Sally the Ragdoll | 2012

Sally the Ragdoll | The Nightmare Before Christmas

Made for : Auckland Armageddon Expo 2012

Awards : Best Novice Group – Auckland Armageddon 2012

Background : Another favourite film of mine. I’m not sure what prompted me to make it for this year, but I do remember tossing up between this and Kira from the Dark Crystal.

Things used :

Wig : I made the wig by sewing a bunch of strands of browny/orangy wool in rows to a light blue beanie I had found. It was super warm.

Makeup : I mixed a blue face paint with a white foundation to get a shade that exactly matched the colour of the bodysuit. I used scar wax to create depth where the stitches would go. For the stitches, I cut lengths of the light blue embroidery thread and used eyelash glue to stick them to my skin.
My eyebrows were covered using layers of glue stick. I used white eyeliner under my eyes to make them appear larger. My bottom eyelashes were placed along the edge of this white circle to enhance the effect more. The top lashes were some longer feather ones that I chanced upon at a dollar store.
I applied a red lipstick to my lips drawing the bottom lip off center. This was topped with a lipstick sealer so the lipstick wouldn’t transfer on the blue paint.
Nails were painted red.
The body stitches were done the same as the face ones, only with navy wool instead.
All of the bodypaint was sealed using baby powder.

Dress : I drew on a nightie that I had thrifted and had the right fit, the shapes that I wanted. I then cut these pieces to use as a pattern for all my assorted fabrics. The pieces were cut and stitched one on top of the other. The edges were left raw and frayed because I thought it added to the ragdoll look.
Some of the pieces I drew designs on with sharpies and others like the top salmon bit, I embroided on with black embroidery thread.
Once all the pieces were joined, I sewed all the black stitches on using black wool.

Bodysuit : Made using Kwik Sew K3052. I used the upper half of view B and the bottom of view A. I went with view B for the up half because I thought it would look better to have painted skin rather than a suit that cut off at the neck.
The stitches were painted on with acrylic paint and then like the dress, I stitched on the stitches using a navy wool. Though the ones along the wrist were also glued in place with fabric glue.

Shoes and socks : Boots were purchased from Number One Shoes. I tested using both a stripy knee-high sock scrunched down and a stripy leg warmer for her socks. In the end I went with the leg warmers worn over most of the boot as well because I thought it made my feet look super tiny like hers.

Zero : My inspiration for the construction of Zero came from this toy I had as a child. It was a foam lizard on the end of a bit of wire that looked as though you were walking it when held out in front of you. So I found one and cut the foam lizard off the end so it was just the wire.
Zero himself was constructed from an ice-cream container lid with a styrofoam ball with wires stuck in to it for the ears glued on top. All of this was covered with a bit of white transparent fabric. Pieces of black felt were used for his eyes and mouth, with a strip of red for his tongue and collar.
His nose was an orange ping pong ball cut in half with a yellow LED light put inside. I then painted it to look like a pumpkin with acrylic paint.
The name tag was made from some model magic clay and painted with acrylics.

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