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

Depends on the ear design for the clothes thing, though. Nai never had any problems because elf Ani's ears go up, not out. Problem with that, is that the ears aren't really sculpted out behind and wigs had trouble staying on. >.<

 

I had elf ears added on to my unmentionable doll here and she is having a bit of aproblem with wigs, but that is becaue of the way I wanted them added on. I wanted them to go up more then out. But I just have to find one that is smlal enough to fit under her ears. I think I finally did that, but I had to get a fur wig custome made for her.

 

I've never had a problem with wigs on any of my elves. The caps don't come down over their ears, and their ears are flat enough so the hair falls over them. In fact, it's sometimes hard to get their ears to show if the wig hair is thick enough.

Which is a little annoying, because I like to show off their pointy little ears.

 

OK, I love Hound, but really wanted an elf, so what to do? Ear mods!

After many searches I realised that I needed some epoxy (apoxie) putty type stuff. I couldn't find any of the products I had found in past posts so I went to Hobby One (the only place in Queensland that sells testors) and they had this beautiful white putty so I got home and got to work (this is the same day I got the doll!)

So for those who want to know how it went...

first I got the product and mixed equal portions of the goo together




and sculpted some pointy shapes, I am sorry I didn't have a camera at the time so no photo of that part.

I then cut back the top curve of his ears so they wouldn't get in the way. there was plenty of time to do this as it takes four hours for the putty to cure (you do not bake or freeze it sets by chemical reaction)

The putty slowly hardens over time so I left it until it was mostly set before affixing it to his head, shaping the ears and smoothing them with some water (does not harm the putty or slow drying).

Once it was dry I used a fine scalpel to carve and refine the shape a little (I will be doing more on this next time I redo his faceup) and a 1mm drill bit to make the piercings.





Blushing really helped disguise the join marks and the putty ws nearly the same colour as a white skin hound.

Unfortunately the ears did get in the way of the wig as they take up more room on the back of his head than his original ears so I altered his wig (Poshdolls purchased from Idrisfinn). I made a cut hwere each ear sits and stitched these slit areas around a piece of curved steel (mine was a piece of earring henece all the loops in the photos but any stiff curve that close fits the ear wuld do) and now it is a perfect fit, hardly ever slides, I can brush it easily on his head and he looks just beautiful!

 

That's awesome! I really like modified dolls because they set themselves apart from others. Very unique

 

I am glad you like it, I was hoping someone would, I broke the tip off one while taking the photos, thank god for superglue!

 

Those ears are great. I love the ears that go up instead of out.

 

oooh, they look great! ^^

I'm curious, how did you find the colour matched? Did you tint it with acrylic while it was wet, or paint it when it was dry, or is it the regular colour apart from the purple blushing?

 

I'm so glad you posted this! I'm going to make large elf ears for my white Hound as well, and its good to see that if done properly, they come out looking fantastic. I think I am going to do mine more out to the side though. Thanx for the great pics!

 

Thanks all for the positive comments.

for the colour you can mix in some acrylic or watercolour before molding, but I actually used an extremely pale pink watercolour pencil to colour match and then did the purple shading, which helped disguise the areas where I wasn't quite happy with the join and highlight the ripples in the sculpt.

they are not easy to attach, the best advice really is to wait till they are really quite stiff otherwise you really do risk floppy weird ears!

 

I am impressed with the putty-work, those ears are cool, but I wanted to thank you in particular for the tip on the wig-modification, it is exactly what I needed!!

 

Woah! Awesome-fun ears!

Is the putty really strong? Is it rubbery after curing? *just curious* So, ie, are you not always worried of them breaking?

thanks!

 

it has a similar consistency to resin, I have broken his ears but that was a combination of real stupidity and the fact that they are really long and stick out past his head.

 

Thank you for the tip. I got a box of this off of eBay. My ears won't be as long as Corspelight's ears (which rocks my socks, by the way), so I shouldn't have to worry about breaking and wigs.

 

Cool, thanks for the info! ^_^

OH no! Did they glue back okay?

 

Thanks SO much for the info and pictures. I Adore your boy and his ears, I've been toying with the idea of making an Elf doll based off a comic book character, and he has really long ears like that, possibly a bit longer and just as pierced, so seeing something like this actually be done has inspired me even more.. Your work here is fantastic, and I was wondering if you could possibly tell me the brand of that epoxie stuff so I might look for it where i live? Or is it called miliput? O.o Do both the tubes of putty come in the package or was that seperate? Thanks for an info and I DO so look forward to your spam

/Violet

 

they glue back on no problem (although the tip got lost for over half an hour, it flrw into the groovs on TOP of the TV.

The brand of the product is Miliput and both wads of goo do come in the one packet. Unfortunately it costs about $20 AUD, but there is a whole heap there. goods value unless all you want it for is one little pair of ears

 

You can get it quite cheap on eBay. At least I got it for $6.87.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Milliput-Superfine-White_W0QQitemZ8760779058QQcategoryZ56363QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

Ah ebay, so many things so cheap, but damn I am too impatient for thatops: I ran straight out and bought the putty and Teators the afternoon he arrived (he came much quicker than I expected, it only took three days, including the day I paid!) and pulled him apart to start modifying him straight away

 

I doubt I could find it the stores here. I only find various kinds of paper clay and stuff like Fimo and Cernit, which needs to be baked. Ah, the curse of living in the middle of nowhere! *does cliche angsty hand on the forehead thing*

So for those who doesn't mind waiting, or can't find the product in the stores, eBay is a nice alternative.

 

im curious as to know if anyone has done this before.

has anyone sanded a dolls human ears to look like that of an elf?

like lotr style ears?

WITHOUT THE USE OF CLAYS!! simply by sanding only!

a pic would be nice if it has been done before.

im thinking of doing this in the event i get my hands on the heads i want and need to mod which is why i asked.

please im dying to know...

is it feasable?

 

Can anybody tell me good methods on modding ears? For instance, when I get my doll, I want to mod some elf ears on him, so what would I use?
If I used something like epoxy sculpt, how do I use it, and how do I tint it? Can I use metal sculpting tools to work with it, or will it stick?

I want it to look as 'natural' as possible, aka, matching the resin colour as closely as possible, having a slight translucancy, and not being too shiney.

ANY information would be really helpful

 

epoxy sculpt is sticky you have to use water and clean tools and hands often, once it hardens on either its a bugger to get off..
you could use polymer clay....I would suggest fimo, super sculpy {not the white kind...way to fragile! and not regular sculpy} cernit, prosculpt...depending the color of the resin...prosculpt though expensive and can only get it by mail, has 4 different flesh tones and is easily matched where as fimo, super sculpy only have one fleshtone color..

 

Hmm... I think I'll stay away from using sculpy on a resin head though. I've heard bad things about putting resin in boiling water.. Especially since he'll be comming with a face-up. So it really seems that some sort of air-drying material will be best. I just hope I can find some good 2-part epoxies locally.

 

epoxy sculpts probably the best. Making your own BJD + Modifications Sticky will tell you everything.

 

I wouldn't suggest that you pay for a faceup if you are going to mod in ears. Unless you are able to match the resin perfectly, you will need to blush/paint-match the mods.. and that needs to be sealed.. which would require you to redo/touch up parts of the faceup. Spend the $50 on some Games Workshop Matte Varnish for sealing, and some acrylic paint. I would say though that high quality pastels are worth the money, cheap ones just don't have the same sort of pigments on the resin.

 

I am going to be getting a Tanning Shiwoo sometime next year but I was wondering how do I mod on his ears? they're rather large ears so I'm wondering if anyone had a tourial to how to mod elf ears?

 

You could ask armeleia, maybe. She modded the elf ears onto my tan shiwoo.

 

I've never seen a tutorial go by, but most people use Apoxy Sculpt, which you can color using acrylic paints, and a dremel for sanding off the bits they don't want/sanding the seam between the original ear and the addition. I think it'd be a bit more difficult to get the Apoxy Sculpt to match the skintone of a tan doll than a normal skin doll though.

 

I'd like to know whether this is something I can have a crack at myself, or whether I'd need to send the boy off to someone capable to do it

Essentially, he has his normal ears at the moment, but I quite fancy the idea of him having little pointy ones, nothing huge, just, little pointy ears. So is it possible to sand them to a mini point, or would it be a case of apoxie sculpt and some scultping?

I've never used apoxie sculpt, but I'm resonably competant with other modelling clays and I've done modding on dolls and mlp's and the like before so I do have some experience, but at the same time, I really REALLY do not want to fluff this up. Is it something that you'd need some practise to manage ? Could I use air drying clay and paint to match or is the skin tone ridiculously impossible to match ?

Any help appreciated I did a search, but couldn't find anything really answering my questions so forgive me if I missed something somewhere.

 

I just did this yesterday with Apoxie! I'm now waiting for it to cure it completely before sanding...

I don't know what the end result will look like after all is said and done, but I found to be fun! Mine are a bit longer that "just the tip", so for you, would be much easier, I would guess...

Whatever you do, please post a pic!

PS: Sorry I couldn't really help...

 

I may be giving my MNF Shiwoo head some minor elf ears... I just wanted the tops to be tipped and more narrow that others. Would this be possible through simply sanding it, or would I have to use epoxy?

 

Search for the user PamSD, she has a MNF El and Lishe that she modded elf ears on through sanding. THey're really well-done too.

 

I'm just wondering how this would be done for a dollfie. What type of material do people use? I customize My Little Ponies and when adding parts to them I'd use sculpty.

I want to try and mod elf ears onto my vampire shiwoo head so can I get any tips?

 

I use Milliput Superfine.

 

I have heard from several people Milliput is the way to go. I think once I get the money I am going to get a cheap 1/6 head and try it out myself.

You should check out Serifem's Naruri Elf mod. It is a really good example of what you are trying to do. I am a poor noob still dreaming of my first doll, or else I would have bought that head already

 

OOh, see, I've looked for apoxie sculpt but not even michaels carries it. Which kinda sucks.

One more question: I read somewhere on here super sculpty can be baked by putting it in boiling water. Is that true? XD I'm so use to having to bake it normally.

 

That would still mean exposing your doll to high heat, right? I dont think I would chance it.
I am planing on doing an elf ear mod myself this coming year, and I am getting the milliput from a place in NJ (hobbymasters). Its only $13.50 and easy to use. Mix equal parts, keep it moist with wet fingers when you are molding and you will end up with a nice smooth finish. And you dont need to bake at all!

 

You have to get Apoxie Sculpt from a hobby shop (not a craft shop) or from the internet. http://www.avesstudio.com/Products/Apoxie_Sculpt/apoxie_sculpt.html

 

it's easier to get apoxy sculpt or milliput from the net than a store. X3 I live in BFE kansas and I can't find ANYTHING out here most of the time. You can order apoxy sculpt from their site directly, but their fine white is about the same price and amount you'd pay to get milliput super fine white, so it's up to you what you choose. :3 I've used both and they seem to be about as strong and easy to work with.

oh! And make sure you mix the to halves really really well! Since it's bright white it's easy to not mix them enough and then it will take a lot longer to set up. Both milliput and apoxy sculpt harden through a chemical reaction instead of heat or drying out(like a paperclay). :3

 

Hi there evrybody!!!

I need your advise and help once more! I own a DIM Honey Vanilla and soon I'll have a BC Elf Roko that I want to be her older sister .

I just wonder if I can do something for Vanilla's ears to look like an elf as she will be Roko's sister, her ears are long and thin so I guess they could look elfish and pointy if I scratch them or something, how can I do that???

Should I rub them with something???



Thanks a lot

 

hey, i was curious how to best go about modifying a doll's ears, specifically a CP shu shu that has yet to be bought for some time, to have like mermaid fins. i also want to ad the same type of fishy fin to the forearm. i can post up a sketch soon enough, but i wasn't sure what materials that i would need to buy to correctly accomplish this. any tips/tricks would be lovely!

thanks!

 

I have been looking around several sites that sell BJD but not have found one that carries other ear types without buying an entire doll that is not the size I want. Do I have to buy a whole doll to get the ears? I found this, http://www.dollmore.net/shop/step1.php?number=1617

 

on the site it says its just the head...plus if its 160 then yeah...tis a head XD

you can also have someone mod a head for you

 

saw that some people are using milliput...is it easy to work with?

 

Stone clay might work also, I'm not entirely sure. You would have to match the skin tone with paints after it dried however.

Apoxie sculpt sold here - http://search.ebay.com/apoxie-sculpt_W0QQfnuZ1QQfsooZ1QQfsopZ3QQxpufuZx

 

You could always file/sand them to more of a point.

 

Dunno about Miliput. I used Apoxy Sculpt to give Tali elf ears.

 

I recommend Apoxie Sculpt. It bonds well, and it's strong once it hardens (which takes much longer than they say it does, if you're working in a cold room.) It does tend to be a bit "floppy" if you make long thin pieces, so you may need to use some wire as an armature. You'll also want to keep some water and a paper towel handy, so you can dampen your fingertips to minimize the stickiness and get a nice smooth surface. You can also mix in pigment (like the soft pastels you'd use for a face-up) to tint it.

And you probably don't need to wear gloves, even though it says to on the package. Some people have sensitization issues with long-term exposure, but for one sculpt, I really wouldn't worry.

 

I mixed in acrylic paint to tint mine.

...You know, I didn't even realize that it says on the box to wear gloves. Oops. I guess I should have read the packaging more thoroughly. *cough*

 

oooh thanks guys! that helps because the fins i want to do have to be a tinted blue.... ^.^

any other good ideas?

 

I just got some epoxy and modded my vamp head shiwoo( i wanted elf ears too )

its actually very easy to work with. I got it at a hobby store here in town its two little logs that you actually have to mix together ( not the whole thing just a little bit of what you are going to work with)

The guy at the store told me that the best thing he has used for shaping and designing is a cuticle pusher! I happened to have one so I used it and it was small enough for me to use on my elf ears !

Try a practice run first will sclupting so you can see how the ears will look and how long it takes before they harden. The recommed working with water , wetting your ears down give it a smooth appearance. Maybe I will put a pic up when I am done sanding mine.

 

I have an el that I really love very, very much that I would adore having elf ears on. However, I'm not sure how I could go about getting those elf ears or who could do them for me because I've never modded anything and I'm not sure I'd do a very good job with my inexperienced self. So, I was wondering if there was anyone out there who modded elf ears.

I am very specific in what I want. I just want the ears to be small and look like the elf el originals. I am a starving college student so I don't have a lot of money. I'm looking for someone who can do a good job and not charge me an arm and a leg for it. I have a part-time job and don't make a lot of money. I'd really love my El to have ears.

Thanks
Elendae

 

Look in the customizer's section of the Marketplace. There are some handy people there that'll do it for you and do it well.

 

I have a head that I want the ears just a bit pointed, can you do this with sanding only, or will I have to use some modeling
clay?

 

I suppose depends on the ears, but I think you're probably going to have trouble. You could try drawing the new outline on the ear and see if you've got enough of the outside cartiledge left.

 

You'd probably need pretty big ears to begin with?
I wouldn't recommend it xD

 

PamSD did this with her minifee Lishe and El. I'm trying to see if I can do this myself later, lol.
http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71015
http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71280

 

have any one done either on a DOC just by sanding?? how did u do it?
is it possible to make vampire teeth from a non vampire mold?

 

I know I have to use an extremely fine grain sandpaper... but in what direction would I sand Soony ears to make them pointy?