Day 6

Monday I sequestered myself to the dining room table with no distractions. Only a metal station on iTunes Radio. Lots of SlipKnoT, Slayer, and Otep that day. Knocked out a lot of work on the head after I babysat my yearling nephew. This was after two hours.

Aaaand by the end of the night, my hands were cramping. Many, many successful hours of work.

Loving the lips so far.

The head is still a hair on the large size for the body, but I think it's almost there. The brow bone is what is bothering me, so once we get that and the nose worked on we should be good.

Day 5

I worked on a basic lump for a head at my parents house with my sisters. I did do some minor sanding on the breast and rib area as well.
I should make prototypes for cartoons. This is awful and let me tell you, I made quite the voice while working on this.

This angle in particular slays me.

These are after going home and letting the clay dry enough for me to carve some shapes. You can see by the fleshly-terra cotta color it's still a little wet. This was  a good stopping point for the night.

Introduction

The mandatory introduction post. This blog is being used to document my adventure in Ball Jointed Doll making and any other various adventures I choose to plop myself into.

My name is Rebecca and I like to do art stuff. Trusted allies of mine are my wonderful husband, and our two shetland sheepdog puppies Dallas and Nightshade. Together we adventure through Tamriel and slay dragons.

At the minute I don't even know what to say.

Day 4

Pretty image heavy start, but the daily progress. Lots and lots of work on the breasts, and not much else. Just couldn't get the shape right.
Final image is my slow progress. Starting to have some more shape, but not totally there yet. Let's see what tomorrow holds.

Day 3

Started carving around the glutes to make them more realistic. Also working on the back and getting some basic muscle form.

Here is after about an hour of carving.

It was at this point that I realized I was going to run out of clay. The initial investment so far has been the La Doll which I got a Hobby Lobby for 40% off 9.99. $6. Unfortunately Hobby Lobby is closed on Sunday, so I had to try my local JoAnn's. My local store (the one that's 15 minutes away as opposed to the larger one a half hour away) has less stock. So I don't even know if JoAnn's carries La Doll anyways, but they were open and my email had tons of 50% coupons. I would find an alternative. I purchased some Fimo Air Dry Basic. In Flesh tint. I also picked up some sandpaper so I can do more than just chip away at this.

Much smoother!

The legs are beginning to have some better form. I also added some lumps for breasts, and upper pelvic bones. They're uneven at this point but I can work on it. Also working on carving some of the back muscles out.

This is ridiculous, but as I said. I like to laugh. This I intend to do addition by subtraction and sand and carve these bazongas down to an actual breast like shape.

Day 2

After sitting with Fallout Shelter on my phone for the majority of the day, I thought about the BJD project that has been sitting on my kitchen table - Since Day 1. Pretty pathetic commitment if you ask me.

The paperclay, difficult as it may be I find that I really enjoy working with this. Adding the legs was the first step to the beginning. Once I added tube looking things on the legs, I really felt inspiration.

Second to the legs, I added a rounded lump for a buttocks. This sideview was just because it made me laugh while working on it.

Additionally to smoothing down the butt, I carved away some of the rib definition. While not entirely lithe in build, Fifteen does have some sort of figure. The onther thing worked on at this point is bulking out the thighs.

Hehe. While the clay was still moist, I pushed the lumps together to form more of a butt shape.

End of the night photo. It's realistic to say the least, but I need to continue to sand this down and smooth it out.

Day 1

The start of the project involved drawing a basic sketch. Using Lined paper I drew a rough silhouette of what I wanted Fifteen to look like. She has a very average woman build. While I was unable to get this completely symmetrical, I simply selected the half I liked better and mirrored this on photoshop. Then I scaled it appropriately and printed onto two sheets of paper.

 

Next I started to bend a rough wire armature. The red lines are somewhat loose guidelines as to where the wire will go. It's a very low gauge so I twisted it around itself. For a better form I taped this down. 

While I didn't photograph the whole step, I took tissues and wrapped them with masking tape. Come to think of it, I probably used some receipts in there as well. 

This is the start of the paperclay. I am using La Doll and frankly, I thought it was one of the hardest clays I have ever worked with. It's a significant learning curve. Firstly you need wet hands and it's somewhat crumbly. What I had to do was roll this first layer out flat and then stick it to itself - wrapping it around the armature. Then I tried to carve and mush. Not super much to say about this step except that it was hard as heck.

La Doll or any type of paperclay was recommended for this type of project because it's carvability. Working this project I am finding that I enjoy the sense that I can set this down for an hour or so, an not have the dried stoneclay smoosh into anything. While it's fragile, it's strong. Same can be said for polymer, but I am learning.

This is my closing point for the time being. This blob isn't exactly inspiring. Some actual anatomical features can change that but aaaaah I don't know.