Oodles 2nd Page!

In 1985 I made up a quick little item that consisted of small babies, each with a lock of hair that formed a loop so they could be strung on bracelets, necklaces etc. I sculpted one basic figure, and then took it apart and made a separate plaster mold for each of its six components. Then, I pressed out the basic body parts in Super Sculpy.  

This was the first attempt at anything that resembled sculpting, since Outer Space Men, eighteen years earlier. I then assembled the parts and played with them, until they showed me a pose I liked, and that was that!

I used the blunt end of a flat tooth pick as my tool, as at that time I had forgotten all about the tool I had used on Outer Space Men. I poked the end of the tooth pick into the soft Sculpy to form the eyes and poked around with it to create facial expressions! Premonitions of Baby Face to come!

I made twelve figures like this and Kiscom took them out and presented them, on a slab of black marble to LJN Toys, who bought them on the spot! (Sounds like this happens all the time! Believe me it doesn't.)

LJN, then, commissioned me to make 36 more Sculpy sketches, which I did, all by the same method from the same plaster molds. All of these came out of my head, without the aid of any reference material or for that matter Forethought! I never said to myself I'll make this one do this or that, as usual, I let each Oodle tell me what it wanted to do!

They then gave about eight of these sketches, each, to six different sculptors to do finished sculptures. Some were a lot better than others, and all had to be simplified to come out of molds with no undercuts. I kind of hated what I saw, but as Eunice often remarks, "You'd like it even less if there wasn't any"!

For more information about Mel Birnkrant and the Oodles, visit these sites:

• Next Page Oodles 3

• PrillyCharmin's Home

• Mel's Doll Album

• How Baby Face Was Born

• Francine's Baby Face Dolls (More by Mel)