Tenebras Cordis

First of all, I’ve been ill. And had a lot of shit going on around me and therefore haven’t really had the time to update my blog (I have done occational updates on my dA though).

Anyhow, you guys are mostly interested in my doll I suppose and you want pictures so I give you pictures. I’ve done quite a lot and I’l try to explain as much as possible.

First of all, he has eyes! A week ago or so I went to a doll meeting with my first life project with me. I have been very certain the whole time since my second doll 1 year earlier that I wanted him to have blue eyes.

The girl who had the meeting in her house had a pair of blue 14 mm glass eyes, but they didn’t click with me. These though did! A pair of light green 12 mm silicon eyes. Bought on spot.

Oh and since the imaginary week passed (I wanted to finish him in one week) and I’m NOT done, I’ll me updating him as update 1 and so forth instead.

Remade the arms. Hated the old shoulder joints as they weren’t even round! >_>” Cut the ball part halfway down the arm and put a new sphere there, now it looks lots better. Decided to do the same with the legs.

I hated the old joints and they were clumsy made and looked awful. Will make new ones. Yes, I am a perfectionist.

Uglyassjoints don’t look at them! O_O You see my problem? I just rebuilt and rebuilt to make them fit and now they do not fit at all.

As I said before, I remade the hipjoints so fit better. This way they are much more tightfitting and lovely. The balls are solid clay.

I remade his ears 4 times and I am still not sure I like them. They are much better now than the 3 times before. I also fixed his headcap so it fits tighter to the head.

I broke one finger and one toe, fixed it with superglue.  I also ball jointed his feet and hands.

Fixed up his torso a bit and made the hole in his pelvis bigger (can’t be seen on the picture). It makes him more bendable when strung.

And so back to his arms. I wanted them to be double jointed but it looked ugly and did not work as well as imagine. I decided to put my pride away and make single jointed arms.

Cheers y’all.

So I forgot to take pictures. . A . Well, at least you can see my great progress in completing my doll.

I have now started sculpting every part of him, his feet being the most incomplete part (he has two toes for the moment XD) and his hands are coming out well.

I started making his hands during day 3 I think, but I have forgotten to take pictures of them! Sorry for that.

As you can see I have cut him in half, I also strung him to see if the clay would be strong enough. It was! ^^ I also corrected a symmetry problem with his neck and shortened it a bit. I think he looks nicer now.

Also, I have fixed his private parts about 3 times now. See if I cut it off and start over again later XD

Cheers!

So people have asked me where to begin if you want to make a BJD.

This is a video of me showing everything you need in order to start.

For you guys who don’t like “video tutorials”, here is the complete list of what you need:

• A blueprint of your doll

As much as this might sound trivial, you really really really need a blueprint. Else? Else you will end up with a very unproportional doll and you will have a hard time making the arms and legs alike. Luckily it isn’t so hard to make a blueprint.

You could either get your blueprints online, ex off aimi-dolls.com, and mod them until you like them, as I have done or you will have to draw one.

Consider what size you want your final doll to be, like SD or MSD, what wig size you want him/her to have and the eye size. Draw the blueprint 1:1.

• Clay

There are a few types of clay to use:

Polymer clay and paperclay. There are a few others too but I have little to no experience with these clays. So which one to use? When I first started out making my own dolls I used low quality paperclay which dried out my hands and pissed me off. It also had fibers which made sanding a living hell.

I would recommend high quality paperclay for dollmaking, like LaDoll or DAS. If you have dry hands that would probably be quite hard on you though. Also, if you have very little spare time you might consider buying polymer clay instead as it does not dry out.

In short: use good paperclay.

• Tools

You need various tools for dollmaking. I use modded dentist tools and super sculpey tools.

If you want to buy the dentist tools I use, visit: Heresy Miniatures

• The almighty multitool

This tool is kind of optional but I still highly recommend it. A multitool is an electric tool on which you attach various smaller tools, like a drill, a cutter or sandball.

I use a dremel, but you could of course always go for the cheaper brands. It is even possible to use a manicure multitool (!) though I don’t think you will find any cutting disc fitting it (LOL).

• Styrofoam

Styrofoam is used to make the core of your doll. As most of you know, BJD are hollow and to make the hollow you put clay around a core of styrofoam. When the clay dries, take your multitool and cut the body part open, and remove the styrofoam.

For the head, use an egg or sphere shaped styrofoam ball and shape it with a knife. The headcore should be smaller than the blueprint head.

You should never use styrofoam as a core for polymer clay, the styrofoam melts in high temperatures!

• Plastic Wrap

Used to cover the core styrofoam before modelling. If you don’t use plastic wrap the clay will attach to the styrofoam leaving you no choice but to destroy your core.

• Water

You need plenty of water modelling with paperclay. You should have a glass of water at hand. I also always have a wet towel laying around so I can wipe my hands on it when they get dried out.

• Inspirational Paper

This is most optional. I usually print a paper with pictures of dolls I find beautiful so I know how to model my own. You could always use your computer monitor instead, but typing with paperclay on your hands is NOT fun for your keyboard.

• Sanding paper

You will need sanding paper to sand down your doll to complete smoothness. Buy different kind of sanding papers along with bendable soft sanding paper.

• Safety gear

Paper clay is not toxic but it isn’t that much fun to have your lungs filled with paper dust. I usually use a protective mask and eye protecting glasses when I sand, especially when I use my multitool.

• Paper tape (Masking tape)

Paper tape is a nice shape-upper for your cores, no matter if you make a paper or polymer doll. You can use it to attach to parts of a broken styrofoam and even bake it if you have to.

• Dummy eyes

When I made the eye sockets for my doll I used a pair of dummy eyes from eBay. I use two pairs of acrylic doll eyes á $4 per pair, one 14 mm and one 16 mm.

Speedrun of how to start:

Get a blueprint you like.

Shape your styrofoam ball so that it is smaller than your blueprint by say, 1 cm.

Cover your core with plastic wrap.

Cover your plastic wrapped core with clay.

Measure where you want the eyes and mouth to be. Don’t stop until you are happy!

Shape the face.

Shape the headcap too!

Let dry.

Draw with pencil where you want to cut.

Cut off the headcap! Don’t panic if you mess up alittle, you can always fix that with more clay.

Remove the core. Oh did you forget plastic wrap? Don’t worry, grab a knife and start digging the styrofoam out by FORCE!

From here, you are on your own. You probably know what you want to do next. Good luck!!

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!

So I have been working on my doll again and it is going well! He is a beauty, but I might need to buy new eyes for him (he might need a pair of 14 mm).

I’m starting to like his body alot. I will rework his… thingie, though. At first it turned out too small and now it is too big.

Peace out y’all.

So no I don’t hate polymer, it is nice to work with and it doesn’t mess up your hand nor your lungs if you sculpt/sand it. Or your computer. Sorry mister processor for filling you with paperclay.

Now back to whatever I left off.

I am starting to make a new doll. Mainly because I wasn’t entirely happy with the other one nor really had the means to sand him properly. But this one will be so much better. And I am aiming to finish him in a week (read 3 weeks… a month)

DAY 1

DAY 2

Also why are wordpress messing up my pictures?! Could it be because I am in a desperate need for sleep maybe?

DAY 3

So what do you guys think? How do you think he looks so far?