I have now finished sculpting people. If I can mould them (which still remains to be seen, making a plaster of Paris mould for the different parts of dolls that are only an inch and a half tall is not a simple task) I will have 20 new dolls. Some are larger, some are smaller, some will be bendy, some have corseted bodies, some are natural. There are also old people, who I am paying a great deal more attention to than previously, thinking, as I stare in the mirror: how wise older people are, how noble of demeanour, how well writ the experience of age upon the venerable visage, how big their ears are, how well coloured the yellow eyeballs, how extremely deep and well spread the laughter lines – come on Jane, nothing’s that funny, walk away from the mirror, just shuffle away, there is nothing to see here.
So, anyway, now I’m doing all the rest. All the rest will be bathroom fittings, fireplaces and some furniture. This is your chance to ask for what you want. If you have been 48th scaling for a while and always end up asking: why does nobody make a……………..?
I’ll have a go. Porcelain is hard and durable. I can make it simulate stone, marble, enamelled surfaces, and some metals. I can also make it look like some fabrics, I’m planning to have a go at Chesterfield type leather furniture with the buttoned backs. I can even make it look like fabric that is looking like metal. The man dressed up as a robot in a metallic suit here is porcelain:
Porcelain can also appear shiny and then be china painted on top of the glaze, which is what I did for the rolling robots.
And it can simulate different types of hide or skin, or ponies!
The ponies, incidentally, will be proper big horses in 48th scale, as soon as I have a person ready, I’ll show you on a horse, then we can have horses and carts, so appropriate to so many eras.
I will also have a go at the obvious things such as bowls for the kitchen and vases and pots.
The disadvantage of porcelain is that you cannot alter the shape once its made. You couldn’t file it down to fit a corner, for example. You can, however, glue it very successfully because porcelain is porous until glazed so it makes a great glue bond. If I make it unglazed and unchina painted you could paint it yourself too. You can also try antiquing effects.
The gargoyle on the left is plain grey porcelain, which looks very like stone, the gargoyle on the right, which has been glazed, demonstrates the way the deep crevices drink in the colour in a self antiquing way.
You can get a similar effect with unpainted porcelain and ordinary paint by coating the object, washing or rubbing the paint off the surface and then adding another layer of a different colour. So I could supply items for you to finish or I could glaze and china paint them like the twenty fourth scale wall electric fires I already make.
I think porcelain is nicer to paint than metal because it helps you to paint it, whereas with metal the difficulty lies in making the paint stick.
I am going to start today, so please lose no time in telling me what you want. Thinner thighs, a completely different husband or a win on the lottery, I can’t do. Porcelain things for your forty-eighth scale dolls’ house, I’m up for.
What do you want?
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JaneLaverick.com – your heart’s desire.