YoSD Strawberry Doll Violet - Casting

After having worked on her for over 6 months, I'm finally casting Violet. It's the first time I'm casting anything at all - let alone 3D - so it's been a learning process. I made silicone moulds, and am casting her in resin. It's a first for me - both the silicone and the resin, so it was tricky to start off with. Of course, I had to start with the head... I'd told myself "no, Ida, do small parts first", but you know how it is. xD Impatient! The first two heads turned out much better than I thought they would, although I'd made the chimneys too short so there was some resin loss a the rim where the back of her head meets the head cap. (Note to everyone: don't be cheap on the mould, make tall chimneys!)

Well, here's her head, with faceup. Most of the rest of her body is in moulds at the moment, so I'll take more pictures when I get there. If you want more pictures, feel free to drop by my deviantart. I'm Daiin there, too. (Sorry about the blurriness of the picture - my camera dislikes close ups on small things, and she is only 27 cm tall, so it won't to focus on her face.)

 

Thank you! So far I like resin, besides the awful stickiness (it's so hard to clean off untempered resin from tools) I've only had good experiences with it. I've only tried one type of resin yet, though, so I don't know if I'll get along as well with other kinds. Feel free! I've got tons of pictures on there. xD

 

Phew, I finally managed a close up. On this you can even see her nose. It's a junk cast, so I didn't bother much with the seams, but I wanted to show what she'd look like with faceup since many people had asked for it.

 

Thank you, both of you! I've just completed a few more moulds, so I'll be pouring more resin today. I'm not sure what brand the resin is, but it's got a number - 141. It's a clear jewelgrade resin, since I wanted something of good quality. I'm pigmenting it myself, yes. ;D She'll come in a variety of colour, but this will be her normal skin colour.

 

Thank you so much! I feel so happy hearing you say you like her. It makes the effort I put into making her all worth it.

 

Casting her torso tonight, so there will be updates soon unless I mess up.

Thank you all for the encouraging words.

 

Not the best of pictures, I know, but I took Violet's upper torso out of the mould this morning. Just gave it a quick sanding to fit the pieces together, most of the seams are still left. It was a tricky piece to cast. I'd decided to use a three-piece mould, which was a lot trickier than a two-piece. Still, I think it was the way to go, it worked well. I'm struggling a bit with the pigments, it seems no matter how much I stir, there's always pigment somewhere that don't blend properly. Oh well, only one way to solve - stir some more...

 

Second try at her lower torso, this one was successful. I do need to improve the mould though, the seams at the top were much too pronounced. This is the junkcast. Hopefully I'll have junkcasts of more limbs in a few days, I've got more and more moulds ready.

 

Right, sorry for the silence! I've been struggling with some mishaps and then went on a small holiday, but now I'm back and hard at work again!

I popped open the moulds for her left leg just now, and realised that they had an accident in the mould. ^.^;



The original to the left, the resin copy to the right. I'm not sure if you can see it, but the resin copy is a little slimmer at the upper leg than the original - that's the problem. Since my moulds are not lying down, I need to wrap them to stop excess resin from spilling over (this might be unnecessary as I have very little spill, but I wanted to be on the safe side) which in turn resulted in that the soft silicone mould got slightly squeezed. Not good. I have to come up with another idea, I'm just not sure what at the moment.

 

I've been quiet for a very long time now, and I do apologise. Violet had an accident that ruined one of her legs, so I was a bit put off (to say the least). I have picked back up now, though, and am currently in the progress or remaking (and revamping) her legs.

Here's a comparison of the old (left) and the new (right) sculpt of her legs:

 

I just realised I'd neglected to ever post a picture of all of Violet here. @.@ I'm sorry. I dug out this old picture (with her old legs) so that you can get an idea what she looks like, assembled...

 

twinage: Yes, this is my first time casting anything, and no - unfortunately I don't have any pressure pot. So far I've managed to avoid bubbles by being very, very careful, but it is something I'd like to invest in at some point. I haven't found any really good casting tutorials for dolls, but I did find an excellent one where there was a guy casting a hand held game console. I can't seem to find the link right now though... If I find it again, I'll link it.

Margo: Awww, thank you! I'll do my best!

krazikupo: Thank you so much! I'm doing my best, it's a lot harder than I thought it would be. What's causing the most problems are the molds, actually. x.x

Berrysdoll: Awww, you are so sweet! Thank you so much!

Here's an update on Violet's new legs as well!

 

twinage: I found another link for you. I hope you find it useful! ^.~ Resin Casting Tutorial

 

twinage: Excellent! And thank you! I was really upset when her old legs got destroyed by the silicone...but some things are all for the best. ^.~

I cut Violet's left leg today, and it was successful! It's always such a nervous feeling when you cut a leg... Will it work, will it look good, will it break, will the core have gone off centre...? In this case, none of the above. There was a teensy bit of outer crumbling, but that's only aestethical and was caused by the dremel when I bore down on the back curve of the opening. It'll be easily fixed. I'm considering upgrading her from single to double jointed legs while I'm at it, I think I should give it a go at the very least! What do you think?

 

All right, first try at a knee double joint is up!



The knee locks perfectly when it's straight, which was my main concern. However, I'll need to tweak it a bit to make her keep the leg bent. I know what's wrong, though (I think), so it should be easily remedied. ^.~ I'm a bit scared to string her properly while the joint piece is still clay, though... I'm terrified to break it.

 

Thank you so much dollsbestfriend! I just got more materials home, so here we go!

 

Time for an update again!

So. I tweaked Violet's head, made new moulds for it and tested out the new resin. And here's the result!



For a junk cast, I must say I'm very happy with how it turned out. A few tiny bubbles aside, it's definitely my best try so far. The bubbles were my fault, too... I was being a bit of a chicken when pouring, so next one won't suffer the same issue.

 

Awww, thank you so much Robin! I'll do my best!

 

Time for an update! I've now cast Violet's torso - new moulds, new resin, new pouring technique!

I messed up a tiny bit on the upper torso, so there were seams I had to sand. The lower torso needed no sanding at all!

 

I picked a perfect head out of the moulds today, which is a first for me! It's been a long and rocky road, but now, at least, I finally got it. This head isn't sanded at all - it came out with nearly no seams at all!

 

Time for an update again! I haven't been very active, since I've been both job hunting and working on commissions. Now that I've got a job and commissions are done, Violet got some more love.

I sat down to cut her second leg and tune them, so that they are as identical (while mirrored) as possible. It took a bit of time, but I'm almost done. ^.~ I just have to make sure the fitting is absolutely smooth when the legs are locked. I also smoothed down the outer lines so that the joint doesn't just out by the hip. I'm pretty happy with the result. ^.~

 

du-hast: Awww, thank you! I'm just really, really stubborn so I had to try. xD It's DAS clay, actually. Is that a kind of paper clay? o.o

Sleep of Reason: I just love this new type of resin. My old one had plenty of bubbles and other issues. x.x Thank you! I'll string her and show you when I get the time.

 

du-hast: Oh yes! I'm with you there! I do want to try wax someday, too, but I want to become better at balancing a sculpt first. ^.~

 

Molly: Awww, thank you so much! You're too sweet!

du-hast: Yeah, Switchum is a magician with wax, really. o.o His amazing pieces are making me itch to try the material someday. You're probably right in that it wouldn't be wise to string it - that's why I figured I need to improve my skills first, since it will require sculpting without test stringing...