I've made a start again, after a long year of getting nothing done. Day one, I didn't take any pictures, but I made up cylinders for arms and legs, and the rough body and head shape. Day two, I started putting the actual shape onto her, and carved out the body cavity and hip joints. View attachment 355 Day three - More shape, and put the functional bits of the knee joints together. View attachment 356 Next steps (Major ones - Not including all the shape/proportion fixes); Fix the cosmetic bits of the knees Cut and build up the elbows Round off the wrists and ankles Work on face and open eyes Make hands and feet Prime/sand/prime/sand/prime/sand Start working out how to cast.
Worked on her face a little bit - In these pictures, she's stuck to the end of the biro that I was using to support her whilst applying the primer. Her eyes aren't really that uneven - One socket is just half-filled with blu-tack. View attachment 363
A bit more progress, and a higher resolution camera: Face; Body; And since I had some clay left over which was getting stale and difficult to work, I've made some rough cores for a male in scale to her;
Another brief update, since I have to keep reminding myself to keep working on. She's got a headcap and feet now (I swear, the feet are more detailled in real life) and he's got the beginnings of musculature on his torso. In-scale, I'd like her to be about 5'6", and him to be just over 7'. So far, they seem to be about right. View attachment 367
Wow, that's some extreme patience you must have! I'm sculpting a doll about twice the size of yours, and the details are driving me nuts. I can't imagine trying to put my unsteady hand to a doll that tiny.
Thank you; I sometimes feel like I'm just wasting my time and money in trying this, so the compliment is appreciated The 12th scale lady (Whom my best friend has decided to name Apathy) is now all moulded up, apart from her feet and headcap, and I'm trying a dump-cast of her head and torso as we speak. I'm more than a little intimidated.
Wow you work fast! I like her pointy tiny little nose and big round eyes. What are you intimidated about? If you've got her all moulded already that's more than half the battle won
Thank you I'm a bit scared because every time I get to this point, I just end up with a mess of resiny gloop all over the kitchen floor, and the house ends up stinking for weeks. I'm glad that you like her eyes - I was really unsure about them, but once they've got eyes in they look really endearing. She's supposed to sort of fill the gap of being a mature-but-really-cartoonish figure I've currently got her torso and head setting in a fume hood in the kitchen, just using plain-coloured filled resin. This'll be the junk cast that I drill and string (Since the clay one isn't hollow) to see if she's working. Unfortunately, I seem to have messed up on the catalyst-to-medium ratio again, since it's been over an hour and she hasn't set yet. Ah well, we live and learn.
Pulled her head out of the mould, and the resin is just staying a bit tacky. I'm going to use the same moulds and make her up in plaster of paris instead, for now - It's drillable, sandable, carvable, and crucially cheap and I know how it sets. EDIT: And I've added pictures of the process; One is the moulds, in the lego mould boxes, and the other is the plaster pieces, straight out of them. They've not gone exactly right, but I'm going to carve them down now to make them look more like the finished article, then start drilling. View attachment 372 View attachment 373
Third (Fourth?) time lucky! Or at least, the head, upper and lower torso, and thighs are done, and just need a lot of cleaning and sanding to look like the appropriate pieces. The arms, hands and shins have come out improbably thin and hollow, due to poor moulding technique on my part. The headcap and feet still need a mould making. On the other hand, I'm heading int he right direction, slowly but surely. Once I've got the dump cast all sorted out, I'll be able to get on and make the real thing.
Huh, what kind of resin are you using? I'm more used to the no-brainer resin, the 'add equal parts of A to B' resin. I'm glad it all worked out though, show us pictures next time!
Boop, been gone for a long time. I'm using a cheap polyurethane from my local craft shop, where the catalyst to substrate ratio is something like half a percent. It's a nightmare. On the other hand, my best friend has decided to get back into silicone mouldmaking and casting, so in return for sculpting a couple of watch fobs for him, he's going to cast my dolls. Which saves me the effort I'm getting on with both of my 12th scale bods, and bumping the thread to remind myself to do so
Current status; Rough shape of Despair's body, minus limb sockets, is done, Apathy's head now has ears, and the dump cast of her is... well, a dump cast. Not hollow, yet, but she's really quite robust once she's in resin rather than clay. I need to fudge her hip joints a little more, and do something to make her knees lock (she's missing her kneecaps, basically) but I'm fairly happy with her. Sort of burnt out on sculpting at this scale at the moment, and want to work on something bigger. All too much fiddle for my aching hands.
Well, I still exist Apathy is now at my best friend's house awaiting casting, and I'm going over tomorrow to set her up in a mould box. So fingers' crossed, we'll have something to show by the end of the week.
