The amazing craftsman at R. John Wright have been working diligently to produce the most accurate dolls possible. It sounds like the Scarecrow will debut soon. Judging by the previous releases, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion will be the most impressive doll renditions yet. Available for pre-order now.
News per R. John Wright:
We're currently working on the Scarecrow
from our Wizard of Oz series. The doll is made entirely of wool felt. We've
put ball & socket knees and elbows on him which is pretty neat. (We've never
done elbows before.) Here's the interesting part: His face is molded in felt as
usual but then we mold a sack over the entire head and tie it at the neck. The
sack is made of coarse woven fabric to look like burlap. The face is then
hand-painted. So it's exactly like the process the real actor went through to be
made up as the Scarecrow! As far as I know, nobody has ever approached these
characters in this way.
In
addition to the head, the same thing is done on the rest of the doll; there is a
complete detailed nude doll under the costume. And the gorgeous felt hands have
individual molded fingers that are then covered with removable cotton
gloves—just like in the film!
When
we do the Lion and Tin Man we will use this same approach. Under that Lion's fur
costume will be a complete, articulated molded felt 'actor.' The Lion's face
will be molded felt w/shading and inset whiskers and the removable costume will
be made of shaded mohair with applied resin claws.
To
get the right effect for the Tin Man, we are considering molding his face out of
leather (a first for us.) Not completely sure yet but we did an experimental
leather face using another mold and it turned out very good. The smooth face
will then be made up with silver paint to look just like the Tin Man character
in the film. The original Tin Man costume was constructed of buckram and we're
thinking that we may do it the same way. Buckram forms the foundation for our
dolls' faces and we're quite familiar with it.
Many
of these are things we've never done before and they are quite challenging.
We're almost done sculpting the Cowardly Lion and Tin Man and will send
for molds soon. Super-exciting project! Can't wait to share the images with all
of you.
Be sure to check out:
