After they are in the correct pose, I cut strips of felt about 1/2″ wide and wrap the wire armature tightly. Wrapping the armature in this fashion makes it very strong, so that it will support the weight of the various hard-sculpted body parts.
Next, I cut quilt batting into narrow strips like the felt and wrapped the parts of the body that needed more bulk. The quilt batting tends to be too fluffy and not precise enough, so I wrap yarn over top of the batting to shape it (wrap it tighter to condense the batting more, looser to leave it bulkier) and to hold it in place.
Then, I give the figure “skin” by sewing pieces of muslin into place over the batting. This is sort of a trial and error procedure accomplished by draping pieces of muslin over the wrapped armature and cutting out shapes that should fit. When I sew them into place I have to make various adjustments to get it looking right. Sometimes, I have to poke a bit more stuffing in here and there; sometimes I have to cut and re-sew areas. Eventually I arrive at a form that looks pretty good. Because my figure is going to be almost completely covered in clothing, I don’t have to create highly detailed anatomy. I just need the body shapes to be correct enough to suggest the proper form underneath the clothing. Here you can see I’ve only given the figure the muslin skin down to the elbows and knees. This is because I will sculpt the forearms and lower legs out of clay along with the hands and feet.
