Try as I might, what I intended to come out as a male character seemed more like a female so I gave in to the clay and let it be what it wanted to be.

For Dolly, I did not make grooves in the clay to pull the skin in, as I usually do, because I decided I would make that layer more like underwear, as shown on the arm.

This is the type of amateur I came up with for a moveable, jointed character - wooden dowels and screw eyes. I baked the dowels in the clay so they are permanent (groves in the wood filled with clay make it impossible for the dowels to come out).

You can't see it but the top of the dowel that forms the spine, goes up above the shoulders and will be inserted into the head.

I made a wider "upper chest" for her head piece so I could sew the body covering (underwear) over it, around the neck. It keeps the head on but allows it to rotate on the dowel.

I wrapped the amateur with a few strips of quilt batting but shaped her body after I got the underwear on her - by filling it with polyfill craft batting. She has full body underwear because it gets very cold being a homeless person in the winter. A string around the body, pulled tightly, and extra batting, give her full breasts. A bit of needle sculpting makes her cleavage. (Not that anyone will ever see it of course. Dolly is a proper lady.)

Dolly is very proud of her figure by the way. Even her big fat round butt. Since she lives on the streets, having a big butt makes sitting on park benches, trash cans and her dumpster very comfortable. I left her legs thin because I intended to have her posed with her legs crossed.

Now you can see the tattered lace of her underwear and Dolly's favorite dress (because its her only one).

She doesn't mind wearing someone's old discarded frayed soiled dress but will not wear a used bra. So for support, she tore up an old sheet and made herself one. Because she already wears heavy underwear, she wears her "support" over her dress like a vest which she thinks is very fancy indeed. It complements her apron - which is always there for convenience to wipe her hands on, or to blow her nose (a lady won't use her sleeves.)

Okay living in a dumpster behind an old abandoned strip mall doesn't give her many opportunities to bathe so you have to overlook that. But Dolly is very proud of the way she has put herself together despite dirt and grime.

It is amazing what some people throw away. Dolly has found this beautiful hat - still perfectly good despite the holes. Its great to have a hat to keep up her long matted hair. Adding the remains of a silk bouquet to the hat and putting a ribbon in her hair makes her feel very pretty and special.

The old pearl necklace she is sure was tossed away by accident and is her best find yet. (It isn't real but we won't tell her.)

Dolly is able to keep the hat on even in high winds because she was smart enough to pull some of her thick hair through one of the holes. She was very fortunate when she found the hat that it still had stick pins with it which also keeps it securely on her head.

Another great find was a satin shawl she discovered in a burnt out building. Still in perfectly good condition she says, despite the rips and scorch marks.

She is quick to point out her hair is naturally curly.

When asked to pose for a picture, she was immensely flattered. She arranged herself in "a proper pose even for the Queen" as she thinks of herself as a great Dame of the streets.

She considers her best pose sitting on the ground. The earth "complements my skin" she says but in truth, it hides the stains on her dress from sitting on so many trash cans.

She put on her bracelets and her two best shoes. (Best because they match each other better than any others she has ever found.)

Shhhhhh... Dolly didn't know there was a second photographer behind her.

What keeps her in place is a standard doll stand screwed onto the base.

Dolly wanted to make sure you all saw her "matching" shoes. Well, at least they are both open-toed sandals anyway.

She spends most of her time in her perpetual pose under a dome of glass - heaven forbid she get dusty.