Anatomy of a Doll: The Fabric Sculptor's Handbook [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Color is the choice of a set of colors that appear to coordinate with each other or to enhance a dominant color..." (more)
Key Phrases: Don Smith, Susanna Oroyan, Les Bricker (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

More than just a dollmaking book, Anatomy of a Doll provides a fascinating overview of the creative process that has gone into dollmaking for centuries. With nearly 300 excellent photographs of her own dolls and those of many other accomplished artists, noted doll expert Susanna Oroyan offers instructions and ideas for a tremendous variety of cloth dolls. Separate chapters are devoted to the head, the body (including hands and feet), body joints, assemblies, and finishing details. There is enough practical information on all aspects of basic techniques to help the novice dollmaker, and even experts will discover an abundance of new ideas. Everyone will marvel at the unbounded creativity reflected in these remarkable figures.

From Scientific American

Dollmaker Susanna Oroyan has made some 500 original dolls. Her book shows in color the diverse work of 100 and more contemporary artist-dollmakers. Like any sensible philosopher, she delays defining a doll for quite a few pages. "I am sure ... I don't know what a doll is. It seems to be a representation of the human figure."

One of the author's own dolls, "Angel," is an 18-inch tangle of airily gleaming wire around a copper chest plate and a solid white head, hands and feet. Another artist has built a colloquy between two life-size half-figures seated at a table covered with real books on the arts. They face each other against a painted, glowering sky, as each points a stylish finger at the other. A third artist has made a far simpler pair of seven-inch "Star Ladies," each a stuffed piece of painted cloth, in five-pointed, hair-flying star shape, all points so artfully extended and curved that the illusion of comic flight is intense.

How would you write an anatomy textbook for so complex an art? This is one. It begins with graded study of the fundamentals--scale, materials, colors, joints, faces. Line drawings show how legs, for instance, can be made to suggest the true complex form. Molding of plastic media; needle sculpture by multiple piercing and tautening a stuffed cloth head; body joints by stitching, tying, hinging, ball-and-socket; wire armatures; draped clothing--all strive to approximate the living body. This is not the place for mere patterns but for a choice of resources presented to the reader, open to the needs of both beginners and experts. Using ordinary cloth, threads, buttons, yarn, one of us has been caught in this net, finding her way to small portraits of character. Your male reviewer has made no dolls yet but has enjoyed this book as a peerless museum guide, as a user's manual of the inventive hand and mind, and as a parable of science. High school needleworkers, artists and their teachers who use Oroyan will soon concur.

In sum, the best learning is doing; feedback from failure is often the path to success; take time and path to suit yourself--but the act of creation is often messy! Success is not won simply by whim...

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Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: C&T Publishing; illustrated edition edition (April 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157120024X
• ISBN-13: 978-1571200242
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #42,156 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #1 in	Books > Home & Garden > Crafts & Hobbies > Dollhouses
  #3 in	Books > Home & Garden > Antiques & Collectibles > Dolls
  #30 in	Books > Home & Garden > Crafts & Hobbies > Toymaking

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite doll making book, January 15, 2001

By	"oakley2" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

You will not find patterns or projects in this book, but you will find thorough descriptions of cloth doll making techniques and inspirational photos of contemporary dolls. I've been designing and making dolls for most of my life, but I didn't realise what was possible until I discovered this book. It's a book that encourages you to discover and celebrate your own creativity.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Definitive Book on Cloth Dolls, October 11, 1999

By	Janet M. Manfred ([e-mail]) (USA) - See all my reviews

The Bible of cloth dolls! A source of inspiration and imagination. When your creative spark dims, a quick peek at the wonderful doll photographs and you are up and running again.

Down to earth, the creativity becomes attainable...if you are a doll maker, a future doll maker, or a doll lover, this book is a must read.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful in depth book on making dolls from cloth.A must!, December 16, 1998

By A Customer

This book covers it all. If you want to make dolls from cloth this book goes into every detail Inspiration galore from famous doll artists. Would also be helpful for armature making for any medium doll maker. This book is a must if you make dolls.!