Queen of Africa (my 3rd doll)

Well, I finally gathered enough courage to post here. This is what I'm working on currently. She is made of .. I guess it's called plasticine (the clay that doesn't dry and can't be baked).
Master model of the master model

head is hear : http://s59.radikal.ru/i164/1101/99/f4a4edf65928.jpg
body : http://i018.radikal.ru/1101/96/ecaf224c87fb.jpg
And these are the cast pieces (I will prime and sand them and than cast again)

 

Wow, so many comments Thank you all! To read it all is very encouraging. To tell the truth, I loved her more in plasticine. Can't get rid of a feeling she lost something after casting.
crowtree, she'll definitely have big ears (most likely made of leather).
Today I'll refine her head and cover it with silicone.

 

Jphobia
This plasticine is for sculptors (Russian company LUCH), pretty hard (I even dropped pieces down on the floor a few times, but they survived). I didn't think about painting. I plan to use special colorant for polyurethane (mixed black and white = gray). Only ordered colorants, hope to get them by the end of the month.
And soon I hope to get to stringing the junk cast of the trunk Can't wait myself!

 

armeleia, thanks she is 31 cm tall. Here are more photos of her head (ready for silicon)



Head in silicon



And that's where I'm now

I'll carve plasticine out of the head to make it hollow and pore more silicon.

 

crowtree, thank you. For me she is actually not that big. I think, it's just my size.
glimmer, in fact here it is only silicon. I use one with high viscosity, so if i just pore, some blowing spaces will appear. But for larger part like body and thighs I combined silicon with plaster. At least I tried. I need more training in that.
I'll show pictures, but there's nothing unusual in the process. I just cover silicon with petroleum jelly so that new pore doesn't stick to what I already have.

 

This is the silicon-plaster mold that worked pretty good
http://s005.radikal.ru/i212/1101/44/3a993afeefd4.jpg
http://s007.radikal.ru/i302/1101/9b/5c83ab2e443e.jpg
Though I had to brake it, because plaster stuck together.

 

Maggs, thank you she is not that smooth actually? but she will be
Asella, thanks
Here is the head. I have some problems with other parts (especially one thigh), so she's progressing not so fast, as I expected.

 

Mittebam, Aminoff, thanks
kwmelvin, thank you! It's my first mold making and casting experience.

 

I have only one hand. I always need some time to prepare mentally before I start sculpting hands or feet. They are the most difficult parts for me.

 

kwmelvin, thank you aren't fingers too short?

 

Mittebam, thanks
BlueDragonfly, thank you I must have caught your thought
As I progress my most loyal ally (my father) starts not only to buy tools for me (well, for shared usage), but also to share his own tools. Today I was given a makita electric screwdriver.


The legs are of different length, but I already know how to fix it.

 

Our maximum for now, but I'll make it a bit more flexible.
(the picture is clickable)

 

Stinker, cheshirepanda, thank you, it's very encouraging

I have a question. Does anybody know why the humps are more distinct (bigger) in the later casting? Is the problem in the silicon mold?
I finally made friends with my New Year present - engraver. And for the last few days I've been drilling the lower torso to string her.

I had to talk her into standing. I guess the joints are too slippery. But she holds arms pretty well

 

I'm back Had to make new pair of hands. Old ones were lost in molding and the mold didn't work.

I'm also working on her ears. Hope to have both ears the day after tomorrow

 

Ears

 

Hi, everyone again! I'm back! I'm working on this doll again and am very determined to actually finish her by mid March. I made a change to her legs and in the process of refining the surface for casting.
View attachment 739

My father made me a pressure pot, that was tested at 10 Atm (147 psi) and proved to be reliable So now I have everything I need and there's just no excuse for me not to finish her

View attachment 740

 

Thanks!!! I guess, I wasn't persistent enough, 'cause she's still in the making I primed all white parts and yesterday I widened all the tunnels for the elastic. I need to sculpt a new headcap and tusks and sand all the parts. Still lots of work ahead :XD

 

Thank you! I plan to make a different head for an Indian elephant (and hands, and feet, 'cause they have different number of fingers with African elephants). I can't say anything about the balance right now. I drilled holes in the lower legs just recently and now I am in the process of making sockets in them.
I also had to sculpt a new headcap. I am still trying to fit it tight to the head.

 

Hi everyone))) I couldn't finish her by March as my pressure pot blew up and the lid got torn and hit me in the jaw, which broke, and I spent 2 months recuperating. New plan is to finish her by Dec 18th. Not only finish, but to have 11 copies of her, which I'll show at a doll show. I decided to make that move and register for a show to leave myself no escape. I NEED to finish her already and move on.
I realized she is too heavy, so I spent several weeks sanding and drilling her inner seface. I also cut the thighs to hollow them. Now she has a separate thigh joint.

View attachment 831 View attachment 832 View attachment 833

I'm also making her a first wig. I've never done that before))))

 

View attachment 834

here's the wig. It's ira_scargeear's tecnology.

 

So I made molds. I tested them pouring water inside and it filled them pretty quickly with all the air vents working right. But I completely forgot to check my resin viscosity. I have task 2 and 3 and they both turned out to have 150 cps , while most smooth cast 3** have only 80 cps. So the biggest molds I tried first and resin didn't have enough time to get inside through my pretty slim pouring channels (despite the fact that I made at least 3 pouring channels for each big piece)

View attachment 840

Later I managed to cast the head, ears and trunk. The head has a wider channel and other pieces are small so they got filled b with resin in time. But then I noticed, the head has some imperfections on the surface. And I also have 2 small air bubbles on the one thigh. I will use the molds since I don't want to waste so much silicone and I will have to do some sanding. But first I need to tweak a couple molds.

 

Aaaaaand finished! I cast 8 dolls, 5 of them already strung.

View attachment 850

Will post more in the finished works gallery.