SD Sized Rat Head for Doll Chateau Y-03 Body

When I got the Y-03 body, I discovered that regular sized SD heads are way too big. Then somehow, I decided I should make my OWN head the size I wanted, and it was all downhill from there.

I have a penchant for animal heads on human bodies, and two recently deceased pet rats that I wanted to somehow pay homage to. So, I sculpted this. Here are the mostly unplanned and unorganized photos of my unprofessional journey.

Here are the materials I used:
Toaster Oven from Goodwill
Cardboard egg from Hobby Lobby
Super Sculpey from Michaels
Acrylic paint


2013-08-11_10-02_IMG_0526 by t4124, on Flickr

I used the method of cutting out a flat cookie-cutter looking piece of sculpey in the shape of a rat head profile. For this, I traced a photo of one of my rats. I really wish I'd taken a picture of this step, because it was probably the most crucial of the whole process. I don't know where my link to the tutorial went, but I got the idea from a wonderful tutorial on the internet. You can build up around a slice of the profile, and it works extremely well!


Within the first day I had her roughed out. This was formed verrry verrry slowly, building up sculpey and baking in small stages.


2013-08-11_17-30-26_74 by t4124, on Flickr


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Suddenly, eyeballs! I was really excited right about here, and loved the look of her. This excitement carried me through the drudgery of sanding ad infinitum (and I still didn't sand nearly enough before I lost patience and painted her). XD

I also hotglued some temporary felt ears on her just to get the big picture. Without ears, rats look super scary. 0_o


2013-08-11_20-56-52_507 by t4124, on Flickr


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This was the first edition of her mouth. I loved it at the time, but a horrible accident befell it, which turned out for the best, since the second edition mouth is better.


2013-08-11_21-00-12_243 by t4124, on Flickr


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I propped her up on the body (I couldn't resist).


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I borrowed a Dremel from my brother, and discovered he actually had two. 0_o


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Here is where I started the endless rounds of tweaking symmetry. Adding, baking, sanding down, adding again. 0_o

I got some excellent pointers from my brother who loves to sculpt. He especially helped point out that the corners of her mouth needed muscle instead of being just a flat crease into her face. Below you can see that I built up rounded parts around the corners of her mouth, and it really brought he whole thing up a notch. It's still amateurish, but better!


2013-08-14_21-26_IMG_0555 by t4124, on Flickr


2013-08-14_21-26_IMG_0556 by t4124, on Flickr

She's still asymmetrical, but I got impatient and cut the headbase and headcap apart.


2013-08-18_17-58_IMG_0558 by t4124, on Flickr

My first idea for the inside configuration. I later realized the prong was facing the wrong way (towards the front) for holding the weight of the head. I changed it to the back later on, where the weight of the head would hang on it.


2013-08-18_18-13_IMG_0559 by t4124, on Flickr

Here, I started the process of opening her eyes by removing the filler sculpey I used to build up her eyelids around. I used a narrow drill bit to start. Then, using this channel, I started dremeling with a cone shaped tip. After roughing out the area, I then used an official type eye beveller to finish out the eyehole.


2013-08-24_12-11_IMG_0564 by t4124, on Flickr

Here I swapped the hook to the back of the head base, built up mass inside the head base, and built up holders inside the head for magnets. When I built up the head base, I just used a large glass marble to shape the neck hole. I baked the piece with the marble in it, and after it was baked the marble popped right out.


2013-08-25_13-59_IMG_0567 by t4124, on Flickr

 

I used a couple coats of acrylic paint as a sort of primer. Here I saw that the head was nowhere NEAR as smooth as I'd hoped. The color and slight translucency of the super sculpey really disguises surface imperfections. That would be great if I didn't have to paint her. XD


2013-08-25_15-13_IMG_0570 by t4124, on Flickr

First real sanding session. This freaked me right out. I felt like I was ruining her, and I think I did accidentally remove a lot of the character and fine detail of her face. I guess this is OK in the end, but she definitely had a different 'feel' at first, when I first fell in love with her.


2013-08-25_15-39_IMG_0571 by t4124, on Flickr


2013-08-25_15-39_IMG_0572 by t4124, on Flickr

Second round of acrylic. Much better, but you can see especially in the corners of her eyes, that I accidentally sanded her flat across. It was really hard to try to sand this back into a good shape. It probably would have been best to dremel it off and rebuild it.


2013-08-29_17-27_IMG_0578 by t4124, on Flickr


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After this shot, her teeth crumbled off. I had asked a good friend for critiques (hi dhawktx!), and she pointed out asymmetry in the cheeks, so I had sanded her and rebuilt her one last time. That proved too much for the teeth, since they had been superglued into position, and they completely came out.

I dremelled the WHOLE mouth front off, and rebuilt it. I like it so much better!


2013-09-01_11-46_IMG_0593 by t4124, on Flickr


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Acrylic again, and I decided enough was enough and started blushing and faceup.


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Magnets!


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Here's the beginning of the blushing for her faceup. I still haven't finished it due to weather, but I like the start.


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Her final ears are a lovely pink suede I was lucky enough to find in an outlet. They're held on with magnets (I love magnets). I hot glued a pair inside her head, and hot glued the ears to another pair. After the above shot, I cut the ears down a bit, and also changed the angle so they stand UP more instead of laying a bit down.


2013-10-12_08-54_IMG_0840 by t4124, on Flickr

I forgot to mention before, but the super sculpey can NOT take the pressure of the body's elastic pulling on it. I strung the body elastic just to a metal button which I seated at the top of the neck piece. The force of the pulling is against this button, which straddles the opening at the top of the neck. Then, I strung the head to the same button, from above. I used small jewler type elastic for this, so there isn't too much pressure on the sculpey.

Around Halloween, this tiny jumping spider climbed up on her so I got a quick shot. She's my creepy doll.


2013-10-30_15-03_IMG_0873 by t4124, on Flickr

I finally finished a dress for her.


2013-11-24_12-41-58_69_2 by t4124, on Flickr

 

InNoTeb - I'm so glad you think she suits the DC body! Sometimes I worry that she's a little too big for it (the body is soo skinny and tiny), but it's way too late to change her now.

Spark - Thank you!

 

The Raven: I hope you do make a full anthro rat, that would be wonderful. I agree, they are just great little animals.

KyaraSabel: How bout do all three? Also yes times a million on the short lifespan. I really wanted more time with my ladies.

Sailor: Thank you so much. I really struggled with how realistic vs how anthro I wanted to make her, and the end result seems to have been more luck than skill. XD But I love her muchly.

Cheshirepanda: Thank you. I read a bunch of tutorials before I started, but then ended up doing a lot of just using what I had and muddling through. Ah well, best laid plans of rats and men and all that. XD

Ellychnia: Thank you. I was so upset over that darn mouth, but it was a really good learning experience.