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

are you trying to make elf ears? I think most people sculpt the ears out of clay to fit over the existing ear and then hot glue it on.... haven't tried it yet though

 

yes.I have heard that you can sand the ear with sandpaper or use modding putty
But I don't want to have to take my doll's head off and remove the magnets in order for her to go into the microwave...

 

The question is, how do you sand the ears to make them look pointed? Sand from the head outward?

 

Eeek, I wouldn't put her in the microwave no matter what. Get epoxy putty. It air dries. And believe with either apoxie sculpt or milliputt that you can tint the putty to match the resin.

 

where could I find either of these products? At a place like Michaels?
and How do I tint the putty?
And does it automatically stick to the ear? Or do I have to glue it on?

 

I think it varies from person to person, but I'm sure Epoxy wold just stick by itself, if not, a bit of glue ought to do it. The kind of epoxy you're looking for ought to be available at a craft shop, or if all else fails, a hardware store. If you're good at mixing paint, you could always just paint over the epoxy part to match the skin. it doesn't have to be exact either since most of it will be covered by hair anyways. I've heard that you have to sand down the round part of the ear so that the elf ears look right, so there's no going back once you decide to do it.

 

Very gently flatening the top of the ear ought to make it just pointy enough. ^_^ If not, also take just a bit off the back of the ear as well.

Sand from the base outwards/upwards. Work slowly with nothing courser than 360 or 400 grit sandpaper and check your progress often.

 

Yours sounds like the best advice when it comes to that ^_^

 

Does anyone have pics of ears sanded like that?

 

I've had a look through the forum for tutorials on modding ears, but I'd like to get people's opinions on what I'm thinking of doing...

I'm planning on getting a MNF Shushu, and modding her ears. She's a halfling, and I'd really like her to have the proper ears. The normal CP version of elf ears are too short - I really, really like these ones that Angel Toast did on a MNF Shiwoo.

I have a pack of DAS air dry clay in white. I've successfully used this to mod my DoD Yen's hands for a Kingdom Hearts cosplay, but that was a spare set, and painted to look like gloves anyway. I was wondering if more experienced people could tell me whether this clay would be appropriate for permanent ear mods?

Thanks in advance,
Sefie

 

I've never done it, but I've heard allot of people sculpt the ears out of sculpy, or super sculpy. And then glue them to the dolls head.

There is also the option of just buying a head with pointed ears already.
There are some really nice ones that show up on Ebay every so often.

 

I've been searching for information on this as well, I've never found a tutorial but some of these links may be helpful.

This thread 'talks' about Sculpey and Apoxie Sculpt for ear mods,
http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?t=156050&highlight=Apoxie+Sculpt

This thread has some links and tips, around post#7,
http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?p=181577&highlight=elf*+ears#post181577

and this link has a few tips on making ears with polymer clay from scratch,
http://www.ebsqart.com/artMagazine/za_304.htm

I hope this helps.

 

I've used this to do ear mods before and I Love it
It sands smooth is very easy to work with. It also adheres well to resin and the cool thing is if you don't like what you done after it's dried you can just kinda pry it off.

I hope this helps

 

Well, I have searched, but I have not found anything. My english is poor, so maybe it was, but I didn't understood it
My questions are:

1.- I want to make my Shoyo White Skin (she hasn't arrive yet) half vampire-elf, so I have to put on her elf ears, (I don't know if I am going to put on her fangs ) I was planning to use Tamiya smooth putty, I can use it¿?
2.- I definitely don't like Dollzone girl hands, and as I cannot found any house wich solds hands that fit with DZ 1/4 White Skin, I was planning to make them. I know that it is not easy, and that it is a ver long project. I will want to know basic materials, because, I am sorry, but I can't understand the topic in which there are

Thank you

 

Well, Tamiya's epoxy is specifically designed for this kind of thing, so I imagine so XD
What is it you don't like about the girl hands? If it's just the pose, it seems like you'd have an easier time modifying them like Zevchan did.

 

I've heard of other people using that putty, so it should be fine. Though it is green so you will need to paint it.
And CP BW is supposed to be a good match for DZ, so you could just buy some mnf hands for her.
And just as a sidenote, you shouldn't really bump your threads more than once a day

 

Basically, I have taken on the task of making an extra pair of ears for my doll. To be specific, elf ears. the only problem is that I have no idea on how to go about making them past baking.

1) I sculpted them out of super sculpey
2) I baked them

But what do I do next?

Things I basically need help with:
- How do I make the clay white/what product I need to use
- Am I supposed to seal/finish it before painting the flesh color?
- What do I use to seal/finish it?
- Can I use acrylic to paint the flesh color?
- What are the steps I need to do after baking until painting details and finishing it off?

I desperately need advice.

Any help is much appreciated!

 

Adding on to what Goil said: Luts' MNF Beauty White hands will indeed fit and match DZ 1/4 white skin dolls. One of my friends has a DZ WS Shoyo who has a pair of BW MNF Shiwoo "heart" hands. ^_^

 

could i use 'mr epoxy putty strong' to mod elf ears onto a doll?

 

hi, everyone, I'm new here and just learned about this doll forum from one of my friend~

I've did some doll reparing and modifing works, here are the pics^^


AS 1/4 doll human ear moditied to elf ears



before and after





Doll More 1/4 mermaid ear modification


DOD 1/3 Lahoo elf long ear modification






Luts 1/3 tatoo(airbrush)


1/4 Tatoo(hand-carving)



I hope I posted them at the right place....

 

WOW they are gorgeous I love your ears modifications *O*.

Witsh materials do you use to do the ears?

 

I use resin (doll's material), therefore, it can be send or filed, can be wiped by dissolvent without losing the color I mixed for the doll^^

 

I have wandered over most threads concerning modding of the ears..My girl has elf ears, the kind that stick straight out and I would like to "bend" for lack of a better word, bend them back more towards the sides of the head like Vulcan ears. Love the pointy-ness of the ears, it's just they stick out TOO much. Any suggestions? Maybe a way to heat them and gently bend them back? As it is, her robe's hood is not big enough to accomodate those ears. She would almost remind you of a car coming down the street with it's doors open. Thankx...

- ShadowHawke -

 

Has anyone ever worked with Miliput? Supposedly it bonds on its own so no need for glue. You can just build up the ears right from the head... It doesn't mix too well however and you'll probably need to paint them after they've dried.

 

I've used miliput, and it does adhere on its own and it dries really hard. The paint wont mix into it though. D:

 

I have used Milliput and Sculpty and the 2 part epoxy stick in my resin modeling career, but the problem is her ears are big enough already, as it is I just need them "bent" back at the tips. Bobobie Sprite's ears stick straight out and a Vulcans ear's curve back. That's what I am trying to achieve in the easiest way possible.

- ShadowHawke -

 

You could always sand off the straight tips and sculpt curved ones on.

 

I have read through here and I'm still not certain what I should use, so I would like
opinions please.

What is my best bet for sculpting sturdy elf ears.
Also what would give me the closest match for a BW Cp delf
Any reccommendations on color mixing?

Thanks!

 

I've actually just been scuplting on my CP Yder, I use milliput; it's sturdy but still a bit fragile, like most mods..
Colour-wise I can't really give much advice, especially as Luts resin tends to yellow.. Ipainted my very yellowed boys ears yellow-ish with acrylic paints

 

what is the easiest medium sculptwise?

 

I use apoxie for all my mods and it's very sturdy. The white dries white, but is a bit greyer than CP white and it can get yellow over time. I always airbrush my mods to match anyway though. It's very easy to paint over to match.

 

I have a blue Bobobie Elena coming and I wanted to mod her ears and turn them into elf ears. I want to know what's the best material(s) to use for modding dollies' ears. I've heard a lot of people using epoxy putty, can you mix color in that? Something like food coloring. Is there any type of clay that I can use instead of epoxy putty? I found some blue clay called "Craft Porcelain". When it dries it feels sort of like resin.

I hope that someone can help me in my mini-dilemma

 

Aves apoxie in white is what I use to sculpt base parts with. It takes a moment to get used to the texture...but it works well to form detail and it takes color great.

http://www.avesstudio.com/Products/Apoxie_Sculpt/apoxie_sculpt.html

 

Wanted to bump this up with a quick question.

I'm working on sculpting projects myself and all I have found that is sold locally is called Elmer's Super Fast Expoxie Cement, and I'm a little worried by it drying so fast. Since it'll be my first time using anything like this should I just stay away from it altogether and just have to order regular Apoxie online? Or do other people with this type of experience think I'll be okay even with the fast hardening stuff?

 

Hi InkyBear,

The material you have looked at is really more of a glue than a sculpting clay, it would be too gooey to do anything with and then cure hard before you have a chance to shape it into anything. You can look for things like plumbers putty at the local hardware store and try to roughly block the shapes you want out before it sets. This is what I do with Apoxie anyway, and then sand and carve the hardened material. The benefit of white or superwhite apoxie is that you can tint it with pigments if you're looking to sort of match a skintone, while plumbers putties tend to be grey or brown or some other colour that would need to be painted.

 

Thank you very much Twigling! I never thought to use plumbers putty before and I'll look into it as well, though I do wonder if perhaps matching the two tones with pastels rather than paint would look nicer or even work. Hm...well in any case thanks for your help and from preventing me from running into what probably would have been a complete disaster!

 

Has anyone tried creative paperclay, I found it at Michaels craft store. I was hoping to find something their without buying it online. I live in Toronto and I was wondering what can i use to make elf ears on my littlefee.
They also had a porceline clay that dries in 24 hours.
Do you thinking I can find apoxie in craft stores?

 

Ive tried several times to sculpt elf ears using epoxy, but I just cant get the jist of it I feel like there's some sort of "right way" to go about it but I fail every time. I basically don't know where or how to start sculpting the actual ear or whether to sculpt it onto the doll ear or attach it after sculpting. If theres a tutorial out there that would really help But any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

ApoxieSculpt is what you should be using.
There is no right or wrong way... but you have to be comfortable with the product. If you have never used Apoxie Sculpt before, I highly recommend sculpting something tiny out of it until you get the hang of it. No use ruining a head, right?
Ive never seen an ear tutorial on here... but that doesnt mean there isnt one...
Also small sculpting tools are very helpful (they can be found at michaels or any other craft store), and you will need sand paper to smooth it all out.

and if youve never sculpted anything... then apoxie is not the way to start... ears are hard to get proportioned correctly and to look realistic.

Feel free to PM me questions... I use the stuff alot in my mods. It really just takes getting used to.

 

I've come across more and more dolls that have had their ears modded into points--how is this done? D8 Excuse the total n00bness. xD I have read about several different epoxies, sculpy clay, etc...so the basic question is this: What is the best way to get modded elf ears to look the most natural? How do you do it? What are the best materials to use?

If anyone can put together a little tutorial, that would be AWEsome. And I would love you forever. ^_^

(And knowing how to do this would be very helpful, because I reeeeally want to make an elf character but the elf sculpts I've seen so far are not the way I see him in my head. I DO however have me eye on a sculpt that would be exactly what I want with elf ears...Hence, this thread. :'D Many thanks in advance!

 

most of us that mod elf ears have some sort of sculpting experience..I used to do artdolls for nearly 10 years.
you could look through polymer clay forums and books and it will give you an idea how they are done..the biggest part is practice, practice, practice.
Smoothing to blend into the ear is the one of the hardest parts and then blending colors, which with apoxie sculpt usually need to be airbrushed to blend naturally...
there are some rubber tipped sculpting tools I use, depends on what someone is comfortable with using..... you could also commission someone to do the ears for you...its really not something that can be told...and I don't know if there is a tutorial..

 

Most airdry clays like that shrink quite a bit while drying (at least paperclay does IME), so it's probably not a good idea. They're also very brittle, and generally not really suitable for adding onto resin ^^; It's a very good idea to get the right materials, such as apoxie, or milliput, that way you're avoiding any risk, and things will turn out the best way possible

 

What if you already have a set of loose ears and you wish to attach them to your doll? What is a good adhesive to use that won't damage my vinyl Gretel?

 

Has anyone used Sukerukun (transparent resin airdry clay) for ear mods?

I did an ear mod on my IH Isar using Apoxie Sculpt and while I'm OK with the results, I would have liked the ears to be a little less ...opaque? Apoxie has this dull chalky quality that doesn't quite match the "glow" of resin.

I know Sukerukun experiences significantly more shrinkage while drying compared to AS, but I like how it looks when tinted with acrylics (and it definitely accepts color more readily than AS! *cussing noises*) Acrylic paint does reduce the transparency, but the cured result still retains a slight translucence. It's sticky, but it can't be any worse than Apoxie (*more cussing*), right?

 

I've got a similar question to the one katethegreat19 had. I'd like to create long detachable elf ears for a MSD-sized doll. (She'll be a human who likes to cosplay as elf characters.)

Is Apoxy the right clay for this kind of use or should I use Fimo/Super Sculpey? I thought of doing it this way:
1. protecting the doll's ears with multiple layers of plastic wrap
2. sculpting the elf ears onto the protected human ears so they can be taken off easily. Maybe sculpting them so that they can be glued on at the back of the human ears.
3. letting the elf ears dry (Apoxy) or taking them off to bake them (other clay - maybe after freezing the head in order to make the clay hard?)
4. painting the ears and glueing them on with white clay (the one you use for glueing on eyelashes as well)

Can that work?

 

I know this is kind of old but can you drill holes for earrings into the epoxy? Is going to break or will it be ok?

 

You can drill into the apoxie, but I highly suggest starting out with a very tiny drill bit and working that instead of starting with a bigger size.

Also, I believe I read someone asking about gluing on ears that can still be removed? I would suggest putting small magnets in the ears if you can and then attach another magnet in the head so that you can still remove them later and not worry about glue residue. Just my opinion.

Apoxie is great. For those that are worried about working with it, it's really not all that difficult. You just mix the two parts together and work with a bit of water to smooth out the lines. Works better than sanding!

 

I moded my Sain to have elf ears as i was working alone i do not have photos of wip but i took bit of inspiration and confidence from this post from this thread.

At firt i took ear shape using paper and pencil a(you know like little kids use to copy coins so they can have play money? just put paper on top and stroke it with pencil bulky parts will show up with more intensity)
Once there was the ear shape i just needed to draft elf ear over it, then cut out elf ear part and try out on doll.
As i was satisfied with the look i could finally start modeling (used milliput) mix the stuff made a pancake and cut out the desired shape 2 mirrored copies.
From now on it was much like the tutorial/tips from post i mentioned except that my ears was attached much sooner as i was little chicken if they will stick properly once they turn to more rubbery state so i stick them on head after hour and had to let it dry upside down as they was bending down >.<
I had to add some material after they was dry to assure that they will stick to original ear more safely and also that they will not look like flat piece of something glued on the ear :P

And here is the result

 

Hello everyone! I looked through this entire thread. I may have missed more on this, but I saw it mentioned that when the acrylic is mixed with Milliput to tint it that the normal methods to wipe a faceup could take off or lighten some of the tinted coloring of the epoxy on the exposed areas. Is this true? I have the tendency to redo my faceups a few times until it is to my liking, so I want to make sure I take the necessary precautions before I wipe a modded head/faceplate. I really would not want to have to sand the modded elf ears every time I do a faceup, but if I have to...oh well. Thank you in advance for all input!

 

If I want to use polymer clay for elf ears, what do I use to glue them on?

 

How permanent do you want them to be?

 

After a trial period, seeing how the material looks on the doll, how it's handling dust particles, etc, I'd like it to be rather permanent. If I were to remove them, it would be only to replace with epoxie, so some damage wouldn't matter.

 

Perhaps you could use hot glue for the trial period. It doesn't look too good but it's easy to peel off. If it's only a small amount of polymer clay you could use mod podge. Mod podge is not a strong glue at all but it would be good for trial periods. For permanently gluing the clay on, I recommend super glue. Just be sure to be extra careful when handling it and use only a tiny amount. If you put too much on it won't dry and will just spread everywhere. I've heard of people using gorilla glue, but i don't have any personal experience with that.

 

Has anyone tried to create removable or non-permanent elf ears for their dolls? I would like to be able to dress my doll up as different characters, which will sometimes require elf ears, and sometimes not. Just wondering if anyone else has tried this and what kind of luck they had with it.

 

@ElizabethStiles I did, with mixed results. I used baking sculpey, and I would like to try again with epoxie in the future. The biggest problem is that I wasn't able to craft them in a way that made them flush and seamless with the doll's ears. Whereas you can blend your clay right into them when you're molding them on. Instead your ear form a kind of cuff. With a wig to hide it, it doesn't look terrible:





There are people out there now who make elf ears that supposedly fit over the molded ones. I haven't purchased a set yet to review them, but they seem to work well.

 

Ebay has these silicon rubber elf ears that I have used. They seem to fit just about any doll and you should be able to glue them temporarily.

 

I think I may love you, whoever you are.

Somehow I was searching for something just like this on eBay and this didn't come up. That, or I just missed it among the countless items that weren't actually what I was looking for, including Supia dolls and ears meant for humans. Thanks bunches!

Thanks. It's good to know it can be done, because I will likely find some reason to do something custom in the future, even if the ears Victoria Victrix suggested serve my current purpose. And I'm not too worried about them blending. I mostly want them for photography, and I can easily blend them in Photoshop, or, as you said, hide them in hair. Did you use anything special to hold them in place?

Are you talking about the same ones mentioned above? Or are you talking about something else? Please provide any links if you can. I also keep seeing Blythe ears like these, and I wondered if those would fit, but I know nothing at all about Blythe dolls nor the size of their ears.

P.S. Your fabulous steampunk doll reminds me of a very likable classmate of mine from college.

 

I glued mine on permanently with superglue, but I know you can glue them with rubber cement or eyelash adhesive because I took a pair off another doll and that is what they were put on with.

 

I didn't read all of the posts in this thread, so I don't know if this was mentioned, but I got a head with elf ears that I wanted to remove. Whoever did the original mod coated the inside of the ear with white glue, after it dried they used Apoxie to sculpt the ears. I didn't know this at the time but when I started to carved away at the Apoxie the inner part popped off like a dream, leaving a little layer of the clear glue on the part that hadn't and it came off easy too. It was pretty easy to get the rest of the Apoxie off after that.

 

@SteamWitch, that sounds like a pretty good method for making temporary ears. It would be way easier to sculpt directly on the original ears than it would be to sculpt them separately and try to repeatedly fit them through trial and error. I've been wondering though if anyone's tried to make silicone prosthetics for their dolls. I think if you need to remove and replace them frequently, flexible silicone might be easier to deal with. Victoria Victrix linked to some above, but I'd like to sculpt different shapes.