Nylh's dolls : Nohema (formerly The North Empress)

The North Emperess, now called Nohema

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The Emperess "accident" - Nohema, wig, dress, makeup and eyes
Just a joint left to do
New hips
Stringed
The crown
Nipples - Warning, nudity
First dress
Standing on her legs and arms
Face sanded and body

Face, rough modeling before sanding
Torso in process and concept sketch
How to remove the styrofoam from a leg
Which styrofoam to choose and how to remove it
Styrofoam

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As this thread as been splitted you might see photos of my other projects. If you want to see more go to their own threads :

Mew and Tew
Nohema
Ningyo
Arcadie

 

Jenny-Rose, it's a mohair wig I made. A bit too large on the top ^^;

BrightSuzaku, I've already started a new doll. I'm getting addicted to sculting and I want to improve enough to be able to sell my dolls ( long long shot, don't expect any dolls for sale before 2009 at least ). I've totally finished Tew except the clothes but looking at him I'm not pleased with his head. The body is good but the head is too big I don't like the ratio ... I'll have to redo his head one day. But not in the next few months.

Alchemical, reading in my mind ? I've started a new 60cm doll today, I've cut the styrofoam, this one is just so messy Oo; I'm not used to it yet but it will be easier to remove.







It's funny, it can stand XD Okay, skinny but it stands. It will be a genderless doll. I'm not sure about the torso joint, I'll see, but I want the hips joints to be like Mew's, I like it ^^

 

Thanks ^^ I hope it will stand as well when it will be finished ^^;

Treelore, I used a hand saw, a cutter knife and a really big lima. But an electric bread knife could have been a great idea if I had one XD Maybe it would have been less messy too.

 

Yeah, it's not really clear. Lets make a list XD

Step 1:
Cut and sand your styrofoam to have the right body shape

Step 2:
Add clay on it, no need to sculpt it perfectly, you just need the shape

Step 3:
Allow it to dry few days to be sure the inside is almost dry too.

Step 4a:
Remove the styrofoam if you use the hard one ( in french it's called Polystyrene Extrudé ). You will have to cut your parts in half, remove the styrofoam and stick the parts back with airdrying clay then allow it to dry before modeling again.

Step 4b:
If you use the soft one, just keep modeling your parts to make them look almost like your final product. When you're ready to make the joints carve it with something pointy. (This one is called Polystyrene Expansé in french)

I drew a torso but it's the same with all the limbs (just that a torso was easier to draw XD )



Having tried the two types of styrofoams I can tell that the hard one (I guess it's the floral styrofoam you're talking about) is good and easy to sand, less messy than the soft one. You can use it on tiny bjds.
The soft one is REALLY messy, I still have bits floating around even after cleaning... But it's easier to remove, you just have to be careful when you put your clay one as it's rather weak and can break easily. Good for large dolls.
Cutting your body in half can weaken it if you don't stick it back carefully, so it would be better not to use it on big dolls.

Mine are used for insulation house, cheap and easy to find

I hope it helped, I'm not so good at explaining things (even in my own language ^^; )

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Some photos of the process. Making the clay dry

 

I'm not sure I understood the question, but I'll try to answer XD ...Mmmmh.... Maybe it will be easier to understand with a drawing.



With the soft one you don't have to cut the part you're working on in two (vertically speaking cf. drawing on on the pic above).
You sculpt until you find it good. You take a thin knife or a screwer or whatever you want that's a bit sharp and thin and you scratch the styrofoam to remove it. You remove everything inside, there's no styrofoam left if you do it well and your limb will be all hollow. It doesn't stick really strongly to the clay. There's no special tools, just use what you have home (just be sure your clay is really dry). So that's my method, not sure it's the best one but id worked well for now ^^;

 

Yeah, I had to re-host the picture as imagehack ate it -.-

Ain't Fimo a polymere clay you have to put in your oven ? 'cause if that's so you can't use styrofoam or it will melt ^^;

There's Lywann's Taupe that's a really lovely tiny one but I can't remember tiny homemade dolls on DOA, but there's some on the french forum Materiel Celeste

Tinies are easier to bring everywhere, I sculpted Mew at work, but big dolls are another kind of challenge, I can't suggest you any sizes, just give it a try and I started like 7 dolls before making Mew and Tew, I learnt a lot from my mistakes. After the big one I'm doing, I would like to try a 20cm tall one.

 

Okay, Ladoll and Ladoll Premier are good clays according to what I read but hard to find for me ( I would have to order it on the internet and that's a bit expensive as I can buy a good and cheap clay not far from my home ).

You're right, it's better to think first about the challenge and the fun you have sculpting a doll rather than wanted to sell it even before you have started trying .... I love sculpting and maybe when I will have a good model with good joints I'll thin about selling it... Long shot.

About the joints, I'll make them myself, I can't find round wooden pearls around. I'm not sure yet about how to make them, probably try to find everything round I can and make molds with different sizes so I'll have all the joints I want ... But it's a pain in the *** to find something really round >.<

Mew was already well started when I posted photos but the two others were really done day by day. For example the SD one I'm making has her/his torso drying as I'm writing here, I'll take photos tomorrow. I think it's nicer to post step by step pics. It can help people and also encourage them ... I mean, before looking cute Mew was just a ugly pile of clay XD

 

Thanks Shiza. I've always liked to make tutorial and as english isn't always so good a drawing is always better than confused explanations ^^;

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Soooo.... it seems that it will be a girl. Odd knowing I prefer bjd boys, but well, I like her breasts.
I've drew a concept sketch, I'm not sure I'll do her exactly like that but I want a kind of elegant asian looking woman.



The torso is really roughly sculpted I'll sand it when it will be completly dry. I know her breasts might look a bit big but that's what I want, a nice torso with natural looking boobs. I like curves.





Something funny is that I found an old torso I started to sculpt few monthes ago and it seems that it could work with the legs. Means that I might make two bjds with that .... Or not, first I need to finish my North Empress (just don't point me out that she will look more asian than nordic I know that XD )

 

Thanks Alchemical, I love step by step photos and threads, pretty useful to understand how things work. Of course many people prefere to show good photos af their finished dolls, that's prettier, but seeing how they work, how they do to sculpt a knee or a face is something I find more interesting. My dolls are all far to be perfect and my sculpting technics are sometimes rather awkward but I'm trying to make my best ^^

Go go go Treelore ! Get addicted to clay as I am now XD

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Rough modeling of the face, I tried another method to sculpt it Oo;
Too bad I hadn't my camera at work (yeah, working on january 1st but all the customers were probably sleeping 'cause there was really nobody :S )

I did all the face in one step without putting the eyes first. I hope I won't have too much trouble when I'll empty the head ....





I'll need to sand her cheeks tu make her face less round but I'm pretty happy with how she turned. Of course there's lot of mistakes but at least she looks human XD

I also started to scult the torso joint (the easiest to do) ... I think I'll add more hips after I sanded the upper joint

 

Treelore, I tried the Redemption Moon wig I have home, the largest one, it suits her though I'll have to sand, sand, sand and er .... sand her ? She has a pretty big head next to my other dolls but it's not a problem 'cause her body is also bigger than my other bjds .... I'll need to buy a nice long black wig.

About casting, you need to coat your doll (and not only for casting). Coating with another color than your clay (that's why you see lots of grey dolls around) helps you to see the points you need to sand and work on. Then you coat again and make is smooth. Clay will never be as smooth as resin so you need to put a layer of primer on it before casting. It will also prevent your clay to stick to silicon or break because of humidity.

BrightSuzaku, thanks, it's a bit funny because I can't stop myself sculpting asian roung faces even when I'm trying not to ... Mew is also a moon face and so was Tew .... But I really need to sand my Emperess to make her look more mature ....

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And something funny happened yesterday evening when I was sandind her face. See the mark on her forehead ? The only part I couldn't reach with my sanding paper ....



Does it mean seven hours more to sand her ? XD


And to show you her torso, finished modeling but now I need to ... sand. Make me think I spend 80&#37; for the time sanding when I make a bjd -.-

 

Wow, wow, wow ... calm down people, eventhough I like to help, don't make me feel like a BJD Making Encyclopedia .... XD There's many things I can't answer yet.

Treelore, for the inside I don't know exactly how to do but I know someone talked about straws and styrofoam .... Try to check on other threads, I'm not even yet done with modeling, casting is my last priority ^^;

Alchemical, my headcaps are just done by sawing the head with a thin saw and modeling the inside. There's Shuen's tutorial which shows you how to do.

Brightsuzaku, thanks, just give it a try and don't care if the first is not as good as you wanted, I had to start lots of dolls to manage to get one good. If I make a list that's something like :

2005 :

1st try: Tried to make a dool with Noah's tutorial, the mix I made to cover the core was so hard I couldn't even saw it.

2nd try: My Naga baby, he is still around, in the oldest part of the forum, first and last time I tried Cernit, it was a real pain in the *** to model

2006 :

3rd try: The Inca, a 80cm tall doll, he is also somewhere around ... he is still missing a leg and the other is just horrible, couldn't do the joint right

4th try: Xian Mei, I never finished her because I lose interest, I gave her to an ex-friend who should finished her, I've never seen her again ...

5th try: Tiny nameless one, a 15cm doll I've never finished as I couldn't find elastics tiny enough for him

6th try: Zayan, a 25cm one, Yo SD size with a pretty big butt, he was like 80&#37; done but his body didn't pleased me after all ... same problem than I already had, couldn't find S hooks and elastics

2007
7th try: Heand and torso (the one you saw next to the Emperess's ) couldn't figure out how to make the limbs

8th try: Yayoime, a 80cm tall girl ... lose interest too.

9th try: Tiny tiny one, 12cm tall little chibi thing, I've finished it, the only point left was to cut the joints to make the string go inside....

10th try: MEW !!! X3 And I finished her and I still love her.

11th try: Tew, I gave his body to my Customhouse Little Junior Dione who was in real need of a body. I'm happy with her. I didn't liked Tew's face that much after all ...

12th try, the North Emperess... I hope I'll finish her XD

See ? I needed 10 try before I managed to finish one of my dolls. And I'm sure I've forgottent some other tries .....

 

Thanks FunnyLori, I'll check what you said about acetone ^^

Treelore, that's fine, just that I don't have all the answers, the things I know mainly come from what I read here and there ...
I remember that what decided me to make a bjd, the Noah tutorial seemed so easy ... I've never tried it again, it's a real trick if you don't have good notions of sculpting ^^;

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Today's photos ^^

-I've fixed the eyebows
-Finished the thigh joints
-Started the arms
-Drew her ears
-Drew the lines to cut for the knee and ankle joints
-Made one of her breast rounder









I'm really in love with her. It might sound proud but I'm so happy about how she turned, it makes me feel like I can do great things. A real ego booster XD

 

Her torso is hollow but there's still styrofoam left in her head, arms and legs. I'll remove the styrofoam int he head when I'll cut the headcap and the one in the legs when I'll do the joints, no need to hurry ....

 

I haven't sculpt that much today, started the knees and ankles joints yesterday. Today was sewing time ^^



Tomorrow I'll start her second leg and arms joints. I hope to string her soon ^^

It's not her wig but Dr Taro's one ... poor him, he is bald now ^^;

 

Thanks Zidora and Amandammmq, I love asian faces. Sculpting takes me lot of time but that's such a real pleasure ^^

Brightsuzaku, I was supposed to sew for her after I finished her but while waiting jer joints to dry I needed to keep myself busy ^^ There's su much left to sew ....

Bonus photos for today









She got nipples ! Woot ! :3

 

Well, I use to open wide my headcap for a good reason .... I need to drill the eye sockets ..... would be less easy if I don't have enough space to use my dremel.

I just used a saw to cut it, traced a line with a pen and cut it. I used a cutter knife with Mew but the Emperess is much wider so it was easier with a saw. But wait your head to be completly dry (like at least 4/5 days) or when you will have cut the headcap it will finish drying and won't fit anymore the head.

Yeah, just go ahead, airdrying clay is nice to work with

 

Thanks all ^^
Sadly, she is in stand by for now. There's no much left to do but I lose interest on her suddenly. But you can see the last photos I took. I'm waiting for her wig.







But I started a new project with new sculpting methods. Two tiny android dolls, Teka (TK407) and Ashka (HK803) They should be around 25cm. I'm also testing a new "core" method that might make my dolls stronger so they won't break easily.


A quick doodle of Teka

 

Well, as I'm still waiting for my Ladoll clay I can't start my two tiny androids... Annoying, but well ....

So today I managed to put S hooks in the emperess'feet. Now she can stand pretty well.

 

Treelore, le core is made out of styrofoam and wood clay.

Brightsuzuka, thanks, I tried to make a curvy doll, not like the one you can find at Luts or Dollmore, a more mature one with real breast and big tights. I think it worked out not too bad.


Today I've started her arms. Silly me 'cause I forgot to bring my clay with me when I worked on her today. But now the second arm is read to make the joint

 

Yeah, the elbows look kinda odd, but well, it will be better after a new sanding.

With hands it looks less ugly I guess.






Next to another SD dolls she looks really big and different, I already know that Big headed girl that is not so easy to put a wig on.... (( above all when the head cap is not on her head 'cause it needs to be fixed and that to put the wig on you need to stuff her head with paper towels ))


And two bonus pics of Mew, 'cause I love her to piece X3

 

Sooo... new update....

After I almost broke her head in a dremel accident (mouth and eyelids broken ) I had to redo her face, she changed quite a lot, now she is not an Emperesse anymore. I don't know her name yet.












She is in stand by for now, I have dressed, wigged and makeuped her (rather quickly) but there's a lot left to do. Later I'll... after I managed to understand how to work well with Premier clay ^^;

Photo of the androids in process

 

Well, for now this doll is nameless, I don't really know how to call him. I think I'll try to find a name when the doll will be almost done like I used to do for the other ones.

The Emperess has a new name, she is called Nohema.