Made a Lily - Step 8

Step 8 - Creating the Armature

Hope you have your glue gun handy because it's time to heat it up!

Unfortunately I think I forgot to mention your going to need a pipe cleaner. . . . .oops, sorry about that! It really doesn't matter what color but the closer to your flesh tone the better. Your only going to need an 8 inch length so grab an old pair of scissors and cut it down to size.

Now fold it in half. See how it's still a bit rounded on the folded end?

Make sure you squeeze that "rounded "area tight. . . . . a pair of pliers makes it easy on your fingers when attempting this.

Insert the pipe cleaner piece through the holes we drilled in the doll pin last week. Yeah arms!!! Insert the doll pin into the lily pad paying attention to the alignment of the arms as you do so. . . . .the straight pin should still be marking the back of the lily so make sure the arms point to either side of the pin.

Turn the lily pad over. Use the glue gun to put a ring of glue around the doll pin and up along the edges of the eyelet in the cushion.

Quickly, before the glue cools down, slide the base piece onto the end of the doll pin and then push both pieces up snug to the bottom of the cushion.

Finally we're going to make use of those long floss tails we tucked up so ling ago.

Remove the straight pins and release it!

At this point I suggest unplugging the glue gun and switching to Elmer's school glue or whatever liquid craft glue you happen to have on hand. Use a straight pin to coat the side edges of the base piece with a thin layer of glue.

Pick up the floss tails and begin wrapping it around the base. Start along the outer edge and work you way in.

Align each new wrap of floss snug to the previous. Reapply glue as needed.

Once you have worked your way as far back into the cushion as possible thread the rest of the floss tail onto a long sturdy needle (the 3" version made for soft doll sculpture works great!) Insert the needle alongside the base piece. . . . .

. . . . .and up through to the top side of the cushion. Where you come out doesn't matter, simply clip the floss close down to the fabric and be done with it!

Now for those arms. . . . . locate your flesh colored floss and wrap one end of it through the loose ends of the pipe cleaner. Nothing fancy needed as the purpose is just to hold it out of the way while you work.

Pull the floss around to the other side and start wrapping!

Around and around you go! Keep the floss taught but not excessively tight. Most important, however, is to line each wrap up snug to the previous. Try not to overlap or leave gaps.

Stop wrapping about a half inch from the end of the pipe cleaner.

Take a moment to once again use a straight pin to dab a thin layer of glue all around the tip.

Push one of the small wooden beads onto the tip far enough so you can see the pipe cleaner peeking out but not so far that it pokes through.

Go back to wrapping the floss. The glue will squish out a bit as you do so but this is good as it will hold the floss in place as you continue up and over the bead just slightly. At this point, start wrapping back down the arm until you reach the doll pin again.

Pull the floss around to the other side. . . . .

. . . . .and repeat the same process.

Feel free to snip off the tail from where the floss was wrapped between the pipe cleaners earlier.

Once both arms have been wrapped you'll want to "tie" off the floss. If you've got a lot of excess clip it down leaving a 12 inch tail. Thread a needle with this and work it through the pipe cleaner arm several times in order to secure it.

Looking at the hands now you'll have to make a decision as to what you want to do about the holes in them. You can leave it as is.

You can paint over it but be aware it will take many, many coats of paint to get a full coverage for the pipe cleaner seems to absorb a good portion of the paint along the way. Once you are happy with the coverage a light sanding and quick re coat of gloss medium will finish it up nicely.

The last option is to fill the holes with a bit of paper clay. In this case, once the paper clay is fully dry be sure to finish up with a coat or two of paint and the gloss once again.

Next week we'll be back up in the nook to do a bit of sewing. Think about what fabrics your going to use for your Lily's outfit before then. She's going to be wearing a skirt, a criss cross top, and an apron.