40–49cm Dolls First BJD sculpt: Mera

Hello! I'm new to the BJD community, and am sculpting a BJD for the first time. Here are some photos as I work on her:

Blueprint:


First steps in sculpting:


Further progress on the torso and legs:


Beginning the face sculpt:


So far, I have one arm more or less finished with the elbow and shoulder joints. Here's a test stringing with a rubber band:

 

Sorry for the less-than-stellar photos!

 

I broke out the power tools to cut apart the torso and legs. Next time, I am going to make sure my core is only SLIGHTLY smaller than the intended finished size. The clay walls were a good half inch thick in places, making it hard to cut apart, hence the power tools. I used my Dremel to cut apart the pieces and then thin the clay walls.

 

Thank you! I wanted the extra range of movement, as this will primarily be a tool to help me visualize poses for figure drawing.

 

Did some more work on the head! She now has a magnetic headcap, and some temporary eyes from imitation pearl beads.

 

I do need to install the magnets in the headcap a little better, because currently they are trying to stick to their counterpart more than staying in their proper place.

 

Thank you StellaMarigold! It is La Doll, or, well, parts of it are. The details are, as its the easiest to work with for fine details. I've got a couple different kinds of clays in there as well as I didn't know what kind would work best when I was starting, so I got a couple different kinds. I'll definitely be putting my thoughts on the brands I used in here after I finish the doll herself. La Doll is my favorite so far, as its so nice and light, and easy to carve. I'd worry about it long term for sturdiness, but I'm going to go over it all with Mr. Surfacer, so that negates some of the concern. I also made the hands, which are one of the more delicate parts that I would worry about breaking, over a wire armature, so I'm less worried about accidentally snapping off a finger

And thank you Lilith! I really appreciate the feedback on the design, as this is the first doll I've ever made. Yes, the knees are similar double joints as well. I just finished one and am working on the second, and will post photos of them soon. My plan is to have this be a one off artist doll, not something I plan to cast. I may make some dolls and cast them in the future, but that will require me learning how to mold and cast things as well as getting those materials, so it's not in the plans for the immediate future. (And hooray, I'm not the only one with messy workspaces! I mostly just try to make sure my hands are semi-clean before I grab my phone to take photos.)

 

Here are some pictures of the leg that I've finished the joints for!



Next time, I will definitely add curves to the top and bottom of the knee double-joint piece. It was definitely easier to cut it with straight lines, but it likes to slide around too much. Oh well. Make stuff and learn I guess!

 

Updates!

I added curves to the top of the calf and bottom of the thigh pieces so they won't slide around the knee pieces. No pictures, sorry, but I'm rather glad to not be trying to keep it from rotating and wishing I had five hands.

I added more detail to the hand! Now it has tiny, tiny nails. I swear I can feel my eyesight getting worse with how closely I bring this thing to my face to work on it. I think a magnifying workstation will be on my Christmas list...


And yes, I did actually mean "hand"! I decided I didn't like how the other one was posed, so I took my wire cutters to it and chopped the fingers off. I'm redoing it now. Thankfully having the fingers separate will make getting more detail on them significantly easier!


I also worked on the feet. No nails for them, because honestly? More work than I care to do, and feet are less viewed than hands. They have the balls for the joint attached now; I still need to cut the slots and add wire.


I've also been working on the torso joints!



I need to increase the curve of her spine; somehow it got a little lost in the process. I'm also debating just having a two piece torso rather than 3 and saving myself some work there. I like the extra poseability, but I also want her to be stable enough to stand on her own without falling over or slumping.

And finally, some more work on her face sculpt!

 

Since the legs are done, I started with primer on them.


After some sanding:


I decided to change the torso to a two piece torso rather than three.

And worked on the torso joint:



Most of what's left is priming and sanding. So, soooo much sanding.

 

So, with some advice from Lillith over in a post about priming, I ended up painting the torso and arms with acrylic gesso that I tinted to a more flesh-toned color. I'm not sure this was my best decision ever, and I have spray paint-and-primer to try next. Make and learn!


But! With all that done, it was time to try a test string!



Problem though: she is absolutely incapable of standing on her own. Her knee joints just will not hold a pose. I'm not sure why, or what the problem is, so I'm redoing them. Hopefully I can fix them this time around!

 

I redid her knees!



They work soooooo much better now. I've posed her legs and they stand up entirely on their own.

 

So, remember how I said that painting on gesso might not have been my best plan? I'm pretty sure I was right. I did a layer of Krylon spray sandable primer on top of everything, but the gesso started peeling up and taking all the upper layers with it.




I peeled up as much as I could without marring the underlying clay, sanded the bleep out of it, and then did another layer of primer over it. That seems to have fixed the problem, so, fingers crossed?

Now, I'm just priming and sanding everything.


I'm developing a distinct hatred of sanding. It's totally necessary and I get that, but... it's just awful. It feels like accomplishing nothing, and it takes foreeeeeeveeeeeer.