Tenna Art Doll Tutorial
(Here are more photos of the doll) There was some interest in a tutorial of how I made this doll, so I shall share what I can. I would feel very excited if I could inspire somebody to work on their own doll project.
I started by creating a design, planning structure and materials.
The sewing pattern was done by creating a simple 3D Model in Blender, then using Plushify to create a sewing pattern from that. Both are free. If you don't know how to create 3D models you can also create sewing patterns from editing existing patterns. There are lots of free ones online. If you want to create a creature with fur you won't need a sewing pattern. You can just cut out the rough shapes and sew it around the doll because you won't see the seam under the fur.
The doll has a wire skeleton made of tightly twirled wires and stabilized with tape. The wire is then wrapped with quilt batting (visible on hands in second photo). To create a more detailed shape the quilt batting is then needle felted as needed. The coat tails and tie have their own wires for posing sewed inside of them.
The clothes can mostly be slipped on normally. Some of them will have to be sewn around the body with a ladder stitch. I created small bags filled with lead balls and hid them inside the feet. They are padded with more batting. The heavy lead allows the doll to stand on its own. Small lead weights can be purchased in any fishing store. When handling lead, be very careful. It is toxic and should never come in contact with your mouth. If you touch lead, wash your hands thoroughly before touching your face again. I advise using gloves when working with lead.
The head is made from a SU7 Portable Bluetooth Speaker. It is an affordable little gadget with a touch screen. It can display custom images for Tenna's facial expressions. For the paint job, I like to use spray paint for an even result without brush strokes. I use spray varnish to protect the finished paint job in the end. You will have to tape the areas that are supposed to stay clear like his screen. His nose is built from a transparent acrylic finger ring stand. It has been sawn to the correct length and then sanded down at the cut. I glued a round piece of transparent trash plastic to the base. It is attached to the screen face with a Glue Dot. This way the touch screen stays fully functional, and the nose can be removed or replaced easily 💐💐💐
The antennas are made from purple wire and polymer clay balls. They are glued to the head with a strong glue. The balls are filled with aluminium to make them lighter. The TV badge, belt buckle and shoe soles are made from crafting foam. It's an easy material to cut in shape, sand and paint. I had to give Tenna plateau shoes so I could fill the soles with more lead. His TV head is quite heavy so he needed extra foot weight to confidently stand on his own.
For some more inspiration, I recommend these talented creators:
sanjinchicha on Tumblr
KaypeaCreations and Gustavo Floering on YouTube
If you have any more questions about the creation of my Tenna doll, please don't be shy to ask. And if you create anything inspired by this tutorial, please tag me. There's nothing I love more than to inspire others to get creative themselves!
You can also commission me to build you a doll. DM for more details.
