Book / Doll
Project
By Christine Cox
May 2000Book? Doll? It's a book with pages that
unfold into a doll. Kelly Kilmer (a regular contributor and a friend of
mine) challenged those of us in her semi-monthly "salon" to make a
book/doll. There were no requirements or limitations. The point of the
group is to explore, experiment and stretch our creativity.
I chose to make my book from shrink
plastic. The doll's body parts make up the "pages" of the book.
While this doll is wearing a long skirt and a fancy hairdo, she could just
as easily be wearing pants and a sun hat. Experiment! I'd love to see
scans of your work.
This is a fairly advanced shrink plastic project and some experience would
be beneficial.
Materials:
- 2 pieces black shrink plastic (cut 6" x
3")
- Shrinky Dinks frosted ruff and ready
shrink plastic
- Colored pencils
- JudiKins "Waves" background
stamp
- 3
jump rings
- 3 -
1/16" "long" eyelets
Tools:
- Small scissors
- Heat gun
-
Eyelet tool
- Hammer
- Hard surface (for hammering)
- 3/16" hole punch
- 2 pairs
flatnose pliers for
opening jump rings
Freehand draw a head, torso, skirt and arms
on the ruff and ready shrink plastic. You can use the template accompanying
this article but be aware that it isn't exact. You may have a stamp that
you could use for this. Just be sure to add tabs where necessary for the
eyelets. It is important that the skirt is the same length as the torso and
the head combined otherwise the book will not close correctly and line up. Be
sure that once the doll is folded up she will fit between the covers. Leave a small tab on the neck,
the top of the torso and the arms for the
eyelets. Cut out the pieces.
Decorate the rough side of the
shrink plastic using the colored pencils. This is the back of the doll. Stamp the background image
on the smooth side of each piece using the non-porous surface permanent ink.
When stamping on the torso piece, make a small V shaped mask to protect
the neck portion from the image. Also, mask the hands (which I forgot to
do in the accompanying sample).
Punch a hole in the top of the head, the
neck, the tab at the top of the torso, the top of each arm, the shoulders
of the torso, the bottom of the torso, the top of the skirt and the bottom
of the skirt. Also punch a hole in the center near one edge of each piece of black
shrink plastic. See the template for direction.
Place all pieces into the oven using the
manufacturer's instructions for shrinking. Immediately after
removing pieces from the oven flatten them with the back side of a large
stamp. Set the body parts aside.
Make sure the background stamp is clean and
dry and hold it in one hand. With the other hand, on a hard, flat, clean
surface that can withstand a lot of heat, use the heat gun to heat 1 piece
of the black shrink plastic until it is really soft, hot and
pliable. As quickly as possible hit the plastic with the background stamp
as hard as you can and then press down with all your weight. It is best to
do this standing up so that you get good leverage. Repeat with the other
piece of black plastic. This technique is
called "intaglio" (see sidebar). Use
fine grit sand paper to sand all the edges smooth and to round the corners
or any other shape modification, if desired.
Set the covers aside.
Use eyelets and an eyelet tool to attach
the neck to the top of the torso
and the arms to the shoulders. Do not hammer them so tight that they don't move,
but tight enough that they don't slop around. Use one jump
ring to attach one cover to the top of the head. Use another jump ring to
attach the torso to the skirt. Use the last jump ring to attach the bottom
of the skirt to the other cover. |
