Friday, November 11, 2011

Viking doll



This guy is in California at the moment, making movies.

He's got a papier-mache head and soft stuffed body. His arms and hands are felt (the first time I've ever made hands with articulated fingers; it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be) and the rest of him is fulled wool fabric, remnants from a costumer's stash, which I receive on a regular basis from a friend. The tunic has hand embroidery around the edges. The belt, sword sheath and shoes are polyester suede fabric; the shirt is cotton (another remnant-- a coarse homespun-looking fabric called Osnaburg, I think) and his "chain mail" shirt is crocheted from silver-gray nylon crochet cord. His hair and beard are natural llama wool. This is the first beard I've ever made for a doll. I learned a lot. :o)

The helmet and sword are made from Crayola "Model Magic," similar to the Amaco "Cloud Clay" I used on the Sam Vimes doll last July (see earlier post). They're painted and varnished in acrylics.

He was made for a fund-raiser for the National Novel Writing Month challenge.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

He's amazing! This guy is currently sitting on a pile of books, overseeing my word count to make sure I don't get any further behind. I was ecstatic to bring him home from the Night of Writing Dangerously. You did a great job!

Barbara Bell said...

Thank you! I'm delighted to hear from Viking Chris Baty's new owner --friend? housemate?-- Hoping you find him as cuddly as we did here at my house, in spite of his fierce appearance.

If you have any trouble with his helmet (the tips of the horns broke off twice for me, while I was photographing him; I learned not to try to use the horns as carrying handles...) please let me know--or better yet, send it back and I'll be glad to fix it for you. Still learning the limitations of this medium.

Again, thanks for writing!