Making porcelain BJD - Green Jade
After a break in making porcelain dolls, I finally come back with a new sculpt and new porcelain doll! For the last year or so, I dedicated my time to design and write classes about doll making. It was so time-consuming that dolls had to wait a bit. Now, I’m incredibly happy to create again. Meet Green Jade, my newest addition to the porcelain BJD world. Keep reading if you’re interested in the process behind making this ball-jointed doll.
Idea
I wanted to create a doll series about endangered plants. The inspiration came from horticulturist Carlos Magdalena. I came across one of his interviews probably two years ago. Other known as a "plant messiah", C. Magdalena is not only a botanical horticulturist at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, but he's even traveling the world to save the endangered plants. It's incredibly inspiring that he's learning how to cultivate the world’s endangered species before they go extinct.
One of the plants that he’s cultivating, in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is the Green Jade vine - native to the Philippines, it's one of the rarest tropical flowers with striking blue-green petals. Due to the heavy deforestation, factory chemicals being dispersed, this beautiful jade vine is critically endangered.
Green Jade porcelain doll and Green Jade flower as an inspiration
With this project, I don't want to preach or scare you about the ecological problems we're facing. I'm only trying to capture the beauty of nature in one porcelain doll. I hope to analyze endangered plants and some ecological problems and illustrate them using dolls.
Process
For this doll, I’ve decided to do a completely new sculpt (which I called a “Floret” sculpt), make new molds and then cast it in porcelain. That’s why it took me more than a year to complete it!
I’ve started by sculpting a fully functioning prototype from air-dry clay. Filmed and documented every step of the process to use the material for my BJD sculpting masterclass. So if you want to learn every step I took to sculpt this prototype, check the masterclass!
When the prototype was complete, I had to make plaster molds. It took me about a month since I do other doll-making projects as well. When the molds were ready - the casting began. If you want to read more about firing porcelain dolls in the kiln, check this article I wrote earlier.
Painting is probably one of the most exciting parts of porcelain doll making. You observe how the doll becomes more and more alive with each layer of China paints. It took me 7 layers of paint to achieve the result I was happy about. Have in mind that each layer has to be fired in the kiln! It can be very time-consuming, but all the layers make this doll look exquisite.
Costume
In my opinion, the costume really brings the idea of the doll together. You can manipulate fabrics, beads, lace and other details to create something that reveals the doll in all of its glory. This time embroidery and beading took the longest time. I think I've used more beads than with any other doll. The variety of them is also the most prominent!
I’ve tried to convey the beauty of the Green Jade flower in the costume of this doll. My main task was to make a doll that symbolizes this stunning plant and becomes a protecting Nymph of it. Do you think that I succeeded?