How to Make a Posable Fantasy Forest Cat

This tutorial follows the process I used to make a posable art doll, including tips, and things that I would do differently if I made a second one. I have been interested in fantasy art dolls for a while, and have wanted to make one, however there are no good tutorials that I could follow, and they are very expensive to buy.

The supplies needed in this tutorial are relatively cheap, (I didn't have to buy anything), and I hope you find it useful!

Tools

• Wire cutters
• Pliers
• Ruler
• Hot glue gun and hot glue
• Black pen or fine-line marker
• Tacky glue
• Scissors
• Polymer clay tools (optional)
• Exacto-knives (optional)
• Paintbrushes
• Super-glue
• Needle

Materials

• Wire (Any wire should work, as long as you can bend it with relative ease)
• Aluminum foil
• Printer paper
• Glass cabochons
• Polymer clay
• Tan fake/faux fur
• Brown thread
• Purple pigment
• Acrylic paints

I created a simple reference drawing that included all of the basic features of my doll, and what color everything should be. I also used this drawing to measure the length of pieces of wire for the armature

1. I measured three pieces of wire (one for the body and tail, one for the front legs, and one for the back legs) using my reference drawing, and made all of the pieces twice as big as it. I then cut them with wire cutters, twisted them together, and shaped them with pliers. (If your wire is thinner than mine, I would recommend twisting multiple pieces together so the art doll can stand up and keep it's shape.) Note the circles of wire where the head and feet will be, these support the polymer clay and aluminum foil, and they help make sure that the feet and head don't twist around or fall off.
2. I then wrapped some aluminum foil around the head, chest, and waist to give the art doll some shape. To make sure nothing broke, I secured the aluminum foil on with hot glue.

1. I sculpted the feet out of polymer clay, using polymer clay tools and exacto-knives. I baked the clay in a toaster oven for the amount of time the package tells you to. Make sure to make slits in the top of each foot so you can stick them on to the end of the wire armature.
2. Super-glue the feet to the armature.
3. I painted the feet with acrylic paints. The color of the foot was supposed to match the color of the fake fur, but I didn't look at the fake fur when I mixed the color so they came out different.

1. First, I colored two pupils on a piece of printer paper with a felt-tip pen. I cut these out with scissors and used tacky glue to glue them in the back of the two glass cabochons.
2. I mixed the purple pigment with tacky glue. (In the picture there are two colors of pigment. I experimented with using multiple colors, but in the end, this didn't work, so I decided to just use one color.)
3. I then painted the back of the glass cabochons using the pigment and glue mixture.

1. I formed a piece of aluminum foil around the head (This will make it possible to sculpt the face around the armature, but then take the face off and bake it in a toaster oven.)
2. I cut two pieces of wire and bent them into a hook shape. (These will support a horns, and make sure they don't brake.) If I were to do this again I would twist a second piece of wire around the first, and bend it so that it would support the second, smaller part of the horn because that part kept braking off.
3. I then sculpted the face (out of polymer clay using polymer clay tools and exacto-knives) around the piece of aluminum foil from the first step in this section while it was still attached to the armature. I added the eyes and wire from the second step in this section into the face before I baked it. (Glass and metal can go in the toaster oven.)
4. Sculpt the horns, and then take the face off of the armature and bake it.

1. The first coat of acrylic paint I did was just brown with white on the muzzle and horns.
2. I then painted the nose light pink, and and green on the horns, with small purple highlights.
3. Glue the face to the armature of the art doll with hot glue.

1. I cut one to two inch thick strips of quilt batting and wrapped them around the torso. I added an extra ball of batting for the torso.
2. I then wrapped the whole torso in even more strips of quilt batting.
3. Finally, I wrapped the legs and tail in more strips of batting.

1. Cut a piece of fur into the shape shown in the first picture.
2. I wrapped the fur around the body, and sewed it with the brown thread in the front.
3. I then sewed the fur as shown in the third picture.
4. Finally, I sewed the fur down the stomach as shown in the fourth picture, and then repeated the third step in this section to sew around the back legs.
5. Note - A nice thing about sewing fake fur is that the fur should cover up the thread, so you shouldn't be able to see it.

1. Cut a piece of fake fur about the size of the piece in the first picture.
2. Sew around the base of the leg as shown in the second picture, and then sew the fur down the leg as shown in the fourth picture.

1. Cut a piece of fake fur as shown in the first picture.
2. I then sewed the tail on following the same steps I used for the legs.
3. To add some finishing touches I hot glued the fur to the head, and used scissors to cut the fur in some areas, and to make the cat a little less fluffy.

1. I drew the outline of the ears in the fake fur and cut it out, I then hot glued on a piece of wire (as shown in the second picture). The wire will allow the ears to bend and change shape.
2. I then glued the ears to the head.