Articulated Baby

I made this baby because my daughter wanted to play family with her Barbies. But although Barbie has more than one hundred careers, none of them is mom! You could get some babies for Barbie with the sets of babysitter or doctor, but I've been looking for those for months and I haven't found them.

So I decided to make one. Although I've been using polymer clay to make simpler stuff, this turned out so good because of the technique I'll show you.

You don't have to be a plastic artist to make this detailed, movable and cute baby.

Go grab your clay and let's get started!

Polymer clay

Tools for sculpting. I bought mine at the dollar store, they are for fondant. But you can use anything: a toothpick, pencil, pen, forks, knifes... use your imagination.

Pliers

Jewelry staples (tiny metallic beads that you squeeze with pliers)

Elastic thread

A small piece of wire

A small doll

Glue gun

We'll make a mold from the doll. To learn how to make it with hot glue, click here to read my other instructable. There I´ll teach yo how to make a two piece mold, for this face we only need one part of the mold, so it´s easier.

It´s easy, first you have to coat the doll's face with a thin layer of cooking oil. Let your glue gun get very hot, pour a lot of glue over the face, then let it cool.

Once the glue has changed colour (it will be more opaque) you can take out the doll.

Use the mold to cast the face.

With a knife trim the excess.

Make the shape of the belly. It should be slightly bigger than the face.
Add a white triangle at the bottom to make the diaper.

Pierce the diaper with wire where the legs will be attached.

Make two small balls and shape them as the leg.
Bend them slightly.

With wire pierce the top of the leg as shown in the picture.

Make two long cylinders for the arms.
Make the wrist thinner.

Flatten the hand, then cut the clay to form a thumb and mark the rest of the fingers.

Put the arms in their place and pierce with the wire the arms and the body.

Insert a small piece of wire at the top of the body, be careful not to interfere with the hole we made on last step.
Insert the head.

Now it´s time to bake it for the first time.

MMake the parts separated, only the head will be attached to the body.

Put them in a baking sheet lined with paper.

Follow the manufacturer's instructions.

I baked mine for 40 min at 250F

Once it's baked it's going to be easier to sculpt the hair without smashing the face or staining it.

Pick your favourite hair style. Mine will have piggie tails.

Once your happy with the hair, bake it again. but this time only that piece.

Use the elastic to assemble the legs and arms.

Put the staples at the end to secure the parts in place.

If you assemble with the elastic a little tight the baby will be able to hold different positions, with arms up, legs up or even sit down

Good job! It looks so good no one will guess you made it by yourself!