------------------------------------------------------ Yes, I'm going to be undertaking a large project, hand making my own BJD. Now, I've never seen one in person, soooo, I need some uber measurements here. I want to make my dolls measurements as close to a hound as I can. So, I need UBER measurements. I have the ones from LUTS, which I got from a thread here, but now I need help from someone who owns a hound. I need any measurements you can think to give me, please. I would appreciate it. ((I already have these, thanks to everyone who helped. ;3 )) ----------------------------------------------------- Update 8-22-07 I've managed to get my hands on some paper clay, and I've sculpted the doll. There's still a lot of work to do, I need to do a lot of sanding, some sculpting and adjustments, but it's going well so far. I have some pictures below: Here's the styrofoam body before I put the clay on and modeled it. As you can see, I've separate the torso and built a new lower body. (Please ignore my leg. >_>;;; ) Here's the doll a few hours after I cover him with clay, he hasn't been hollowed out and he's still drying. (Alot of things have been done to him since then. XD) Here's the doll after he's been sanded a bit, fully dried and hollowed out. Here he is next to a shoebox for a size comparison. Here are the front and side views of the head. This is before I put his ears on. He has very nice cheek bones, and I didn't even intend for him to have them. XD And here he is with his wolf ears on. ^_^ These were HARD. It took me several tries, and they still need to be shaped. I've also made some changes to the nose. This is just a shot with all the pieces put together. Here are some Chinese checkers pieces I painted with water colors for eyes. They're only temporary, put I think they work well enough. I took down my last images. Xp
on lolipop's site about her dolls Coppelia and Jinx she has some measurments in her mini-tutorial. If you go to vivicore.com there should be a link to it on there. Those measurements are what I"ve based mine off of when I did my sketch. I altered them a little bit, but they still work.
Alright, thanks for the measurements everyone. I think I'll be making this thread into my project 'journal' or what have you. ^_^
This is the best site for measurements I've found: http://www8.plala.or.jp/hotahota/sd_size.html (or at least for SD10 models). I use it all the time It's in Japanese, but you can easily get the jist from the pictures. The measurements are in millimeters, by the way.
The head and arm I recognize as polystyrene foam (are they?), but the torso...it looks foamy but why is it green? Is this what florist foams look like? Looking at your first picture, comparing that to the blueprint...I have two concerns First, I think your foam core will give you narrower shoulders than ones in your blueprint. But regarding the blueprint, I think the shoulder-to-hip ratio is too large, especially if you are going for a Hounds look. Secondly, legs on your bluepring is definitely too short. In real life and especially in BJD, legs should be at least as long as the torso.
Yes, they are polyester foam. The torso is a florist foam, yes. It was the only piece my local store had in the size I needed. I assumed there wasn't much of a difference between the two. Well, I had noticed several flaws in my blueprint, so I decided to...abandon it slightly, and that was an old photo, I made a few changes to the blueprint, so it's a bit more well proportioned.
Looking forward to following your progress. Love to see projects like this take shape over time I started out using Noah's tutorial as reference as well, but I was too lazy finding all the materials needed, so I ended going for paper clay instead Apart from the comment on the body proportions you may want to make sure the top of your guy's head is large enough. A rule of thumb is setting the eyes in the middle between the top of the head and the tip of the chin. Of course you can always add more material, but I guess it's easier to do it from the beginning Good luck
Dollshe Hound Height 69 Head 22 Neck smallest / lowest 10,5 / 11 Breast 27 Waist medium /low 21 / 22 Hip 26 Shoulderwidth 3,5 / 4 Backwidth 10 Backlenght 16 Overarm 9 Wrist / hand 6,5 / 9,5 Shoulder to elbow 13,5 Armlenght straight / bent 23 / 28,5 Tigh 15,5 Knee 13 Ankel / foot 9 / 11 Hip to knee 24 Leg inner / outer 37 / 42 Crotch 17 These are the measures of my Hound, if you want any more, specific or detailed measures and/or photos send me a Pm and I'll see what I can do for you.
if you are going to use the foam for a base, do not use a baking type clay...the foam will expand in the oven and ruin your hard work -just a friendly heads up-
@Edo Elric- Thanks, I had figured I would need a non-bake clay since I was using styrofoam as a base. That, and I don't have access, or know any one with a kiln. ^.^;;; @zidora-Thanks, I've actually checked out your own project, the one with the aluminium foil as a base. I was wondering if you could tell me how well paper clay works. I assume you don't bake it, but I'm afraid it will be to fragile. I also wanted to know about the 'gesso' you used to coat your finished pieces, is it really necessary? I actually don't have any doll eyes of my own, but I was planning on using marbles until I could get some. ^_^;;; Thanks for telling me, I was just going to wait until I had the head done. @skumring-Thanks to you too, I'll ask if I need more info. Hopefully I'll be able to get him proportioned correctly.
I have used paperclay over styrofoam, and the clay is very sturdy, easy to shape, add more clay to and nice to cut with a stanleyknife and very good to sand too. I have recently removed some of the styrofoam from arms, legs and torso, and there was only one small piece of a very thin ankle that broke off in the process, and I was rather rough with the pieces too. Small mistakes are very easily fixed with the paperclay.
Impmons > As you say, paper clay is not baked, but air dries. I have only worked with paper clay so I can't compare it too other materials but so far I've found it really good to work with, but I think it depends a lot how you work when you sculpt: It dries quickly if not kept wet while sculpting so I usually work on all the pieces at once, making really small changes to one piece and then while letting it dry I'm working a bit on another and so forth. I like that way of working and as skumring says sanding and cutting through the clay when dry is easy, and the clay is quite sturdy, so I haven't had any breakage so far... I think details are a bit hard to sculpt with the clay, but as it dries quickly and sands easily details can be achieved through sanding, cutting and adding more material gradually. Sculptey may be nicer/easier to work with as it doesn't air dry, but I wouldn't know as I've never tried it As for the gesso, I read about using it in some of the threads here and I use it to get a nice, smooth surface (or I'm going to when I'm through with the sculpting). I guess you don't necessarily have to use it, but it will help you get an even surface. I think you can use other materials for this, like filler, primer, or other paste-like materials that can be brushed on and sanded when dry, - gesso is not the only way to go. But there are definitely others here knowing a lot more about this than I Also I think if you make a doll with clay and want to cast it eventually you'll have to seal the surface somehow, so the silicone doesn't get into the pores of the clay when making the molds so in that case gesso or some other surfacing is a good idea. Hope this is helpful
Thanks to both skumring and zidora again. I've done a bit of research on paperclay, and based on what you both said, it sounds like my kind of clay. Cheap and tough. ^_^;;; I do have one question about it thought, how well dose it keep after you've used it? And, if you could give me a rough estimate, about how much would I have to have? I have an idea myself, but I want other opinions. Oh, and another question for skumring, could you possibly give me an idea of the eye sockets dimensions? And as for it drying quickly, that's fine as well. That's how I've been making details so far is with a file. Also, I'll be updating again, I remade the torso to be more...hound-ish and better proportioned. I'll add pictures soon. Thank you both again for being so helpful. ^_^
My Hound uses 14 mm eyes, 16 mm is possible too. But 14 looks best. Or did you want measures of the eyesockets? I have been working on a head lately, and before I started modelling with paperclay I pushed a pair of cheap eyes in the size I wanted to use for the head, and modeles the eyesockets around those. It turned out rather easy to do this, and the eyes fit perfectly. No gaps and loose fits. I have used 3,5 packets of paper clay, so far I have made 1 SD head, 1 SD torso and 1 unbelievably thin and lanky MSD with head, hands, feet and limbs and all The clay keeps really well after use. I don't have time to work on my dolls every day, and I just let the parts dry between each time I work on them, tha clay in the packet i wet and pack up really well so it does not harden. It is no problem adding more wet clay to a dry piece.
Measurements of the eye sockets, if you please. owo Do you think a normal sized marble would work in place of eyes? I keep trying to measure them to see if they're the right size, but my measurements come out all funky. O_o; Sounds like the paper clay stretches pretty far then, that's good. So, say if I were working on one large piece, the clay wouldn't harden on me before I could start working on the next piece?
I'll do eyesocket-measures and test some marbles for you if I remember when I get home from work, if I forget, send me a Pm will you? The piece tou are working on might harden before you get to work on the next piece, but I have found it takes a couple of days to harden through and through. It doesn't matter if it gets dry though, as you can add mare clay to a dry piece even if it has dried for weeks. That is why you have to put some kind of warnish on top of the paperclay before making moulds from it. Paperclay does dissolve in water, also when dry, it just takes longer time, with warnish on top though it should stay inert.
If you were using a paper based core, like newspaper wrapped in tape or something similar, you could have baked the paperclay for 30mins in the oven at 250 to speed up drying time. I thought you might want to know that for future reference. ^__^
Thanks,I might try it if I do this again, though the styrofoam works very well. I've just let the paper clay air dry, I did try to hollow it out when it was too wet though, and that caused alot of problems. I've updated by the way, for those who want to know.
Thank you. I'm not quite sure if I managed to get him around 70cm or not, or if he's a bit to short or a bit to tall. XD
I have two questions that desperately need to be answered. I'm having trouble keeping his head cap on, if anyone has some suggestions, I'd love to hear them. Also, I'm having trouble keeping his head on, if you have any suggestions on it, I'd love to hear them as well. Please and thank you. ^_^
For the head and headcap problems I would look at designs from other company dolls to get an idea for what to do. Ive seen various uses of hooks, ledges and magnets used to keep the head cap on. For the head... I think it depends on why the head isnt staying on... It could be an issue with the socket in the head and the neck, or the tighness of the stringing, or the weight of the head in relation to how its connected to the neck and stuff like that.... I dunno what to suggest other than to take a look at images of other dolls.
THere's a couple different things you can do for both. :3 You're going to need some sort of hook, circle or something to keep the head on the body, and you're going to need somewhere for the hook or whatever to rest in the head. The easiest thing to do is to make a hole in the neck that's large enough for the strings to go through and not the hook. You can then string the head first, then pull the strings through the body, using the hook to hold the string in place. Does that makes sense? You could potentially use a bead or something as well... it's up to you and what you have laying around. The problem with this is that you have to totally unstring the doll to get the head off. You can also look at some of the stringing tutorials to see how different companies hold the heads in place if you need some examples. For holding the head cap on... that's tough. :/ My boys have a hook that you can rest the s hook in or you can tie a rubber band to, but I find that using a little bit of painter's tape to hold it on works best. For the robot girl, since she needs to have a perfectly flush head cap that will stay on without flopping around, I used the lock method that soom and CP use. I don't think I can explain it very well in words, but I think CP has a picture of how it works up on their site somewhere. Other than that there's always putting magnets on the headcap and the head. Just look up "Natural Magnet" on ebay and you should find some super strong tiny magnets. I hope that helps and isn't just more confusing. XD I think he's coming along well!
@sketchy- AH, I didn't think of that. XD;;;; Thanks very much! @BatChix-I did try to put magnets in his head, and that was a waste of paper clay. ^^;;; But I completely forgot about the stringing tutorials. I just tried to string him together, but I had used hooks fashioned form...pipe cleaners with the fur stripped off, it was safe to say these didn't work and now I'm going to have to buy some hooks and more paper clay. Not only this, the elbow joints gave me heck, and I've had to remake them twice, and I have to remake them again. Actually, I think I'm going to have to re-do the whole joint system. XD I might look into connecting whatever I keep in the head to hold the strings to the headcap to help it stay on. I also think I have a good idea of how to string him. :3 I think I'm getting a bit off track here though. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the headcap, but I have solved the problem with the head. After trying two hooks and finally just stuck a section of barbecue scure in his head. The joints are a bit floppy, and the place where the upper arm meets the upper torso doesn't connect. Thank you very much though, I can't wait until he's done. >w<
Sorry for the lack of updates, school is very demanding. Xp I've joined the two halfs of his torso, and attached all the balls to their body parts. I'm having stringing problem though. I've looked at tutorials, and I'm pretty sure I'm doing it right, but not matter how taut I pull the string, his legs are still loose. Now, I start with his right foot, then work my way up to his head, and take the string over a broken barbecue stick in his head and then to the left foot. Any suggestions?
Typically, what you want to do is use a long elastic loop with the knot located in the head. You take that loop, fold it in half with the knot as the center point where the fold goes, and each of the two ends goes down into the neck, through the torso, and one goes down one leg, the other down the other leg, and each hook into the corresponding foot. It's so much easier to show in person than to describe, so please ask questions if that didn't make sense.
That's what I've been doing, save, the knot hasn't been in the head, but at the right foot. He's still very loose. Could the knot be of any importance?
The benefit of having the knot in the neck is that you have easy access to it to tighten it, and the tightening will increase the tension fairly equally across all the limbs, provided you have a way for the string to slide across the foot and hand positions without breaking anything. A lot of people simply pull the feet off and replace them with S-hooks temporarily until they get the tension right. This works very well with resin dolls, because they're strong and can handle the tension on the joints. Since your doll is made from paper clay, it may simply be impossible to get your doll properly strung under enough tension to keep it in a pose without the joints fracturing on you. Be extremely careful when tightening your string, and err on the side of safety if you're not comfortable resculpting broken joints.
@kitsuneudon: I see. I don't think I'll be able to keep the not in place though...I'm, not sure. Oh gods, yes, I've resculpted joints several times. XP Maybe it's the way I've sculpted the joints, they need a lot of work. @Yukamina: You're probably right. >_>;;; The string I'm using now is just dollar elastic string from the craft department in Walmarts.
Alright guys, sorry for the lack of updates, BUT, I have got this little boy strung. He's fairly big, and I love him. XD I've already been able to flesh out his personality and look. His joints, are really messed up I think. I've never touched or saw a jointed doll of any kind, to be honest with you. Well, I'll take that back, I've had jointed Barbies, but I don't think they're quite the same. Let's say, I've never been in contact with a doll strung with string. I have done my research though, and I have a vague idea of the dolls joints and stringing and such. It would be very handy if I knew someone with a doll I could look at, because I don't think pictures can really make up for real-life experiences...maybe it's just me. XP ANYWAY, on with the pictures. Here we go...the basic picture. ^_^ Also, about his face, that was my first attempt at a face-up. XP;;;; Oh, and his leg is bent back a bit, they're even, if you can't tell. Close up, yo. :O Er, he has clothes now...? XD A pic with my sister for size reference...? After I took this picture, I was attempting to pose him, but the hook thing war ripped from his hands, so, I had to unstring his arms... I don't know, it's like every step forward I take, I'm forced to take two back. I'm constantly running into new problems...
Congratulations - you got him to stand (don't know if he's leaning on the sofa, but it's still standing ). You have come a long way and I know it's always discouraging when you're forced backwards, but keep up the good work. I've experienced myself that the clay can't really take the strain of being stringed, so it will chip or break when trying so... Do you have some closeups of the face? I'm curious to see his ears and expression As for critique I think he looks a bit disproportionate. The torso is very long compared to the legs. You might consider shortening the torso. The arms are also a bit long. Using anatomy pictures for reference can be quite a help (I googled anatomy a lot when making my doll - it didn't keep her head from being oversized but kept the body in proportion...) Nice work - looking forward to seeing more progress on this large boy.
Thanks very much! ^_^ He is leaning, but, you're right, at least he's standing. XD Thanks, whenever I find myself getting discouraged, I just step away for awhile, then after a bit, I'm inspired again. Er, as cheesy as that sounds. And...yeah, the paper clay isn't the best for stringing. The first time I tried to string him, I ended up shoving the clothes hanger I was using through his arm. >_>;;; Also, about being disproportioned, he is, really. The arms and legs need ALOT of work. The torso...I really don't know what happened. I think I tried to stick to close to hounds measurements. I've considered cutting his torso in half and working on it, think it's going to take awhile to work up the courage to do so though. XD I also think he's a bit too skinny. O.O His face is a mess right now, I tried to take the face up off, but I couldn't quite do it without destroying his face. Also, since stringing him, he seems to have a completely different personality than what I had planned on. I'm also going to be working on his ears a bit, I think he wants to be more of a lizard boy than a wolf boy. So, I need to work on his head, but when I get it fixed up, I'll be glad to post pictures. X3 Thanks again. I hope to work on him this upcoming Thanksgiving break.
Alright, well. ^_^ I decided to do some more work on Callys head, since my father got me a much better brush today. I couldn't gather the money to spend on Gesso, so I coated his head with some white enamel spray paint. It made him really shiney. *3* My family and I decided we liked him this way, so, it stuck. I gave him his second face up today....
Ha ha, that faceup is awesome! I sympathise with you about joints too, i want to make a bjd myself but the thought of trying to do joints sends shivers up and down my spine Where do you live? I dont have my dolls yet, but theyre ordered. I hope they arrive soon, coz while theyre not here i just keeping wanting to get or make more its almost like i forget ive already bought some
Lol the idea I came up with for this seemed easier then it should have, I didn't think about it until my "swivling, locking" headcap idea didn't work. I just built a loop into the top of the headcap, where the s-hook would hook onto, so that in the process of holding the head on, it kept the headcap on as well. it's not so tight that it won't be impossible to remove, but it's tight enough that it stays on quite nicely, and won't shift off thanks to the "lock" that I put on before I tried this way. hehehe
