Progress Chat for your Minis (Concepts/Plans/WiP etc.)

I have so many minis who need project work right now I've got no idea what I'd planned for half of them because it's been so long, too. I got in a cute pair of headphones the other day that I can't for the life of me remember who I'd ordered them for.

So I'm popping in to hopefully get inspired to work on someone this year...

 

I love this thread idea! I would love to hear about what everyone is doing or has planned for their minis.

My current project is to shell one of my longtime OCs into doll form. Because I've had this character for so long, I have both a male and female version of them which are both equally precious to me. (Anyone else do that with their characters? )

I chose Dada's Doll Little Deer (right) for the male version and Flynn Doll Lila (left) for the female version. I didn't want them to be identical, but I wanted them to have a similar look, sort of like siblings.

Spoiler: Blank heads!

I have wigs, eyes, and bodies for them, but the female body's neck needs some sanding so the head will sit better. I haven't sanded before, but that's my next order of business for this project! I have a favorite artist who I'd like to do their faceups, but for economic reasons, I haven't sent them off yet. :')

 

Having minis is still fairly new to me in the grand scheme of things BJD wise as I was mainly into tinies and only over the last few years started venturing into this size range. My first was a Doll Chateau girl that I sold as I struggled to get used to her but now I have some minifee, an Iplehouse fid and a Dollzone mini.

Project wise I’ve still to get a body for my minifee Ciel Therian head (I’ve decided to go for a boy body), finish the faceup on my minifee Phoeb elf, do the faceups for the other two Phoeb heads and the faceups based on my FFXIV Viera character on my other two Ingrid heads. I also want to redo the faceup on my Iplehouse girl at some point and begin work on the grey resin Dollzone girl who will be based on a Necromancer character I made when playing Diablo IV.

Oh I completely forgot I also have a minifee/DZ hybrid that I’ve still to begin dealing with too. As it’s using the DZ half skeletal body that they released a while back my problem there is too many ideas rather than not enough. Struggling to narrow it down. Do I go down a dryad route, undead route or a lab experiment one and even there there are many options such as cyborg or necro or alien being……..so yeah, that’s on the back burner for now.

 

I've mostly managed to get my dolls to a rather finished state easily but I keep fussing with my two Unoa hybrids - somehow I've ended up redoing the default sist faceplate 5 times but I think I'm finally reasonably happy with it. I just went though the big work of painting and (and wiping and painting again... and again ) most of the faceplates they have over the last few weeks and am now waiting for some eyelashes to come in for the tan ones for a finishing touch. I really love the system where one can change expressions without getting a whole new head and I'm glad Araki made so many options for some of his doll lines. I think I will end up getting even more at some point but I'm a bit wrung out from my faceup marathon for now. Minis are such a nice size but not necessarily the easiest size to paint

Spoiler: Faceplates!

 

Most of the unfinished dolls I have are 1/3, but I do have some things to finish up for my minis. My Dream Valley Chaos needs a faceup, a wig, final eyes, and also a name lol. And Kestrel, a centaur Yul from Luts, needs his outfit and accessories finished. This is where my Chaos is at the moment:



I'll probably make him some accessories as well, I just like to make them. And here's Kestrel so far:



He has some hip chains ("chains") made with bone beads and shells, but my images are always huge and I don't want my post to be too big lol. What he still needs specifically is an undershirt, a tunic/tabard/coat thing to go over it (I'm probably going to take some inspiration from traditional Tibetan outfits), a quiver and arrows (he already has a bow), spear and/or knife, horse body coat, and maybe some bags.

 

@Blodeuwedd I too started with tinies and only more recently got into minis. I got my first in 2020, and since then have acquired 9 of them, including one who's a size in between YoSD and MSD. All of them have wigs and eyes I'm happy with at least for now, but all 9 are blank. And so are most of my tinies. I want to do it myself, and I have all the materials, but haven't done many of them yet.
My MSDs are all non-humans with differing fashion styles.

My in between size doll is a Creatures Dolls Absinthe, and also needs her root hair blushed when I do her face-up.
I'm running out of clothing storage space (the small clear bins are getting full) and since I want to make them more clothes, I need more space. I'm thinking of getting an ALEX drawer unit from Ikea for that.

 

I have one of them on a tan skin Huajing body and another one on Souldoll new double kids body currently. I went through quite a few options with the last one so I hope it's finally going to be the permanent body.

Here they are together:

 

My first bjd was a full set (Myou Delia) and I only had to get eyes and wig, in complete contrast to my second one (Huajing Skadi) which I have to get everything bits by bits from different places, so it's quite a hassle and challenging, but hopefully it will be very rewarding. I want to have a Qing Era Manchurian lady; it's quite odd, it's sort of character I had in mind because of an outfit (Cheongsam, of course) for bjd I saw and then found a doll that could be fitting. She is going to be a mix of readymade stuff (I ordered her with body blush and faceup), and I will try to make her reasonably historically accurate. The most challenging and stressing part going to be is putting the ornaments on her hair which will be kept to the last as I want get everything else ready before I decide how to exactly decorate her hair and with what ornaments.


I'm also thinking of getting Impldoll doll with basic girl body, I want her to be in dark tan and wear more contemporary fashion that I hope to sew myself. But, I'm not sure about Anja and seems like I don't like her enough personally, so I really hope Impldoll will release more dolls with that body soon.

 

@Kattunge to be honest (which I usually am albeit rather bluntly sometimes), I still prefer tinies over all. I’ve gotten more used to minis and handling them thankfully.
Here’s what that Dollzone/Minifee currently looks like. Had the poor thing for about 5 years or so. I do have the Fairyland neck connector piece so really it’s down to settling on a design that is holding me back. Oh I also forgot to mention the design I go for will probably have quite a heavy Brom influence. Love his artwork!

Minifee Hybrid by Ali MacTavish-Riach, on Flickr

 

Thank you! I have the Sprouting Dragon Zili body set aside for the girl version (Jeanne) and the Bonbon Galaxy Mangosteen body set aside for the boy version (Jean). The Zili body is the one that needs sanding at the neck. Not sure if it's that the head's neck hold is unusually narrow or the body's neck is unusually wide at the base, but despite the measurements lining up, the head sits on top of the outer edges of the neck instead of flush to it. Thankfully, the weather has been nice, so I'll hopefully get to sand the neck soon to improve the fit!

Oh, I love your character concept! Floppy ears and fluffy tail would be so cute... Are you thinking of doing big floppy ears like a lop rabbit or smaller creature ears? I'm really interested in seeing your idea come together!! Also, is she a Ringdoll? My first doll was a Ringdoll mini and that box looks familiar.

 

Ooh, I love that idea! I actually love little fairy folk, and The Littles/The Borrowers as well, so I'm really excited to see how your doll turns out! I can see the vision with your inspiration. A tail with a tuft at the end will be so cute! And wire should work great for creating expressive poses with the ears and tail~

My first doll was a Ringdoll Bi Luo Chun. She hasn't changed very much since when I first got her, besides changing wig and outfit sometimes.

As for my current project, thus far, the only progress has been that Jean's outfit came in, and thankfully, it fits well on the Mangosteen body! Here's a photo of the look (though with a different doll's head serving as model).

 

I've always tried to stay away from buying heads without bodies, but I couldn't resist buying a Chicabi Winnie Baby head. She is probably going to be a floating head for a while though! She is absolutely perfect for a character of mine, and this seemed like a good chance to get her. I haven't seen anyone selling her second hand.

I'm thinking of getting a more mature body for her, something with hips! I'm also looking into gradient wigs for her.

 

Slow to work on your dolls - I understand that completely! If anything, the nice thing about dolls is that you can take your time and work at whatever pace is enjoyable for you. I'll be cheering you on!! And thank you for liking my doll! I really like the range of the company as well. There are a lot of different vibes across all of their sculpts.
As for the outfit - Yes! The female version has a long gown for a princess-y kind of look. It's the blue version of the gown here! I haven't received it yet, which is okay since I also still haven't done that neck sanding.