Puppit Productions Firefox W.I.P

Thanks, Blueberry

Busy refining the hands now. Left hand is sanded, still needs nails (those will be added in polymer clay, paper-maché isn't suitable for such small details).

 

Thanks guys!

Now to completely ruin your image of me as a flawless dollmaker...
I was making the slots in the hip joints and ran into the ever-ongoing dilemma of aesthetics vs mobility.
I've illustrated the problem here:
my quick quide of possible hip solutions on Deviantart
Now, which solution shall I choose? I'm ruling out #4, as I don't really like double hip joints and I think they would look out of place on Seraphim. I like #3 a lot, but I'm afraid her legs will be too heavy for that (she's a curvy girl, as those who've seen all the pictures will know).
What do you think would look/work best?

 

I think the lighting of the picture might also distort it a bit, but you're right! I should sand off a little more on top, that bit of skin between fingers isn't that steep at the back of the hand. Thanks!

I think I know what you mean, but that only works when the leg is more or less vertical (assuming the doll is standing up straight)... I would like the leg to also be able to move sideways when it's raised completely to the back or the front.

 

Welp, I tried.
The picture below is my obvious attempt at solution #1 from my list (see link in earlier post). Unfortunately it didn't work too well. The range of movement was fine, but the slot suffered a sort of "delay" when moving the leg. Which was extremely annoying and even caused the hip to dislocate at some point. Not the quality I'm looking for.
So on to the next! I'll try solution #3 next, since I think that one will look the prettiest and a lot of people are complaining about their dolls' swivel joints (solution #2). I hope her legs aren't too heavy for it...


...But there's also good news! The hands are now both sanded. All they still need are some nails.

 

Aw yiss. Attempt number two on the hips succeeded.
And here she is! The head has yet to be sanded, and she still needs fox ears and a tail, but the she's standing!
The hips are kind of overly pronounced/ too forward, but I tried embedding them more into the bum and it just didn't work. I either had much less mobility or not the luscious ass I wanted. I think the tail will make it look more evened out.
one slight problem is that legs won't stay stretched when lifted, sheerly because of the weight. Perhaps this won't happen with the resin version, since plastic to plastic has more grip than papier-maché to papier-maché (sounds odd but really)... Stronger stringing might also help, but this original model of course needs some more tender handling.
If all else fails I'll just wire the legs.




Do the gollum!


She can also look sad, despite the smirk on her face...


And my favourite... Cheeky foxy lady!



All parts thus far, the result of a year worth of work:

 

Started on the fox head:

 

Thanks, HystericalParoxysm. I'll try my best to make the fox head and human head seem like they are the same character.

Finally sanded the human head, making her as symmetrical as I could.


Sketch-to-sculpt comparison:

 

Fase two of the fox head! Still needs a headback and some sanding. After that, I'll cover it in polymer clay like I did with the paws, and sculpt some fur.


Fox ears will be sculpted separately, so you can interchange them between one head an the other.

 

Thanks Glyndon

Busy working on the ears now:

 

Thank you so much!
I cut out the shapes in thin cardboard first (kinda like a fold-in-half triangle, a little bent here and there to get the correct shape of the ears), and made sure those were symmetrical. Then I covered them in epoxy putty to make sure they're solid. You'll still need to do a little shaping here and there, like making the back of the ears curvy, but at least the width and length are fixed with the cardboard already.
Next up I'll cover them in polymer clay (fimo) and sculpt the hairs.
Fennec foxes are so cute! Have you seen Crowtree's one?
Link to the topic doesn't seem to be working anymore, so here's a picture link:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a190/crowtree04/bjd/posescopy.jpg
Good luck on yours!

 

Hi people, sorry for the silence last week!
I had some serious problems with the tail, which nearly drove me to madness...

I originally intended to make the tail magnetic, but no matter which way I tried, it was never strong enough.
I even tried casting an extra butt to allow some mistakes (I was terrified of ruining the original one), but even that didn't provide a solution.
I was having a particularly bad day, when I suddenly got the solution by what oddly enough was the thing that made this day the worst so far:
Earlier that day, my bike decided to sorta fall apart, and I had to dig through my toolbox (cursing) to find some screwdrivers and a socket wrench to fix it... Which was what I heard ringing when I was banging my head to my sculpting desk.
And so it hit me: A screw-on tail, rather than a magnetic one.

It took 36 kilometers by bike to get the right materials (special screws and a set of pliers for the tail joints), but here we are now:


The double-sided screw is embedded with two-components glue (not sure what that's called in English) into the top joint of the tail. Paper-maché in the butt is left to dry up around a cap nut (the regular screw in it on the picture is just so I can get it out again, and also determine if the tail will point the right way). When dry, I will take out the cap nut... When the doll is casted, I will glue it in with some strong glue.
There.
That should make a decent tail-connection, don't you think? It should even be possible to pose the tail without removing it from the doll (well, unless you spin counter-clockwise it might come off).


In other news...
I ordered some wigs, but they were a bit of a disappointment.

The first one turned out too pink in real life, and the fringe is too short. It makes her look too cute, which is not what I intended for this character.


This one was gorgeous (intended for the snowfox version), but the fringe was so thick I could hardly get it out of her eyes:


And this one was the worst...
The colours were great, and even with the tail it looked nice on her:


But the quality was very superficial:


And when I tried to cut loose the ponytail (I assumed they only tied it up in a fancy way)...
What the hell.

Who does that? Make a fine ponytail... Only to cut it off and sew it to a separate piece of fabric... To sew it back on the wig!!
:mad:

Alas... Mission failed.
But there is good news too!

I found the perfect fabrics for the tails (both snowfox and firefox):

It's Alpaca wool, not on skin, so animal-friendly
The short-haired fur is for the biggest part of the tail, the slightly longer white one for the fluffy bit at the end.
Because it's the same fabric, the transition between the two is quite smooth.

Just to make sure, I also bought two bits of mohair pelt (no actual pelt here either, sewn-to-fabric).
You see, after this wig-failure I tried some other wigs I still had lying around the house, and the fur wig of a doll that's currently staying at my house for a fix, looked quite nice of her, even though the quality of that wig is absolutely crap:

A fur wig also kind of suits the "wild" aspect of the ladies Fox.
I ordered two fur wigs from Sunny's World, but just in case those aren't here in time for the convention I have coming up, or in case the colours are too far apart from the tails, I can make some wigs myself with that mohair. At least of those pelts I'm sure the colours match.

There, now you've got all there is to know...
I need to continue on the tail/butt and the fox head.
Still have a bit of a problem with the ears though: I intended to make those magnetic as well, but on the human head they sit right across the border between headcap and forehead.
The headcap will be magnetic as well, so that might cause interference. And it's a bitch to cast as well.
So maybe I'll go for the Unoa-solution and fix them to a pole/rod you can stick into the head. That way they're nicely secured without drifting off, but you can still rotate them if you want the doll to look sad, angry or alert.
What do you think?

 

Thanks, HystericalParoxysm.

Got her (human) eyes in today! Couldn't resist taking some test pictures.
The fire-y one is a bit weird perhaps, I haven't made her a wig yet (see wig failures posted below) so I just kind of draped the mohair fabric around the head :P

 

Right. Update.

Embedded the bolt for the tail and sanded the butt again:


Test-tail of scrap fabric:


Sanded the fox head (not as neatly as the human head, since it's gonna be "furred" anyway):



Fox eyes came in the mail but were too big. Also, the colours didn't match the human eyes. Made some myself with glass cabochons:


And the great thing about that is that when you put a lamp behind them... They look like this:



3 days to presentation... Still need to attach the magnets, give the fox head the fur and make the real tail.
No pressure. Easy peasy. Hehehehehehehehe *slightly hysterical laugh*:dead

 

Yeah I was thinking of using one (or two) of those tiny LED keychain-thingy's they have as emergency lighting for bikes... Just for photoshoots though, I won't be selling them along with the doll.

 

Thanks, bebidolls

Drilled the holes for the magnets. Which went horribly wrong... Twice. First time my drill ran away and drilled the hole in the wrong place, and the second time a piece of the headcap broke off 0.o
But now they're in place and working properly, without shifting anywhere.

And I gave her teeth!


The fangs were made separately and glued in, the other teeth were sculpted inside the mouth.
Yes, it was pretty much the most frustrating thing I ever sculpted.
To give you an idea (and these are just the glue-in bits)...



Right now I'm sculpting the fur. The headcap is covered already, now working on the rest of the head... Bit by bit...

 

Thanks for the support everyone! She's almost finished now. The fox head is done, magnetic ears included. All I still need to do is make the actual tail and give her some fingernails.

Got two questions for you though...
I was thinking people might want to put a wig on the fox head as well (even though they'll need to fumble with pins or find a smaller size wig). Currently, the magnets in the fox head aren't strong enough to keep the ears in place with a wig in between. I can put stronger magnets in, but they might interfere with those in the headcap. In the human head, this isn't a problem since it's much rounder and the headcap's magnets are further away from the ears.
So... Troublesome headcap or no wig options?

Also: as you know by now I plan on casting two versions of this doll: A white-skinned snowfox and a tan-skinned firefox.
I just realized a few days ago that snow foxes actually have shorter ears. Do you think I should make separate snow fox ears (right now they are regular fox length), or won't that be worth the trouble...




(Close-up lens... Can't get both the eyes and the nose in focus from the front)

 

Sorry for the hiatus, people! I suffered a minor breakdown because of all the stress for the convention... And so did my roof. Well, not because of the convention, probably, but it DID suffer a minor breakdown, causing the rain to poor down the walls of my studio. So I had the clear the whole thing out in order to make room for the repairmen.

Gave the foxy lady her tail, though!
Unfortunately it turned out a bit too big... I'll have to make a slightly smaller one. But since I haven't uploaded anything for a while, I figured I should take some pictures anyway.




Decided on the matter of the ears and the wig that I WILL give the fox head some stronger magnets, just in case, but will keep the ears the same for both versions (firefox and snowfox). I had a bit of an epiphany regarding the ears: Snow fox ears are indeed a little smaller than those of a red fox... But not as much as it might seem. The fur of a snow fox is just much fluffier, so you only see the tip of the ears. Tadaah, problem solved. If people want her to be a true snow fox, they can just give her a fluffier wig, and puff it up around the ears a bit.

Not sure yet about the claw-like nails s: I need to make some minor modifications (as well as "fox stance" locking grids in the knees) to the first casting, so it might be easier to add the nails to the mastercast, rather than the original doll.

 

Thanks, Yukamina!

She's done! Well, the prototype is. In the mastercast she'll get her nails and I'll build in some locks in the knees so she can stand in "fox position", slightly squatted. The nails would be too brittle to attach now, and for the locks I need the actual weight in resin.

Her ears can rotate, so as long as you hide the smile, she can also look sad or "ready to attack".
The tail moves awesomely. I didn't dare to try if it would stand up like that, but it should in the resin version: I was afraid the bolt might break out of it's hole due to the leverage. And after two failures, I finally made the right pattern. It's a pretty perfect tail, in my humble opinion. Hah.










Rawr! xD

For those who'd like to see the bigger picture(s): I'm busy uploading them to Deviantart right now.
Puppit's deviantart account

 

Thanks Nathalye

Allright, as for updates, I'm just gonna copy-paste my Deviantart journal in here:

First off, to those following me for the progress in Seraphim/Neva, and lately have gotten nothing but scribbles and pictures of bugs: my apologies. A combination of a work-hangover from getting the prototype done and lovely summer weather made me come up with excuses like "it's too warm to cast anything, with these high temperatures the silicone and resin will cure too fast and I'll get bubbles" and "The school is closed and I wanted to use their equipment".
Pretty valid excuses, but they shouldn't have stopped me. They're only half the reason I haven't cast anything yet.
Truth is, I'm slightly terrified. I've made moulds of lots of stuff before, but never of something that was so dear to me, something I spent over a year working on.
Apart from pouring silicone over her parts (oh god don't forget to use a release agent, don't forget to use a release agent), what if I can't get the colour of the resin right? What if her cast, resin version turns out to be behaving completely different from the original? What if she suddenly can't stand up on her own any more, or what if the resin I chose wasn't strong enough to support the bolt with the tail and the whole thing will tear? *insert mental breakdown here*
And there is SO MUCH to be paying attention to. I still need to decide which company I will order the wigs from. Whether I'll be making my own eyes.
What kind of clothes should she come with. Am I going to sew those myself. If not, who should I chose to make them. I still need to design a box. And get that printed. Does it need cushions. I still need to make an official, legal document with rules and agreement for the pre-order. I still need to put stuff on my website. What company will I use for shipping.

So, basically, I've been slightly freaking out and procrastinating.
But I'm busy overcoming that. Today I've visited my old art school to see what they have to offer in terms of equipment and materials, and I've been frantically visiting websites and even calling store-owners (Those who know me, know how much I HATE calling people I've never met) to see which silicone I should be using for the moulds, and which resin I should use for the doll.
I'm down to 2 options for each now... Next I have to test them.
Which means I have to surrender a small, detailed part to cold, toxic silicone... Probably an ear.
Wish me luck...

And to give you at least SOMETHING after a silence this long...
I made an "artist impression" of how the cast versions should more-or-less look like, colour-wise.
Of course the tips of the ears aren't cast in black and neither are the fox cheeks white, that's just blush, but the picture looked weird without it... Other than that, no face-up effects.

 

I bit the bullet and performed the first test.
My art school's regular silicone (don't know the brand) vs. DragonSkin silicone.
Pro's for the first one is that it's cheaper and thinner (so it flows better). Pro's for the second one is that it's super-duper flexible, so you don't need as many mould parts when you're moulding a complex shape.

 

First mould seems a success! It looks nice, no bubbles, lots of detail and seems to close off really well.
We'll see how it holds when something is poured into it...

 

Cast the first resin into the try-out moulds. This one is called "Task 4" and it's a polyurethane resin. It's not pure white, but slightly ivory, which is the perfect colour for the snow fox cast.
Both moulds did fine. There seems to be no difference in the amount of detail the two different silicones picked up, the only differences in the detail of the casts are because of the shape of the mould (the one on the right was cast in a solid piece of silicone, the other in a two-part mould). The left ear (in picture on the right) didn't do too well with the tuft of hair on the inside of the ears. Too much air got trapped.




They both have a lot of tiny bubbles... We'll see if a vacuum chamber and an extra air channel can change anything about that. Buuuut... I'm pretty satisfied for a first try. At least the moulds are excellent.
And of course I still need to test the other resin, an acrylic one.

 

Picture, left to right: second resin, original, first resin.


Cast the second resin into the try-out moulds. This one was an acrylic resin the guy from the plastic workshop of my old art academy recommended...
I should really have a bit more confidence in my instincts when people recommend me stuff...
The first time this dude showed me the stuff and told me one of the components was a powder, I was already a bit hesitant...
I tried it anyway since he was to positive about it.

It. Was. Crap.

It had an annoying mixing ratio, 10:5 (not the usual convenient 1:1 mix ratio by volume or weight -which is great when you have small volumes, because you can just use little plastic medicine cups and measure by eye), the powdery stuff was a crime to weigh, it was too thick, got lots of bubbles and worst of all... It is as brittle as unbaked pottery clay.
Not kidding. I could make bits chip off by just scratching it with my nails.

Cherry on top, the reaction of the workshop guy when I showed him how brittle it was:
"Riiiight... I suppose that's why they always use glass fibre re-enforcements in the demo videos..."
Me: "Wait, you mean you never used this stuff before?!"
Dude: "Nope, all new material."
*walks away, leaving me completely flabbergasted...*
Me: *silent inner rage attack*WHY THE HELL would you recommend a material you don't know anything about?!

Gahhh... These "professionals" sometimes... >.<


Now trying the previous resin, the polyurethane one, with a little help (vacuum chamber). Also considering using an old resin I still have lying around. I'm afraid it might cure too fast, but it has a nice, solid white shade that makes it easy to add colour.

 

Since I've had nothing but bad luck with my resins, I decided to try an old resin I had lying around. Didn't expect too much of it, since it only had a pot life of 3 minutes (and as you guys probably know, short pot life is usually synonymous with bubbles).
Me: "Meh, what the hell." *mixes sloppily, pours into mould without even really trying*...*Waits ten minutes for it to dry*...
Stuff: comes out perfect.
o.0
WHAT. THE. HELL.

I bought a super fancy resin of exceptional viscosity, that drove me nearly to madness because it won't even cure bubble-less with the help of a vacuum chamber... And this stuff, at nearly half the price, clears the job like it's nothing.
And the colour is better too.

Who needs logic anyway...

(in picture, left to right: What-the-hell resin, original sculpt, fancy-resin-full-of-bubbles)

 

Moisture... Haven't thought about that. Didn't think it would be an issue though, since the air in the art academy is really dry.
I usually pour at an angle as well and sometimes even flex or knead the mold a bit (that works really well for small, flat shapes). I have a dusk mask (for lack of a better word, it's more like a gas mask thing, it's used by painters), but didn't notice any big difference in wearing or not wearing that while casting.
Thanks for the tips anyway!
This Alumilite, how long does that take to cure (demold time) and is it a bit transparent or completely solid in colour?

 

I've been casting ears like a maniac, trying to find the right "recipe" for the tan firefox...
My highly scientific method is as follows:

Pour 5 ml of component one in tiny cup one.
Pour 5 ml of component two in tiny cup two.
Add drops of colouring fluid to tiny cup two.
Write down amount of drops of each colour.
Mix components.
Pour in mould.
Wait.
Get object (ear) out of mould.
Curse because it's not the right colour.
Repeat.

After 8 curses and 2 annoyed/exited "allllmosssssts", I've found it!

Here it is, between "almost" one and "almost" two (the first one too red, the second one too yellow):


Due to monitor settings, the colours might appear a bit different than they really are, but both my camera's screen and computer monitor agree with my eyes that I captured the colour pretty damn accurate.

Now to make a mould of the human face to see if it really is the perfect fox-ish tan skin tone.

 

Thanks guys!
And JetPackJumper, I've spent about a month procrastinating as well before I worked up the courage to start casting

Made the mould for the human head and tested the fox colour recipe.
The junk cast turned out pretty great, save for 2 little bubbles (and some dust from the original that got stuck to the mould).

 

Cast the face in white resin today. I thought about giving the snow fox version a pale pinkish human skin, but this pure white turned out so great I decided to keep it that way. She's not going to pass for human anyway, with those fox feet (tail and ears are detachable, but she no extra human feet).
So here you have an accurate picture of what a "nude" (without face-up) Neva will look like!

 

Finally managed to get the tan skin right!
My "recipe" was correct, but because the resin cures so fast, it either turned solid before I could pour it in the mould or the colour was badly mixed. Solved that by mixing it in little parts: take one batch of component one and mix in the colour, then pour little bits of that into another cup, along with the appropriate amount of component two.
It's a lot of work, but the colours turns out nicely even and there are absolutely zero bubbles
So here they are... The twin sisters, first time!



Now on to the rest of the body and the fox head...

 

Junk-cast of the hands!
These will be further refined (especially the line between ball joint and wrist) and get nails, then be re-moulded as the master-cast.

 

What does the fox say?



I originally intended the pre-order for Seraphim and Neva to start at Halloween eve, but I since I haven't even moulded half the doll yet, I had to postpone it to Christmas.
Therefore, a quick Neva-Skellington seemed appropriate.

 

Thanks guys

I've moulded about half the doll now: human head, head cap, chest, belly, upper arms, elbow joints, lower arms, hands, and ears.
Some of these are a "final mould" already but most of them aren't, because several parts still need a little sanding (wood and paper-maché can't get as smooth as plastic, no matter how much you sand it), and the hands still need nails.

Junk casts of what I have thus far:



Random remark: discovered a downside to making a smirking doll. When posing is difficult, she appears to be laughing at you and I know it is ridiculous, but it gets to me and it really ruins my mood. Look at that smug face. She knows I've spent almost half an hour getting all (unstrung) parts to stay in place for that picture. Grrrr.

 

Finished the first version of all moulds! Junk-cast assembly, with some parts already from a master mould (everything with fur).






I realized the fur I chose for her tail is far more brownish than she is... I'm afraid I'll have to hunt for a whiter fur.
The colour for the firefox is okay, though.

Now onto the refining of the parts and the re-moulding!
Oh, and moulding the fox head. Haven't done that one yet.

 

Thanks
I had one mold shifting and some minor bubbles here and there at the first try, the most annoying ones at the tips of the toenails... But once I got the hang of at which angle and speed I should cast, they were fine.
The white is this resin's natural colour, and I liked it so much I decided to keep it that way (I originally intended to make the snow fox version a more humanesque white skin). The fire fox will be a nice red-brown tan (see older posts), but for try-outs it would be a waste of pigments to cast every part in tan skin already.

I took this junk-cast to some of my doll friends today and let them play around with it to see what needed improvement. I'll need to re-think the hip joints, they'll need some kind of lock after all as they keep rotating, making it difficult to balance her when standing. I'll probably also build in a lock in the belly, because she tends to flop backwards too far when you bend her back.

 

It's my birthday tomorrow and I'm treating you to updates :P

Torso is now smooth as *beep*.
Grey freckles and lines are corrections of the surface.

Locks are installed:




Aaaand here's how they perform in action:









Now onto the locks in the hips and knees, and she still needs some sharp fingernails.