Marilyn Halcomb - Merrylands, New South Wales, Australia

e-mail: marilynhalcomb@optusnet.com.au

Class Description

In this class you will learn how to needle sculpt and paint a face with “real character”. You will learn how to cover the face of a doll’s head made in advance of the class with a stretch fabric, how to sketch out and shape features by adding stuffing and needle sculpting it in place and how to paint the face. Marilyn will teach you how to use these techniques to create truly distinctive faces and personalities for your dolls.

Techniques to be Covered
• Directional needle modeling—learn how to place stitches so they pull the right way to get the effect you want
• Pre-sculpting with stuffing
• Making a bald head with no stitches showing
• Making ‘real’ eyebrows
• Colouring a face to achieve realism
• How to age a face

Marilyn Halcomb, widely known as Australia’s “Queen of Soft Sculpture”, is well known for her “Real Characters Dolls”. She brings a high level of skill and a wonderful sense of fun to her doll making. Among awards she has received are the NODAAA (National Original Doll Artists Association of Australia) Cloth Doll of the Year Award and a number of First Prizes in Sydney’s Northern Districts Doll and Bear Show. Marilyn is also often called on to judge. While she has worked in other media, cloth dolls have always been her first love. With the variety of materials now available to doll artists, she says that no two dolls will be alike - each one is an individual. She has been making dolls for most of her life and has taught extensively in Australia, the U.S. and Canada. She recently taught at Dollshead Revisited in Queensland, Australia, a Doll Conference which had making doll heads as its focus.

Instructor’s Personal Gallery

(all images used on this page are the copyrighted material of Marilyn Halcomb and are used with her permission)