How to Wrap an Armature for Posable Doll

     

Many different types of armatures can be used to form the "skeleton" for an air-dry clay figure.  Some armature styles are used with flexible and poseable dolls and other styles with non-poseable figures.  Probably the most common material used is wire.  You can purchase
regular armature wire in different sizes (gauges) or, for smaller figures, other types of wires are sometimes used.    For more information about armatures read my article "A is for Armature".

The following video by Odd Fae (Dawn Schiller) demonstrates one method of padding the torso of a poseable doll (see above photo) that has clay hands and feet (and a clay head) attached to a wire armature.  Once clothes are on doll, the wrapped torso cannot be seen.

It looks like Dawn is using a combination of quilt batting with either a muslin or batting wrap.    There's no narration or description with the video, so I can't say for sure.   At the beginning it looks like she's re-enforcing the leg and hip area with small dowels or shish-kabob sticks.

For very small dolls, fabric tape is available and works good to wrap wires.  The same kind of tape often used to wrap the wires for Victorian-style fabric lamp shades.

Part 1



Part 2

Autumn Dandy and Purvie by Dawn Schiller