Discussion The Joint: BJD-making discussion

@VampireAngel13 - I agree that closing his head back up will be the easiest way to fix the back of his head. But I think his face looks really nice! You're definitely making progress!

In regard to casting, does anyone know if Dollshe still casts dolls for other doll-makers? I know some of the Twigling / Artifex Kindred dolls were cast by him in the past, and I think I saw something on the website about casting (but the Dollshe website is difficult to navigate).

I'm asking because I recently bought a head in Pale Tan and a bust in Copper Oriental so I could have those colors on hand for referencing color matching and so on, and I looooove the Copper Oriental color. It is such a pretty sun-kissed tan, and if I can follow through and sculpt my own doll it would be really nice to have one cast in that color or something very similar.

Thank you!

 

Hello fellow sculpters!!
I'm in the process of sculpting my first bjd! (Also, it's my first time sculpting ANYTHING EVER.) I'm just about to the point in making her head where I think I want to kay down my first layer of primer. Since tutorials tend to gloss over this stage (no pun intended) can you guys tell me your priming experiences? Can you sand down primer if you find the surface still uneven? Can you sculpt on top of it? Also, I've noticed a bunch of artists when priming will sometimes have a copper red or sometimes even yellow color mixed in with the grey primer and the white clay. Does any one know what this material is?! Is it an additional type of clay? A separate kind of primer? A paint? I've looked everywhere and I never seem to find an answer as to what this color results from. Thanks for any help!

 

1- Yes, in fact, Thats one of the main uses of primer. 2- Yes, but it's a bit counter-productive, since you'll need to re-apply primer on the whole piece before making the mold. 3- I have no idea what it is, perhaps paint, to improve visibility on the primered surface?

 

I suspected it might be. It's kinda cool, with all the different colors mottled, it reminds me of the look of casted bronze. ha. Thanks for the info! ♡

 

I always thought it was the clay showing through where they sanded after priming... I have two different clays just on my head (one is whiter than the other which messes with my perception and I have to touch him a lot to see if he's lumpier than he looks or if it's just the clay colors mixing), that might explain why there's different colors.

@StellaMarigold Thank you! I was really concentrating on his face over the weekend and I've almost got him where I want him, I think. Except for the whole ear thing. I'm afraid once I get them on I'll break them off again working on him. Maybe I just need to do it and get it over with...

This is where I left off. I drew on him XD





His eyes are a lot more even now. His poor nose is still a little crooked. I'm pretty happy with the mouth. I think I'm going to add the smile lines in clay rather than just rely on a faceup. I'm pretty sure i can do it. (just little ones. He's not that smily)
I've also been trying to fix his insides, but it's not so easy. How the heck do people get them so smooth and even in there?? D:

 

Oh, nice! I especially like the way his mouth is shaping up! I think sculpted smile lines would be a nice touch.

 

And I has some sad news.

The upper torso part of the doll that I have been working on is cracking at the seams when I string it. So I thought that I might like to get it casted in resin and sent MiroDoll an email on Thursday/Friday. I have yet to receive a response from them even though I had also contacted them through their Facebook page.

 

Ohh he is looking great!! I was wondering the same thing myself about the inside, especially the headcap! Just a million layers of epoxies and primer maybe?

 

Hello! I'm trying to make a blueprint, but I'm having trouble finding how big the width of the doll should be. I'm trying to make a MSD Doll, and I currently don't own any bjd's so I have nothing to compare to. Could someone please tell me the width of each part of their MSD doll? Thanks in advance! (Edit) I won't be copying the size exactly,I'd just like something to go off of.

 

You might try going onto a dealer site like Alice's Collections and finding a body you like. They're very good about having the full measurements of almost all of their dolls.

I personally really love my Mystic Kids body so here are the measurements from the site:
* Height : 45cm
* Head Circumference : about 17.5cm
* Neck Circumference : 7 cm
* width of shoulder : 8.5 cm
* Chest Circumference : 18.5 cm
* Circumference of waist: 13.5 cm
* Circumference of Hip: 18.5 cm
* Arm Length: 13.5 cm
* Leg Length : 20 cm
* Thigh Circumference : 10.5 cm
* Feet Length : 5.5 cm

 

I don't think you should focus on matching or mimicking the measurements of existing dolls. Instead, sketch out a body that you find aesthetically pleasing, and draw it from at least three angles (front, back, and one side). Then, scale it up to 40-45cm tall. The "widths" will fall into place that way.

 

Oh I finally found the joint! Lmao was really questioning where it was. Hello!

Im like many here also planing on making my own doll as an addition to my crew. Not new to sculpting or making doll heads, even had a few body projects that I sadly never finished. Got a little too busy over the last months.

So yeah. I've made a blueprint for a 60cm girl, tough as of late I've been really inspired into making a more androgynous, kind of fem leaning male doll wich would be also around 60cm tall. Give or take 1-3 cm.
Really juggling between having it be more slender and soft looking then my actual blueprint as of now wich is more chubby.

I have a question: What would be the best way of making thigh joints? I usually use wooden beads tough they are verry hard to work with on wet paper clay. Any recomendations?

 

I've used epoxy clay to make them, but on a body that's made mostly out of oil-based clay. I think wooden could work well on paper clay. Maybe you could try glueing them on the dried pieces, before resuming your work?

 

Hi everyone, I would like to join this doll-making family. I had been planning making my own BJD for years (well few years before I owned any) and two days ago I eventually started working on my first head. The stage of casting the master to be sent to the casting company is what I'm worried about. Now I'm working in paperclay, but I'm aware that it 's not sturdy enough for mold making etc. So I hope I' ll find some tips here from those more advanced.
Once I figure out how to post pics without previous posting them on Flickr, I'll gladly share my progresses
IMG_20181013_210926.jpg

 

Click the "share" button on your picture (the arrow), then copy and paste the BBCode.

That face looks fantastic!

 

@Zardi thank you! It's very very rough at the moment. Today I done some sanding, but I'll be working on the features gradually.
BBC code goes for images posted on Flickr (or elsewhere) but I cannot post an image directly from my phone, am I right?

 

Correct. You have to upload your image to Flickr or another hosting service first.

 

@Zardi Yeah... that's what I wanted to avoid, since the work is in its early stage I wanted it to be visible only here where others share their unfinished sculpts in confidence

 

Set your image to private on Flickr. You can still link it here, but then it shouldn't show up in your photostream.

 

@Zardi Great! Thanks for the advice. I see I have to learn Never mind, never to old to learn (and play dolls, haha).

 

well, i started to sculpt this girl three years ago.
However due to many issues i couldn't finish my little beauty
Now i am finishing her and i hope that it will be soon. I have the plan to end for halloween.
She is "demon" Eragona
I hope you can apreciate my job in this pictures

DSC_0014 by Lydia´s Studio, en Flickr
DSC_0010 by Lydia´s Studio, en Flickr
DSC_0012 by Lydia´s Studio, en Flickr

DSC_0003 by Lydia´s Studio, en Flickr
DSC_0001 by Lydia´s Studio, en Flickr

 

She's absolutely gorgeous! Quick question- What surfacer did you use?

 

I used gray primer ( i dont know if i said it good)
It is like a paint. So good cuality i bought it in "leroy merlin" and it brand is "color primer"

 

Thank you so much!

 

She's really adorable! Excellent work!

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Has anyone recently ordered resin samples from Haru casting? I emailed them over a week ago to request samples and gave them my PP address to send an invoice, and I haven't heard anything.

 

@Lydia'san amazing! She's perfect.

 

@Lydia'san She looks so good! You've done an amazing job!

 

a lot of thanks!!

 

Hello I'm currently working on this bad boy. I only wanted to sculpt a head, but he's blossoming into a really big project. He's gonna be about SD13 size and I'm currently dying because I'm struggling with jointing ;__;

 

Are you going to post him in the new subforum in the workshop section? He's looking pretty good

 

I didn't know there was one! Thanks for the head's up! Is it in the "Coming Soon" section? I can't seem to find it OTL

 

@Marimor It's called "making a BJD" under Workshop, I think it's in beta right now so if you can't see it yet maybe you can ask to be invited or otherwise just wait for it to officially open. He looks great btw! Such a nice face especially

 

Oh, is that where everyone's disappeared to? I wondered why this thread seemed to be inactive. Looking forward to seeing the new sub-forum when it opens.