Porcelain dolls are really like a translucent glass shell. The porcelain substance called "slip" is sold in gallon plastic containers and is the consistency of yogurt. The slip is poured into a mold made of a type of plaster. The porcelain slip sets up in the mold and is removed from the mold as a shape. Dolls have several parts.  Each has a separate mold: the head, the breastplate, the arms and legs, and sometimes a porcelain body. Once removed from the mold, the body part is allowed to air dry for 48 hours.  At this point, the doll parts are called greenware. When the greenware is heated in the kiln to a temperature of 2200 degrees, the greenware turns into a fine glass porcelain. After the firing, the parts can be painted and assembled. Each step of this process is described below.

Each porcelain doll is made from a mold, which is cast from an original sculpture.  The artist who sculpts the doll often sells the mold to doll makers worldwide.  Some artists will retain the mold and sell limited editions, however these dolls are generally hundreds of dollars more than the dolls popular with doll makers.  The original artist will name the dolls, such as Stephanie, Jade, Jess and many others shown on our site.  All dolls poured from the Stephanie mold have the same facial structure.  The dollmaker can change her eye color, hair style and color, height, costuming and painting so that two dolls from the same mold can look very different. It is often very difficult to identify dolls from the same mold.