The Really Big Shoe Circus ... It's Spring!!!

Time to meet two of the fantastic crowd living in Clown Alley at The Really Big Shoe Circus!! (Does anybody remember Ed Sullivan and his "really big 'shoe'"?  ... sorry that's for the older crowd).

These little fellers are members of the SugarBelly Clown Troupe.  Now you've heard of Potbellied Pigs and beer-bellied guys, well, the newest diet phenom is the Sugar Belly ... allegedly caused by eating too much sugar which allows those sweet indulgences to deposit themselves right around the ol' midsection.  But never fear ... just remember that we have many legendary Sugar-Bellied heros since our childhood .... Santa Claus (his love of cookies must have contributed to his long life), Winnie the Pooh (his enchantment with honey seemed to give him the cutest little paunchie belly we all love to cuddle him for even to this day), Mr. Fezziwigg and, of course, the Spirit of Christmas Present delighting in his love of abundance (one of the first "foodies") his lovable charisma being stoked with good eats, good wine and good times.

Well, the little SugarBelly clowns love anything sweet.  In fact, they love so much sweetness, they seek anything and anyone sweet or who might need a "sweet" fix of just a great pal and sweetheart of a companion. 

So, here is a little sweet fix for you ... a sneak peek at my first two SugarBellies ... all 9 inches of them ... who will be featured under the Big Top and coming your way in the near future in my Etsy shop:  (www.etsy.com/shop/pollywogpatterns .

There's always time for some sugar, some giggles and even some great belly-laughs, too, right?

The Inside Story ~~ A Visual PeekTutorial on Making Soft Sculpture Dolls

Since I designed my tribute piece to Bob Keeshan as CLARABELL, I've had several inquiries about how the "sculpting" process is done.  I'll show you some pictures of different stages of making Clarabell, the meercat clowns, Rudy and Kazooty, and Alistair the Shy Clown. 

Rudy and Kazooty - Meercat Clown brothers



Clarabell the Clown

Alistair

We'll start with Clarabell.  First I used a man's work sock in tan color.  The toe of the sock is stuffed pretty firmly with batting and tied off at where the neck of the doll should be.  I then pull forward the bridge of the nose and bring in a threaded needle from the back of the doll's head to the left side of the nose and take a stitch.  Then I stitch under the nose bridge to the right side of the nose and take a stitch.  Stitches are made back and forth down both sides of the nose until I come to the top of the nostril area.  A stitch is made from the bridge of the nose at the nostril area down through the nostril and another locking stitch is made in the nostril and back up to the top of the nostril at the side of the nose.  The nostril will then start taking shape.  After that side is done, I repeat on the other side of the nose and make the other nostril. 

As you are pulling the nostrils into shape, you will notice that a slight ridge is forming just below the nostril where a laugh line might be on a real face.  The needle is run under the laugh line, bringing the needle and thread up under the laugh line where the corner of the mouth would be and a stitch is taken here.  Next the thread is run in a single line across the top of the fabric in the mouth area to the other side of the mouth and a stitch is taken where the other side of the mouth would be, under the potential laugh line.

I then draw the threads up the face, under the fabric from one corner of the mouth to the inside corner of where the eye would be, along side of the nose.  The face will begin taking shape and it can be as detailed as you wish.  The pictures below show how the Clarabell face looks when completed with sculpting and before painting.  The meercats are done in a similar way but I used white flannel as the face/head fabric and just pulled the threads in the same way but in a much simplier and less detailed way since these guys are so little and don't need so much detail.  Alistair's head was done with a child's sock.


Faces were painted and then sealed (so paint will be permanent).  This is a very simplified tutorial but I will write a more detailed one at a later date.  The more practice you put in, the easier it will be for you to form the details you want.  Often, I have been surprised at the end result of my work when I started out to do something completely different.  That is how the little meercats developed. 

Have fun and play with the magic!



Clarabell in early stages of soft sculpture

 

Kazooty after face painting



Alistair wip