Dollieh Sanctuary

Penny wooden, Dutch doll, what ever. I'm using basswood, the pattern from Susan SIrkis' Wishbook volume 2 with 1830s clothing, and trying out tips on the Dremel before finishing by hand. The head-body block will be cut in half and set aside for a friend. Pine might have been softer but doll and puppet makers use basswood a lot because it's fairly tough. She'll be just under 1 foot tall when finished.

This is really cool. I can't wait to see your progress, if you'll be posting it!

A working knee. Now to get the other one to do this. I'm definitely doing the joints before refining the forms incase I make a goof. She's not meant to stand so she'll be a bit floppy.

Elbows and knees!

That is so cool!!! I look forward to seeing more of her ^_^

I hope to finish her. Right now I'm at a stand still because as I start to refine the shapes they're splitting along the grain. It's very irritating because it's hard enough to get it where it's at in the pictures. I don't have any power tools outside of a Dremel ad I've never carved wood before.

If it keeps splitting on me, and this is the kind of wood used for dolls and puppets, I might have to cheat and sculpt one out of a cedar based clay that I have. I might look in to some pine later. :/

I think pine is about the same softness as basswood. I know they're both recommended as being very soft and easy to carve.

The following may or may not be any help whatsoever (Disclaimer: all of my recent woodwork experience has been in making knife handles, so no fancy carving at all, just shaping from a rectangular blank)

If the wood is splitting, I would be tempted to very, very roughly rough out the shape with the dremel, refine it with a sharp knife (preferably with what's called a scandi grind
if you aren't aware of what I mean, and apols if you are ) then finish off the shaping and finish with sandpaper from coarse to very fine (although I know at least one wood carver who really doesn't like sandpaper - but then he's been doing it long enough he can get a really smooth finish just using a knife).

Oh, and before you do any more, have a look over the wood for any obvious cracks and if there are any fill them with CA glue, let set, sand back, fill, and repeat until the crack is full. It can also be used as a final protective coating (some people like it, some don't) - but CA glue will darken the wood!

Thanks. I got some pine blocks they make derby cars out of so I'll try that.

I've been using the little knife set that came with a basswood block and some cutting tools with the knob handles. I haven't even got to the sanding point because I'll be making rough cuts and a split will start and take half the piece with it.

Sounds like it was a bad bit of wood then (or potentially another wood mislabeled). Ditch it and definitely try the pine. (seriously, don't carry on trying to carve it, it will only put you off - basswood shouldn't behave like that unless you are really forcing the knife against the grain - general comments about carving basswood is that it's like carving cheese or butter - soft and predictable).

Having never used basswood before I did not know that. Then why was it sold as basswood from a company that makes hobby wood and bought at two different shops and three different packages and... I've put them aside and shall see if I can make something of them later, I'll see if Dremel sanding can help some of it. I was going with the grain when I got the splits. I wanted the grain to go with the length of the pieces.

I fought some boy scouts for pinewood derby blocks and I'm getting better results. Of the four I picked up I chose the one with the funky looking grain for the body. Anyone wanting to make one of these go with pine blocks. One for the head and body, one for each leg, both arms should come out of one. I bought extra because boo boos can happen.


Still in the roughing out phase, aside from the drill holes and some cuts it's all been hand tools so far.


The set on the left is new and came with the basswood block, the set on the right is 20+ years from my wood cut print making days.