How to Make Elastic Jointed Dolls

Make the Doll's Head

• 1

  Draw your doll's head design onto a sheet of paper, making sure it is in-scale. Draw a front and side view of the head. At the base of the head, make a slight concave curve where the neck piece will be inserted.

• 2

  Cut the doll's head shapes from the paper. Draw a line across the top of the skull, so that the top of the skull becomes a separate piece from the rest of the head. Cut along this line. This piece will be the "head cap" piece.

• 3

  Take your Super Sculpey clay and mold an approximation of your overall head and head cap shape. Line the head pieces up with your paper pattern pieces to make sure you are matching the scale.

• 4

  Carve out the inside of the head from the top, where the head cap will attach. Also carve out the neck opening. The clay walls themselves should be no more than 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.

• 5

  Carve and sculpt the features you want onto your doll's face. Smooth out the surface of the head and head cap.

• 6

  Carve out the inside of the head cap. Leave a 1/4-inch-thick piece of clay protruding from the top that is long enough to drill a hole through but still fits inside the main head piece.

Make the Doll's Body and Limbs

• 7

  Draw a design for your doll's torso, including a long neck piece that fits into the head's neck opening. Make at least a side and front view.

• 8

  Add concave curves to the shoulder and hip joint areas where the limbs will be inserted into the body. Cut the patterns from the paper.

• 9

  Mold the torso piece out of clay. Carve out the inside, making sure that there is access to all joints and the top of the neck. Add details.

• 10

  Draw designs for the arms and legs. Make separate pieces for the upper arm, lower arm, hand, thigh, calf and foot. Add the "ball" part of the joint to the top of each piece. Make the lower part of each piece the "socket."

• 11

  Mold the limbs out of clay, following your designs. Carve out the inside of the limbs, making sure that they are hollow all the way through. Add an extra rectangular piece to the joint part of the hands and feet, as you did for the head cap.

Finish the Doll

• 12

  Place the clay doll pieces onto a cookie sheet and bake them in the oven, following the time and temperature instructions on the packaging. When the doll parts have cooled, sand them smooth. You can then paint the doll as desired or leave it plain. You can use acrylic paints to achieve the desired look. Coat the doll with clear acrylic gloss to finish.

• 13

  Cut a piece of string that is twice the length of the doll's outstretched arms and knot the ends together. This is the arm string. Insert this piece into the body, with the knot in the center and the loops sticking out of the armholes. Thread the arm pieces onto the loops and attach the hands to the ends of the loops with small S-hooks.

• 14

  Cut a piece of elastic string that is four times the length of your finished doll. Tie the ends of the string together. Fold the elastic loop in half so that you have two loops and tie the top together. Slide a large S-hook through the knot at the top. This is the body string.

• 15

  Insert the body string into the torso through the neck opening. Make sure that the knot sticks out above the neck and the loops stick out the leg holes. Thread the leg pieces onto the loops and then attach the feet to the ends of the loops with small S-hooks.

• 16

  Place the head onto the neck and then attach the head cap to the S-hook above the neck.