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Porcelain comes in liquid formcalled "slip" and is poured into plaster molds.Pouring porcelain is very crucial. If it is not poured correctly your end product will not be good. After mixing and straining and letting the porcelain rest for 24hrs, you are ready to pour. Make sure your mold has been preped, to assure a good pour. After it has been poured and somtime has lapsed you are ready to empty out your mold of excess slip. When your mold has drained, set aside to dry, to a leather hardness. Once you can pull the mold top off with ease you can gently lift the "greenware" out of the mold and ready to let it dry throughly.
Usually the next day, depending on the weather. Now you are ready to "softfire" you piece.You place the piece in the "kiln". At a temperature of about 1350 degrees. When the kiln has cooled, you are ready to clean.
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Now you are ready to clean your piece. A container of clean warm water, one that will cover the piece and let it soak. Once the piece has soaked for several minutes, take it out and place the piece on an old towel and take the seams off with your "scalpel". After all the seams are cleaned, you are ready to polish and polish. You do not want any scratches. This is also a crucial part of the doll making process. Now is the time to put back any details that might have been polished off. you will need a "Stylus" tool for that. After the piece has dried look for any scratches that you might have missed. If you find any, now is the time to polish again. When you are satisfied with your piece you are now ready to fire.
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Now you are ready to fire your piece. Before you put your piece into the kiln you must put in some "prop". What this does is to prevent the piece from sticking to the kiln shelf. Sometimes it is necessary to put prop inside the piece so that it will distort in the firing. This firing is over 2200 degrees and for several hours. Once the piece has fired to tempature it needs to cool for hours. Usually it is left until the next day. When the lid of the kiln has cooled it is time to prepare it for painting.
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Lets prepare the piece for painting. The first thing is to sand the piece with a "scrubber". After giving it a scrub, soak a cotton ball with alcohol and wipe the piece clean. It may take a few soaked cotton balls to clean the piece. This does two things, one, to remove the dust and prop off the piece. Two, if any cotton ball fibers are left behind you know that you will need to sand that area again. The piece needs to be smoothe and oil free.
After the paint has been mixed it is time to start painting. Start at the top, meaning the eyebrows and when you have the rightand left shadow brow on the way you want, it is time to start on the eyelashes. Do both the right and left, making sure you don't stick your finger in the area you have just painted. Now lets move on to the first coat of paint on the lips and the cheeks. Fire this at around 1350 degrees. When the kiln has cooled it is time for a second coat, then third coat, forth coat and maybe a fifth,sixth coat depending how much you were able to paint the first couple of times.
You will do the same for the limbs and then of course you will make the body if it is a cloth body and set the eyes, eyelashes, and wig.Lastly make or buy the clothes, socks, and shoes. This is an overveiw of creating a porcelain doll. If this peaks your interest, email us for more information.
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