40–49cm Dolls 1/4 scale couple with sailor

Through this forum, I became a purty good friend with Sailor. And we talked about making a bjd couple together about a month or so ago. We decided to pick 1/4 scale since we both like smaller scale. To tell you the truth 1/3 is way too much for me to handle. Not to mention I don't know jerk poop about ball joint engineering. Well, I am sculpting the dude and Sailor is sculpting a lady.

Since I am pretty much unemployed, I got head start. By the way, Sailor is a busy busy young lady unlike me. I am gonna go ahead journal ma progress. I am sure Sailor is gonna chime in very soon.

I figured the dude needs to be 6 feet in real life so about 46-47cm tall in 1/4 scale.


threw some wax on da guide ( Castilene in this case since I could not afford other better kind, darn it)


Carrying on


I had already arms cut off. Kinda used to this part thanks to action figures.


Spent some more time on it






I got the balls for shoulders. I was somewhat happy about the treatment. For the first time...


Cut the upper torso


Cut the wrist and the elbow. trial and error. Sailor provided me help and encouragement.


To be continued.

 

Thanks for the compliments, leopardessmoon and glimmer !
My motivation on this project was getting low, so I needed it.

 

Thanks for the comments folks!!
wilga Yeah, I am happy about the shoulder joints. Thanks. But I struggled with the elbow quite bit.... I also am excited to see Sailor's 1/4 scale lady. I like to see them together.

aneemal Thanks. I am hoping to get better bunch by the time I kick the bucket. I used fitness models pictures as reference. Too bad that I could not use myself.

cheshirepanda Appreciate it. I try to pay attention to the anatomy. I am trying to achieve reasonably cut physique on this guy. Don't want him to look too much like a super hero Action figure.

penguu I wanted to use willow products but I am out of it and they quit making. I heard real good things about Gray wax, but they cost 35-40% more compared to castilene... Yes castilene(hard) is strong enough to make joints though I am not using super strong elastic cords on him to construct....

BBG I like kitties and I can't lie. Thanks for the compliment.

 

Thanks,Elvynne! I will try to keep up the good work.

As for your question, I have only used Chavant NSP hard for a short period of the time and I was not allowed to use open flame so I can't really compare the two. But I know some seasoned commercial sculptors prefers Chavant over Castilene. If I remember correctly, I believe Chavant was bit more sticky than Castilene. Sorry.

I hear good things about Monster Clay as well. If you try the Monster clay, I would like to know your review on it.

 

Thanks! clarinetplayer! Yes, I have have made action figures of some sort in the past. All the figure I made had very simple joints: male/ female fitting or just fitting a ball and socket for a machine shop to do the actual joint work. They are not much to look at. Haha.

 

According to my mentor and friend, Sailor, hip/crotch joint is one of the hardest part. She was not kidding.
I tried to incorporate the joint and flow of muscle definition there, but no luck. I even tried double jointing the part, but was not happy with the result and looked like a crap so went ahead with the most simple joint. I can always change it later. I am gonna try double jointing the right knee next then right ankle. If I am happy with all the right side of joints, I am gonna do the same on the left side. That is ma plan.



One of ma cats says hi

 

Hi Penguu thanks for the comment. You will need to invest on at least an alcohol lamp and bit of practice to get used to using wax, but after that you can sculpt real fast with it. I used to sculpt with sculpey. I can't even imagine going back to it....

 

Hi penguu
I hate sculpey with passion. Yeah I figured Chavant will not be good for making joint parts since that thing is really sticky. When I had to use Chavant, I used microwave to heat it up and tools' tips were heated with a mini hot plate since we were not allowed to have open flame. I use Castilene hard, which is a lot harder than Chavant. I heat it up with microwave- I have a microwave in my studio just for that purpose and often keep a small bowl full of wax under a heat lamp as well. I also use a heat gun for smoothing bigger surface or bending/tweaking some parts and got waxers. But majority of work is done with tools heated with alcohol torch lamp.

So yes you need some kinda heat source. I am not a big fan of solvents. it just melts the surface of the work and turns it into mess. Also they are toxic and flammable.

I see how you get nervous having open flame around. One of my kitties caught on fire from an alcohol lamp one time and freaked pooped outta me. I patted flames away, which my kitty hated. She did not even noticed she was on fire; She thought I was being a dick.

 

Yes My kitty was one smoking hot kitty.

As long as you have one of those or equivalent

You can pretty much sculpt with wax.


All the other stuff are convenient to have but not necessary. They just make it easier or faster.

What is your 20 by the way? I hate carpet.

 

I think you should get the lamp torch one. It is only 8 bucks or so. The torch helps cleaning up the surface greatly.
Seattle is an expensive place to live. I have a few friends there. Yeah carpet is basically a giant sock that you can never change. I have hardwood floor and tiles so I can scrape off wax also enjoy my kitties doing burn out and donuts. It is almost impossible to get pieces of sticky wax off of carpet, you know?

 

Thanks for the kind words bebidolls and blueberry-doll!!
Sad to say that he has been attacked and broken since. I am planning to fix him as I work on knee joints very soon.


Meanwhile, I bet Sailor is gonna chime in with in-progress of hers.

 

I got done with one project I have been working on( non BJD stuff) so I am back on ma 1/4 dude. I cut his knee and hollowed out the thigh.


I froze the part before so that drilling would be easier. Wax gets sticky from heat from friction.

Frozen wax like come out like shaved chocolate...


By the way, while I was waiting for some parts to freeze, I put wires in his fingers. Got tired of them breaking off from kitty traffic.

Yes finding humor in everything is important, Penguu.

 

Kitties are my critics. Every time they break my stuff, my piece gets improved while I am mending. It is kinda neat method if you think about it.... Also you will learn to let go of your current work, and start new one. Anyway, thanks for the compliment, clarinetplayer!!

 

Fitted the knee parts. Realized that he doesn’t have much articulation, I shaved off quite bit of muscle to give him the range. I guess I will work on his ankle next. The Ankles have been broken many times thanks to my kitties. Arms are already cut up. I am just neglecting to work on them.



Darn I forgot to put kitty head and his penis. Sorry ladies.

 

Thanks Clarinetplayer!! I like the original Alien movie by the way. Because Jones the cat survives.

 

I cut up all the joints and put all the parts together but as you see they need lots of tuning and cleaning. I will detail him up once I am happy with joint engineering, I reckon. I have no idea when that happens...
I have very weak elastic cords in him so his likes to collapse. I did not need my kitty's help to break some parts. Yey.

 

Thanks for the compliment,aneemalandHystericalParoxysm

The trunk has a socket joint in them so that it swings side ways to give his legs some room to move.

As for shoulders, I agree with you, HystericalParoxysm. I understand what you are suggesting but I am not sure it would solve the problem without jeopardizing sculptural integrity that I am aiming at. You have some picture examples of the shoulder joints for me to look at?

Yeah I know his elbows are kinda whacked. It is still in trial stage. I will fix them. Thanks for the suggestions and advices, HystericalParoxysm. I appreciate it.

 

Thanks for the compliment, penguu.

I messed with the shoulder joints bit and bulked his arms bit to lower visual weight of the shoulder. However I am getting to the point that there isn o way to fix the problem that HystericalParoxysm pointed out. He will look good in one pose and not so much in other. It is an unavoidable problem in this case, I think... unless I shave off most of his muscle and make him look like a wimpy boy doll.

Anyway, I got a lot more to go. Gonna play with elbows more.

 

Thanks for the kind words, Daiin

I re-worked on the elbows over this weekend.
Left one is re-worked and the right has not been. It is hard to see in this pic but the old one had oval joint at the upper elbow so did not have rotational movement.





I also sculpted a fist. I wanted to do something else other than playing with joint parts. Oh yeah I put a cup on him so that I don't have to worry about blurring his junk.

He is getting there, but not quite....

 

Thanks for the kind comments suicidollxp, nia2010and EllaG!!



I have been cleaning the joints but getting tired of working on joint parts it is not fun part for me....; keep finding myself wanting to work on details here and there. So I ended up sculpting right fist for him.




Also I was told to sculpt his male member. So sculpted fully erected detailed one. It is making me giggle; I have mental age of 10. They will be interchangable. I had hollowed out his head this week. Thinking about making different face plate with some expression.

Thanks for looking.

Where are you sailor?

 

Thanks for the kind response, nia2010, Daiin and blueberry-doll!

nia2010 -Hehehe I can send you the link to the pictures if you like. Call me, Carlos Danger. No...I have decided to censor myself on that, to be on the safe side. I am not sure if some of folks here might be offended.

Daiin- Yes, I was told that I have to sculpt nice and big peckers for ladies. I heard there once was a group of ladies that complained to iplehouse, insisting them to make their dolls' junks bigger. Yep I am planning to make a few different face plates to go with it.

 

Hey Thanks for the compliment and encouragement ab_rowin and cloudedmind!! I appreciate it.

@InNoTeb I will send you picture of his ding dong through PM since you are curious Hehe.

I appreciate the kind words as always, nia2010

I was working on him this morning. Getting close to finish his lower legs. Still needs more of cleaning up, though...Also cleaning up his face bit. I will post more pictures over weekend



Thanks for looking!!