I really wanted a Pokemon Gijinka Doll (Drifloon in this case) but finding a doll in the right resin colour was near impossible. So I had and idea that I would make my own and I realized that I had never seen a needle felted bjd before. So I jumped into it since I couldn't find any needle felted bjd's I had nothing it really go off except how regular bjds fit together. Needle/wet felting is rather forgiving if some thing is a bit to low you use your needle the felt it upwards, if the piece is to small you can always add more wool. View attachment 680 This was the torso before I added anything fancy, I drew out my bjd design and traced it on to a white felt sheet. I used 3 different colours in the torso light blue, turquoise, and purple. I used the light blue first to build up the belly and hips, I wanted this doll to be full figured. Then I built up further with the turquoise on the belly, hips and breasts. I then added the purple as the main colour on top. When I was happy with the torso I wet felted it so it would be more sturdy. View attachment 681 Next I added in the crotch area and used scissors to open up one side of the doll, a lot of the sculpted definition was lost in the wet felting process so I decided to try sewing in some of the definition with this lovely Spectra Jewel tread I picked up on a whim from one of my favorite craft shops. I used a pink and a bright blue Spectra Jewel tread to pick out bits like the spine, hips, belly, belly button and under boob. This doll I always envisioned would not really wear much on the lower half so I added to bow and faux pearl to her crotch partially to cover that area partially to strengthen it. View attachment 682 This is the torso pretty much complete if you have ever seen a Drifloon you would understand the why I put yellow crosses over the boobs. I forgot to mention in the last picture I put a rhinestone in her belly button since the belly button definition was completely lost after the wet felting. I think it adds to her character. I added some clay to the leg joints to strengthen the structure but the clay stuck in some places but not in others, I opened her side up so I could apply the clay easier and closed it back up again with the pink Spectra Jewel tread. I am now in the process of adding paper mache on the inside rather than clay to try and stiffen the structure. Things that are scaring me right now -The head and face I am considering sculpting the face out of clay then casting it in resin so she can use proper eye's like regular bjds. - The hands For the feet I am going for a less realistic look since I don't envision her wearing shoes because they'll cover up part of her design. but the hands I would like to be more realistic to I might have to sculpt those as well. Any suggestions are welcome.
Interesting, last night I was precisely wondering about furry textures on bjds so this is fascinating. But the process is a complete mystery for me, I've never worked with materials like that! Have you thought of sculpting the hands/face with fimo? I'm pretty sure you can get a good color match with it!
@varebanos That might work, I just want it so I can actually do face up's on the face like a regular bjd but casting companies make you order x amount of copies when I only need one.
I'm sure you can do regular faceups on most materials as long as they're smooth enough. It works on Monster High dolls and porcelain so.
@varebanos Might have to experiment see which is best for ease of use, colour and face up potential. I could always try and glaze the face with resin after sculpting.
