second go at a doll - critique welcome please!

Update 10/4 - I haz hands! almost ready to cast. More pics further on


Update 3/4/11 - I haz feets! and working arms! more posts further on.


Update 6/2/11 - bubble free torso cast and new face - more pics futher on


Update 5/11 - further parts (badly) cast - more pics further on


Update 17/10 - second part cast - head reworked and torso. More pics further on


Update 13/8/10 - first junk cast of head - more pics further on


Update 1/8/10
smoother and strung more pics further on..


On posting the pictures, I saw her nose was too small, so I have tried to fix that - here is an updated pic of her face. Of course I messed up the lips trying to fix the nose And I have since thinned her eyelids as they seemed very chunky.



Here is my work in progress of my second attempt.

I made an amature out of wet paper and gladwrap for the body, arms and legs and foil wrapped in masking tape for the head. I have destroyed the head 3 times - this is the 4th attempt. I have learnt now to WALK AWAY FROM THE DOLL when I start to get impatient!

I have also decided to fully sculpt the body before deciding on joints etc as I have a hard time visualising what it will look like piece by piece, and my drawing didnt help at all!

I am making her in super sculpy which is nice and easy to mould but god help you if you dont go slowly slowly. I know her nose is too short from taking these pics and also havnt really done her eyes yet, nor hands or feet.

Anyhoo, here are some pictures.







Update 7 Feb 10

Well I have baked her head and chest and destroyed her body in the process of cutting it I have tried to make upper arms ball joints but will have to do some research on how to make good ball joints - I tried press moulds with little success and then just free form (which are in her arms at the moment) with minimal succes. Anyone who has a good link to how to make the ball joints in super sculpy would be for ever in my happy karma thoughts....

Thank god for forums and google, I say! Somehow her face turned out much younger than I was aiming for..

 

thanks Wolfmammy!

 

thanks for the tip and critique sand3 - these were the smallest I had in glass, but will try some smaller when I take off the headcap

 

Update 13 February '10
Well I have done the bottom torso... the front at least - her rear end is all uneven. Oh woe is me re ball joints - sculpy is too friable to carve out the stringing holes (I dont have a dremel, nor any idea where to get one, nor funds atm, so can only carve, so I am just free form sculpting the ball joints, which is more difficult I guess than if I had a good round object already available)


I have also modified her face a little

 

Thats a great idea - I must go to craft store today! However, how do you create the thread holes?

 

Thanks Prysm - thats great advice and I am now looking for both wooden balls and dremel tools! I think Mitre 10 here has them for about $40, so next pay day I am there!

 

Thanks Rad and Tami! - Rad, I have found scuply moulded balls to just break apart when I tried to card as the ball joints on her are quite small, perhaps. But perhaps I should give it another go and be a bit more gentle.

At the moment I have been able to get relativly rounded joints for her arms just with sanding, so I am going to go ahead with that until I get a dremel. (craft fair in newcastle this weekend woo hoo)

 

thanks for the tip faokes. Life gets in the way of my dollmaking a lot! I was planning to get to the hardware and craft shop this weekend, but somehow didnt make it, so no wooden or styro balls and no dremel yet, so sanding sanding sanding!

 

Update! at last..

Well I have made some progress - finally finally did some reasonable upper arms and lower arms and hands that dont break apart and have reasonable ball joints. In the end I went the wooden ball route (and pearls! for wrists and elbows, which I will dremel out the stringing channels on.

Her lower arms need some work for shape and her face looks leprosotic from a failed experiment with modge podge and gesso, but its just cosmetic thank goodness.

 

Yes its gesso - I made a big mistake and tried also modge podge to be able to sand her smooth <facepalm> it gets a bit tacky and is difficult to sand, so I am going to try twiglings suggestion of auto primer for the face and gesso for the torso

 

<waves to patricia> thanks hon!

 

Update - first go at stringing. Well this is the first time I have tried to string her - I burnt her other arm today, so will have to see if it is ressurectable. The ball joints in her hands are undrillable, I discover, so will cast a wax form to do finishing touches on. I havnt done her legs yet so they are next, but her feet have been drafted. Her arm joints work well at the shoulder but need a little refining at the elbow, and perhaps her upper arm is too long but I will wait to see if it looks right with her legs, which will be quite long.

 

Twigling, thankyou for the brilliant critique! Not harsh at all - this is what I am looking for to help improve her. As soon as you said those things - esp the neck muscles, I was able to see it clearly! Yes, and the arms are too thin, I thought so, wasnt sure though. Brilliant, thankyou... Sculpy is *very* fidgety - I keep cracking, breaking and burning it - I can see why you prefer apoxie - am ordering some to try. See you Sat, hopefully!

 

Update 18 April - Finally, we haz (very long and lots of work to be done on) legs! I have decided that I need to equalise the knee joints and shorten the legs a bit after looking at these. The knee joints are very rough but sort of fit, although the tabs that meet the upper legs are too long. I took twiglings advice and sanded down the neck a bit and also am still working on shortening and fattening the arms. But today, I sort of got both knee joints sort of working. It takes me so long! I look at people who make a whole doll in 2 months or less even in awe! I am using apoxie <nods to ms twigling apoxie in gratitude> as it is so much tougher than scuply, for the joints and fixing things up. But it is hard to actually sculpt with I find. But its great cause you can use wooden balls for joints without worrying about baking or boiling. It just hardens! brilliant!

I also found some "mr surfacer" which is so much better than gesso. and which shows **all** the little flaws which is great if a bit daunting re how much sanding and filling there is to do.

I have fallen out of love with her hips too...

 

thanks all for the encouragement thicker arms it is

 

Thanks Wolfmammy and Twigling Yes, I think I have to use larger balls in the hip sockets and cut the hips up a bit to make her leg line flow from the hips more. I think I need to find smaller balls to make a smaller knee joint also. Sigh! I also have to make new hands and arms as the others are completly not worth reworking

 

he he you are very kind tatiana, thankyou so much for your encouragement - obrigada (is that correct for thankyou? I visited Brazil once).

update: after getting some excellent advice from Twigling (how lucky am I to have such a talented sculptor living so close? I am sanding sanding sanding and working on a new set of hands and trying to work out knee joints that dont look to weird. So not any progress really other than smoother surfaces and one new proto thumb on otherwise empty hand armature...

I must confess to procrastinating on the knee joints - they really freak me out - I just cant seem to get them to work (I am trying to make double jointed knees)

 

<blush> gee thanks - Maggs. I will take some photos this weekend and try to string her up again with mods, knee joints and new hands (or proto hands lol) maybe I will be able to see her stand

Tatiana, I visited Recife for work but fell in love with your country and the people. So warm and graceful, such an amazing country!

 

Well here are the updated pictures. I have strung her with thin elastic, and she is still waiting on an arm that needed repair. I have rough sanded all of her and made new hands, shortened her arms and made feet. She doesnt have any stringing channels yet, so I am not sure of her poseability, or standability. I will refrain from showing the picture of a pile of epic fail knee joints that look like sad knucklebones. I couldnt tighten her enough to make her stand for fear of sculpy failure. (alarmingly, bits chipped off just with the weak tightness in these pictures). So I couldnt make her stand on her own. She did deign to stand momentarily leaning against a box. I have a lot of work to do on knee joints (my nemesis) and locking bits, but will wait till I do the channels to see how that affects things. I might have to use springs to get her to stand well.


Please ignore extreme messiness and coffee cup

again, mess disclaimer


cute feet I think.

really not happy with the whole knee situation - they look ugly to me but I really want double jointing. Sigh. a bit disheartened on the knee front.

sanded all the modge podge disaster off, and managed not to sand her nose off.

shes a bit wistful because she looks quite messy and bitsy

momentary standing

and again, after an eon of fiddling

Next step - another coat of primer and next grade of sanding, fixing of knee joints and dremelling of channels. Stop. evaluate. reflect on the several years that have passed in the interim, lol

Critique welcome as always, also any advice on HOW TO MAKE A DOLL STAND!!!!???

 

thanks Maggs - ha yes frankendolly! we both feel a bit dr Jekkly today after the weekend - it just seems like there is so much to do yet, and that she will never be finished!

 

Sooooo finally I have knees that work, and have strung her to stand!!! I had to do a bit of work on the locking bits in the knees to get her to stand. Now I have started the second round of sanding, but here she is primed. That stuff sure shows all the sanding needs! what I thought was pretty smooth is all bumpy! I also want to make new hands, I am not happy with the (second) ones I have done. Got a few chips when I strung her, so will have to redo a little bit the knee area. Scuse her headcap kept on with a blob of sculpy and dark pics.





http://lh6.ggpht.com/_F1vFrMfmQ-g/TEbQFCwLtPI/AAAAAAAAEY8/qwCkoew7xbE/s512/IMG_2118.JPG[/IMG
[IMG]http://lh4.ggpht.com/_F1vFrMfmQ-g/TEbQGTyYI5I/AAAAAAAAEZA/QrjntxpaUR0/s512/IMG_2120.JPG

 

thanks Yuki, JOan and HIggy - after the comment from Yuki, I can see the lower arms still need some thickening, thanks!!!

 

Thanks Penguu

 

Thanks Ms T Just sanding and fixing now. I make myself do 1 part at least a night with the next grade down of sandpaper. Hopefully will get all the parts to next stage this weekend and then prime again and sand next grade down again and so on. And make new hands. Cannot get good hands yet.

 

thanks cureilona and alewife. I have resisted making her hiney smaller Here is the latest after sanding and some fixing of jointing and halleluja, some reasonable hands. Next step is sanding some more and fixing a few things that are affecting her posing - one leg needs stringing hole alignment, one foot needs sanding down on the bottom, and her face needs a little adjustment since she has become a little expressionless with all the sanding. Her hands need stringing channels too (held on with wire in these pictures)
As always, critique is welcome

 

thanks sailor and HemreI do have 2 unoa's, and they are so lovely I guess its hard not to be influenced by them, so I am not surprised you see a bit of unoa there

I have had to redo almost all the jointing in apoxie as it just crumbled under any tension at all.