two giants of atelier macabre

i don't have pictures tonight - but i've got both of his jointed hands started - yay! i'm trying to decide if i want to do actual strung jointed hands, or do them as sort of a slit with a fits inside it and a wire through it to give it a point to pivot on..... if that makes sense.

it's raining here, so it'll probably take a day or two for the hands to dry, but at least they're under way! (i also started the hands/fingers for hollow - but since i've been putting random notes about basil in her thread, i'll put a note about her in his.)

i also got a lesson on how to use a pressure pot from my mom and hopefully when my parents get back from their trip next week they can ship it out to me - i'll need to start saving up for materials now.

 

it's funny you should mention that. when i was at my mom's we looked at it on amazon and i thought it sounded like a good reference.

i am a little hesitant on doing ye hinge joints for basil's hands as the pieces would be so small/thin that they'd be really delicate and probably hard to mold/cast. but at the same time i really want to try it...

 

i think we were both talking about a hinge joint, just it splitting in different ways.

i was thinking something along the lines of this - http://www.mathworks.com/help/releases/R13sp2/toolbox/physmod/mech/mech_building18.gif

 

well, what i was thinking was having the base joint of the fingers (where they attach to the hand) strung on elastic, and then use the hinge joint at the first knuckle above that (i'm not going fully jointed, not yet anyway.... ) and i was planning on using small bits of wire for the joint to work around. i guess i really need to upload my sketch ><;;;;

in other news, i have been working on the hands more and they're starting to come together quite nicely (at least as a basic jointed hand like what cyber sabik has)

 

i think currently the fingers are closer to 3mm but i only have them roughed in. they will be bigger, and when you mention the barbie beibg that small it does seem quiet do-able..... hmmm

but i will attempt pictures tonight ^^ especiallysince i have hollow's hands nearly done as well.

now i need to focus on limbs and feet - so close and yet this is usually the point where i loose steam ><;;;; (i realized last night i have 11 dolls/heads in progress right now - though to be fair most of that is heads for same bodies like basil, ronald, and my doggy. for my mini girl i have one body and 5 heads....)

 

sorry pictures are late - had a minor emergency with one of our cats friday which led to him being taken to the vet saturday and me having to redo most of our house ><;;;;

first up - the sketch i had done for a vague idea


and here are the hands - they're very fat right now and the fingers too thin i think because i'm still working on them.



with venus' head for size comparison -





and just for fun - here is a small bit of a teaser sketch of what i plan on starting for myself as a b-day gift (probably won't get him done by them that's for sure! )

 

lol - they're not the greatest ^^;;;

i've been working on venus' torso as well to make it a smoother transition around the joints - but that is slow going. i'm also working on the elbow joint and have managed to misplace his feet ><#### so now i've got to make new feet it seems. lucky me!

sadly - i probably won't get much work done for awhile as several things have come up with my dear pets and they need my attention more right now.

 

aw, you guessed it! it IS vegeta! i plan on making an uber articulated doll with muscles (as a way to learn more about jointing and male anatomy - i'm very bad at male anatomy), and i figured he would be the best reference for what i want (plus i just adore him and want to hug him to bits, even if it would mean certain death... )

my plan for him includes jointed hands, feet, 5 part torso, multi-jointed arms and legs - all in all it'll be about 61 pieces in him when i'm done if i counted right in my estimate.

 

lol - will do then. i know i need to sketch out at size what i want. i agree - he MUST be able to pose and move. i'm also doing a jointed tail for him (i love my fuzzies) but i haven't figured out how many joints it'll have - so i guess he'll have more than 61 pieces ^^;;;;

i think i'll probably need a good distraction right now because i just found out my baby girl (okay, she's a 10 year old cat, but she's still my baby girl - and on a side note about anime, her name is treize) had a seizure and it's not clear why.... so i'll probably be digging out my dolls and working on them tonight.

 

i think i figured out a way to do jointed hands with the hinge joint. if i can find washers small enough i realized those are the shape i need. i plan going to the hardware store tonight to look for some so i can joint the fingers this weekend.

i'm curious if any one else has thought of this?

 

i got the smallest washers i could find (6s size in US) and while they're the right size for my fingers.... i keep breaking them just trying to sand them ><;;;; so i think i'm going to do the single knuckle joint for now and once i get them into resin, cut them apart and do more jointing.... the resin will be a lot stronger than the paper clay (either that or i'll need to break down and order the more miliput i've been putting off...)

i'm having a lot of fun doing the jointed hands even if they are so fiddly.... and i was going great on fixing basil's hips until i sliced the back of my thumb open.... go me. it healed up quickly, but now i'm a little nervous to do any more heavy carving until it's completely healed so i don't open it back up with another slice.

i don't have pictures now, but i hope tonight i'll have some as i plan on working on my dolls all day today as i've been slacking on them.

although, as an aside, does any one else have theme songs for their dolls? i don't know why, but when i sketch out my dolls they seem to gravitate towards a particular song (most obvious example would be hollow) but i find it helps me to listen to the song when i work on them - it keeps me motivated as i try to envision how they would move to the music.... maybe i'm just weird ^^;;;;;;

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i finished one hand (sort of) and here are some pictures. it still needs a lot of work, i know, especially getting the fingers to blend smoothly into the palm but i'm proud for even getting this far.

 

i'm super excited. i order molding supplies last night so i can cast bits soon. which means i need to pick up my pace a bit ^^;;;;

i've been bad these last couple of days and working on vegeta rather than finishing other dolls. that boy is going to be heavy when i finish ><#

however his size does prevent me from working quickly on him and tonight i plan on separating dolls into their parts and get at least two finished and ready to seal. weather's not good to spray right now so i have some time to play catch up and all the pets are good so no emergency vet visits to get in the way either.

 

well, i've been taking some pictures of him in the process, but i'd like to have him being more than a lump o' beefcake (as my friend and i referred to him yesterday when i was baking him in the oven and kept checking on the dryness of the clay) - he really doesn't look like much right now ^^;;;;

i'm working on the parts for various dolls but it seems when i fix one, i break another so i'm not making nearly as much progress as i wanted. (that and i ended up having to clean house for 2 hours when i got home from work ><## )

but with the weekend coming i'm hoping to get some parts of venus and basil sprayed - such as their torso parts, and hopefully the legs and heads as well. i should also be able to get the jointed hands done as well, which will just leave arms and feet to do for those two (three if i count the anubis head, which i haven't done that much on)

i also spent quite some time working on xolotl - who is loooooong over due for being cast as she was supposed to be a gift to my mom a couple of years ago ^^;;;;

 

well, weather's not letting me spray any parts - and i broke a couple of basil's fingers, so i'm going to cast the hands in resin before going any further on them.

i've also not really been able to do a lot of sanding, so i've been working more on little bits on my tiny dolls - i have pip and hollow nearly ready, just need to work on the calves and arms of both of them.

i've also spent about 7 hours working on vegeta today - i don't want to even think about how much clay is going into that boy :dead

however, i'm having a really hard time finding good pictures of his face where he's not shouting.... and of course i left all my dragon ball z manga's at my parents' house in california

 

i'm super happy! the pressure pot arrived today so i should be able to at least get a couple of molds done this weekend if the weather doesn't prove to be too bad..... it'll be nice to have a doll all in resin (even if a bad cast) in time for my birthday next thursday!

 

thanks! i feel bad - my RA has hit quite hard these last few days due to the weather and i've not had the energy (or the lack of pain) to work on anything so i feel bad.... but since today is friday i'm going to push myself through it - even if it means working slow - and try to get at least a couple pieces ready to mold... i know i really want to get a test cast of venus' head so i can finally see what she'll look like strung on the body and with eyes in....

 

thanks - i did manage to spend the weekend spraying and sanding pieces (thanks to lots and lots of tylenol), but weather's iffy.... why is it when i have no time it's all sunny, but when i have time to work it's raining? anyway, today looks like it's going to be semi sunny so i'm hoping to spray some of the parts i sanded yesterday and try to get them ready for molds.

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and here, i have photographic proof that i've not been slacking off (*cough*too much*cough*)

my box full of pieces - half of them sprayed and half not (mostly the smaller dolls have been sprayed)


venus' head after the first layering of primer and some sanding - i'm really enjoying seeing her coming to life




and her torso which i've been working on making smoother around the joints

 

thanks - and i also really appreciate all the help you've been giving me on my other project! with your help i might have a semi decent vegeta sculpt to post soon!

i also am seriously tempted to steal your mermaid when you find her and finish her - she was so awesome!

 

here are some pics of my primered big dolls - having weather good enough to spray has been a bit rare this week, but i'm managing to sneak in pieces here and there and getting them all sealed up!







look at how smooth those faces are looking! yay! (yes, i know, they still need more work....)

 

i haven't updated this in awhile because i haven't done much on my big dolls - bad me! but i did get the mold started for venus' head.

but i thought i'd share a picture of what's been distracting me so much (other than the heat) - mind you, he is still VERY VERY VERY rough....

 

um, it involves a lot of cutting away and building up? i'm sure there's a better way to do it, but it's how i've always done it.... (oh, and he did have a fourth piece in there that i had to remove because his torso was too long.... and he does have legs, they just haven't really been worked on at all, and his arms haven't even been started yet... but there are already 5 and half packages of clay into this boy so far! )

he's actually also getting sort of "invisible" joints between the three pieces that will be balls (more likely ovals) that will allow him to bend back and forth. so in actuality, it will be a 5 part torso. (6 if i decide to make the neck a joint as well like i did on venus, but i'm not sure on that one.... his neck is going to be so thick that i think it won't look right)

i spent a lot of time today dremelling out his pieces so i could start the process of making the internal bits.... ugh, did that take a lot of time! and i, of course, wore all black to do it ><*

 

don't have a respirator, but i do have a mask, and i align myself so the wind takes the dust away from me.

and thanks, i like his glare too, but some how i'm not sure it's entirely right yet.... his eyes aren't slanted enough for the character i think.

 

you know it was so hard to find pictures of vegeta in the time period I want where he isn't making a funny face (end of freeza beginning of androids/cell) - I think his brows do need to be brought down for sure, but I'm torn on the chin. he had a larger one before and it didn't look right.... but I can always carve it off again ^^

I've been taking pictures of him all along but was too nervous to post them because he looked soooooo horrible - but I have one of him next to my luo.... wow he towers over him! I'll dig it out when I get home and post it. vegeta is going to be half scale when finished I think....

 

squarer makes sense! that could be his problem... though looking back at my reference picture he doesn't have quite enough chin perhaps... or perhaps i made his other features too big? ack... i don't want to have to cut off his nose and mouth again.... :dead

this is the main face-on picture i was using - http://i479.photobucket.com/albums/rr154/SsjMonkeyKing/Dragonball Z/Vegeta/Vegeta68.jpg?t=1242198672

here is the picture - mind you this is prior to fixing his face for the umpteenth time (my mom can tell you how many emails i sent her asking for help.... ) so the face is off and his torso too long (hence why i threw out a piece) - and he's not standing, he's leaning back so he's not really representing his full height and no feet.... and and and and... well, you get the point.

he has a long way to go bulking up and such - and as for casting him, i plan on making the pieces as thin as i can so they won't weight as much ^^;;; hopefully that'll work... but he can't be heavier than a soom or souldoll centaur, right?

 

it's interesting - when looking at pictures of him, his legs are long in comparison to his torso, but yeah they look all spindly right now ^^

lol - i haven't gone to a convention in years..... though it would be fun to take him. i know i want to make his armor and possibly a scouter when he's done.... he's going to be rather mixed up in genres, as i'm dying to give him a tail... though part of me wants to have two, one as a normal saiyan with a tail and one as a super saiyan with no tail.....

however, i need to remember not to neglect my other dolls i'm sculpting ><;;;; i'm so easily distracted it's not even funny.... so today i plan on pulling out all my pieces and making a long list of everything to be done on them and each night get at least one thing crossed off the list.

 

thanks for the tips! i know that there is a distinct style in leg muscles on the show (example - http://www.gokuball.info/index_files/wallpaper/vegeta/vegeta16.jpg ) and i've been trying to figure out how to meld that with realistic muscles from anatomy pictures of body builders....

but his legs really haven't been worked on at all since they keep breaking on me! grrr......

 

his neck hasn't been worked on, but yeah, he needs it shortened. i'm not sure if i want to shorten the top of the leg because that's going to become the joint that goes up inside the hip socket and such... but i can see where there is (lots) of room for improvement. a lot of it depends on how things end up once i cut him apart to joint...

as to his hair..... um..... i may use faux fur if i can find it long enough... i need black and blond... otherwise it's going to be an interesting time of fiber and gel. lots of gel.....

but in other news - today decided to open up and downpour so i won't be able to pour the other parts of molds including venus' head.. poop! but i hope to get knee joints working on basil's legs tonight. i'm very very close on those!

i've also decided i rather like venus without arms.... which is kinda funny because the venus de milo has always been one of my favorite sculptures (and i know she had arms, but she doesn't now and i think she's beautiful like that)

 

basil's knees are nearly done - i just need to get the second knee bean carved down and fitted into the leg. i've been working on it now for two days - currently i'm working on making the last of the molds for my mini girls (who i posted pics of on my blog - but i fear i'm not going to have enough molding compound to cast her like i wanted this weekend ><;;;; ) - but i'm hoping i can order more moldig materials end of next week after i get paid, that way i can finish up venus' head molds and start the molds for my tiny girls.

venus has round balls attached to her shoulders now, and they do have holes through them, but i think i'll be filling those in.

i got more clay in, and i got myself a pair of calipers like you have since you said they were so helpful. hopefully i can make things a bit more even now.

 

lol - unless of course if i go for super saiyan 5, in which case i'd need to resculpt him completely.... (no, i'm not a vegeta fangirl... i have no clue what you're talking about )

but in other news i did work some more on all my big dolls yesterday, but i haven't taken any pictures of course... i'm really bad at the picture taking part ><*

and of course the wonderful weather here decided to make it impossible to do any molding or casting for awhile, so i'm holding off on buying new materials so i can focus on finishing the pieces before getting them into molds.

now, bad news is... well, i seemed to have started another head. i had made a headback for the extra faceplates of the unoa zero i had.... of course i've since sold her because she wasn't really want i was looking for, but the headback was so good that i decided to sculpt a face for it. i plan on changing up the locking mechanism and such so it's not a copy of the unoa zero head back (okay, it looks nothing like it other than it being a headcap that the zero plates stuck on.... )

 

here is proof i'm not crazy ^^ super saiyan 5 vegeta

however, i'm thinking i may not cast him but rather give him numerous layers of primer and then paint him.... his pieces are ending up so large that i worry about the amount of silicon it would take to mold ><*

but here are some quick snaps of him so far -

here you can see the five pieces of his torso. however, when i'm done, those two smaller pieces will be hidden within the larger pieces, i just haven't hollowed them out enough yet.


and i worked some more on his upper chest/neck - his shoulders need a lot more work and i really should start on his arms... i also worked on his legs, but don't have any pictures of them. i plan on building up the parts, then sketching the muscles and sanding them into definition.




and then here are some pics of that other head i started... i realized she's rather inspired by my girl ferret saru, and so that's what i've decided to name her. she will have ferret ears and possibly a tail when i get around to sculpting her a body....





and one with one of her ears (well, start of an ear)

 

her headback is one I was making for my unoa zero plates before I sold them. I'm going to modify it to have a different locking system though. namely magnets. magnets are my friends.

anyway, so she's a slender 60-65cm tall I think. I haven't started her body yet. I had done a sketch where she has proportions like my other dolls with long legs and slender torso. but part of me is tempted to give her ferret proportions with a long torso and short legs. I guess it depends on the look I want for her.

and I'm surprising myself with how much I'm enjoying making a muscled guy! normally mine are..... err rather effeminate.

 

ugh, i haven't been here in forever! moving is killer but i got all of my sculpting stuff over and i'm hoping i can start up again soon! i also got an awesome book on making wigs so i can't wait to make wigs for my dolls as well (even vegeta! )

 

i don't have any pictures right now - but i have worked a bit more on basil and ronald's heads as well as the torso of the boy body, and the other knee. a lot of my energy has been going to finishing unpacking and searching for hollow's head which has been lost in the move. if i'm lucky (ie - have time) i'll take some pictures today, though it's not much of an update.....

i also got more molding supplies in so i can finish molding venus' head, which is great because i can't wait to see the head with eyes in and such! she's going to have a faceplate system, with the break being along the lines of her face. i plan on casting the face part and the body in different colors (i'm thinking white for the face and black for the body)

 

ugh, nearly a month since i posted in this thread! life's been unkind lately....

but hoping to work more on these guys this weekend after i work some on my other sizes. i have a body all sketched out for saru, though i probably won't get around to her in a bit.... at least not until i finish basil/ronald and venus.

vegeta is.... um, sitting there waiting for me to do another dbz marathon....