Johnston Original Art Dolls

Thanks my dear friends for your kind words and for attending the free online press mold class on the 10th of November. I will be giving the same class again on the 17th. To register, just write me at jack@artdolls or call me toll free at 800-290-9998. We had over 250 artists sign up for the class. We don't know how many signed in, but we did have over 9,000 hits to our website in the last 24 hours. That isn't a record, but it is one of the busiest days we have ever had. I've decided to give away a free online class once a month until the economy improves. I plan to teach a free Baby Doll Head class on the 1st of December and again on the 8th. Just call me if you wish to register. 800-290-9998 Your friend in doll making. Jack

You can register for the 17th of November by calling toll free 800-290-9998 or send me a e-mail letter to jack@artdolls.com. You may also request a copy of the transcript from the November 10th class. I can send you an attachment without charge. Good luck, Jack

THE LECTURE FROM MONDAY NIGHT THE 17TH OF NOVEMBER IS INCLUDED ON THIS PAGE... FEEL FREE TO DOWNLOAD IT OR WRITE ME PERSONALLY AT JACK@ARTDOLLS.COM FOR A FREE COPY. YOU MAY STILL ORDER ALL OF THE SUPPLIES YOU NEED FOR THIS COURSE AT WWW.ARTDOLLS.COM OR CALL ME TOLL FREE AT 800-290-9998. JACK Welcome to the online press mold class. We have an extraordinarily large class tonight, so please follow along by reading as I type. Hold all of your questions; I will open the class to questions after I finish the lecture. I recommend you have the booklet for making a press mold in front of you. There is room in the margins of the booklet to make notes from my lecture. If you do not have the booklet, just take very careful notes. To make the press mold you will need the following items: small (oven safe) soup bowl, two bars of very soft ProSculpt clay, pre-sculpted head, talcum powder. The head should be made of hardened polymer clay or resin. Open one bar of the very soft ProSculpt package (the color does not matter) and cut it into four to six small blocks of clay. Knead them each for about five minutes or until they are warm and totally void of seams. This may take a few minutes, so do it when you are ready to make the mold; it is best if they are slightly warm from body temperature. Once you have kneaded the bar into smaller balls you may press the balls down into the bowl. Knead the balls together into one thickness in the bowl of about 1 to 1.5 inches thick. Smooth it into the bowl making sure there are no seams in the clay. Slightly cover the surface with baby talcum powder. Once the surface has a very thin coating of talcum powder you may turn the bowl upside down and blow off the excess powder. Before you can put the hardened head into the clay you should fill the nose holes with clay and bake it at 275 degrees. This is to fill the undercuts in the nose to allow the head to come out of the mold easily. The same will be true of undercuts behind teeth or an open mouth. Let the head totally cool before you use it for the positive impression. Press the hardened “positive” head into the soft clay. Press it firmly, straight down until you feel you have it into the clay about 1/2 of an inch deep. Do not let the nose touch the bottom of the bowl. Now that it is pressed down into the bowl you may gently pull it out. You may have to wiggle the head back and forth a little to pull it out of the soft clay. Once the head is out of the clay you may gently re-touch any areas in the mold that do not look like a perfect negative shape. Now that the negative shape is satisfactory, you may put the bowl into a household oven and cure it at 310 degrees for 15 minutes. The purpose of the higher temperature and time is to assure the clay is very hard. The sharper edges of the negative image may turn slightly brown in color, which is expected. Let the bowl and negative image cool to room temperature before removing it from the oven. Allow the bowl and clay to cool for at least an hour after you have taken it out of the oven. You should leave the negative mold inside the bowl over night. The next day you may remove the mold out of the bowl easily. If not just leave it in the bowl; it will make the mold even stronger. Open the second bar of ProSculpt and make another softball of clay about the size of a golf ball. Knead this ball until all of the seams are gone and it is warmed to body temperature. You may now press the ball into an oval shape the same size as the negative shape in the mold. Press the oval ball down into the negative shape firmly until you have filled the negative shape. Gently pull the positive shape out of the mold and place it on a cookie sheet. If it worked well, then you may do another and place it on the cookie sheet too. You should be able to make scores or even hundreds of images. Once the reproductions (pulls) are on the cookie sheet you may retouch them for detail, etc. Cut off the excess clay around the edge of the impression and smooth it with your fingers or sculpting tool. If you choose, you may make the eyes, mouth, etc. more detailed with your sculpting tool. You may even want to vary the look of the mouth or other facial features. If you are going to make the impression into a hanging ornament you should press a “U” shaped piece of wire into the top of the head making a hanger. Cure the reproductions in the household oven at 275 degrees for ten minutes. Once the reproductions are cured and cooled you may complete them just as you would a normally sculpted face. You will have to paint the eyes and teeth with acrylic paint. The cheeks and eye shadow may be applied with China paint powder or facial powder, etc. Now you may apply the hair to your reproduction and finish it to your liking.