I have proudly been an artist member of NIADA since 1976. Everything I know I've learned the hard way, by time consuming trial and error. It is my hope that some of my tips will help you avoid some of my earlier mistakes.
In 1990 I decided to combine my love of dollmaking with the joy I get from sharing what I have learned. I decided to begin teaching doll sculpting seminars.
I traveled and taught dollmaking seminars until 2002. I no longer teach seminars, though I do offer a dollmaking video that shows you step-by-step how to build the doll's shoulder plate, the neck, and how to cover the aluminum foil skull with polymer clay, just the way I taught my seminars in the past. In June Goodnow's Magic Skin Doll Sculpting Video, you can see me build a doll head from start to finish.
The first day of each seminar was devoted to sculpting the doll head. Each student was provided with the tools and armatures necessary to build and shape their heads. The shoulder armature is made from a block of wood, with a hole drilled in the middle to accommodate the wooden neck dowel. The armature is then completely covered with aluminum foil by wrapping the shoulder and neck, and then carefully shaping the foil over the dowel to approximate the basic shape of a skull.
Next the foil is covered with an even layer of prepared clay. My students learned that I place great emphasis on the importance of symmetry. Students heard that word many, many times, during the three days of on hands class work. The head and skull must be as symmetrical as possible. A lopsided head creates an optical illusion when it comes to the placement of facial features - especially the eyes!
Placing the eyes: Draw a temporary shallow vertical line on the clay of the face from chin to forehead with a toothpick. Then draw another line horizontally, halfway from the chin to the top of head for the eye placement line. Mark the clay where the eyes should go on either side of the vertical line, right on the horizontal line leaving a space for one eye in between.
After marking the eye placement, use a wooden eye-sizing tool to gently push the eye sockets into the clay as evenly as possible and try to avoid pushing one socket in deeper that the other. Naturally both eyes must be set at the same depth. If one socket does get deeper than the other, then just remove one eye and add more clay to even it out.
Checking for depth: Look over the top of the forehead and roll the head until you can see the eyes, to see if both eyes pop into view at the same time. If they do, they are probably set correctly. Another way to check this is to look at the doll face from the chin up. Tilt the head so you are looking up the neck and over the chin, roll the head until you can see the eyes. This rock and roll method is a good measure of depth. The more you practice this trick, the better you will get at it.
The eyes must be on the same horizontal plane with both eyes looking in the same direction. If one eye is even slightly off, the head will never look right. If you want the doll to be looking to the side or flirty, then you would want to tilt both eyes to the side so both irises are again facing the same direction.
Good luck to all of you with your doll making!