Aneirin- Saint to Monster, Part II

This is Part II of an ongoing Mod Project.
See Part I

Update! 4/12

Had a stressful month so far, and having this project to work on is good therapy.

Here's an example of the progress on the ears. They start out rough (Left) but I can get them to look smoothly sculpted by sanding them (Right). Later they'll get smoothed even more.


To get the proportions I want, I am shortening the calf section of the legs by a considerable amount.

Each leg piece gets a section cut out of it in the middle.

I am saving the original socket so that it will still fit on top of the foot part. I've joined the pieces back together after taking that middle section out.

The joined sections have to be smoothed out inside so that stringing won't get caught on it.


Then the outside of the joined parts have to be smoothed over too.

I tinted some white Apoxie Sculpt with acrylic paint to get it roughly the shade of the grey resin. That'll make it much easier to blush over and smooth into a nice finish later. (The top one hasn't had Apoxie yet, the bottom one shown has) The Apoxie cements the joined bits and makes them look like they're supposed to be this shape and size. Once it cures, I'll be able to sand it so that it looks much better.


Work also progresses slowly on the knee joints, but there's nothing much worth photographing just yet.

More later!

Update, 2/13

Today I drilled the holes into the headback for magnets and glued them in. They may get a very thin layer of Apoxie and then paint over them.

I'm also still refining the ears, but they got drilled for magnets today too.

I've been sanding and cleaning up the reconstructed legs and still working on the knees. The thighs also need added bulk next.


Update 2/15

I did a test stringing today. It might be a while before I am able to work on him, or it might not, but before I get much further I needed to see how his weight sit on his joints.

Good thing I did, too, because he still can't stand by himself yet. I think some adjustments and tighter stringing will fix the problems easily though. He's starting to look like himself.

He can do the Soom Crouching Pose at least. He's a long way from done but he's showing promise at last.

More in Part III.

Aneirin- Saint to Monster. Work in Progress

(Post contains Anatomically Correct Doll Nudity)


I finally got my Grail Dollshe Saint heads... and then had no idea what to do with them. No character concept I tried would fit, so I thought maybe I should Mod Them. I did a sketch of the head with big wide ears, and suddenly a concept and a character just sort of dropped on me, demanding to be shelled as a doll. So here he is, and boy, is this gonna take work.


(Yes, that's my actual handwriting. Yes, I am a grown woman. -_-;; This is why I type.)

Aneirin is this monster critter who lurks through the forest by night and strangles his prey with his long strong fingers. He's kind of a bogeyman, frankly. He has pale skin, possibly matted dreds for hair, and wide faun-like ears, but no horns or tail. He's got big gargoyle feet.
I have seen one doll hybrid somewhere that was vaguely similar in shape to this, which is probably where my subconscious pulled the idea of the general silhouette, but this doll will look nothing like that one, trust me.

I'll be using a set of Saint heads, probably some Soom Monthly hands, and Soom Monzo feet. I'd always loved Monzo feet but never had an excuse to own any. I found a body- Little Monica Harmony A type, which has beautiful musculature and jointing that I like. I plan to make several changeable sets of magnetic ears for this guy so he can show his moods.

Steps:
Acquire parts- waiting for the hands

Body
-Sand all seams- Working on these as I go.
-Carve new knees to fit Soom Monzo Legs- partway done
-Alter wrists as needed to fit Soom hands- Not needed, got the right wrists.
-Mobility mods on LM body?
-Apoxie: Lengthen neck a smidgen.- Done
-Apoxie: Modify legs a bit- Done
-Apoxie: build up thighs to have more muscle and bulk
-Apoxie: possibly build up arms, etc for more muscle definition?- Nah.

Heads
- cut and sand off regular ears- Done!
-drill holes for rare earth magnets-Done!
- glue in magnets and cover them and smooth the area
-sculpt sets of monster ears - Partly Done
-drill ears to hold magnets, and glue magnets into ears so they work with head magnets- Done!
-cover and smooth magnet holes on the ears.

Aesthetics
-cover all mods, smoothing, sanding and painting.
-Sueding- always a Must. Wiring arms.
-body blushing, blending grey legs with pale body
- faceups
-make the wig


Update 1/11



I have finally combined the head with the body. It is a lovely sculpt. I think I'll be adding a bit of height to the neck just to give him a more inhuman and elegant shape. He is a bit on the bobblier side than what I prefer, but adding neck length will help that, and he's not human anyhow. Edit: I am getting different heads for this, in White Skin, but the same Saint.

Testing out the fibers I will be making his wig from- I like the greens and blues against his copper eyes.

Update, 1/16

Got the legs! Here they are, and I will be getting fancy on the knees here to make this combo work.



As you can see, the LM body has knees designed almost exactly opposite to the Soom grey legs I want to use, so I'll be more or less making entirely new knees. The angle will need to be set carefully so that the doll maintains a good center of balance over these digitigrade feet, but I think it can be done. I'll be cutting the LM leg a little higher up, where the width of the LM thigh matches the Soom leg better.

I am altering my mod list of steps up there at the top of this first post accordingly as I figure out each of the steps this project will take. Stay tuned!

Update 1/21
I have figured out a few things, so for the next while I'll be working on the body until I get the rest sorted, and believe me it will take some work!

Here's a ridiculous but useful shot of how the torso looked before I started to do anything to it.


Then today I worked on defining the muscle a little bit more, particularly underneath the pecs.


Those of you who are shy of body parts, avert your eyes please...

The Little Monica body is nicely sculpted, but it had a pitiful representation of what ought to have been anatomical bits, so I am attempting to give him a bit more dignity and realism. I've never understood why a sculptor can include the nuances of musculature, and then stick on an oval dot and call it genitals. I don't care what size they make them but the attempt should be made to get them to resemble actual parts.

I carved the knees away from the thighs to give them the right proportion of length to the grey lower legs, but as I compare them to the lower legs, I think I am going to use Apoxie Sculpt to form the new joints. Then I'll be adding bulk to the thighs, in the style of Soom's Chalco legs.

More to come, of course. When, I am not sure.




Update February 8th.

I've done some work on the Saint head and faceplate set, and started the rough sculpt of the monster ears. The original ears got sawed off neatly.

Here's a shot of the faceplates, de-eared and smoothed out. The sawing took moments, the sanding took hoooooooours. Uf.

This is the neutral-pose set of ears, made out of Sculpey polymer clay. They need refining and sanding of course, but this is the rough shape. Eventually they'll be much smoother and sleeker.

Updates continue in Part II!

The Grindbox - Resin is Toxic

Resin dust is like silica, coal dust or other things tiny, particulate and inorganic- once it gets into your lungs, it never comes out. It can cause cancer like Mesothelioma, or simply Miner's Lung just by being in there. Cancer can be fought by horrible chemicals, but there is no way to cure Miner's Lung. It is a slow death sentence.

Sounds dramatic, but that's the truth. Lots of things that we deal with every day can totally kill you if you do something stupid, and resin dust is no different. Arc welders and industrial power tools are just as deadly, but the right equipment makes them safe. With the right precautions, you can make resin safer to work with. One vital way is to wear a properly fitted respirator of N95 rating or higher and make sure it is always fitted and has fresh filters. There are lots of ways to keep resin dust out of your environment and under control.

What I have for my setup is a thing I've been calling the Grindbox. (Pictures coming later!) It's like a sandblasting box used industrially or a chemical hood, except it's built out of hacked together parts and caulked foamcore board because I couldn't be bothered to try to cut wood in an apartment, and wood is heavy. Metal was out of the question. I plan to post images of the thing to my blog eventually but I'd recommend building this thing to serious modders only, since it takes a lot of work and buying a dedicated shop vac and expensive HEPA filters- Also, I have not yet perfected the design and cannot in good conscience vouch for its efficacy yet. I still wear an N95 mask while working with it, just in case. (Mesothelioma is a horrible way to go. Not for me, no thank you!)

What the Grindbox is made up of is a big ol' box with a wide, tilted lid on top that has a panel of clear acrylic in the lid so I can see what I'm doing, and big sleeves and gloves that are caulked into their holes and extend into the box. The gloves are rubbery non slip gripper things that help me not drop things when I am working with the Dremel and they are thick enough to protect my fingers when the toolbit slips accidentally. (Never work with a Dremel without gloves- we like our fingers' flesh!)

The lid is sealed by velcro straps to hold it tight shut when I am working in the box. The box has an air intake made of a hole with HEPA filter over it caulked to the side, which I will have to replace periodically. The air outlet is a caulked on funnel in the opposite side, to which has been sealed a vacuum hose attachment. This is connected to a just-for-this Shop Vacuum that has been fitted with HEPA rated filters that also have to be regularly changed, but this thing sucks up all the dust and shavings from whatever I work on inside the box and does not allow particles back out into the air.

There is also a hole in the side of the box to allow me to place a Dremel in the box, then run the cord out of the box. This currently has a valve-like sealing around the cord made of layers of rubber and Gorilla tape, but I'd like something less kludgey eventually. Currently the Dremel just kind of stays in the box and I open the lid to put new bits in the box, then close the box promptly and use my gloved hands inside it to change Dremel bits.

I am still perfecting the whole thing but it does make it possible for me to do lots of stuff I could never contemplate doing in an apartment. I wear an N95 mask when I use it anyway, and have air purifying filter fans running in the studio pretty much all the time just to be extra safe.