Modification Re-Making a Muse (updates on pg.4. | Caution: lamprey face)

Well it's finally time! I'm finally gonna do a project journal and actually document the process!

... Probably.

Usually I get into the groove and hours later I haven't taken any WIP shots. But not this time!

So for my second official mod, I'm going to be making my muse, my mascot, my waifu; Nibbles.

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She may look a little crazy here (okay maybe she always does), but that's just a Halloween photo. Usually she's just a sweet little innocent mutant, honest.

I'll be using Dollzone Scarecrow Hal-2 on the B45-12 body. I thought these sculpts were the closest I could get to my image of her, but she still clearly needs some work.

So let's get down to the list of things to do:

• Sand off her lovely face and ears DONE
  
• Sand down the breasts to the correct size DONE
  
• Sculpt her teeth and let dry DONE
  
• Sand teeth to a pearly gleam DONE
  
• Sculpt gums to put teeth into DONE
  
• Sculpt lips DONE
• Sculpt two sets of webbed ears and put magnets inside head and ears for them to be detachable HALF DONE
  
• Fix her torso DONE
  
• Face-up DONE
  
• body blushing DECIDED NOT TO CUZ LAZY
  
• Mod Podge layers to fortify body blushing and face-up (4 weeks to fully set) NAH

And to detail how my process will go further; I will be using Milliput super fine white to sculpt everything on her head. Tiny Neodymium magnets will be used for the detachable ears. I'll have two sets because one will be clean, and the other will have the black along the top. This is mostly for fashion as her dark style and outfits look better with the darker ears. The teeth will be made first so that it's easier to insert them into the gums. For some reason, she was shipped to me with a torso piece meant for assisting in posing broken off and lodged into her chest cavity. I've noticed that the slot the elastic is supposed to go through isn't big enough and got ripped out by the sheer strength of her tight stringing. So I gotta find a way to fix that so she can pose better. I'll be using Testors dull cote to seal her but I've noticed it's shitty at best, so I'll be re-enforcing it all with Mod Podge which takes about 4 weeks to fully set (according to a tutorial I found in the forums. Search for it if you're curious for more details!) I've only tried this on a spare piece of resin before so this will be pretty experimental.

Since I was pretty eager to get started, I marked off my victim with some pencil outlines to keep me on track. I didn't bother cleaning her face fully cuz it was gonna get mauled anyways.

Carve me like one of your mutant girls.​

I didn't document any of the carving or sanding of her face because it was honestly horrifying. I really didn't enjoy ruining her pretty face but it had to be done. Anyways, I'll save you from that horror. Though, I actually grew so attached to her face and felt so guilty that I ordered a second Scarecrow Hal-2 head just to have in case. I used scissors, an exacto knife and varying grits of sandpaper but left it pretty rough anyways because further sanding will be done once the Milliput is on.

Ahhh! it's a scary S-Hook monster!
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I also tackled her chest at the same time because apparently I enjoy working non-stop for hours and ignoring my body yelling at me to rest. I actually got water blisters. Whoops.

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Sorry for the late night photos. I almost forgot take them (again). For her chest, I started off with scissors, as I find it's easiest to take off bulk that way. I paid close attention to my lines to make sure the nipples were still properly centered. then I moved to the exacto knife and started from the top (towards her collar bone) and carved down so that I didn't make them too high up, and to get that nice slope I was going for (no anti-gravity breasts for Nibbles!) With clothes on, her chest looks practically non-existent, which was what I was going for.

So there you have it! That's my progress so far and I'll continue to update until my muse is a reality!

Stay tuned~​

 

Woah! Thanks everyone for the overwhelming amount of support and replies. ^^ Happy to have you all here to witness her creation and I hope I do her some justice.

@Lazy Kiki the world needs more mutant girls, cool that you have a lamprey faced one, too.

@GammaVector I chose this sculpt because the overall head shape looked about right. As well as the chin and jaw being a similar shape. I needed eyes that weren't too far apart, as well. I pretty much stared at blank heads from Dollzone and this one stood out.

 

And here's a small update on what I worked on today. I went ahead and tried to make a black base to sculpt her gums onto later. First I tried mixing up some pastel dust with one half of the milliput, fully mixing it and then mixing the two together but.. it pretty much turned out grey no matter how much I added. Afterwards I just brushed on some of the pastel dust while wet with a brush but it started to crack as it dried. Not exactly what I had in mind but I can paint it properly afterwards.. Anyways!

Okay this is actually pretty spooky in its own right
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After that I went ahead and sculpted some rough teeth to be sanded later. I did four sets of 16, as she has 16 teeth in each three rows. The fourth row is just a back-up as I figured I made the first row of teeth too big (which I did). Since she has no facial features, it's more important that I make her teeth as lovely as I can. :P

Teef
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And just to make this update a little more visually exciting, I tried placing the teeth in the base with some putty and took pictures. I was judging what size to sand the first row of teeth to by placing exactly six on the bottom row. They still need to be a little smaller. The inner row is pretty much perfect. Placing them in the putty was so frustrating though. They're so tiny and they would run off on me. I dunno how I'm gonna sand them, my fingers hurt from the bigger ones.

Nom nom nom



Tune in for tomorrows episode, where my fingers suffer further agony!
At the end I should seriously just take a picture of my hands... What have I done...​

 

I know you meant carpal tunnel but it still got a smile out of me. :P I'll try~

As to using pliers and/or tweezers, I tried to do that while sanding but they just jumped away and I really didn't wanna lose them. >.< It did work for putting them in the milliput, though!

And just a small update today and then I'll be gone all weekend so work will pick back up either a little tomorrow or on Monday. But! Some exciting things. All the little teeth are done and sanded.

I aligned them in a bunch of putty in her head to make sure it was all peachy and it was so I went ahead with putting the inner row in first with tinted Milliput. This time I worked some water into the mixture so it didn't crumble and just kept adding more and more pastel dust. Finally got it nice and tinted with no cracking. This gives me hope for being able to match resin color in the final stages.

So here she is with all the teeth in the blue putty

*internal screaming*
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and here's the finished inner row! I'm trying to keep the sculpting smooth and clean so she's not too scary or off-putting.

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Once that dries fully I'll be adding a little lighter paint over the gums to add some texture and then I'll get to work on the next row.

Until next time~ (whenever that is)​

 

So here I am at a stand-still. I have no idea how to tackle this issue that popped up. The milliput and the resin clearly have a different density and texture. Somehow no matter how much I sand and smooth, there is a very clear outline around the milliput on the resin. I even think I got the color matching pretty spot-on. I tried painting over the line but it took so many layers and ended up looking streaky and I could see brush strokes. I'm thinking the best way possible to get what I want is to use an airbrush and alternate between layers of sealant, and layers of paint so that I can get it thick enough to the paint where you can't see the difference. If anyone has any other suggestions, I am super open to them since I don't have an airbrush. I even considered just covering the whole head in a thin layer of milliput.

But anyways... On to the photos!

And here we can see the annoying issue...


Scandalous!
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When she is wearing her hair and the light hits her just right, I can't really see the difference between the milliput and the resin. Which makes this all the more frustrating because I am a perfectionist. D:

Little webby ears
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And here she is with the first attempt at her ears. They're still a bit too big here but I went back and sanded them down a bit more after this photo.

I also have to figure out how to basically drill inside of her head to get the magnets closer to each other but it's kind of a tight space and I dunno if I have the tools. A dremel and an airbrush... That would be nice ~.~

 

@KingOfChains I thought they were pretty cute bigger, too, but my fiancée was not in agreement so I figured I had artist goggles on and couldn't see any flaws yet. : x I think the magnets I have are pretty decent but the resin is just too thick. Maybe I'll shop around for more.

@Anadine thank you! >.< I did consider spray paint but I wasn't sure I would be able to find the right color and didn't wanna fart around with all that color-matching and it possibly getting scuffed or scratched.

@Saba Nibbles does in fact have lips! She's not entirely true to the image of a lamprey. And also thank you. ^^

So! Updates. I got past my dilemma by simply slathering the whole head in milliput and sanding it with a fine grit sandpaper to get it as smooth as possible. This took awhile and half way through I was like "why didn't I just sculpt my own head?" But whatever! I went this route so I'm going all the way.

Here she is in her glory so far:

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I got some pastels down on her face but still need to add more detail and gloss to her teeth and lips (just gotta buy a gloss). But the weather didn't permit me to continue spraying sealant so that'll have to be later.

Have a close-up of her horrorifyingly beautiful self:

Straw hats are kinda my thing.​

That's probably gonna be it for updates for awhile maybe? Maybe. I'm moving really soon but I'm also addicted to constantly working on my dolls and will probably figure out a way to still work on Nibbles. Cuz why the hell not. Priorities!

 

Ahh, gosh, thank you so much. ^^ To be honest, I'm pretty stumped on why I find her cute, too, haha. I Initially created her with the intention of her being creepy and then she just slowly evolved into this over the years. :P

Thank you Wolfie Pie and everyone else that loves her like I do. ^^ I just dunno what I'll do once her body starts to yellow and the milliput on her face doesn't. Guess that's an issue for later, yay. >.>

I've yet to read all of his work but I'm certainly familiar with Uzumaki, his spiral obsessed manga. xD thank you~

And now onto the bulky update of all updates! ​

At this point you could pretty much call her complete (all that's left are the optional black tinged ears for her darker mood outfits but I haven't made her any dark clothes yet so we'll see. I'm afraid of staining).

I have no pictures (cuz I suck) but I fixed her torso piece by making the hole larger with sanding so the elastic didn't get stuck in it and then lined her torso with milliput and shoved that piece in there. Now it ain't goin' no where. Which may kinda suck cuz now I dunno if I like the way her torso poses with the locking mechanism. Lovely. I may sand it down and then sued it instead so she can pose more smoothly.

First thing's first: I re-did her face-up to be a little more accurate but still have yet to find a good gloss for her teeth. Still debating on if her gums should be glossed or not, but I kind of prefer how soft her face looks now without gloss.

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As a funny side note, her inner set of teeth can perfectly hold a pencil by the eraser end. She's like my cute little pencil sharpener.

After that I went back and re-sanded her chest because I still wasn't happy with it. I needed it to be flatter and I think I finally got it where I want it. Mostly. I kind of wish the upper torso was sculpted better, her breasts look awkwardly pushed together by an invisible push-up bra and I feel like they're too high up on the chest. But ah well, she looks fine in clothes. :P If after a few weeks I'm still okay with the size I'm gonna do some final sanding to get some nips (which is why the shape of her boobs is a little odd right now)

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Then I was able to get her ears to stay on decently! I drilled some holes inside her head with a drill (carefully) and inserted the magnets with glue. After that I can just put her wig on and stick the ears on over top. This is a good compromise considering how dorky her hair looks when I put the ears on first. I'm surprised how easy this was and how well they stay on. I was able to do a whole photoshoot without losing her ears. they do like to spin around though, but it's pretty cute and gives her more emotion depending on which way I twist them. I sueded the parts where the ears touch the head to help with how much they spin.

I grabbed a crop top of mine that I rarely wear and made a miniature version version out of it for her. She rocks it better than I do. >.>​

And here's some photos from the photoshoot!

Any other changes I do will probably be minimal so I won't be updating the thread anymore. I officially declare her complete! ^^ Thanks for sticking around and witnessing her creation. ​