Salomé: 45 cm girl.

New pictures on last page




So, I have been thinking of making her for a while. Inspired by the women populating Alphonse Mucha's paintings, I wanted to make a doll with flesh on her bones so to speak and a man who, although still athletic, lacks muscle definition. I still have to make a start with the latter, but I already have two process pictures of the girl.

First, a picture of her 'blueprint' and the aluminum core I covered with clay. As you can see, her 'breasts' are nothing but raisins here. I just needed some small puffs of clay, so I'd know where I would position them, but they are no way finished.



Next thing I did was to cut off her arms and legs and build up her torso. This is where I am so far:



I recently removed the aluminum core from her torso and legs, and shortened her neck and the area between her clavicle and breasts. Right now, I'm working on her back and I think I'll have some more pictures ready by the end of the week, but I realized I needed a WIP-thread to keep the pace.

 

Thank you for your kind comments, everyone. Today, I had a little time to work on her torso some more. Haha, it's dificult to keep her symmetrical and I'm already contemplating how I'm going to do her torsojoints, because I can't just cut up her "love-handles"... that would look weird.

If anyone has an idea, I'm open for advice!

 

Thank you for your input, guys!

@Miss_Pygmalion: What do you mean with a butt joint? Do you mean those double jointed hips?

@PBdoll: thanks, and I might have to look into that. Draw a line first and see how that works, before I pick up my trusty knife and start cutting away. (do I sound like a butcher or what? )

@whitewings: Haha, you see, everytime I make a torso, I don't want to cut him up, because I'm afraid I'll ruin it. Fact is though, that I really like my dolls to have a somewhat flexible back. I don't buy dolls with solid torsos and I don't think I'm going to be happy with her if she stays in one piece.

 

And a small update. To see more pictures, please visit either my DA or LJ (links in signature)

Because I used NSP as a core to build her on, her stomach area has a different colour. It didn't look very attractive, that's why these pictures are uploaded in black and white.

Salomé still needs more work to get her symmetrical, but before I do that, I will start making her joints first. Chances are much of the detail will get lost otherwise.








@oddfae: Thanks! And ehm... your wish is my command ^.

@whitewings: Ooh, thanks. I'm going to look at fairyland sculpts now!

 

Thanks for the advice. The chest circumference is something I'm thinking about changing as well, but I'm going to wait adding clay to her shoulder area until after I do her torso joint(s) and make her arms. The arms will also add some width and I don't want her to get very manly shoulders. I figured it's easier to see how much I need to add when I have shoulder joints.

 

@ghostdollie: alright, haha. It's funny to hear different opinions on her proportions. As for the joint, I've eventually decided to do a high torso joint and I hope that she'll be able to do a 180-twist when she has the joint.

@wyverngem: He's great, isn't he? I love how soft his paintings are. I've started on her legs and arms, but I don't have anything to show right now. Hopefully that'll come soon. I really don't want to spend three years on this body, like I did with the last doll I made. ^^"

 

Yes, your question makes perfect sense. I always add detail when I'm putting on clay and then soften or accentuate it by sanding the dry sculpture afterwards. In case of the love handles for instance, I had to sand them a bit, because they looked like they were just attached to the body, not a part of it. I hope you understand what I mean.

 

It's been a long time since I've been working on this body, partly because her proportions were off. Since then, I've started using Super Sculpey Firm and I thought it might be a good idea to rebuild her using this clay.

So here are the first progress pictures. She turned out a bit different, but she's still a full-figured woman.



Her right side still had to be done and her breasts were placed too high, so I redid them. Today, I've been working on her some more and now she has legs as well! She's not really symmetrical yet, but I'd like to finish her back first before I'm focusin on this.



When she's done she will be 44cm. I'm not really familiar with MSD's, so I'd like to know: do you guys think this is too tall?

 

Ok, I'm glad I didn't make her too tall. Thanks guys, for the compliments! It's a bit weird working on her. I keep expecting her body to be soft, but then - when I hold her - she's hard as a rock .


I've managed to set up the first stage of her back, but couldn't continue 'cause it's getting dark outside. Tomorrow, I'll continue working on her.

 

Am I the only one who feels really nervous when I'm about to bake a new body? I've been stalling all day

 

It's not so much the baking that bugs me, it's the having to cut her into pieces part. My oven isn't big enough for the entire body, so I'll have to seperate her legs from her torso.

But thanks for the positive vibes. I'm sure they'll help!

 

Wow, thank you guys! You're advice and compliments mean so much to me.

@armeleia: You're absolutely right, her belly button is placed too high. I'm going to fix that as soon as possible.

The string cutting worked like a charm! Both her torso and legs are baked now, so tomorrow I'll have time to put up my dremel and make the joint sockets. I have to say, string cutting beats having to cut through a cured piece of clay. Never before have legs come off that easy. Then again, this is the first time I'm using an oil based clay. I doubt this method would've worked on a dried piece of air dry clay ;p.

This weekend I've been working on Salomé's head. He's in the oven right now, to be baked for the first time. When she's cured, I'm going to continue working on her some more. She's so tiny! Every time my hand shakes, I've made another mistake. Guess I'm not used to mini-sized heads.





She's going to have 8mm eyes, at least that's what I think. My boys all carry 10mm eyes, and hers are quite a lot smaller.

 

Thanks! I've been reading the books of Philippe Faraut, because I wanted to improve my sculpting. I've got still so much to learn!

Another work in progress picture of my girl. I've been working on her torso-joints (and have to redo her legs and arms, because they keep breaking during sculpting OR curing.. grmbl...) and redid her face, to make it a big larger. Her head is still a little unrefined; I haven't had the time to sand it, but I like her attitude and I REALLY like the curviness of her body.

Hopefully I'll have her finished by the end of next month.

 

@Sailor: I keep poking her myself . When I'm done with her joints, I'll give her more detail.

@Florem and Aminoff: Thanks, you guys!


New picture. Her arms and legs kept breaking and it took a while for the TLS to arrive, so it's been almost three weeks since I've had the chance to work on her properly. But, now she has shoulder- and hipjoints, which gives me the opportunity to work on making her symmetrical. When both her arms and legs are even, I'll add kneejoints and elbows and of course hands and feet.

 

Thanks! I like smaller heads myself, so I was looking for a size that would make her look good even when she's wearing a wig. I'm working on her legs some more, fleshing out her calves, so that the look of her legs are more balanced. And I've finished her hands Hopefully, I'll be able to post pictures of them tomorrow.

 

Her hands are done. Now I'm working on her legs some more.

 

Thank you, guys!

She's almost done! I need to work on her hipjoints some more, as sometimes I can see small gaps, and I have to finish her right leg, but other than that, she's finished!

I still can't believe I was able to make her stand on two pencils (didn't dare to use her actual feet).

 

Thanks guys!

And yeah, I'm still working on the hip/crotch area. At first the bigger crotch was necessary for the joints, but now that I've changed them, the hip socket is a bit too large. So, back to sculpting!

 

I forgot to post a picture of this girl finished, with hands and feet. I've started an Indiegogo crowdfunding project for her a few days ago, and things are going ridiculously fast! I never expected it to go this well . Have to say that it is a relief; even though I'm selling dolls, it's still going kind of slow and this girl is sort of my 'Final Fantasy'. This crowdfunding project gives me the confidence that FreakStyleBJD might actually work out .

Check it out here: http://igg.me/at/freakstylebjd

(By the way, I really dislike the new Flickr layout)