sprit, Marilyn eye shadow/Ruby Rose blush), since you can only paint a silicone product with silicone. No, I don't believe in acrylic. I heard it, but I don't believe it. After painting, wash brushes with the same white spirit).

Application by brush on various surfaces. Of course, it is absolutely impossible to apply undiluted silicone with a brush, no matter what. Therefore, after application, the surface is smoothed by hand - using the same glycerin or Vaseline. Construction sealants are completely indifferent to latex, so you can work with thin medical gloves. But nitrile or neoprene are better, because the latex from the sealant melts a little.
As you might guess, I regularly forget about safety precautions. However, after I once accidentally tasted epoxy resin in a creative reverie, everything is already purple for me. But the skin on your fingers gets rougher from fiddling with silicone, and your manicure gets ruined, that’s for sure. So beware.
I usually apply silicone to fabric to imitate leather: for the cover of doll books, for handbags or shoes. After the outer layer has set, impressions can be made on the surface - patterned or simply textured.

Here, for example, is a book and shoes:

(Girl's shoes are made of a different material)

I am sure that the techniques I have listed are only part of what you can do with this wonderful material. But I pass the baton of research to you, go for it - and more and more new horizons will open up before you.

Technical characteristics of products made from silicone sealant. Repair methods.

This is perhaps the most inspiring section of the lecture.
Because products made from this material
- do not melt even with a soldering iron
- do not respond to household chemicals, including solvents.
- do not stain from fabrics (felt pens, ink)
- do not age like some other elastomers
- don't fight
- do not scratch
- environmentally neutral
This positive series has its downsides. As many have already understood, since these products do not scratch, it means that they cannot be sanded or, say, melted to smooth out surface defects. This is only possible by adding a new layer, which is not always good, and therefore working with silicone sealants requires a certain dexterity and a fair amount of precision.
Dolls made from construction silicone have a limited, although quite large, degree of mobility. The fact is that sealants have a low “elongation to break” coefficient and a fairly high degree of rigidity (according to my personal feelings, about 25 Shore A units). As a result, attempts to raise the doll's arms up often ended in tears in the armpits. The only consolation was that to correct such damage, the owner did not even need to send the doll to me. Silicone sealant adheres perfectly to the same sealant, and the number of survivors after overhaul is still suspiciously large: many people have unused building materials lying around in their closets. Therefore, playing hospital online was even fun sometimes.
And in nature there is a wonderful cyanoacrylate glue “Moment - Super-Profi” in triangular bottles. According to safety precautions, if a drop of it disappears on the skin, you should immediately call a priest to the house for confession and last parting words, because nothing else will help the victim. So, this “super pro” is simply ideal for repairing products made from silicone sealant. To be honest, I was absolutely sure that it would glue everything in the world, but when I finally betrayed the flexible sealant with capricious medical compounds, I was terribly disappointed, because...

The first fruit of my betrayal: