Making Aspen the Dryad, part I

So I've wanted for ages to make one of the weird super-slim alien jointed bodies sold by Doll Chateau into a Dryad. I found the perfect body for this, the K-08 male, and while it is 52cm with a head on, in scale it counts as Mini sized. She'll just be awfully tall for a 1/4 doll.

I chose the boy version of that body for this project because the girl body has huge hips and almost no ribcage ....and i know it's weird but just looking at its frail and tiny torso makes it hard for me to breathe- it's a personal anatomy nitpick/phobia/involuntary reaction I can't get around. So I bought a boy doll and will be making it into a girl who could plausibly have organs and inhale or exhale.

Then I just needed to find a head. I wanted it to be more than just another pretty face. The right face for my dryad would need to be something special, striking, otherworldly. Armeleia of Seed Doll/Seed Arts made this little bird faced head called Wol, and I knew she'd be perfect. I snagged one as soon as the order went up.

In the months before Wol arrived, I spent a lot of time working out how I would make her into a dryad. I knew I wanted a very special kind of wig, not just a green hair wig. I wanted to give her leaves, and do four or more wigs that I could change seasonally to take her outside for photoshoots. I settled on hand dyeing a LOT of fringey lace.

So much lace. So much hand dyeing. Partly I used Dye-Na-Flow by Jacquard, and partly just fabric markers for the brown twiggy bits. Each piece of lace was laid out flat, then painted and marker'ed one.
strand.
 at a time.  ....Yikes. Sometimes I wonder about myself and my idea of fun.

 Then it was time to work on the body mods. I shaved off the boy bits on the hip piece, which was easy, but the chest was a little trickier. I wanted her to have some small breasts, so I had to sculpt some in. Luckily this body has wide, low, long pecs so there's plenty of room. Here's the first few cuts with the ceramic scraper knife, and you can see my pencil guidelines. Nothing too extreme, just an A-cup size.

 Making things symmetrical before I refine the shapes. A certain amount of symmetry is desired here.

 Then a LOT of sanding! So often the key to a good mod vs a kind of shoddy one is the amount of time you're willing to put in with the sandpaper and descending fineness of grits to get a good smooth finish.

 

 Even at this stage she's not quite done. I hurt my thumb with an S-Hook at this point, (you do NOT want to know, it was pretty bad) so sanding had to stop while my poor digit recovered. 

Luckily Wol arrived to distract me!

 

 Here she is! And with her genius little s-hook holder made in the shape of a cluster of crystals! It's super sparkly in person. Armeleia hand cast it herself to include the glittery bits, so unless a bigger company wants to go to that kind of trouble they might not steal the concept. (fingers crossed. it's such a nice detail) Wol herself was in a cute little printed cloth bag I will be keeping.

I spent some time with my bandaged thumb and engaged in an evening of wigmaking. I'm pretty pleased with the results.

 Here she is, starting to come together! I am so excited! Her eyes are some I'd already owned and used on a doll I had sold on, and I was hoping they'd work for her. I love her look!


What you're seeing here on the blog is the Summer Wig, but she'll have other seasons too. From similar lace I've made her an Autumn wig in full Aspen Gold. I want to make a Spring wig with budding leaves and flowers, and a Winter wig full of ice crystals and dusted with snow.

I plan to blush her like an Aspen Tree, with lots of little black bark texture marks, and greyish brown shading and faceup.

Making Solas, part 2

Part 2,
Part 1 is here.

I am making a doll of a Dragon Age character called Solas, who is a bald elf male.
I am going to make the lovely but happily inexpensive Resinsoul/Bobobie Tang into this character.

The Plan:

First, facial mods. I need Tang to resemble Solas more closely. I'll be adding or refining his elf ears, and reshaping parts of his face.

Second, Aesthetics. I want to paint and blush him to look just like the art style of the games.

Third, Outfit. I'm going to make him his basic clothing from the game art, with a few accessories.

I ended up going out of order and doing a lot of the sewing first.
Then I did a ton of sculpting. See part 1.

So as of yesterday here is what he looked like.
We went from this:

To this:

And then today I scrubbed my fingers sore doing sanding work on this sculpt and polishing up the details. More pics and updates to come!

edit: UPDATE 1/10

I am now adding paint and blushing, using images from Dragon Age Inquisition to see how the actual animated figure was "skinned" with a digitally painted texture. I can copy the shading and colors. I was able to put his little brow scar in as an actual indentation- pretty proud of that. I will be adding more color and details later today, like his lip color, freckles, eyebrows and eyelashes, and so on.

 Here he is all shirtless and scrawny but looking more himself. I wish I had better eyes for him to use but these were the only ones that fit. They are the perfect color, just not the best fit.

 He's judging me over having trouble trying to work out those stupid foot wraps of his. He couldn't just wear boots like an ordinary fantasy character, oooooh no.

Making Solas- Dragon Age doll.

I am making a doll of a Dragon Age character called Solas, who is a bald elf male.
I am going to make the lovely but happily inexpensive Resinsoul/Bobobie (? could be either honestly I could swear I've seen him on both websites' roster- they are sister companies) Tang into this character.

The Plan:

First, facial mods. I need Tang to resemble Solas more closely. I'll be adding or refining his elf ears, and reshaping parts of his face.

Second, Aesthetics. I want to paint and blush him to look just like the art style of the games.

Third, Outfit. I'm going to make him his basic clothing from the game art, with a few accessories.

***

I ended up going out of order because I am rather ill and not recovering in anything like decent time. *grump* So lying in bed I've had a lot of time for stitching things.

So first, parts of the Outfit!

I'm gonna make a basic outfit based on images from the Dragon Age games. (I should put a pic here of the outfit. Should. Don't have a decent one that isn't someone's cosplay.)

Solas' uber-nerd turtleneck ensemble has this green dickey-collar underlayer, which no one seems to know the true identity of. I am positing it could easily be some kind of vest thing.

So I made a kind of vest thing, out of greeny brown faux leather stuff I had.

I've left the back open and pretty untailored so that when the doll arrived I could fit it to him better.

Then I worked on the cream sweater thing itself.

Here you see my messy lap-table drawing board, which I use when I craft while sitting in bed. (You'd be amazed how often I have to do that. Er, I can explain! I've been sick a lot the last few years, and have worked out this method as a survival strategy for not going stark raving bored.)

It has this collar edging which is unbelievably finicky to do at this scale.

I made the whole collar part as a separate piece that I then attached.

Again the thing is open up the back so I can adjust it to fit around the body when I have it in hand.


Ta-da!

Then guess who decided to turn up today? I had to scramble to get decently dressed enough to get to the door before the mailman could walk away thinking I wasn't home. (Oh, like you sit sick all day in bed wearing a fully presentable outfit. Don't judge me.)

The outfit needs a little work to fit him better, but not bad given that I sewed it without him present. Definitely gonna take up those sleeves for one thing.

Oh that face. Uff. Not a strong resemblance at all. The eyes will need to be smaller, the jaw longer and wider, the ears modded.

I really, really wish RS/BBB would take a hint from other doll companies and show more than one highly-obscured-by-huge-wig shot of the doll's face. I had no idea his nose would be so slim and pointy, and he has an overbite like a looming tax audit.(it hangs overhead?) Welp, that's what the Dremel is for, after all.

The plan at the moment is to modify the heck out of his head, then spray paint it white and blush it back to matching. That took me two or three days last time I did it to a doll, because first the Apoxie modding has to cure before you sand and paint, and then the paint has to cure before you seal and and blush.

 I started on his nose first.

 Then I did some work giving him a jawline and filling up those giant eyes. It always looks awful when it's this rough.

Then I started refining  the work. Filling in the eyes will be tricky. I had to stop working because I am sick and my hands shake. I'm going to try doing a little more smoothing out today.
 

Standard Sewing Measurements for BJD- a work in progress

 What if I compiled measurements based on all the doll bodies I could get my lil' hands on, in cm, based on this standardizing method for measuring?

Minimum for Male/curveless/bustless dolls
1. Shoulder to shoulder
2. Neck base to shoulder
3. Neck
10. High Bust or underarm
13. Shoulder to waist.
15. Back neck to waist
16.17. Arm measurements
18. Total arm
19. wrist
21. Spread hand, whichever is largest
22. hips at "modern pants" height
23. Hips around butt
25. Waist to hipline
26,27,28. Crotch front, back and total
29. Thigh
31. waist to ankle
33. inseam
and over his foot at the heel at the widest part, since that's what pants have to fit over

And all 30 odd bits of info for female dolls.

I could do it every time I sew for one of them, just take the notes and add it to a small database.  I think I'll just start with a list of my own dolls, maybe in the Pages section...It'd be good for my own reference.

The White Faun- experiments with Angelina Fibers

This is my Soom Adamelli, an MSD sized doll with clear resin hooves. She doesn't have a head yet but I'm awaiting a Resinsoul Ju head with long elfy ears. She's going to be a pale forest fae, ethereal and feminine.

 I'm experimenting with making her clothes, after failing to find anything for sale that would work for her. This garment was made with Angelina hot fuse fibers. I will try again once I get more fiber, but this is a cool looking start, I thought.

So far she has no name.

Mod Project- Minifee Muscular Girl, Part III

 Doll Nudity Ahoy! NSFW.



This is part III of a project. 
Part II is here. 
Part I is here.

Now that I have moved into a place with a yard, I can spray sealant whenever the weather permits. This let me get on with my Minifee mod project.

(Good News: Gradually I will be moving my studio operations here to my home, and when I have an In-House studio I get a LOT more work done.)

 I was able to blush Moira and give her the scars appropriate to someone who fights. I got her a head set at last, and those got faceupped to match. She is a Minifee Mirwen sculpt. (In this pic her chest piece looks like it really doesn't match the rest of her, but that's an optical illusion- only her bust does not match, and it'll be under clothes.)

 Here's a close look at that faceup and her hand with all the little scars and nicks on it.
The only thing I've left undone is to give a touch of satin gloss to her fingernails and lips, and that's because I don't have gloss here. I'll have to fetch it from my downtown studio.

 Here's the full effect of head finally on shoulders! I am so excited to finally have her in one piece! I was worried the head wouldn't match the dynamism of the body, but I think the Mirwen sculpt's strong brows and resolute expression make it work.
(Yes, I know her breasts don't match the resin- I got it as close as I could, and gave her a hint of nipples so she wouldn't look too weird to me, but she's never gonna be in shoots fully topless so it doesn't matter that the paint is not perfect.)

 Here's how she looks so far! I've made her a burnt orange tunic and these little cropped short pants. I tried to make her some shoes but I am not happy with the results yet. Besides, she needs boots. I'll have to make them myself because no one sells what I want her to wear. Sigh, story of almost all my dolly wardrobes. I think this here is what she'd wear while she's working out- just pants and her 'bra' top.

Annnnnd that's as far as we've gotten! I got her sword from eb@y, if anyone is looking for similar.

So far she lacks eyes and wig, but there's a Doll Fair coming to my area soon, and while it's mostly traditional vinyl and china dollies, in the last few years there have been a few people selling BJD things and supplies as well. I'll take her to the Doll Fair with me and get her some eyes and hair. I love the thought of being able to try wigs on her before I buy them. Some looks will just not work for her. I am imagining her with probably brown hair, but we'll see.


Update!

 I made these shoes a few years back for my Medieval Reenactment hobby, and I wear them all the time for comfort. Since they are quite simple in structure, I opted to duplicate them for Moira to have some casual footwear. (*history soapbox* These are often called Ghillie Brogues or "bog" shoes, and are a very simple shoe of a type worn in many parts of Northwestern Europe, from the early Dark Ages all the way into the mid- and even late- Medieval period.)

 Here they are on her feet. I took Moira with me to a local Doll Fair to get her a wig and some eyes, and our matching shoes amused several people.

And here she is! I did not expect her to end up with this hairstyle but I tried the wig on her and it was just right. It's a Monique "Alexis", and I think it's a 6-7, snug fit. It needs some product on it to smooth flyaways but I do like it. Her eyes are glass 12mm Greens of an unknown brand, I think the dealer said something like "Anna Tina"?


 

 That completes her modification! Someday I'll do another Project post set when I make her some armor.

Mod Project- Minifee Muscular Girl part II

This is part II of a project.
 Part I is here.
Part III is here.

 Here is the current muscle body next to a Minifee female body with "small" (medium) bust.
Now, I tried, and tried, and tried to get the paint to blend into the resin, but here is my Modification Achilles Heel- I can't get that to look smooth. I probably won't until I learn to use an airbrush. I realized after failing the 8th or 9th time that what I was trying to paint over would be almost always clothed anyway, and for the rare exception I could smooth it out in PS. Someday I shall redo this with an airbrush, but not right now. So for now, I painted it to be close to the resin color, and then got on with making her some underwear.

Here's her bra: kind of clumsy compared to modern lingerie, but I have her character in a fantasy setting, not a modern one. Her clothes aren't going to look modern. I plan to post stuff I sew for her here,  because she's going to require custom clothes. Stuff that fits either male or female MNF bodies won't fit her.

Here's one more shot of her in her little mini-shorts and bra. I can't wait to get her a proper head and do her blushing and faceup. Aithne there next to her is a MNF/Unoa Sist Hybrid. 

Part III is here!

Aneirin - Saint to Monster, Part IV

  (This post and the links below are likely to contain Anatomically Correct Doll Nudity- NSFW or for especially shy people)
This is part 4 of an ongoing project.
See Part 3
See Part 2
See Part 1

I've picked up with this project again, so there'll be more added to this post over the next few weeks as I update.

I got the right paints to go over my modifications, and I've been sanding the mod work carefully, so this evening I put on my mask and did some spraying. The grey is a surprisingly close shade to match the grey resin. Blushing will even it out. The off-white is called Racing White, but it seems to have gone on sort of... glossy, so I'll be trying another lighter coat later. I've also been doing some adding bulk to the thigh parts.

Update, Oct 20

Here's a shot of the built up thighs, in the rough stages:

On to Part 5!

Aneirin- Saint to Monster: Part III

As of April 2013 (just posting this here now!)

This is part III of an ongoing project.
See Part II.
See Part I.



Post contains Anatomically Correct Doll Nudity

Been working on Aneirin's wig. Felt cap, fancy yarn, hand-stitched a loop at a time to the cap. Certain yarns give the effect of messy dredlocks.

Practice shots with those ears of his...

I also worked on adding some better locks to his joints so that he'll be able to stand unaided. Balance is pretty tricky on them big ol' legs.

This is a pre-existing lock at the knee joint, but those little points were not high enough for the fit I wanted, so I added to it.

I built these ridges on the fronts of the hip parts to stop him pitching forward when he's standing. They will get sanded and smoothed like the rest of everything I've modded.

  I obtained Soom wrist parts for long fingered Soom hands! He won't be using his default Little Monica hands that came from that company with his body. They're cute, but hardly right for him.

I have dyed his pinky white Little Monica body parts, so that they now match the more greeny-yellow Dollshe and Soom parts. I used a bit of Rit Liquid Lemon Yellow and a lot of Rit Liquid Apple Green. He's still WS, just a different tone now. Here's an undyed LM hand in pinky white against the newly dyed midsection.

So now the white resin all matches, with one ironic exception- The neck and chest part. It's the right tone but not quite deep enough to match the head, so it'll get some blushing to make it match perfectly.

Advance to Part 4!