I've been working on a new doll for what seems like a really long time. Here are the steps I'm taking to make it: First, I drew out exactly what I wanted the body to look like, and blew up the pic in photoshop and printed it out to the exact size I wanted (60 cm). Next, I made an armature out of aluminum wire, and "stuck" the arms and legs on with super sculpey. I quick baked the sculpey with a heat gun (very useful if you work with super sculpey a lot). From this point, I built a very basic sculpting rig. I used a block of wood and drilled a hole in it for a hollow aluminum pipe to go in. Then I drilled a hole in the aluminum pipe for an iorn rod to go through. The rod holds up the armature. I also drilled some rods for where the legs would go, and glued them to the legs of the armature (with zap a gap). From there, I put magic sculpt all over the armature, making sure I had my big refference picture with me at all times to make sure I wasn't making the magic sculp skeletal part too bulky. After waiting a day for the magic sculp to fully cure, I finally started sculpting the doll. I used an oil based clay called roma plastalina(?). Sorry I don't have any pics of how I made the rig and how I got the armature and all that stuff on there... After sculpting the basic doll form to the best of my ability, I made a waste mold of it with plaster. It was a two part mold. Making a waste mold is very tricky! You want the shell of plaster to be thin enough so you can easily break it away to get at your final cast, but not so thin that the plaster cracks and breaks when you demold the oil clay sculpture. I was SO lucky nothing bad happened during this process. I had to destroy the original sculpture in order to get it out of the plaster mold. After thoroughly slathering the mold with vasaline, I started to press in magic sculpt into the mold. I tried to keep it thin, keeping in mind that the thickness would end up being the same for the completed doll. Sorry I have no pics of this crutial process! I was just too impatient to get it done and taking pics never occured to me at the time After the magic sculpt was all cured, I took a hammer and broke away at the plaster. The legs and a few other parts ended up breaking, but they were easily glued back together with zap a gap. This is what I'm working on now. These are the pieces that came from the plaster waste mold. I'm fitting all the joints for the ball joints. This is the hardest part!! I made a head out of super sculpey, and I'll be making the hands and feet out of super sculpey as well. The brown thing in the lower torso is to support the leg so I can make a nice flat ball joint for it. There's still a megaton of refining and re-working I have to do. I just noticed the head is way un-symetrical...ARGH!! Well, let me know what you all think!
Beautiful as always! You are increadibly talented in both drawing and sculpting! I love the face and look foward to seeing more, more, more!
Lovely work! Really nice muscle detail on the back and the stomach. Her body type is a little too Barbie for my taste, but my opinion's not usually in sync with the general public. ^^ Her face looks great, my only tiny suggestion would be to push the corners of her mouth back a bit, to round out the muzzle area. I'm in a head sculpting class right now, so I've had these things drilled into my brain lately...
very nice, but i guess i don't understand the part of the tutorial without the pictures. i can only imagine and that just confuses me. oh, and why make a plaster cast if you're scuplpting out of clay anyways? what is that process for?
WOW!! You are a VERY talented sculptor!! I love the body design . . . she's a fantastic *sculpture* as well as a doll body, if that makes sense. Your rod/hanger apparatus is similar to the one I found described in a book on sculpting the human form . . . it's really helpful to see it in use!! Can't wait to see her finished ^-^ -- Andi
Wow that body is awesome! Are you going to cast her in resin this time, or stick with the magic sculpt? I don't think the head looks too off, it looks really symmetrical to me! hehe... barbie has nipples! I always painted nipples on my barbies. XD
I'm not sure exactly but I assumed the plaster mold was made so a hollow cast with magic sculpt was possible
wow! that's a neat idea!....I thought of doing something sorta similar but with sculpy. I have never heard of magic sculpt. I think the next doll I make I will plan it out better and maybe use some different methods & materials. very nice sculpting!
This is beautiful! The body is so lovely, and the head... is it supposed to look like someone? I'll be looking forward to seeing more of this project
Thanks for all your kind words everyone! The head is supposed to resemble Angelina Jolie, as I used her face primarily for refference. I originally wasn't going to do a plaster waste mold. The idea I had at first was to sculpt the body out of that oil clay, and then wrap a "skin" of magic sculpt around it. I was then going to cut a seam line down the body and then I'd have a shell of magic sculpt to work on. But I realized that the body was becoming too finished, and if I had tried to add a skin of the magic sculpt on there, she would have appeared too thick and odd looking. So I decided on the risky plaster mold, and squishing the magic sculpt in there to get the shell I wanted. Also, the body type was greatly inspired by the Dollfie Dream body.
i'm patiently awaiting to see the final result. Her face is very mature looking. With a lot of bjds, even the really mature looking women have little girls' faces.
that body is wonderful¡ Are you planing to sell copys? *W* Its like a DollfieDream body,but in a realistic manner, improved,so much better *o* I envy your sculpting skills¡ X""D
Stunning! Did you cut the holes out after making the body? She looks just like a person, and I love the face. Its much more interesting than the anime-faces.
She's really beautiful! The only problem I'd have with her is her ginormous breasts, but that's probably a thing with me. :3 Her head, on the other hand...! I do see what you mean about the asymmetry--her lips look a bit lopsided, from first glance, but it's very strong! I can't wait to see her finished.
I just had to come back here, lol, she's so gorgeous. I agree the breasts are a little large for my taste but it kind of fits with her..mannequin/model look. I mean that in a good way, not like a scary mannequin :s
WOW C___C thats seriously amazing D: thats inspired me SO much to try to start plotting acctually scultping my own lahar body instead of just modding and existing body also loving the head, it looks really mature :3 like iplehouse, just less anime, i cant wait to see her finished
I always find it amazing to watch you talented people making your dolls! Will keep coming back to see the progress with your girl, looks very good so far
I'm speechless of the amount of awesomeness that is your doll. Shes so beautiful. You are very talented.
