All about ELF EARS: Sculpting, epoxies, sanding and painting.

Thats a tough one too call. Even if some people did start selling thier Elf Els for Lishie they will probably go really quick. Even still, El seems to be generally more popular than Shiwoo (or was it chiwoo?) in my opinion, i might be wrong. So people might not be too quick to let go of him if they took the time to preorder him so far in advance in the first place.
But, to buy a regular El might be your safest, (and least expensive) route. I'm sure you could find a tutorial some where on molding parts for dolls. I say the best thing to do for now is a little research on just how you would make those ears. And if it is fairly easy, cheap or if you can get someone to do it for you, i would say go with that rather than haunting auctions waiting for an elf el head to go up for sale.

Ah, but what do i know, i don't even have a full doll yet. Good luck!

 

I'm going to be modifying an el special.

honestly, for the PRICES the elf el heads are going for, you could buy a little more than HALF an el.

They've gone ebay for $300+ and unless you find a very nice member who will sell it to you for a non-inflated price (150-200), you are going to pay ALOT for it.

It is honestly NOT that hard to add elf ears to a doll, i added entire breasts to one! the problem is getting the colors to match, but if you can do that, you won't have a problem adding ears. If what you were looking for were just hte elf ears.. personally i think it's better to just do it yourself :\

 

she basically covered the entire cost of her doll, really, if it went that high.

To me it's crazy. Ebay to me is a last resort! I would rather sell to someone on the list for uninflated prices than set to ebay... but ebay DOES make you more money. u_u' And sometimes that's what people need (bills and all).

I kind of lost hope that someone would sell me a white skinned elf el dreaming vamp head for anything less than the value of my car (bordering on $500 actually since the accident :P).

But unless the art deal with hot topic goes through, I'm not going to be getting him very soon!

Though from my experience with apoxy sculpt- you can goop it on the ear and mold around it. It remains very soft and pliable for about an hour. After that it begins to harden and get harder to mold. After 3 hours its almost ocmpletely hard and 24 hours and it's ready for sanding.

What i did with my sharmins breasts is (almost) matched the color, rolled a boob sized ball and stuck it on her chest, molding the shape of the breast while it was on her body.

Ears HAVE to be easier than breasts. But I'm going to make this boy's ears a bit longer than the elf el ears.. and im going to take the normal head and close on of the eyes, putting a deep scar over it. I've got to finish the sketches...

The drummer and singer for the jrock band >:3 I really want to get that large D bust rascendo body! It was on SUPER SALE last I saw! >_< I should ask a shopping service about that.

 

http://denofangels.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3058

i bought 1lbs for $17.

you color it by using acrylic paint and kneading it in. I reccommend you use gloves and have a clean working surface, as due to my working surface and hands i have specs of ... stuff in Aeri's boobs.

 

It works really well, the Apoxie. Zoi 's moded too and bee-a into elves with it. :3

 

Hai, I have. ^^

I found it a bit difficult to match with colour, and I ended up using acrylic to add, er, highlights to it? I can tell that they're added on manually, but no-one else seems to be able to. *laughs* I guess that's all that matters?

 

same with my girl's knockers.

Although I overdid her blushing. You can tell I added on the breasts, but no one really minds/cares. I love her so much more with them ((I'm so shallow :P But I large breasts on girl dolls)) , that it doesn't bother me that the color doesn't completely match or it has specs from me not using gloves/clean surface.

If you sand and blush properly you can blend it mostly in. if it REALLY doesnt match you can use a thin layer of airbrush to blend it together (::might have to do that with Aeri if she actually KNEW how to use an airbrush and could match the color to the rest of her body properly:

 

hey guys, does anyone have any advice and know how on what I can use to modifiy a Delf-EL so that I can give him pointy ears? I'm not sure what to use or how to do any advice please!!!-Taki ops:

 

I have created elf ears using sculpey. Don't put the head in the oven however to harden the sculpey, use a blow dryer instead.

 

Or boiling water - just dip the part you want to harden ^_^

 

So. I'm hoping to get a Soo sometime in the future, but I'd like her to have pointed ears. (I like Soo's face better than Angel/Dark Elf Soo.) I was wondering if anyone in the general vicinity of Vermont is able to do this. I'm horrified at the idea of shipping a $500 doll to a complete stranger (and my Mom would never let me, is my bet.)
But if someone was nearby (within four or so hours), and we could arrange a get-together sometime, where you could maybe help me use some Apoxie or something to make her ears pointy, like an Elf. (I have no skill when it comes to sculpting.)
Thanks bunches.

 

*soft laugh* I'm not sure if there's much beyond colouring the stuff, sticking it on Kuro's ears, and making them look about the same. ^^; I used a clay/sculpting tool I picked up at an art store, the kind with the very find pointy ball-tipped end to help with the details.
Oh, and I painted them afterwards. ^^
I know there's been a couple threads with good tips just on working with apoxie sculpt, not sure what to suggest beyond that. ^^;

 

I need to modify my DOD Yen's ears to be elven... what would be the best way to go about doing this? I've heard mention of "apoxy" but have no idea what kind exactly is meant by this... if there is already a thread on this, I would appreciate direction to it, or if their isn't... heeeeeeeeeeeeelp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks!

 

Info:

http://basment.fc2web.com/Grothmeru1.htm *modified elf ears*

 

Zoi_no_miko has given her Too and my Bee-a elf ears with 'Apoxie Sculpt'. It's a product that comes in two parts. You add acrylic paint to one until you get a colour just a little pinker than you're looking for, then you add the grey part which well...greys it out a little. *soft laugh* Once you combine the products, you can start sculpting them over the next several hours. It just gets harder over that time, so it's easier to fine-tune details. It dries hard, and you can do gentle sanding and painting to it.
I would PM her if you have other questions.
Pic of my (male) Bee-a's ear:

 

hey guys. for those of you who have had good results in the past. what should I use to add points onto a dolls ears? do I have to change its colors? where do I find it. thanks!

 

Use white apoxie. You can tint it with acrylic paint. Tint component A before mixing with B, that way you have more of the same colour if you didn't finish in the same sitting. http://www.avesstudio.com

 

will the white apoxie match a CP BW doll do you think??

 

Not perfectly, but close enough. CP white is very bright white; white apoxie is matte, non-translucent and a hint more grey. You could try Cernit, Fimo, Sculpey (Sculpey Premo is best) or something like that, but you'd have to bake or boil the bodypart in question (the head) to set the clay.

 

I am plannign to blush the ears anyway, think that will help hide the color diffrence?

 

I used a brand of clay called Makin's clay to add elf ears to a SD Nana. It's air dry and I simply coloured the white clay with acrylic paint to match normal skin. It takes about two days to dry, but as it dries you can add extra detail, or brush it with water to make it smooth.

 

Paint would help, yes If you sand lightly after it cures it will also lighten. I suggest you buy a small kit and try for yourself. Make a tiny mix just to see the colour, test sanding and painting on it.

 

My dolls ears are apoxy-sculpted on. The problem is that the apoxy sculpt is gray so it's being a bitch to match..right now her ears are an annoying whitish pink. I'm working on blending. but as far as shape goes the sculpt seems to work well. I didn't make them though, I just sanded them. Be careful with the tops of the ears though..it's really obvious when one is bigger than the other. I've been working hard to get her's to look even.

 

I used Apoxie Sculpt for the first time and really liked it but I had the same trouble trying to compensate for the grey color, too.

http://www.denofangels.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=202373#202373

The first time I used the "cream" color, only because it was all they had at the model store I went to, but it was REALLY grey, and there was nothing I could do to cover it... the grey still came through four coats of acrylic paint, so I sanded them off and tried again with white (I ordered it off the internet) and tinted the A side before mixing. It still came out greyer, I'm not sure what you could do about that...I ended up painting a few coats of acrylics over the ears to try to blend them.

I have yet to try just painting over white Apoxie Sculpt. I don't know why, I guess I thought that tinting the material would work better than painting alone.

Be sure to post when you are done!

 

The only way to really compensate for the grey is to mix part A lighter than the colour you are trying to mix it like. I think it takes a bit of trial and error, but that is the benefit of tinting only part A, you can always add more paint, or add more apoxie to darken/lighten/colorise the mix. When you sand the apoxie it also becomes a bit lighter again, but sanding the little curves and creases in the ears will of course be tricky.

Perhaps mixing white paint in white apoxie will make it less grey?

I am currently working on a facial reconstruction, and a lot of the jawline and lips have been reworked. I have tinted the apoxie, but it isn't perfect. Because I am still working with it, I have only sanded with coarse paper. As I said the colour isn't a perfect match, and because the sculpted areas are so visible, I'm going to have to paint it, but I think that painting over two colours that are similar will be easier than painting over skintone and white, because it will require fewer layers to cover the difference.

Edit: Strangeangels, your Ren's ears look amazing!! You are right to think that tinting is better than just painting, mainly because tinting means the colour is mixed throughout your work and not just at the surface, making it much more durable.

 

You might try painting white gesso over the grey and then paint your color if it continues to be a problem. I've done that with a lot of action figures. It works rather well. :3

 

Thanks for the tips Twigling and Batchix!

Originally I tried painting white over the grey, but I was using acrylic (Liquitex) and the problem for me was either it was too transparent, or too thick and leaving brush strokes if I didn't use water to thin.

I didn't try gesso, that may have enough white pigment to cover, and can be sanded a bit, too. I don't like the look of brush strokes ...it doesn't match the smooth texture of the resin, even if the color matches, it makes it look wrong to me.

Next time I will try tinting the Apoxie Sculpt A side lighter than the skin tone (I had it matching really close this time, until I mixed the B side in) and I think I'll try adding some white paint to the mix, too. I think trying to blush the color a little darker to match will be easier than trying to lighten the grey out.

In the end, I think coloring the Apoxie Sculpt is the way to go, for me, the less paint blending the better, and as Twigling said, when the color goes all the way through, damaging the paint isn't such a big deal (I am not so careful with my kids ops: )

I'd really like it if you keep us updated on what you do with your project Sylvrdragon, because the more advice I can collect the better!

 

Is there a tutorial on how to add elf ears to a non-elf doll?
I've been told to use apoxy sculpt in white, and may need to attach it to the ears for permanancy with a drill. Do I add flesh-tone paint to the apoxy or paint the ear afterwards?
Any help, guidance or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Am
PS - oh, and if you've done this - could you show me a picture of the finished ear?

 

Here are modified Elf ears:
http://basment.fc2web.com/Grothmeru1.htm

If you look closely at the first pic, you could see where the putty was added to top of the ear.
The site mentions that it chipped off, so they removed it, and modified it again (see pic #3). They evened out the color difference by coating the head (no meantion what they coated it with). Then air brushed it.
Another putty to use is Epoxy (used in the above link) which is different from Apoxy. If I'm not mistaken, Epoxy has resin components and could possibly be a better product to use than the Apoxy.


DOA member Armeleia had modified an F-08 head:
http://www.denofangels.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15520&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

She used Epoxy putty called Mr. Strong.

 

If you do a search for Apoxie there is a lot of good advice.

These threads are really good...there is a lot of discussion of different methods that people have used, and different ways to solve problems:

http://www.denofangels.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=20913&highlight=apoxie
http://www.denofangels.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2316&highlight=apoxie
http://www.denofangels.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3059&highlight=apoxie

Twigling has a lot of good advice, she has done a lot of experimentation with Apoxie Sculpt.
and these are the ears I did on my Ren:

http://www.denofangels.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=22611

but I'd advise you to read those other threads so that you don't make the same mistakes that I did!

 

The 8oz/227g set was WAY more than enough for me, enough for like.... 50 ears. ^^ I just used a couple of really fine metal clay sculpting tools... and I think I mixed my skintone from a burnt umber paint with a little extra yellow, though with skintone the basic recipie is generally somewhere around 2pt yellow to 1pt red, with a little green to tone down the brightness of the peach.

The major problem I've had with the Apoxie Sculpt so far is actually blending it onto the ear... I find when I sand to smooth it, it sometimes flakes off the resin at the edges when it's reallyreally thin.
I think perhaps sanding the ear to roughen it up first might help adhesion....

 

I use burnt sienna and yellow ochre mostly to tint my apoxie, sometimes touch up with other colours if the mix requires it. It does stick to your fingers a bit at first, so wear gloves while you mix it, and then let it sit for 15 minutes before you start. It would be good to gently sand the area you will be blending into for the putty to stick better. Its non toxic though, and doesn't smell much.

And the standard tips:

for tinting, get WHITE "apoxie sculpt"
mix tint colours with part A, and use a little of A mixed with B at a time, so it will always be the same colour, and you wont have to try to make more and get the colour right again. This might still mean that you need to get the A-mix slightly off, to compensate for the slight grey of part B.

I think the smallest container will be enough for you, there will still be some left over, and enough for experimentation. However if you decide you like the stuff and might want to use it in the future, get one of the bigger ones.

Let it cure for 24 hours before you sand, apoxie is softer than resin.

Otherwise I think most of this and other tips have been mentioned in the other threads.

 

Awwww, he's so cute... The ears look really good. To answer your questions: no acetone will not affect the apoxie sculpt. As for spraying the ears with msc after you paint them, you don't have to but it might be a good idea, plus you can then blush them a little to even out any difference between paint and resin.

 

I want an EL and I want him to be an Elf. And not have to pay a fortune I'm lacking for him. I had wanted a Dean, but his nose is not what I want. It figures, I want the limited sold out elf version of him :cry: :cry:

 

alright, i know there is a thread about this somewhere but i just couldn't find it.
are there any tutorials floating around on how to give elf ears (or any kind of mod ears) for their dolls over the original ones? i've seen pictures, but im wondering about the details of how to do it.

 

I'm going to try Sculpey when my boy gets here, but I, too, have been wondering how to make elf ears without buying a whole new head...

 

People normally use epoxy putty or paperclay to do elf ear mods. I don't know of any tutorials though. Sculpey isn't really a good option because Sculpey requires baking - and high heat can yellow your doll or damage the resin in other ways.

 

http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19133

It's not really a tutorial, but Am has pics of her Arashi with cute lil ears!

 

I was going to freeze the head with the ear on it and then pull the ear off when it got hard enough, then bake just the ear... I'd never put Echo's head in an oven... Thanks for the tips! ^^;

 

ooohh....freezing. that's a good idea. Come to mention it...i wonder if by that method you could make a series of different ears, and using elmers glue (which holds fast, and doesn't damage resin and you can pull the ear off) you could swith ears now and then...*ponders*

 

A product called Apoxie Sculpt is the most popular with customizers. It chemically hardens, so there's no baking involved, and it's easiest to get the smoothest join onto the resin, IMHO... sculpy's a bit hard for that, especially if you have to pull it off to bake it, hard to get thin enough at the edges for a seamless join. ^^;

 

You know, I reckoned pulling it off, frozen or not, would be hard to do well. ^^ So... where does one find this mythical Apoxie Sculpt?

 

I bought some Milliput extra fine white on eBay. I'm waiting for someone to respond to my questions about it in another thread before I try tinting etc.

Er, this had relevance because I was going to use it for elf ears X( I forgot to specify.

 

I got epoxy putty in a hobby store (Hobby One), same place I got testors from. Some toy stores and hardware stores have it too, but a lot of the time it is vile green or yellow, the hobby store had white (WHITE, paler than white hound). It is a two part, you knead them together in equal portions, it takes four hours to dry, can be smoothed with a wet finger, can be carved and sanded when dry, has a similar consistency to resin and can be painted/blushed/coated the same way.

 

Apoxie Sculpt - They have a website online (google) and if you email, they'll let you know if there's a retailer in your area. ^_^

 

Somebody did ears on an Isao head recently that came out amazingly well. As in *drool*

 

Found the thread! - http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?p=527939

 

Just wondering.. Because in a lot of the pictures I see of the elf dolls, like Elf Ani from Luts, and Elf El, the wig always seems to sit a little funny on their heads? Is it just me?

 

I have an Angel/Elf Soo, and her ears don't affect the wigs at all. It might be a little different with wigs that are back (ponytails, braids and the like) but with my girl her wigs just kind of sit normally around her ears. Sometimes you can see them poking through the hair, but that's all.

 

The only problem we've had with elf ears and wigs is that Alora's extra-long hair gets caught on them all the time. But as far as how the wig fits, it doesn't seem to matter if they have elf ears or not. The ears like to poke through a lot, it seems, no matter how the hair is arranged.

 

I've just done ears on my mini fee soo, I used apoxie sculpt which I purchased on ebay at a very reasonble price. It dries greyish though and you will have to pait it to match. And paint is a hassle as it is totally opaque but I am hoping blushing will cover the problem areas. I have found one of the ears is slightly cracked where it was knocked back a little, so I definately will be careful and not go wiggling them or leaning the head so the ears are resting against things.

 

My elf ttori had some issues with her wig (KDW-14) initially. The pigtails came out right over her ears, so her wig sat kinda funny and her ears were hidden. A little adjusting and repositioning of the pigtails and her wig fits just fine.

 

It depends on the wig... occassionally the way the hair sits around the area of the ears can be a little hard to get to part properly around the ears without showing the cap or just looking funny. But I've only had this problem with... probably 2 out of 20 wigs.

 

I haven't noticed any problems with Nemo and his elf ears. If anything, the problem is that his hair usually hides his ears and you can't see them. XD;

 

The pretty high pigtails wig from leekeworld will not fit on my girl, due to her elf ears.

 

They're great because you can push their hair behind their ears and it STAYS. *w*

 

I put really long ears on Corpselight (they actually stick right out through the hair) which makes it a little difficult wearing wigs, positioning it around the ears etc, but worse is because of the mods it does not sit quite right around his head, I think I will need to make a slight mod to the wig so it sits smooth on his skull, but it looks excellent anyway