My first bjd project.

This is my first bjd project, i made dolls in the past but kinda lost interest in doll making till i came across some sites with bjd's.
OMG!! It was love at first sight, i just love anime, so these dolls are really my cup of tea .
Feeling really inspired i'm now trying to make my own bjd.
I don't own a "real"bjd myself so i have to look on the internet for my reference material(really happy DoA exists for all my questions ).





sorry for the bad quality of the images, they are taken with my webcam(there are more at my photobucket album http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb46/milda_photos/ just the same different angels).
atm i'm struggeling with the elbow joint, im not pleased with the arm shown on the photo i'll probably make a new one.
Any tips on making joints will be greatly apreciated (photo's of elbow joints apart would help too).

 

omg thanks guys for the nice comments(will help me keep going)
didnt know my post was up yet .

she 'll prolly turn out 60 cm or slightly more dont know for certain cause im still working on her legs,but on the rough sketch i have drawn for her(which i use for reference) she 'll turn out 60 cm.
Today i have stuff to do in final fantasy online but comming week i'll work some more on her and hope to post some more photo's.
And thanks again for all the nice comments they made my day!!

 

thanks again for the nice comments, glad you guys like her ears, when i showed pictures of her at my work they were really hating the ears, even thought a moment to take them off and sculpt new ones, glad i didnt do that now

anya-vegas

I used la doll clay to sculpt her, thats very strong clay doesnt crumble fast,i sculpted her body arround a core of styrofoam (wrapped in plastic)when i took it out there was just a thin layer of clay but still it's strong ,i tried various clays this one works best for me.
When she is finished i hope i'll be able to cast her in resin.

 

here is how the body looks sofar.



I noticed one hand i slightly bigger than theother so i'll have to sculpt a new one .
the body isnt near finished, it still needs alot work done to it, but it's a first impression what it will be looking like.

 

thanks guys , btw lolipop i love your sites tutorial , to bad the toy store in my town didnt have the right size beads for my joints, i had to make them out of clay.Also what i wanted to ask you did you have trouble with bubbles when you casted your dolls(your dolls are beautiful)?

 

oh thanks for the compliments *blush*

Well in order to do this as a profession i would really need alot of people wanting to buy my doll, or a company that would be willing to hire me (I live in the netherlands so not many bjd companies arround), so i don't see that happen fast, but the fun thing about doing this as an amature is , i can work on a project whenever it suits me, so that will ever be when i feel inspired, which makes it turn out the best(well my best).
Maybe that would change when it becomes just a product you have to produce.

 

i used la doll clay,works best for me,I found some beads today so im resculpting the joints atm only the hip joint will be the same cause i can't find such a large size bead, hope they will be better now.

glad you like her so much

I've been working on her feet today, they are still rough but here is what they look like sofar

when they are dry i'll sand and ajust them again,cant work on them now cause of the wet clay i destroy one part of feet while sculpting another part.
well it's little progress but still some

 

Thank you , i hope too,i'm not so worried about finishing the doll in clay but i'm a little scared about the casting in resin

I worked on the hands today,i didnt resculpt one hand ,but worked on it with a knife to ajust it's size.
After i sanded them a bit(still not enough) and i made some nails.. i just so love cute little nails
my web cam takes such nice pictures ...i should get a normal digital cam to get the details ,you cant even see the nails now (but hehe all my money is spend on my doll atm).
btw i dont tend to drill holes in the clay model, (she wont get strung in this clay stage), thats why you dont see holes at the joints of the hands,the plan is doing that when i casted her in resin

 

wow thanks for the compliment, really happy people like my doll

Thanks, i do my best

Today i resculpted the feet again...oh yeah im so good at porportions....they were way to small ....
here is how they look now..still rough cause i made them today.



Today i got a mail from alumilite(resin producer) they can't send me their release agent , now is my question is there a substitute for their release agent, i never did any resin casting before so please any info is helpfull, don't hestitate to answer .

 

Thanks guys, thats what i needed to know , in dutch we call it "vaseline", it's easy to find.......weeeeeeee now i can get started casting resin soon too......oh well not to soon cause they will send me a quote first what it will cost me to get the resin shiped to the netherlands(and i need to finish my doll first), and i need quite alot.....WHY OH WHY did i have to start with a 60 cm doll

 

Ok i wrote before i wouldnt string my bjd in the clay stage....well i started wondering, what if she can't stand on her own, so i had to try string her,now i can still ajust here if it's needed.
Well it was hard...needed to drill through her limbs(they were hollow but not yet hollow enough)...the hard part in this i found to be to secure the limbs to be able to drill them, first i tried taping them to the table, this only works for a short period of time before they become loose again, i also tried using a clamp, but since the limbs arent flat i couldnt secure them well, i even tried using a piece of cloth inbetween but it wasn't great...and i was scared if i would use to much pressure i would crush the limbs.
The other thing what gave me trouble were the joints again.
A couple of days ago i made joints using beads, the knee joints beads were made of wood the elbow ones were made of plastic...well i couldnt drill through them without them comming loose and it was hard to drill on the right spot of the bead cause they were round(and yes beads have holes in them, but these were just to small).
So yup i need to make them out of clay again, the bad thing about the joints gone again, i still cant test if she can stand on her own...i have no knee joints to support her body now.
I'm back to where i was but hope next post i'll have some real progress(hopes for a standing bjd )
here is how she looks atm(without ball joints )..i didnt use elastic yet i dont want to crush the end of the limbs even more with the pressure of the elastic.



i can hold her by her legs and than she can stand , i really hope she still be able to stand when i have her new knee joints ready...wish me luck on my third try..i really need it

 

Thanks , but i think the clay is strong enough, only without beads i find it hard to make a perfect looking joint, cause the joint isnt a perfect round ball than, have been looking at alot of artist here and im really jeallous of how professional their joints look .

Thank you , btw the feet have changed yet again, the joint was to high, when she turns her feet it looked weird like the ankles were in an akward place, so i changed that.

 

ah THANKS!! thats really great help, why didn't i think of that myself
I'm still struggeling with the joints atm so this info comes at the right time ,i'm working on the knee joints i want to make her to be able stand on her own in the end, right now she keeps bending the knees when i put all of the body pieces on the legs(not strung),it will keep me busy comming week and maybe a long time after .

 

wow twigling thanks a ton i'm really thrilled with this!!!!
you are a joint expert!!!
i got home and checked the forum and saw your post , well started reading your manual,i was omg i just had to stop after few pages to thank you, this is what i've been looking for!!! thanks thanks thanks!!!! now i'll continue reading, i'll probably will redo all my joints when i read all...well thanks thanks thanks...omg i feel so happy now!!

 

still busy on the knee joint....yeah just one knee joint...progress is really slow
i have to wait every time for the clay to dry to test the joint...and it still isnt right..still have to make alot of ajustments to it.
But i think she'll stand when i make 2 joints, only i want to make it look nice when she bends her legs(they don't look nice now,still rough and the joints are not working like they should...yet), i tried that to make a floating joint but one half just keeps stuck in her upper leg, guess i have to make the other half slightly bigger so the lower leg has a better hold on the joint...ah well it's hard to explain what i'm exactly doing and planning to do.
But i learn something new every time..i learn by my errors, and its all together a big challenge for me,thats what makes it fun,sometimes a bit frustrating too i have to admit.
I really can't wait to see her finished...i so want to do her face up clothes, put a wig on her etc (also to show you guys what i have in mind for her), but i dont want to rush and dont do the proper work on her body like i should cause of that.
One thing i'm happy with now is she can sit on her own now i strung her with elastic.

And yes it isnt real visible progress yet again(im really working on her tho )....but i like to make pics of her anyways
next time, and i think it will take a long time,i hope to post a picure of her standing.....and with her hands...i broke a wrist joint today

 

thanks alot^^ i get inspired alot by the artists here myself, i see so many different styles of dolls, sometimes i see a doll and i'm omg wow wow wow, makes me try harder myself.
i didn't thank you before cause i have said to myself i wont post again till i get my doll standing....well it has been hell really....you don't want to know how many times i changed the knee joints but still she couldnt stand , than this morning i had a ureka moment it was in the hip joints my legs were to far to the front so when i placed the weight of the body on her legs they would bend.
I was playing with that idea in my head all day at work, i even tried to get the afternoon off to test it but alas i couldnt get the afternoon off, but after work i mediately started chipping away the clay of the hip joints.....here is the result
i still need to reshape the legs alot and i probably will add some length to the upperleg aswell, but i'm really happy i got her standing( in the picture she is just really loosely strung with cheap 1 mm elastic).
Also what i have been doing this week is downsizing her skull quite a bit.
I ordered the L size wigs at leekeworld(omg i just love their wigs ), and when i got them one didn't fit and theother ones were rather snug so i had to work on her head again.
But now they do fit

And yes it abit of a spoiler but i couldnt resist...but hehe she still isn't casted so she hasn't her fleshcolor faceup and eyelashes(i got really beautiful ones i cant wait to try them on her...but she needs to be casted first)
tomorrow ill get my resin.....my plan was to have finished her before i would get my resin, that plan didnt work out, still got lots of work to do on her havent even done her arms yet...but WEEEEEEEEEE she stands and i'm really happy with that!!!

 

THANKS !! and rofl yes....it's alive....
still have lots of work to be done before i'll cast her....but having the resin at my home it sure helps me to speed up....cause i really want to cast her, seems more in my reach now somehow.

Thanks for the help!! i'll sure check them out, all the info is helpfull, already gotten so much help from the people here, really apreciate it

 

Thanks!! hehe that makes two of us.

 

hehe thanks, really happy you like her that much, and about the names, it really has given me headaches already,i'm really bad at making up names, and when i put different wigs on her she totally comes out differently, i have one wig which is way shorter which makes her look a bit like a tomboy, i got a few names in my head right now but till i'm absolutely sure it just"project 1"

 

thanks alot!! this is my first try at a bjd, but i have made some dolls in the past but never this kind of style.And it was a long long time ago

 

thanks and yes me too!!!, i got the rubber and the resin at home now, and it has it's effect on me already
I havent finished her body yet but her head is almost done (apart from the headcap which i'm still ajusting to get a nice fit)...but omg do i want to try cast her head...i just know i can't wait on the body to be finished
Tomorrow i don't have to work so i think i'll have a go at making the mold of her head.
I know i'm being impatient

Thanks,and you should try it's really fun, well a bit frustrating too sometimes(when you want your doll to stand, and she just don't wants to listen )