Build-your-own Beast Girl! [I'm back! 05.22.15]

It's been awhile since I have done any serious work. I discovered, however, that if I deny myself chocolate unless I've done some "real" sculpting I work much faster.

My goal:
The subject of this thread is Fusilli, the first in a planned line of anthroish slender minis (I want them to share clothes with Unoa when I am done). The heads will come in two versions, human-like the same eyes and head with a muzzle instead of mouth and nose. They will be deeply stylized, not truly bestial. The head will be filled with magnet pockets on the inside. I'll be making a host of magnetic ears to choose from (horns too). As very few things irritate me as much as a doll that has both human and animal ears at the same time there will be -no- human ears sculpted on the head. The legs are digitigrade and I plan to make both paws and hooves. Once all the parts are done, parts can be swapped, mixed, and matched to create a variety of creatures.
I will say right at the top that I happily use a Junga Toys head base and joint spheres by Batchix.

Photos or where I am right now...

Fusilli B (human type):


Almost finished legs and barely touched arm stumps:


I modified the Batchix balls to best suit the elastic I plan to use:


Ears:


As I type I am using the joint rounds to make push-molds for paperclay. More of this if it works...

 

Glimmer: Thanks. I'm at the point where every ounce of encouragement is needed.
Kwmelvin: Alas, she is being made on the fly. I'm hopeless at following source material. The bear ears are especially important to me as I plan to make a Panda-Girl for myself once I'm casting.

 

04/14/13

Weekly update time!

The primer layer! She still has lots of sanding and refining ahead:


Arms are now less stumplike:


Torso from the back. She has butt-lumps and an idea where her shoulder blades will be.


I did no new work on her legs, so not photos there. Before my next update I hope to have most her torso roughed out and her arms ready to set aside for cutting.

 

Lots to update this week!

Her face is almost complete! I might make her eyes bigger as they ended up being 12mm when I was trying for 14mm.


I bound her legs together to get symmetry. Not perfect, but it helped loads. I also capped her thighs with joint balls and built up her lower leg since our last update.


Her torso is being a trial. I cannot get satisfied with her back arch. Until I have that down, I can't place her shoulders. (I love her belly, though.)

 

Weekly update!
I have purchased the magnets I'll be using for her headcap and ears/horns. I built up her butt and ribs. I lowered her natural waist, carved out where her clavacal will be, and grooved where her shoulders will lay (very rough). I have also started keying her headcap to stay snugly in place. light work adding mass to her arms. Medium work roughing out her ankle joints.

(If the orientation of this is off, forgive me. Photobucket is being spastic.)

Ankles!


This keys into her headcap and will house her closure magnet.


Now with built-up elbows.


My nails are filthy! Her torso is looking good, however.


With 12mm eyes and a 6-7 wig...

 

I've been stressed at my day job, so I've done more fiddling than usual...

The neck is a little to thick, but that will be solved when I sand it smooth.


More muscle tone...


Fitting together...


Not strung, but fitted together.

 

I was supposed to do hands and feet/paws this week. Instead I did lots of fiddly things and sanding. I started paws, but I failed and was unable to do anything useful with them. I did reduce the inside of her head a great deal. Lighter and more economical when I get to casting.

Her legs have some muscle tone in the calves and thighs. The dark spot is a patch from where I accidentally put the groove to fit the thighs into the groin on the wrong side (make the right leg left and left right).


Also she has breasts. In the future I would like to have chest pieces for small, large, and nature-doesn't-do-that.


Fusilli in boiling water! I boil my Super Sculpy so I can add and boil again. It doesn't cure as hard as an oven, but it doesn't burn either. The denim scrap keeps her from scorching on the bottom of the pan. The pan, by the way, was purchased for this express purpose and is not used for food.

 

Aneemal: Thank you. I was originally inspired to make her in-n-match by Bambicrony's "Pong Pong".
Leopardessmoon: Hey, you! Minis are so portable, she'll be easier to pack around for events and the like. That and I've never built a body before. The learning curve is less expensive for this size.

And it's that time of the week! Progress looks like less, but I've been working her every day.

Front


Back


Contoured for sitting...


It's such a mess in here! Her headcap and head both need lots on internal cleaning. You can see her magnet pockets, however.


Creepy sea creatures will be hands. I am attempting the method outlined in Yoshida Style.

 

It has been a very big week for me. I got a very intimidating promotion at my day job, I had to rush my cat to the vet [he's fine, but it was a rough night], someone accidentally broke Fusilli's nose [the damage bothers me less than my roommates claiming collective ignorance], and I deliberately cut her body into pieces. Next project is cleaning her insides and getting her thickness more or less uniform. I also have an idea for her paw-feet...but I want to see if it works before I share.

My partner found two shards of her nose and I filled the rest with nail acrylic. She needs a new round of sanding.


Former sea creatures are much more hand-like.


This was hard to bring myself to do. I couldn't get it out of my head that I was hurting her.


This was no easier...

 

Leopardessmoon: Paperclay and I have had a long hate-hate relationship. Left to my own devices, I do better working with a harder medium. Fusilli's head, for example, is Supersculpy. However, with all the fiddly cutting apart and fitting together that needs to happen in body building, I forced myself to learn. It really is easy to sand and shape, even if the initial building is hard for me.

And on to the weekly update!

It looks like I did nothing all week, but I actually allotted her more time than I usually do. Once she was in pieces, I noticed that her rib cage was royally skewed, but I managed to reworked the top of her waist piece and her ribs/bust to fix it. The insides of body have been sanded out and smoothed over. I got the edges of her bust and hip as thin as I dare to accommodate fitting the ends of the waist into each piece. At this point, a junk cast is inevitable. I need the rigidity of polyurethane to work the fit as smooth as I want. Even so, the idea is there and her lines are better than I hoped for at this stage.

 

She has more mobility than I expected. She curls forward really well, bends backward as much as anything with a spine can expect, and twists side to side alright (better in the bust joint than the cesarean joint). As almost all the work I've done this week has been on her insides, I test strung her head and torso for this update. The only visible piece of work I've done is on her paw-feet (her hooves need redone and will not be pictured). I also ordered more magnets, silicone, and resin.



I thinned the walls of her head A LOT. It doesn't show, but I made an indent behind her mouth, too (to prepare for later mods). Thinner walls makes magnet wells shallower and easier to manage. I think I'll just put the magnet pockets in her head cap on the outside.


Her paw feet have been a challenge. I finally gave up and used nature as my guide. I used actual paw prints, filled them with paperclay slip, and built on top of them.

 

No photo updates today. I have been unusually ill this last week and had no energy for anything aside from prime-sand-repeat on her face and a few very minor tweaks to her body. I'll try and post something mid-week to prove I'm still alive. If not, look forward to next Sunday.

 

I use Armory and regular Krylon spray paint. Armory is nice because you have three colors to choose from. The Krylon EATS detail (always less than you think you need), but it fills in cracks and sand marks unlike any primer or surfacer I've tried. I alternate the two in light layers. Probably a very bad habit, but whatever works.

And now our update.
Her feet got a great deal of work making them symmetrical. I don't have a picture of this as they don't look different, just more alike. I sand-sand-sanded her head. There are a few marks on the sides of her head where her magnet well plugs are and along her jaw that I can't sand out no matter how aggressive I get. I am chalking this up to how many different materials she is made of (polyurethane, Super Sculpy, nail filler acrylic, and the occasional spot of superglue) and that they sand at different rates. I am just going to invest her and sand it out of the junk cast. I invested and cast a bunch of Batchix's joint spheres to cobble into leg joints and elbows. Her torso joining was also tinkered with. Her waist is now longer, but she has better mobility with less gaps. Last I stared new hands.

Magnets go here.


A size for every occasion.


For the "Welcome Cat" pose.


Tinker tinker tinker...

 

My Dremel died, so I had to scramble to find another. As a result, I did less work on her joints than I had hoped. I was not, however, idle...

I started, at least.


Now with thumbs!



Wait a second...


Weeeee!



This is not her finished version, but a junk cast. I'll make one perfect and use that for production. I will take others and mod them into other things. I want to make another female head, a male one, and I need to make Fusilli's "beast version" with a muzzle in place of nose and mouth. Her joining will be the hard part, so I feel no guilt at doing fun things for a day or two.

 

Heh heh, I see what you mean. She's not actually wet, but the original was very glossed before she went into the mold (to fill cracks and sand marks I missed), so the casts are glossy too. I'll matte her down before I cast the final version. And thanks for the compliment. I actually like her fists better than her open hands now. I am not looking forward to nail beds, but I have a friend who swears by a tool she uses when she makes them (she repairs broken hands for people among other busted parts and mobility mods).

In general news and not pictured; I have created a knee!
It doesn't sound like much, but I was DREADING her joining and it's going much more smoothly than I had any right to expect. Slow, because I am using Milliput and she has two knees in one leg, but smooth. We will hope that continues when I get to the other leg and must mirror my work. Also, she has ankle balls on her paw-feet.

 

I spent the week focused on the little things, hands, ears, feet, joints. I had to scrap and restart her lower knee joint. Something about the angle just won't take a traditional "peanut" style. I have something new drying, we'll see next update how it works out. I also have more silicone in the mail! I want to get hands, feet, ears, and joints invested next week. I did some sanding on her bust too, but that was just to keep occupied while stuff was drying. My biggest regret is I have no good pictures of her ears. They really turned out well.

Getting ready to start priming. (Lucky the boyfriend is fond of pizza, I have a portable spraying surface.)


And her first knee joint. Not finished, but even the rough shape moves smoothly.

 

While I have long since accepted she won't be ready to come to the expo with me next month, it will not be from lack of effort.

Prime, sand, repeat...


Functional double joints for both knees of her right leg.


Now that I have the first round of kinks worked out for her right leg, I am carving up the left to mirror it.


Bear/hampster ears.


Cat ears being invested.


Test face-up. It's interesting, in painting her I found things I need to fix that I would have overlooked otherwise.

 

Thanks for the encouragement, guys! I look forward to her beast-face too.

And, this week's photos. All I ever do anymore is prime and sand, prime and sand. It is taking all of my will power not to just rush through. I know I'll have fine tuning to do, no matter how nice I get the paperclay original, but I still want to minimize my labor. Not pictured are her feet being invested as I type.

Her head-cap is ready to be invested...


Hands are almost ready too.


Pointlessly "arty" shot.


And a loose test-string.

 

Leopardessmoon: That is just the reaction I hope I get once she makes it to Etsy!

Irandom: I would not go so far as to say I have mastered any one of my media, but I am delighted in the compliment and I thank you.

I had worked with polymer clays and milliput/epoxy putty before. I have also done quite a bit of casting with silicone and polyurethane, though very few experiments had results worth sharing. Paperclay is the only beast that was new and working in it is not easy for me. When I decided to treat it more like hand-building with ceramics I actually got somewhere, though I feel a very far cry from confident in it.

And for a quick text update: Foot mold is a success, though casting is touchy in Oregon humidity. Her head-cap mold is done but weirdly flawed. Something must have cross contaminated, but I don't know what. I'll be able to get a junk cast, but no skipping straight to Master. Pelvis, waist, and bust are ready to be invested, but I haven't actually started that yet.

 

I will do it myself in tiny batches and sell them once they are made. I selfishly don't want to hassle with preorders or worrying if I'll be able to find buyers for a minimum number of casts.

As you know, Oregon can make casting hit-n-miss, even with my vacuum chamber. There has, however, been talk of setting up a dehumidifier and pressure pot to add to my mix.

 

Her leg joints went into the silicone today. I'm hoping that having joints for both legs will help with symmetry work. Lots of priming and sanding this week. Her torso is waiting for investment, as are her hands. Most notable is the work I put into her arms (formerly skinny things with knobby elbows). I hope to have her elbow joint for next week.

So far I have a mold for her cat ears, feet, head, and head cap.

Fleshed out and cut for joining.


The "ready to go" shelf.


Her right leg (on the left) is well into prime-sand-repeat. Her left leg (on the right) is starting to get refinement on her joint sockets.

 

Her knee joints failed. Something happened and the silicone never fully cured (yes I mixed them properly).

Rather than be discouraged I reinvested them right away. The first half of the mold is cured and slicked with release for the second half. As are her hands. Her pelvis and waist have their fences up and mold "boxes" cut and hot-glued. I ran out of cardboard before I could build a box for her chest. I am going to push as hard as I can to get her legs finished and ready for investment this weekend and her arms done over the week.

Fusilli will be with me at Uncanny Dreams this month. If she comes on a company body it -will not- be from lack of effort.

 

Hips, waist, bust, and knees have good molds. Her hands aren't lining up right. My keys were bad, I think. Her arms got a little extra detail in the shoulder and I carved out space for her elbow (still very rough). I am having trouble getting a good pour of her feet (this I know for certain is bad keys), but I push onward.

Chest mold:


Feet and elbows curing:


Arm progress"

 

Thank you for the encouragement! I have one week left and need every last bit.

No photos (at the office already), but I got a good pull of her paws yesterday. They need some serious cleaning, but all the seams line up just fine. I also test strung her left leg with the resin knees to have a working example to handle as I fine tune her knee cups on the right leg. Her mobility is great, but her stability is CRAP. Wire will fix that initially, but there will be some serious revisions before she is up on Etsy. I am learning from her legs when building her arms. I am making her arms fit her elbows rather than trying to make her elbows fit her arms (if that makes sense).

 

Thank you! Those ears were a challenge as I'd never sculpted fur before.

As of this morning, every joint in her legs has been reworked for stability. I even revisited the leg that was "done". First, I cut deeper grooves into each actual joint behind the "teeth". Then I shoved paper clay slip into each cup and mashed the knee joint in there to leave a mated indentation. Her elbow joint has been roughed out and is ready to refine (I hate waiting for polymer clays).

If I keep going at this speed I have a chance at investing her limbs by Sunday.

 

It was a big weekend. So big, I didn't do my update yesterday. Really, there was nothing much to see as her legs are enclosed in silicone. Sleeve molds, so only the top ball is poking out of a silicone tube. Her arms are also ready for investment, but they look no different, just polished. Her arms were the last part.
I had an incident that involved poor timing and two clownish people that resulted in a waste of a large amount of the resin I have left. Even so, I am still pushing away to have a version of her body for Uncanny Dreams this week. My method involved some expired resin I was keeping for cleaning molds. I will post photos later as it is a train-wreck kind of fascinating. She is by no means "finished", even once I get her cast. I'll bring her out to play, but she's full of bubbles and loose joints. Even after I have the chance to get better casts of her parts, she's still nowhere near "done".

Getting this junk cast done is only one step in a much longer process. I work much better in harder mediums, so I'll be doing all her refinement and finishing once I have her in urethane. Paper clay and Supersculpy tolerate my attentions. Epoxy Putty and urethane actually enjoy them.

 

Expired resin does what????

Yeah, those are bubbles. It's solid enough to string, just more "festive" than I would choose had I more time. It's also -larger- than the original.

Awesome neck piece (her head mobility is complete crap without it).


And, for Nia2010...

Once there was a frozen pizza box that was taped together, hot glued to a lid, and filled with silicone. (I grew impatient with Legos...) I keep the "slick" side in so it peels away easier once It's cured.


My "casting cupboard" where silicone and resin both go to cure safe from cats, boyfriends, and roommates.


And here's the top of the sleeve mold I mentioned earlier. The top is now slicked with mold release and filled with silicone, but that isn't pictured. I glue wooden skewers (cut to size) to the high points for venting before the second pour of silicone. I will get photos of that tomorrow.

 

Time to string.


As ready as she is going to be for Uncanny Dreams.

 

She is just under 46cm. She's taller than all my minis, even the Angelheim boy.

 

It has been a wonderful break. I got caught up on painting my dolls that other people made. (I really need to update my face-up gallery here!) Still, the time has come to begin anew. I have actively picked up my work on Fusilli. I am going to aim at a more relaxed pace, though. I pushed so hard I did not do many things the way they should have been done and have a lot of backtracking to do. Aiming smaller, I am going to focus on getting just her head refined to marketable quality. I can take time along the way to craft her ear and horn assortment. Her body I will peck at here and there as time and the muse allow.

 

You probably have Trypophobia (the fear of holes in clusters). It's quite common, though medical science is being resistant to the fact it exists.
Thanks for the compliment! I've actually been working on her quite often, just not taking photos. I'm in the middle of using acrylic nail filler to even out imperfections on her head both inside and out. It's pretty dull work, really. Once I have her to primer again I'll post some pictures.

 

*yawn* Well that was a nice long break, huh?
I have just pulled new casts of most of Fusilli's parts to create a final master. After watching people's experience with Haru Casting, I think I've found The One that I would actually send her off to. Originally I was just going to use the body of the first Fusilli...but she's become part of my doll family, epoxy putty patches and all, and I can't bring myself to disassemble her. Just as well, as there are a lot of details I need to adjust and it will be easier just starting new mods on fresh parts.
At the very least I want her head pro-cast to bring to Resin Rose next year. That won't be too hard as she's at the prime-sand-repeat stage and all the fiddly work is done. Her body though, her body needs some reinvention.
I will be doing that here!

 

She's taken a step backward, but this cast will be finished with pro-casting in mind!


This is her final face, barely changed from the original.