By Julie Mueller and Dyan Lee, M.D.M

Part II: Cleaning and Firing

In Part I, we discussed the many options available to the modern doll maker. We talked about handling the molds, pouring greenware, and soft firing. The selection process is part of the joy of creation. When starting a new doll, your mind’s eye creates a vision and your hands just put it all together.

Probably the most important thing to remember when cleaning greenware (both leather hard and soft fired) is that it is VERY FRAGILE. Treat all pieces as if they were hollow egg shells. Even a slight amount of pressure can cause a piece to crack. Additionally, porcelain has a "memory." Pressure applied at this stage may not result in any immediate breakage. However, when your piece is fired into bisque (porcelain), it will remember the insult and could possibly crack or shatter. Remember: Porcelain greenware has no sense of humor!

Dyan, before you get started I do have a question. Can you tell me the difference between "dry" and "wet" cleaning? Which is better?

This is a subject that can raise heated debate: Dry cleaning vs. Wet cleaning! Everyone seems to have an opinion and there are pros and cons for both sides. I’m only qualified to give you my point of view.

I prefer the wet cleaning method. It eliminates the possible health risk and keeps my studio cleaner. Proponents of dry cleaning claim they get a much smoother and more "perfect" piece of greenware. I am very satisfied with the results of wet cleaning. When the proper time and care are given to cleaning, I am able to achieve beautifully cleaned pieces that are flawless when fired. Regardless, I am unwilling to risk my health by breathing in harmful dust particles.

With that said, prepare your work space by putting an absorbent towel or place mat over a plastic-covered table. You will be working with water and will want to keep it from dripping on the floor. I also use homemade wrist bands to keep the water from running down (or up?) my arms. These are very "classy," I cut the feet out of my daughter’s socks and use the elastic ankle material around my wrists. It works great!

Cleaning Soft-Fired Greenware

The first step is to soak your pieces in water. You can use any plastic pail or bucket for this, keeping in mind the size of the piece you are soaking. One of my students is a nurse and was able to get me hospital patients’ disposable plastic basins. Perfect for doll bodies, arms and legs! I use water at room temperature or slightly warmer (depending on how cold my hands are). Working with greenware will really dry out your skin. To avoid this you can wear vinyl surgical gloves.

Submerge each piece slowly, letting the water enter head cavities at an angle to avoid "glugging." If air is trapped in a head or torso and rapidly forced out by the water, the pressure could cause breakage. Also, be very careful when soaking more than one piece at a time. The water becomes murky and you don’t want to accidentally bang two pieces together in the water. Let your greenware soak for approximately 5 minutes.

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of cleaning, let me list and explain some of the tools and supplies you’ll be using:

•Feather Knife or Exact-O Knife. The Feather Knife is a disposable, light weight knife with a pointed, very sharp blade. The Exact-O Knife (or "hobby knife") has a permanent handle with disposable blades. Exact-O blades are a little more inexpensive to use over the long haul; however, the mechanism that holds the blades does have a tendency to rust. Either tool is equally effective.

•Double Ball Stylus For inscribing, scoring and re-detailing as needed.

•Comfy Scrub or Wet Scrubber This is a finely abrasive pad used in cleaning and smoothing.

•Natural or Nylon Bristle Brushes Used for smoothing and cleaning in the eyes and around features such as the nose, mouth, ears and fingers.

•Eye Setting Tool Used to place round eyes into the eye socket.

•Nylon stockings or surgical lap sponges An excellent tool for cleaning and buffing greenware, especially rounded surfaces.

•Easy-Eye Beveler Used to properly size the eyes.

Let’s start with the head. I am right-handed, so I will rest the head in my left hand. Do not lay the head (or any body parts) on the table to clean. You may inadvertently apply more pressure than intended. Always hold the greenware in one hand and clean with the other.

The first thing we are going to do is clean the eyes – usually the most difficult and painstaking part.

Why start with the most difficult part? Wouldn’t it be wiser to begin with the easier pieces and progress to the more difficult ?

As the saying goes, "The eyes are the door to the soul." If they are not cleaned properly, your doll will not come alive.

The first thing one notices in the doll’s face are her eyes. The time and effort you take in this area will be well spent. If, for some reason, the eyes are damaged and you cannot correct them, you can discard this head and go on to another without having already spent time cleaning other parts of the face.

Start with the Double Ball Stylus and gently score around the eye opening, inside the eyelid. You don’t need to apply pressure. Score in this manner 4-6 times around each eye. If you are heavy- handed in your cleaning and accidentally break off a piece of the eye, this scoring probably won’t help; however, it does help to cut down on small chips.

Now pick up a sharp Feather Knife or Exact-O Knife, the key word being "sharp." A dull blade can definitely cause chipping and breakage to your pieces. I recommend using a new knife or blade every one or two dolls. Holding the head in the same manner, lightly start to slice away the layers of greenware inside the eye opening.

Remember, in Part One, we had already cut out rough eye openings. Now you are going to refine the opening. Don’t rush or put too much pressure on the knife.

As shown in Diagram 1, place your knife in the center of the lower eyelid and gently slice from the center of the eye to the inside corner in one straight, continuous line. Repeat the same procedure from the center of the upper eyelid to the inside corner of the eye.

When you reach the inside corner, stop in exactly the same spot from both the bottom and top eyelid. Do not twist the blade around the corner of the tear duct (if there is one). Twisting can cause chipping. If there isn’t a sculpted tear duct, you will want to cut a clear, sharp corner. If there is, cut up to and around it by lifting your blade. The same applies for the outside corner. Start in the middle of the eyelid and cut to the outside corner, ending the top and bottom cuts in exactly the same spot for a sharp corner.

When cutting, try to hold your knife at a perpendicular angle to the face so that your eyelid will be level. Continue cutting in this fashion, switching back and forth from center to inside corner and then center to outside corner. Continue until the eye has been opened all the way up to the sculpted eyelids. Repeat this procedure for the other eye.

As you work, be sure to keep both your knife and the greenware wet. Remove the build-up of paste by rinsing your piece in the pail of water. When the eyes are cut fully open, it’s time to size them exactly to fit a glass (or acrylic) eye. The doll mold probably came with a "Tech Sheet." This is a sheet or sheets that not only gives you specifications about your doll’s size but also supplies painting instructions. Refer to the Tech Sheet to determine what size eye beveler to use when sizing the eye.

Dyan, what do I do if I do not have a Tech Sheet? How do I know what size eyes to use?
 
 

No problem. When in doubt, hold an eye beveler inside the doll’s head behind the eye and see if it’s the same size, smaller or larger than the eye opening. If it is smaller than the opening, try the next size up. If it is too big, try the next size down.

Doll eyes and bevelers are measured in millimeters, for example, 16mm, 18mm and 20mm. If you bevel with a 20mm beveler you are sizing the head for an 18mm eye (porcelain shrinks when fired). When I bevel eyes, I use slightly different techniques depending on the type of eye I’ll be using. The goal is to have the eyelid thin enough to accept the eye snugly into the socket without gaps.

If I’m working with a round acrylic eye, I’ll finish the beveling with a few turns on a one-size larger beveler to ensure that the eye socket (on the inside of the head) is large enough to accommodate the eye. If I’m working with a flat-back, paperweight glass eye, I’ll use both a size larger beveler to accommodate the larger oval shape of the eye, as well as a beveler several sizes smaller to accommodate the bulge of the paperweight iris.

Our project doll, "Poppette" (by Rose Pinkul Originals), did come with a Tech Sheet. The sheet recommends using a pair of 10mm eyes. However, I prefer larger eyes and have chosen to use 12mm eyes in my version.

As I mentioned earlier, porcelain does shrink when it is "high-" or "bisque-" fired. Specifically, Seeley’s slip, which we used to pour Poppette, shrinks 13.6%. Therefore, if I need an opening to accommodate a 12mm eye, I will bevel using a 14mm beveler (the next size up to allow for shrinkage) and finish with a few turns of the 16mm beveler.

I’m also planning to use a flat-back, paperweight glass eye so I’ll use a tiny 8 mm beveler in the very center of the eye opening to make room for the bulge of the iris. Still holding the head in my left hand I will carefully place the eye beveler inside the head and lightly rest the inside of the face against the beveler. You do not need to apply pressure. The Easy-Eye Beveler is made with a gritty polishing surface and very quickly thins and shapes the inside of the eye opening.

Watch your work very carefully! This is the time when most breakage occurs. It is important to watch both the upper and bottom eyelid, and the inner and outer corner. While the outer edge may be quite thick and need a lot of beveling, the inner corner could already be quite thin and need just a little. If you aren’t watching you can accidentally wear right through a corner of the eye. This part of greenware cleaning can be a little scary, but with patience and practice (those words, again!) you will improve.

What about measuring the eye opening with a doll eye scale? I’ve used those on some antique dolls.

Good question. However, I find that measuring is more important when making reproduction antique dolls where exact measurement is required. I prefer to "eyeball" the eye openings for a modern doll. It is more important for the eyes to "look" right than to actually be the exact sme size.

When your eyelids are evenly beveled and are now only about the thickness of a dime, hold the doll’s eye into the socket to judge the fit. To do this with a flat-back eye, I put a substance called "eye wax" on the back of the eye and stick it to my finger.

If my beveling is complete, the eye will rest comfortably in the socket without gaps between the glass iris area and the eye rim. Again, remember that this eye area will shrink when fired. After it is fired, I want the top of the iris to slide under the upper eyelid and the bottom of the iris to be hidden by the bottom eyelid. Therefore, before firing, the top and bottom of the iris should just touch the upper and lower eyelids. There may be slight gapping at the inner and outer corners. This will disappear when the eye area shrinks.

If your fit isn’t snug, repeat beveling a few more turns as needed. When you achieve the look you want, smooth the front of the eyelid opening with a stiff natural bristle or nylon brush. The brush work will wipe out any knife cutting lines and add a smooth, polished look to the eye area.

Hold your doll’s head away from you, put your hand over the top of the head opening so that the inside is dark and you can clearly see both eyes. Are they even? Turn the head upside down and look at both eyes. Are they the same size and shape? If you find any discrepancies, complete the necessary fine tuning with your knife, and smooth again with a cleaning brush. Voilá! Beautiful eyes!

Now the hard part is done. Use your knife to scrape off any excess seam allowance. Smooth down the seam lines using a comfy scrub or wet scrubber. Use the abrasive side and constantly rub in a circular motion to prevent creating flat planes. Seam lines may remain visible or not. That isn’t important. It IS important not to be able to feel them.

Continue cleaning. You are finished when, with your eyes closed, you cannot tell were the seams were. Use a cleaning brush to clean around the nose, mouth and ears. Using either a piece of nylon stocking wrapped around your finger tip, or a surgical lap sponge, gently smooth and buff the face of your doll. It is very important to eliminate scratches and tiny nicks from greenware, especially the face. When the doll is later painted, the paint will stick in these little hidden areas and magnify the imperfections. I use an Optivisor or magnifying glass for this inspection to ensure that I catch as many scratches and dings as possible. Finally, use the grit scrubber to smooth any rough edges around the head and/or neck opening.

All of the body parts are cleaned in the same manner as the head. Break down the seams with the knife and cut away any excess between fingers and toes. Again, when working between fingers DO NOT twist your blade. Twisting your blade between fingers will very likely cause the loss of one of them. Rather, cut down one side and then the other, meeting at the same spot between the fingers (see Diagram 2). Smooth seams with a continuous circular motion. Use stockings or lap sponges to clean the round body parts and the brushes to clean details such as fingers and toes.

When all body parts are thoroughly cleaned and smoothed, rinse them under clear water. You may use a soft bristle or foam brush to gently brush away any particles. Set these pieces aside to dry. Before placing the dried greenware in the kiln, it is advisable to do one final inspection. Important: small imperfections may show up dry that were not visible when wet. These can usually be quickly buffed away with a soft cloth or your fingers.

Firing

Now you are going to load the kiln. This firing is usually referred to as the "high" or "bisque" firing. The greenware goes through a change know as "vitrification"

This is when it changes composition from a porous clay into a non-porous glassy substance known as porcelain.

Most porcelain will fire to APPROXIMATELY the same temperature; however, even a few degrees difference can cause a substantial change. A few degrees too low and your porcelain will be underfired. A few degrees too hot and it will overfire.

It is best to check with the slip manufacturer to determine the correct temperature. Seeley’s French Bisque Extended Range Slip, the slip used in for our project doll, fires to a true (that is, the temperature on the shelf) cone 6. In addition, as the name says, it can be fired a little too cool or a little too high and still give you perfectly matured porcelain – extended range!

Each kiln has it’s own personality and it will take time working with your kiln to find out if it fires on the high or low side, where the hot and cold spots are, and any other "personality quirks."

Underfired porcelain may look paler in color, have some white scaling, and can create later problems when the china painting. Discoloration of the bisque (porcelain) and small dark specks may also develop when china painting. This is known as a "mildew" effect. Overfired bisque, on the other hand, may develop blisters and high sheens.

Dyan, what can be done if I accidentally over- or underfire the bisque?

Underfired bisque can easily be corrected by re-firing your pieces one cone cooler. If you fired the original load to a cone 6, and your kiln fired cool, you can refire this load to a cone 5 to reach maturity. Firings are cumulative, and will build on top of each other.

If you’ve overfired, you are out of luck. Chuck it out and start again!

Before loading my kiln, I do want to be sure that it’s clean. This can be done using the hand tools on your household vacuum cleaner. Be very gentle cleaning around the kiln elements as they become quite fragile from repeated firings.

Before loading the greenware, I’ll place a thin layer (1/8"-1/4" thick) of firing sand on the kiln shelf. This enables the porcelain pieces to move freely without sticking to the kiln shelf as they shrink during the firing process.

Load the kiln, making sure to keep at least ½"-1" between the pieces. This allows air to circulate freely and to guarantee that pieces won’t stick together if they should come in contact.

Poppette will be fired at a true cone 6. I’ll put a junior cone 7 in the kiln sitter (my kiln is not computerized) and witness cones 5, 6 and 7 on the shelf. Here are two important definitions:

• Junior Cone – A small clay three-sided form that rests in the kiln sitter and is calibrated to melt at specified temperatures. When the desired temperature is reached, the cone melts and the kiln shuts off.

• Witness Cone – A large, usually self-supporting, cone that stands on the shelf with the greenware. When the desired temperature is reached the cone will bend. After the kiln has cooled, you can read the bend of the cone and "witness" if the correct temperature was achieved. For our firing of Poppette, the cone 5 should be completely melted, cone 6 should be at 3 o’clock, and cone 7 should not have started to bend.

A long, slow firing gives the best results. I set the timer for 10 hours. With my peep holes open, I’ll fire at medium for 4-6 hours. Then I will close the peep holes and turn the temperature to high and continue firing until the kiln shuts off. This will take approximately 7-8 hours. I’ll then need about the same period of time for the kiln to fully cool down. Sudden drafts and temperature changes can cause the porcelain to crack or shatter. DM
 
 

Supplies provided by:

Poppette Mold

Rose Pinkul Originals
370 Plantation Drive
Marion, NC 28752
828-652-7430

Tools

Seeley’s
PO Box 669
Oneonta, NY 13820
800-433-1191

ITEM ORDER #
Double Ball Stylus ST05
Feather Knife FEAKN
Comfy Scrub CMFYSCRB
Md Greenclean Brush SBR41
Easy-Eye Beveler EEBSET
Eye Setting Tool ST15
Jr Cones SRB
Witness Cones SSB

Contact your local doll studio for these and more doll making materials as well as information on training seminars.