Sculpting with Lois McCall

Have you had the opportunity to see any of the original sculpts by Lois McCall of One Atta Time Dolls from Olympia, Washington? She does fabulous work and we’re lucky enough to get to enjoy it when she brings some of her people to doll shows here in the Northwest. I first heard about her from Terry Pender, owner of Terry’s Tiny Treasures, at a doll show in Puyallup, Washington early this year, and found out that Lois occasionally teaches sculpting classes.

I have more things on my “to do” list then I’ll get around to trying in this lifetime, but sculpting immediately popped to the top of the list after seeing her work, and since some of the people in one of my doll classes had expressed an interest in sculpting as well, I thought I’d check her out a bit further. Lois sent pictures of a few of the magnificent character faces that she’d done so I could show the class and everyone was overawed at her talent, but it proved harder then I’d expected to get enough ladies together to make it worth Lois’ time to come all the way down here for a two day class, but I did find out that she already had a class scheduled for the last part of September and my hubby urged me to sign up … not that it took much urging, but I had to shuffle my schedule and finances around a bit to work it out.

The class was scheduled for a Friday and Saturday, and Lois was gracious enough to offer rooms in her own home for the two of us who had a bit of a distance to travel and would have required lodging. I might add that she and her husband have a lovely home there in Olympia with the most wonderful and private back yard that makes one feel like they’re all alone in a magical forest with only a bit of wildlife for company. How peaceful!

Anyway, back to the class! Friday morning proved to be even more interesting than I had hoped. The class turned out to be small, since only three out of the four scheduled were able to attend at the last minute, but it was so perfect since Lois was able to give each of us her full attention. She demonstrated each step in the process of forming the basic head shape, impaling the egg shaped head on a sculpting base and getting started with the features. We used Pro-Sculpt since it seems to be most forgiving of arthritic fingers and softens without too much struggle, and is easy for even novices like ourselves to work with. We smoothed our basic shapes, marked off eye, nose and mouth lines and gouged our thumbs in and up to make eye sockets – Down, Fang, a little too much aggression there – then started adding bits for eyebrows, noses and lips

You’d think that with watching Lois demonstrate on her own piece, and following instructions, our efforts would have been somewhat similar, but they weren’t – not in the least! Oh, I guess that’s overstating it somewhat … the one area of similarity was that they all looked downright scary and certainly not human in any way, shape or form! But Lois assured us that this was normal, and we struggled onward. We weren’t aiming for beauty, or even for regular features. We wanted old and wrinkled. I mean if you can make all those sags and bags and wrinkles, smooth and younger shouldn’t be a problem, right?

Time just flew by! By lunchtime we had something faintly humanoid, and by dinner we were done with necks and ears. Well, kinda done, anyway. At least they were attached! After lining up our creations, and taking pictures to document our achievements, we were more than ready for a break, and the good meal that Lois’ husband had ready for us to enjoy while we tried to relax. I think we were all feeling proud of what we had accomplished and already looking forward to the next day’s session with a good deal of anticipation.

Saturday proved to be every bit as challenging and rewarding as Friday had been. We learned to make an armature for the hands, shape palms, and attach sausage like fingers. Knuckles and fat pads, and creases were added and they began to take on the gnarled and shrunken shape that we were trying to achieve. And finally we were introduced to the secrets of rooting beards and mustaches! Yeehaw! That was really fun!

No, I haven’t gotten mine completely finished yet, but I will. Unfortunately I came home just in time to teach a couple of doll classes, then report for cataract surgery, and now between trying to recover from that and the fact that my glasses are no longer the correct prescription, I’m lucky to see my hand in front of my face, but in a few weeks, when all that gets fixed, I’ll get back at it!

Lois says she only does one Seminar a year, so if you’re interested in trying your hand at it, you better get your name in the pot. You can reach her at the following address:

Lois McCall
One Atta Time Dolls
(Porcelain Doll Classes & Supplies)
6519 Lazy St. SW
Olympia, Washington 98512
360-956-1091