How to Model the Head of a Doll or Figure

Today we have another demonstration in a series of instructional videos from Marisol Romero about cold porcelain. Marisol Romero is a cold porcelain artist from Argentina, where this medium is very popular.

Many air-dry clay projects call for Styrofoam shapes as armatures for figure modeling  In the following video, while at a craft show, Marisol shows us how to wrap a foam ball and model the head of a doll or figure.  She also demonstrates her method for creating eyes, which are normally painted on.

Cold Porcelain Tips from Marisol

Marisol Romero

What is Cold Porcelain?  Cold Porcelain (CP) is a modeling compound that is composed of white glue and cornstarch.  The recipe for cold porcelain is quite simple and it can be made or home or purchased commercially.   CP is a material that can be modeled in small volumes and large. Its characteristics are softness, whiteness and elasticity. CP is known throughout the world, in every region or country, by many different names.  Besides Cold Porcelain, it is known as Porcelana Fria, Masa Flexible, Biscuit, and Pasta di Mais among others.

See this page for recipes and how to make Cold Porcelain video. If you make your own dough, keep in mind that, to be of good quality, the ingredients you use should also be good quality.

Marisol Romero is a cold porcelain artist from Argentina, where this medium is very popular. On her website she shares some of her cold porcelain tips.  Below are some of her tips translated to English as best as we can!

Create a Leprechaun or Elf

This is a step-by-step tutorial to create an elf (or Leprechaun) using cold porcelain.  (He bears a strong resemblance to our mascot gnome...maybe they're cousins!  LOL)   Instructions are in Spanish but there's many photos showing each step.    Google can translate the page for you or you can just follow the photo examples.

Materials needed are:

• Cold porcelain (CP) paste (or other air-dry clay)
• White tempura is used to tint white CP, acrylics may be used
• Oil paints are also used to pre-tint the CP, acrylics may be used instead, if desired.  You can also choose to paint the figure after curing, but pre-tinting usually works best.   Suggested colors are brown (umber), green (leggings), blue (vest), a skintone, and fuscia for shirt.  Of course, if you're making a Leprechaun, you might want to use some other colors.
• 2 Styrofoam spheres (#4) for head and body
• White glue
• paint brushes and clay modeling tools
• a wood base
• hand wipes to keep hands clean

Modeling a Simple Doll Face

In this video, Christina Albuquerque of Brazil shows us how to model a simple face.  This cute doll head has an easy 'button' nose and the eyes will be painted on after clay dries.  Learn this basic face first and then you can customize with different expressions. Christina starts with a ball of cold porcelain that is the same size as the Styrofoam ball that will be

How to Use a Doll Face Push Mold

Baby Face "Scarecrow" Doll by Jorge Rubicce

In this video from the South American TV show "Bienvenidas" (Welcome), Jorge Rubicce demonstrates the proper method for using his doll face push molds.    Rubicce is a well-known cold porcelain clay artist and is designer of these molds, which are much larger than the doll push molds

Sleeping Baby by Wilson Cabral

Today's demonstraton is from well-known clay artist Wilson Cabral. In this video he shows us, step by step, how to create the cute sleeping baby shown above using cold porcelain. Other soft air-dry clays would work as

Flop-Eared Bunny

Use air-dry clay to make this Flop-Eared Bunny.  This is a beginners tutorial and is suitable for many types of air-dry clays.   The softer clays are suggested, such as Makin's Clay, Hearty Clay, Model Magic, Cloud Clay and homemade cold porcelain.  This tutorial is kid-friendly and, with a little help, very young hands could make this bunny!

Step by Step: Skinny Doll with Pink Dress

Art instructor Evelyn Fonseca shows us how to dress a "skinny doll", step by step. Evelyn is from Brazil and narration is in Portuguese. If you don't understand the language, just mute the video and follow along as she demonstrates each step.

Create a Christmas Star with Cold Porcelain

Today we have another excellent video demo from Marisol Romero, showing us, step-by step, how to make a pudgy Christmas star using cold porcelain & a foam ball.  Other air-dry clays would also work well for this easy project, especially the softer pre-colored brands.

Cold Porcelain Petunias

Step-by-step demonstration from Lydia to create some cold porcelain Petunias.   Slideshow instructions are shown in multiple languages, just pause the video when it comes to your language.

Create an Angel (or Witch) for Your Dresser

In the following series of 3 videos, we have a cold porcelain tutorial from Marisol Romero. Step by step, Marisol demonstrates how to model a little angel that is mounted on a wooden stand (which can be used to organize hair bands, etc).

Mrs Santa Claus demo

Cold porcelain video slideshow from Eliane Sol demonstrating each step in creating a Mrs Claus figure and box topper.  Many details are shown for shaping and painting the cute face.

Step-by-Step: 8-Petal CP Flowers

Here's a step-by-step demo for you to create some easy and attractive yellow flowers with Cold Porcelain paste.  Pages are excerpts from the Portuguese language "Biscuit" magazine.   No need to translate...the photos show each step clearly!

Make This Cute Teddy Bear Jar Topper

Cute stuffed teddy bear jar topper made from cold porcelain.   Video narration is in Spanish but each step is clearly shown so it should be easy to follow even if you don't understand what she is saying (just "mute" the sound).