Aesthetics Aiming way too high with a first doll :)

I started typing "I have high hopes for my first doll", which I guess already implies I'll get more some day. This is escalating quickly. I suspect most of us have a drive to see a craft and see if you can do it too, so I've started off with "how much of a doll can I do entirely on my own?" Before I actually bought a doll I used to enjoy watching doll modification videos, so I've seen a lot of footage of people doing some of this. That'll translate, right? Right??

I finally bought a doll when a friend bought dolls for her character in a D&D game we play together. I adore my character in that game, and decided if anything was gonna give me an excuse to jump in, that'd be it. And now here we are!

So my list of goals:

1. Eyes
   I've done resin for a few years now, and actually attempted (unsuccessfully) to learn to make eyes for friends. I was never happy with them, but now I'm extra motivated. And have watched a lot more videos on eye techniques.
   Old attempts, clay with vacuum chamber, acrylic paste, tons of techniques
   
2. Wig
   I own so much yarn. Surely I can make a yarn wig. (I know for a fact I can't style hair, this is gonna go poorly.)
   Wig cap prototypes, progress pictures of sewing a wig
   
3. Faceup
   ...the one thing I am not looking forward to trying. I don't do makeup, or drawing, or painting, or anything similar. It'll be an adventure.
4. Clothes
   This'll take forever. I'm excited.
5. Accessories
   I'm still picking what this will even be! So many opportunities.

I've already done a lot of prototyping, and realized it'd be nice to have a place to track it.

Simple knit dress:
#1: sewed the arms shut
#2: used fabric that couldn't stretch enough for doll to wear
#3: learning to hand sew
#4: floral success!

 

This was my first attempt at resin eyes, back in May of 2021.. The bases are just normal epoxy resin in a mold that was purchased off Etsy (I no longer remember which shop, sadly), then various things for the iris, and then UV resin for the doming. This was a few different techniques; print-outs of the eye I was mimicking that I laminated, and painted with both nail polish and acrylic paint. All but the top right have a piece of diamond star glitter in the middle.



You can see the bubbles in some of them, where air got trapped behind the diamond-glitter. Overall I was super unhappy with these, notably they all really lacked depth and most had a ton of bubbles, but I learned quite a lot.

This was the next round of attempts.


Instead of paint, I used clay to get the colors I wanted, and then used a needle to make little indentations to try to make iris lines. I used epoxy resin for both parts to avoid as many bubbles. They still lacked depth, and the clay was... messy? They just don't look clean, I don't know.



These were me being tired of messing with clay and just putting glitter and a star shape into some smaller eyes. I was actually relatively happy with them, although I certainly had no use for them.



Close-up of the clay, with the needle markings.



I switched to some other eyes; these were the same clay and needle technique, but I put some paint wash over it to try to add depth to the cuts. I used a little ball of smashed clay to make the pupil, but the UV resin for doming made a million bubbles and I was intensely unhappy with them. That was in October 2021, and I was frustrated enough I took a break from eyes for, uh, like three years.

 

May 2024, I actually had a doll and had a new determination to both 1) give my friends the doll eyes I said I could totally make back in 2021 2) get my own doll some eyes.



Similar technique as before but slightly different. Margrit is going to have grey eyes, so hers are simpler. Still using polymer clay as the base, and instead of using a needle to add some indents, I took a small clay hook and scraped out a ton of little lines. I don't have any pictures of the in-progress since I try not to touch my phone while I'm doing resin, but I took some UV resin and tinted it with black dye. I put a dab in the eye, then attached it to the end of a dowel, and spun it into a container to get some of the excess out. This got it into the ridges a little. I then used a paper towel to dab the rest out, and I need to improve that part of it. Then I used a vacuum chamber to try to suck all the bubbles out, which went... mixed. I hadn't used it in a bit, and forgot to release the pressure slowly, so first attempt sent resin all over the inside of it. I wish I had been patient enough to pull more bubbles out.

Then I cured the first layer, then put the pupil in, then cured that and then added the full dome.



The blue eyes still have issues with the clay looking messy. I used blue dye for them instead of black, and I think I should have used a darker dye. My plans for next time with these is to be more proactive about cleaning my hook between each clay scrape.



And here are Margrit's current eyes! They're not actually in her head because I'm too afraid to do that. I got too impatient at the end and should have maybe put them in the vacuum chamber again to get the bubbles out, but I think they turned out a lot better. They still look kind of flat, which I guess I could fix with an insert at a higher level, but she's not exactly a bubbly character so I'm not sure they'll actually fit her.

My next plan is going to be using white polymer clay, then using mica to "paint" the clay. I'm worried it won't bond to the clay well and the mica will just end up floating. But that's how we learn.

 

I've never heard of acrylic modeling paste! Oh I have hopes for this. I didn't love leaving the clay unbaked but plenty of people seem to do it, so I just rolled with it.

 

Thank you for linking that thread; I don't do any work with clay so I thought it was surprising to leave it unbaked but didn't realize what it could do. I assumed that since so many people who do the how-to's and sell their eyes with unbaked eyes, it was safe. I should know better.

And thank you! I do tend to jump into huge projects, but at least this time I have a vague idea at how far in over my head I am!

 

I have ordered some supplies for it and am impatiently waiting for them to arrive, but also I'm so concerned.

 

Thank you! ^-^ I'm infamous for never being happy with anything I make so I look at them and just see bubbles. It's a terrible habit and one day I'll (hopefully) move past it.

Funny enough, I did grab some dolls from a thrift store to practice the wigs on. I wanted to be able to test some of the "just put down some plastic wrap and then apply glue on the doll's dead" ideas without risking my actual doll. I hadn't thought of using them for face-up models. I've seen a lot of Lomi's before, but thank you so much for that link here, it's amazing!

 

I realized I never posted a picture of the sheer volume of eyes bases I've made. Sadly I've thrown out at least a third of them because they had flaws I considered unworkable, and I've also thrown out a decent volume of eyes I made that I just didn't like. The bag in the back is varying attempts at the blue eyes above, the bag in front is "messed up but not so badly I won't practice with them."



You see what I mean when I said I made a lot of red eyes. (Note there seem to be little paint flecks in those, because I was still experimenting with using paints to dye resin at the time.)

Onto the next attempts!


I completely moved away from clay, followed Isabeau's advice, and tried some acrylic modeling paste and paint. I used U.S. Art Supply Modeling Paste Acrylic Medium, and DecoArt Slate Grey. (I'll be real annoyed in three months when I need to do this again, realize I left the jar a little open and it dried out and I need to buy more, so I'm sending future me a picture so at least she'll remember what to buy.) I used a bunch of random tools I may laying about, but the only two I was using by the end were a dotting tool and the sharpest point on the largest handle I could find.


I did a ton of different sizes; big for a first practice round, middle for practice two/"maybe if they're really good they can fit?", and small for the appropriate size. When they were still wet I was decently happy with them...


...but as they dried they definitely lost some detail in the ridges. I expected that, so I remain hopeful. I was not hyper careful on keeping the paste off the sides of the eyes, partially because I already knew these would not be anyone's final eyes because I meant to paint the inner part black and forgot before I'd mixed up the paint. I'm impatiently giving them a full 24 hours to cure, even though I'm pretty sure they're fine because the layers are thin. Once they're done, on half of them I'm going to use a black paint wash, and on the other half I'll do the 'UV resin and spin' method again. I'm not worried about the little craters in the center, since the pupil will cover it anyway. Hopefully. Probably.

Working with the paste vs clay was definitely different. The paste feels like thick paint, which makers sense, but it was way harder to make the thickness even on all sides, by which I mean I absolutely did not succeed at that. Too thick and the ridges were blending together too much, too thin and you were just scraping the side of the eye and nothing showed up. I was a lot more careful about wiping off my needle point to not let excess gather up between cuts. Ease-of-work verdict: clay was definitely easier, but paste isn't that hard once you get used to it.

Edit much later in the day: I did the wash on two eyes and it looks awful, so I did not try the others. Did paint some bases black for round 2 of paste, though.

 

Why do I think I, who barely does more than brush my own hair, is capable of making and styling a wig? I don't, I just like setting myself up for frustration. Yay crafting!


This is Margrit's head. She also has no faith in me to make her hair, but given the poor decisions she's made in our D&D campaign, I guess I can't blame her for that. She even recently gave herself a bad haircut- I promise it was for plot reasons- so I guess if I do real bad I can just say it's character-accurate. (Note to future me: size 6/7.)

Literal years ago, when I had emotionally accepted I was eventually going to buy a BJD, I found some Monster High dolls at a thrift store. I'd been watching a lot of Catmelon Studios at the time- she does Monster High modifications, many of which are horror-esque which I love- and so I grabbed them on a whim.


Thank you for your educational sacrifice, Draculaura.


A bunch of effort later, I'd removed all of her hair. Also her face, but let's not focus on that.

I did not take pictures of any of the next stuff, for reasons unknown to me. I played around with brushing yarn out using a pet brush, then used a small hair iron (which I bought solely for this), and glued the wefts to some parchment paper, which the guide I'd been following did. They had no problem pulling their wefts off the paper, but mine definitely did not separate. I tried again on foil, because that worked for someone else, and had the same problem. I later remembered I own silicone sheets I use for resin, and I should have just used those, but I'm an idiot. I was also worried about making my wig water-safe, so I was probably using different glue.

I was annoyed to have lost the yarn, but I still have like fifty pounds of yarn laying round (probably not an exaggeration) so I decided to just try again. I decided to do something really long, to see how well that would work. Not because I theoretically have another doll I'd make in mind. Simple curiosity. That did not go well, because by the time the texture of the top bits were right, the bottom was thinned to the point of being gone. I got annoyed, watched a bunch more videos, and ended up ordering some nylon. I am weak and like trying new things.

Onto the wig cap. I was following the guide on Antique Lilac, using the newer stuff. So I wrapped her head in plastic wrap, then used tiny elastic hairbands to keep the tulle on, and did the glue.


Way too thin. Whoops. Also I cut it poorly, but overall it seemed like it worked fine?


Attempt the second. Oh, Draculaura, I'm sorry about your haircut too. I tried to do a better job tracing the hairline, but as we can see, I did not. I decided since this was only a Learning Opportunity anyway, that I'd just use this one for practice with the wefts.

I felt like I'd got a decent understanding of the technique by then, but I remained too nervous to do plastic wrap on Margrit's actual head. I at first started following a Dollightful guide on making a sewn wig, but only got as far as sewing the elastic before realizing I had no fabric that would work. I got annoyed with the day's work and stopped.

 

I've tried many things with mixed results over the last week.

Made some good progress on prototype booties. Learned how to do eyelets correctly, which is nice. I don't expect these to turn out amazingly, but that's completely fine because I'm considering them a technique learning experience. I consider a lot of things learning experiences.

Many wig experiments I have not bothered to document, because they have gone poorly. But not catastrophically poorly, so we'll take it!

I've been putting a lot of effort into resizing a dress pattern I have into doll-sized proportions. I finally cut out the top and sewed it, not expecting great results, and I did not receive great results. Unfortunate, but not unexpected. Back to futzing around with the sizing.

I do have 10 different eye tests to do once I have the time to do another round of UV resin, though, and I have a lot of hopes for some of them. I will eventually do an overly detailed write-up on the different things I tried out. But, I also finally actually tested what some of the above eyes look like and I'm kinda happy with them!

 

I'm going on a trip soon and wanted to try to finish a dress before I left, because it's a simple pattern. I am very tired. I burnt my hand on the iron.



I also sewed the arm holes shut. Don't sew when tired, kids. At least messing up doll clothes isn't as big a waste of fabric.....

 

An update on my continued attempts to make doll clothes. Made another dress using some actual scrap fabric I had laying around so I could do better. Also used clips instead of pins for holding the fabric while I cut it out, which helped me a lot. Why am I so bad with scissors?



Looks promising, no?



Nope! I forgot to take into account how much this fabric does not stretch, so I can't put it on her without breaking her arms. You'll note that little spot on the neck where I also messed up the sewing so some of the fabric was escaping. So, another failure, but another lesson learned!

I did actually place her eyes in. I can't figure out why one looks somewhat off-center. Other than it probably is.



I decided to pose her judging me, because that only felt appropriate. I have done more work and made a wig cap, but this has made me realize.... I don't know what hair style I want her to have. I think I'm gonna just do the spiral weft-placement a lot of people seem to do, and then panic once I realize I have to style it.

 

It occurs to me I'd never shared pictures of her current outfit. I did successfully make her a hoodie and some leggings, which has perhaps contributed to my current overconfidence in my ability to make a dress.

 

Progress post to keep me going....


Bunch of new eyes, each row a different technique. I'll post pictures of them in doll when I'm feeling less sleepy, but #4 and #5 turned out the best for grey, I think. I remain unhappy with the blue ones.


Dress attempt #3. This time I decided to just hand sew the top, since my machine was having lots of issues there. And I have a movie I'm supposed to return someone, and sewing during it worked well for me. I realized my clips have measurement marks so I can actually do the seam allowance correctly. The fabric does have some give to it, but only one direction, so. Stay tuned to see if there's an attempt #4.

 

Okay, doll eye breakdown time! I'm gonna describe how I made each of these eyes and show what they look like in my doll. And my opinion of them in person because I have a low quality camera.

For the first six, I used acrylic medium modeling paste that I tinted with grey paint first. I then made a thin layer of the model, and used a very thin scraping tool to cut little ridges while it was still wet. I waited until the paste was fully dry until I did whatever next step I took. I wrote a lot of details about it higher up.

I don't talk much about the UV step here, but I tried to be more careful about it than I had in the paste. I did one really thin layer of UV first, then a second thin layer to try to make sure the ridges wouldn't be causing bubbles. Then I did another thin layer to place the pupils (I have no idea what exactly they are, but they look like flat-back black rhinestones?)


#1: I tried to use a paint wash I had. I immediately realized I used too much, and my attempts to dab it out with a paper towel pretty much destroyed the ridges. It don't look amazing.


#2: I used the same paint wash as attempt #1, but I used a paint brush to apply a really small amount at a time to keep it thin. You can see it kept the ridges better.


#3: Before using the paste, I painted the inside of the eye black, and let it dry. Then I did the ridges and the black wash again.


#4: I painted the inside of the eye black before doing the ridges. I didn't do any kind of wash to these, was just very careful about applying the UV resin.


#5: I think these are my favorite. I did the black paint in the socket, then grey ridges as normal. When I did the UV resin, I first did a very, very thin layer of UV resin I tinted black. Then I did the UV as normal.


#6: One simple version where I did just grey ridges and a layer of black UV resin. These look fine for first goes.

The next ones are not grey eyes, they're something I'm trying to get to work for a friend. I did not tint the ridges grey here, since these eyes are dual-toned, and tried to experiment with a few ways to do that. For each of these, I painted the socket blue first.


#7: I did the initial modeling paste white, and then painted the blues on where I wanted them. The dual-tone comes across best here, partially because painting over them once I've done the ridges means the blue socket is gone.


#8: I tinted the modeling paste, then did my best to get the colors somewhat neatly separated. I did a thin layer of black UV on these. Not a fan.


#9: I really have no idea why these look so intense. Blue socket, tinted modeling paste, and regular UV. I guess I must have made these ridges the most extreme, so it sort of drowns everything else out? Maybe it looks better at other angles/lights? Who knows. Super not a fan.

And thus ends my current round of doll eye experiments. Partially because I'm starting to run out of eye bases to practice with.

 

No worries!

I feel like my problem with applying the paste remains a little bit of a skill issue. It didn't occur to me in this batch to try paint dots for the pupil, I've seen some people do it and it looks fine, but I'm worried the size would be really inconsistent. I meant to do some studies on the size of the pupil but I only have so many bases at a time. I feel wasteful having this many eyes just laying around my house, but I don't really know what else to do with them

 

I definitely at least made new mistakes on my next attempt! I think version *checks notes* four will be good.

And thank you!!! I've never had a place to document craft progress like this before, it's amazing to get advice as I go. Also seeing all the other doll pictures is very motivating

 

I finished version 3 of the dress!


And it worked!



Getting it on and off was a nightmare. And I did mess up the lining of the top a bit, so it's not stretchy in the right direction, which did not help the getting on/off bit. I cut slits in the lining and I'm going to see if that makes it easier, but I can't do anything about the shoulder straps not stretching correctly, unfortunately.

Either way, a successful sewing experience! I did get frustrated by my machine eating the fabric a few times, and looking around the internet I have determined there are two options.
1. Buy a new sewing machine that can support a straight stitch throat plate, and hope that helps.
2. Do the sewing with tissue paper underneath.

Option #2 is sure more fiscally responsible, but I have tried that and it wasn't always successful. I suppose really flimsy fabric could be sewn on stronger paper...

 

Huh, I didn't know stretch fabric didn't like really sharp needles. I guess I need to read more about needles themselves.

Boy am I glad I ranted here, haha. I didn't know that either, but straight stitching is usually the only stitch I ever use. I had been considering myself a high novice at sewing, but I guess I need to knock my opinion of myself down a good bit Fortunately, most of these fabrics have been scavenged from clothes I don't wear anymore, so there is a good bit of scrap to go around!

 

Boy, I wish I could internalize that more ^^; But you're very right, I should just ask people more often instead of trying to figure things out on my own. I haven't machine sewn anything in a bit, but I did hand stitch a doll shirt!

 

I've been working on her wig! Some progress pictures

The top of her head, where I haven't yet finished sewing. I need to get another weft, fortunately I bought two.


The wig off her head and turned inside out. I do worry I've made it quite delicate, but we learn as we go.


How it looks right now! Not brushed or anything, obviously, since I'm terrified to do that and it's not done anyway. I have no idea how I will style this disaster. Her hair is also much, much shorter, but I didn't want to even trim it and then regret it later.

So nothing done, but.... progress!