Props The making of an art doll horse for my minifee/msd dolls

Hi! So I've basically been looking for a nice msd sized horse for my dolls from the moment I got involved in this hobby. I was actually searching for one long before I even held my first bjd in my hands. I just knew it had to happen in some way haha.
After researching for ages I read about people customizing my gerneration horses because they were the right size for MSDs but I didn't enjoy the cartoony look they had.

I thought about 3D-Modelling one myself/buying a model and printing it in multiple parts. I just didn't really like the idea of it not being posable. I knew about a free bjd horse model on thingiverse and I thought about that one for a while but I scrapped the idea.

I knew about art dolls and was aware of the basic steps that had to be taken to make one. I already had all the materials at home so I started this project in my week off. (Until now this has taken me one whole week at home and two work weeks where I just worked on it a bit in the evening)


I started by printing this gorgeous horse head I bought on Cults3D that was sculpted by Kaypeacreations (check out her awesome YouTube channel if you don't know her already!) This was perfect because it was already intended to be used for art dolls.


It turned out so pretty! I originally wanted to sculpt it myself, but because I only had a week of and I really had the urge to actually finish this project for once I caved in and just bought this model (I started making multiple art dolls over the years and always stopped after the sculpting was done )


After sanding and priming my print I got to the basic armature of the body. This is my Minifee Boy Fushi (Sarang2022 Head) for a size reference.


I built the base out of a coathanger and secured the parts with polymorph and hot glue so they wouldn´t come loose.


While I was working on the body I printed out these hooves I sculpted in NomadSculpt. For the sake of speed I layed them flat on the buildplate and just carved the underside in with a soldering iron. (I know it looks horrific at this stage but I knew I was going to paint these anyways haha)


I built the body up with pillow stuffing and thread which took AGES. I know there are better ways but this is all I had available at the moment.


The beginnings looked rough and I was doubting my choices but I kept going haha.



This is what the finished base looked like. A bit funny I know xD I also painted the hooves!


I put Fushi on his back so I could imagine the end result better. I think it was all coming together at this point haha.

 

After that I got to the most time consuming and annoying part: The fur shaving and sewing. I absolutely despised this step haha. There was fur EVERYWHERE and I had to work while wearing my respirator for days which wasn´t very pleasant xD.



For a while it looked like a very weird looking sheep LOL


Finally I was done! Now I just had to shave him one last time so he wouldn´t look like a sheep anymore.


After that was done I got a little discouraged so I put Joel on his back to get my motivation back :P


While this did push me into finishing this project I noticed that my horse looked a litlle smaller than I had planned. I´m not sure if he´s also a bit too skinny. But I can´t really change these things now so it´s best to not think about it haha.


(Please excuse my messy workspace. This just happens when I´m painting haha.) I started taping off the parts of fur that i wanted to remain white and airbrushed the whole thing. I wanted him to be a blue roan paint horse and I think it worked out pretty good.

 

The color made me like him again I was almost done yay! After airbrushing him I painted his eyes and blushed his nose. Then I added a top coat of an acrylic matt varnish which did leave his head a bit shiny so I sprayed one layer of MrSuperClear to get rid of that.


Now I just need to gloss his eyes and give him a mane and tail!
I made a tail out of yarn but I actually don´t like the look of it I think I´m going to order some mohair and get rid of the yarn tail So the project is sadly paused for now I don´t know how much mohair I need to be honest haha. The shop I want to order it from measures the amount in gramms and I have no clue how much I would need. Do you guys have any idea? Maybe you´ve made wigs before and can tell me how much you used. I could make an estimate from that xD

 

Thank youu And that is actually such a great idea! I didn`t think about that. The harsh cut between the fur and the PLA is bothering me quite a bit to be honest

 

Thank you for the numbers! I´m gonna have to think about it before I buy anything.

 

Thank you a lot for the kind words! If I have learnt one thing from crafting and making art my whole life it´s that you always have to trust the process haha

 

Ohh I´m going to look out for that. Maybe I will ask them personally. I was planning on buying it from Etsy anyways.

 

I actually haven´t even thought of alpaca fiber. I just looked it up and it did look way softer and not so curly. I´m definetly going to take that into consideration! Thank you

 

Thank you ^^ I will look into alpaca fiber! It looks really soft

 

Thank you so much

 

Thank you very much! If I ever do something like this again I would definitely make it a bit chunkier haha And yes my printer does look pretty cute with it’s spider eyes LOL

 

Thank you very much! I‘m glad you enjoyed seeing it! ^^

 

Thank you very much I‘m hope I can finish him until the end of this year! Maybe I can work on him in during the holidays :>

 

I finally bought some mohair a few weeks ago and finished my horse this weekend!

I ordered 50g of the white and 50g of the black fibers. It was actually way too much in the end, but hey at least I have some mohair for potential future projects now haha.

I´m not 100% happy with it (I never am), but I´m proud of it. I´m still glad I pushed through and finished this project! My dream of having a horse for my dolls has now become real (I still want to make a better one Let´s see if I actually do it in the future...)

Here is the link to the flickr album in case the images break: Art doll horse



There he is

I made his tail poseable too!


Here he is again with my minifee boys I want to try making some tack for them, but I have to figure out how to work with leather first haha

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Thank you

 

Thank you

 

Thank you! I‘m glad you followed along I will post here again when I make a saddle or bridle for him ^^

 

Thank you so much :]