How to Install a Doll's Mama Crier

Instead of using a doll sound box, many dollmakers choose to install a "mama crier" - a round tube that sounds like "mama" when turned upside-down and then right-side-up. A mama crier can be placed in a hard-bodied doll as well as a cloth-bodied doll and is put in before the head is placed on the doll.

Things You'll Need

• Dollmaking Supplies
• Batting
• Glues
• Sewing Supplies
• Two-part Epoxy
• Dremel Rotary Tools

Instructions

Cutting into a Doll's Body

1. Compare the size of the mama crier to the neck opening. If the neck opening is smaller than the crier, you will have to cut the doll's body. Follow these instructions if you have a doll that needs to be cut in order to have a mama crier put in.

2. Trace out an area either on the doll's front or back the size of the crier.

3. Cut along your line using a dremel or similar tool. You will use the cutout as a plug.

4. Drill five or six holes in this plug as a place for the sound to escape.

5. Make a rope from two-part epoxy putty.

6. Place the putty on the inside of the doll opposite the hole you cut. Press the mama crier into the putty with the crier's perforated top facing up toward the neck opening.

7. Take a piece of flat aluminum wire the size of the opening and use superglue to glue it in place inside along the hole. Allow to dry fully.

8. Place a thin rope of putty along the outside of the plug, and place the plug in the opening. Smooth excess putty and fill in any cracks.

9. Let the putty dry according to the manufacturer's directions.

10. Touch up the paint on the doll's body.

Hard-Bodied Dolls

1. Follow these instructions if the doll's neck opening is large enough to slide the crier tube in.

2. Position the mama crier so that the perforated top is closest to the neck opening.

3. Drill five or six small holes with a dremel or similar tool in a quarter-sized area in either the back or the tummy area of the doll.

4. Place the doll on its tummy or on its back.

5. Make a rope from two-part epoxy putty. Make a coil with the putty, and place it inside the doll's body opposite the side where the holes were drilled.

6. Slide the mama crier into the doll's body and press the crier into the putty.

7. Let the putty dry according to the manufacturer's directions.

Cloth Dolls

1. Work from the back of the doll. Open the back seam and clear the stuffing from the body of the doll in the tummy area where you plan on putting the mama crier.

2. With a grommet tool, place three or four small-to-medium-sized grommets in this tummy area. (Follow directions on the package for setting grommets.)

3. Wrap cotton batting around the crier two or three times.

4. Position the mama crier so that its perforated top is toward the neck. Prevent the stuffing from shifting by making a few stitches through the fabric of the body and the batting, or glue the batting and crier in place with a fabric glue.

5. Stuff the body firmly, but not hard, all around the crier, and close the back of the doll.

6. Turn the doll upside-down and then right-side-up.

Tips & Warnings

• The putty should be very sticky. When completely dry, it will be rock hard.

• The drilled holes should be small and in a small circle. A 1/16-inch drill bit is large enough.

• Washable mama criers are available for cloth dolls.