Learn to sculpt a newsprint African folk doll...

A full length collection of photos of the African folk doll from all angles.

       Newsprint paper dolls are traditional folk dolls to many countries but I suppose that India and Africa are most famous for this ethnic craft. Although I have included instructions below, I highly recommend watching this process at YouTube first. It is one of those crafts that is easier to watch than read! I added a toddler and African kanga (baby sling) to my own mamma doll design.  On her head, she carries a basket of fish to market.

• Wrap your baby, an act of love
• How to carry stuff the traditional African way...
• How Africans carry things on their head

Left, paper tub rolls for the craft spun around a skewer to help speed up the process. Right, how
the torso looks when it is begun. Children may use masking tape to hold units of rolled
newsprint while they work.

Left, the head is made up of one twisted tube around the neck piece. Right, then layers of flat paper
are added to the head with white school glue to build it up and make the head and neck stronger.

Supply List:

• one wooden skewer
• a stack of newspapers
• white school glue
• acrylic paints
• Mod Podge
• light weight cardboard (cereal box, cone skirt)
• yarn for the basket
• wire and beads for the doll's jewelry
• masking tape
• rubber bands (for holding things in place as they dry)

Left, the small baby is made in the same way as her mother only the paper rolls are shorter.
Center, you can see here how I used rubber bands to hold the tubes in place on the cardboard
 cone while the glue dried. Right, here is the baby attached with newsprint and glue to the
 backside of her mother before painting.

 

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Use the wooden skewer to roll strips of newsprint around itself. The strips should measure approximately 9x12 but if these are larger or smaller it's fine. Just make sure that all of your newsprint strips are about the same size so that the thin rolled tubes are roughly the same size and weight.
2. As you begin to make these tubular units, start rolling at a corner and end with a corner applying a small triangle of white school glue to keep the roll intact. For the doll that I have made here, I needed approximately forty newsprint rolls.
3. To fold and shape the upper torso, fold one tube in half over another unfolded tube, in the shape of a cross. The upper part will be a neck for a head to be twisted about, the lower half will be the newsprint doll's torso. The 'trapped' tube becomes the arms and hands of the doll. Tape this "t" shape together using masking tape to hold it firmly in place. 
4. Now fold three additional tubes (6) over the arm piece on either side of the torso end to form the chest and sleeves of the newsprint doll. Use a rubber band to hold these in place while wrapping a head around the neck extension with a bit of white glue
5. Wrap shredded newsprint and white glue around the doll's head to firm it up and smooth out the surface of the head.
6. Remove the rubber band and wrap masking tape around the torso tubes only at the bottom to hold them all in place. These will not be seen in the end.
7. Cut a large, narrow cone from the cereal box. Roll it, tape it shut and clip off the tip so that you can insert the doll's torso inside. This becomes the doll's skirt.
8. Only the bottom half of the torso should be inserted. Your doll need's a stomach, so just stuff the cone with newsprint on the inside to hold the doll in place. Add glue and tape to accomplish this. The cone part of this project is necessary for young students to use because it helps them to craft a doll that can stand easily. There are many versions of newsprint dolls without cones on craft channels. But these are much more difficult for little ones to make. The frustration is unnecessary. 
9. You can finish the interior of the cone skirt to hold everything together nicely underneath  with masking tape and newsprint later.
10. Apply glue to the outside of the cone and cover it with newsprint tubes. Advanced students may wish to make unique patterns with the paper tubes. Let everything dry.
11. Make a basket for the doll's head using a tube wrapped around itself and shaped accordingly. Cover this with glue and extra newsprint. Then glue yarn to the outside.
12. Glue the basket on top of the doll's head. Fill it with paper mache fruit, veggie, fish or silk flowers.
13. Now repeat the steps above using shorter newsprint tubes to make a baby. Attach the baby to its' mother's back using tape. Cover it with decorative paper and glue in the shape of a baby sling or as Africans call it a "kanga."
14. Add details like braids and jewelry made from wire and beads at this point.
15. Now apply paint to the newsprint figure and seal it with Mod Podge.

The African Neswprint doll turning from the waist up. She carries tiny
paper mache fish in her basket!

Left, newspaper baby in a kanga. Center, painted newspaper roles on the skirt. Right, close-up of
 beaded necklace on front of the mamma doll.

See More Newsprint Folk Doll Crafts:

• Bharti's waste material dolls
• RMS African Newspaper dolls
• African Tribal Dolls by CreativeHem
• DIY African Dolls made by parul pawar

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