~20cm Dolls Bird Fairy tiny

This little one is based off a sketch I did of an old figurine sculpt of mine from years ago, I just thought it'd be nice to have her/it (the original was a girl, but I keep thinking of this one as a boy.. even though it'll be sexless in the end) in bjd form, and so started trying things out with some new clay I mixed up the other night.

Night one I sculpted the body, head and one leg over a wire armature (not the best idea ever...)





Then I did the rest of the limbs and hands, feet and ears over 2 days.. and i think there's pics on another camera I don't have access to atm, so might update with those later.. but anyway, next was chopping up the joints, and luckily the wire was copper and fairly soft so I managed to slowly twist and pull it out of the parts without breaking anything xP It gives nice easy channels, but was a fairly stupid move to make it twisted up inside. If this was sculpey it'd be broken. Not decided on what type of hip joint to use but probably will go with concave after all.









I don't know if it'll be possible to cast him, some of the parts are ridiculously tiny, but I'll try ><~ That's all that's done for now! but I'm pretty squee over him and trying to get some progress in every day *cross fingers*

 

Thank you all for the nice comments!! I'm not the best at sculpting tiny things since I have such a low patience level, so I'm glad he looks okay to others too ;~;

The clay is probably not as smooth as it looks, I do need to sand yet and the limbs are uneven in places but I figured to deal with that later xp, but it's just a mix of 5:1 fimo and black premo clay, b/c I like working in gray, and had all this skin fimo hanging around. Premo only because it was the cheapest you could get at Michaels, but in this mix it's pretty soft compared to sculpey firm. It does melt into itself really easy though so you can add clay without deforming the base too much which is nice. And Fimo is a lot stronger and more flexible than the Sculpey firm. But yeah, nothing special. I chose Fimo because idk what else could be strong enough in such a tiny size besides an epoxy or other polymer clay I'm not used to..

@du-hast - I never realised the pukis were so so tiny omg >< This gives me a bit more confidence now (a little bit lol). TY

Oh and found a pic of the whole body sculpted.

 

Thank you armeleia! & DeaDLiKe ^^ Well I'm very glad because that's exactly what I was going for xD ty

Aww Jphobia you are so kind I don't even..;_; But it's totally not effortless at all lol.. sculpting has been such a huge (totally enjoyable) learning curve I'm nowhere near being close to good at yet. I just don't like to post unless there's actual progress to share i guess, and that usually means a whole lot of revision and doing-overs that's never mentioned. (so many mess-ups~~) Ahh, people have always said that about my art.. that it tends to be 'subtle', so it's a huge compliment to me, Thank you! ) & aha yes it's so the funnest size to play with and pose while you're working, I'm finding it hard to hunker down and get to business.

du-hast: omg i know, the realpukis are ITTY BITTY, I -sort of really want one now, thanks xD Even though none of the faces are my fave. that body is so teensie and adorable (and amazing x_x). But yeah I prefer realistic proportions too. Hence lil bird. Aha, oh no.. you know I was actually going to stay with single joints all along until the first test stringing and I realised how utterly unsatisfying the limits were.. so now I'm attempting to try out double joints anyway. Dunno if it'll work, but~! *may be sabotaging myself*

Thank you marti & glimmer ^^ I loved his lil bum too, it was my favorite so far.. but I'm afraid cutting the joints may have diminished the cuteness of it ;_; you just can't win. Ok, I rushed these because you asked, but I haven't made a lot of progress, just simple joints in the middle of revisions, and once again taken with my poor old camera at night so I'm sorry they're so awful. Also the hands and feet aren't actually attached, just squeezed onto the elastic so he can't do much posing yet either..





Edit Oct 30 2018: So as not to bump the thread yet, but I guess I never posted these here. I had made some changes to his jointing for practical reasons. I kind feel it doesn't look as cute, but the joints weren't functioning properly.

 

Aminoff: Thank you so much
clarinetplayer: lol me too, making the joints has been so stressful and tough, last night I got very discouraged because they're just not working the way I want >< So I may need to compromise. & thank you!
du-hast: it's taller, but I think the limbs may actually be pretty similar ahh~ I'm using a mix of 5 parts fimo to 1 part premo. It's reaally flexible and doesn't break easily, but at the same time is nearly impossible to sand by hand and is kinda frustrating that way. I've been using the dremel for that, and actually, scraping bits away with my fingernail for detail work xD
aneemal: Thank you ^w^
glimmer: Only one of the knees was double jointed in that pic,a nd it was only a placeholder really xp but I've been struggling with the joints and they're almost done now. I don't know if they're more stable or not, but they're sure a lot of trouble.. I should have just stayed with single joints, they're prettier anyhow. I think the outside jointing like yours probably works a lot better though.. mine needs some sort of catch inside the joint but it's pretty tough this small :\ Ah I'm sorry, don't have a jointed bum pic :[ but I'll take one with the new batch. (It was ugly and needed sanding anyway lol).
Jphobia: Thanks! I hope it was really.. still not sure about the placement, but i especially didn't want to cut the upper torso. hmm. Hes not done yet lol, but hopefully soon and I do want him to be my first cast project. Figure it'll be good practice for my larger dolls and if/when I make mistakes at least there'll be less waste.
Everdusk: uuu Thank you ;w; 'trying to get the parts done asap 'cause I can't wait to prime and get casting

 

Thanks Hmm, lacking the words to properly describe the method I was going to try and draw up a pic tutorial but my method for feet is pretty close to this youtube one, except my main tool is a large metal needle, and I didn't use a cooked base:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgXwLcVLV_s

Hands are exactly like this tut, except take a bit more care in shaping the fingers and adding details xD:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKCrtlt__yc

 

Woah, so many years have passed, how is that possible!? I had to put all my projects aside for a long time due to renovating, moving and renovating again. I've finally sat down and begun to work on art again! I think my little bird fairy has the least work to do so I'm trying to seriously get them done for my first completed doll ^^ *fingers crossed*. Also I only have a small pressure pot, so I'm hoping they'll fit in it for the final casts lol.

I've junk cast the body and am working on refining joints now so here's where they're at, primering soon, then will begin work on the wings.

DSC04713 copy

This is literally what my work table looks like all the time (I have a table now!!! No more floors! Wondering if and how others manage to keep their workspace tidy...)

 

Thank you Mimi, I never made a list since I didn't know when I'd be able to complete them so you can be the first ^^

 

@Pigxels Thank you!

 

Thanks guys! I'm actually working on this lil one right now, just picked him up tonight after a summer break to make some alternate knees and elbow joints. I noticed the originals are snappy when cast in resin, but these new ones are looking good so far, very excited. This is what is holding me back in finishing, if all goes well I'd like to be done my little fairy before next year. Other than that sadly not much new to show, here's a grainy pic of him/her meeting the firefly from my original bird fairy figure made many years ago. I'll try and get something respectable to share soon, like a fitting headcap and less pinholes/blotches eech.

meeting firefly by thatbee, on Flickr

 

Thanks guys!! So glad others would like to see him/her finished too Nothing to show yet but I have been very busy working out problem with this lil one and fixing joints. I'm debating making an option of double jointed torso and double hip joints as I rigged some up and really loved the poseability. Will show progress soon.