Part 1 in our guide to making your very own BJD doll.
I've been dreaming about my own BJD doll for more than a year now, but I've had to put the idea on hold because I left my full-time job and started this company. It's been hard, but fulfilling orders and designing custom dolls is still my dream job. Sometimes, there are these restless thoughts of creating my own doll that won't go away. I don't know how long it will take or if I'll be able to succeed in the end, but I'd love for you to join me during this creative journey.
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I use these materials to make my first bjd doll.
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When I started sculpting, I knew that I needed more tools to carve hollow parts of the body. In addition to this, I am still looking for round beads that would fit the size of my dolls. I don't plan to make all of the balls myself because I don't think that the results would be perfect. Especially if it's my first ever BJD doll.
CLAY
This BJD prototype is for my favorite type of clay: La Doll. It's lightweight, easy to work with and perfect for sculpting detailed features. Because it's so strong, carving the hollow parts and forming the sockets for joints was effortless.
Tools
Recently I bought a new set of stainless steel wax carving tools. So far, I think my decision is worth it. Sculpting is never easier! These thin wax carvers remind me of a dentist's toolset. They're sharp and they're precise, so it's easy to reach even the most delicate parts like nostrils or eye corners.
Avoiding Styrofoam and drinking straws, while powering businesses
I searched the internet for hours trying to decide how to hollow out the doll's parts. I read that it could be done with either styrofoam, a tube, or drinking straws. I eventually decided on styrofoam for the head and drinking straws for the body. This sentence rewriter is not a full-blown grammar checker or writing coach. It's designed to help you get your sentences more concise and clear by fixing grammatical errors, splitting up oversized sentences into smaller ones and restructuring entire sentences in order to make them easier to understand.
SANDPAPER AND SANDING SPONGE
Though I really hate sanding, I have to do it all the time. At the rough, sculpt stage, not a lot of sanding is done, but certain parts require perfection from the beginning. To achieve my excellent roundness I have to do some sculpting and then sand it down--sculpt and then sand again--again and again...
I've found that Dremel tools are a great choice for me when I make the dolls I sell. For example, drilling, shaping the sockets for joints, and sanding large areas is a lot quicker than doing it with mechanical tools.
The biggest challenges
Possible Remediation: *The* biggest *challenges
When I sculpt my first BJD doll, I knew this would be a difficult process. Sometimes I saw flaws in my sculpting techniques and had to learn new ways to create dolls. Oh! I was so right! The biggest problem from the beginning was achieving symmetry. All the time measuring, sculpting, sanding and carving, but it was very difficult to get even results. There were some days when I'm shaping the torso of a doll for hours, but one side is different than the other. It's been so frustrating! To achieve perfect symmetry for sculpting dolls' faces, I have some tricks. But none of them work on single parts like arms or legs. So instead of relying on my eyes which are trained well enough, I have to trust them completely - which is hard sometimes because one eye is always better than another
One difficulty I had was determining the mobility of the ball-jointed doll. I needed to research designs and technology, but it wasn't straightforward. Casted balls weren’t round enough, or would cause motion disturbance at the joint. One leg moved differently than the other because of a socket problem with one side – these double joints are tough! Still tackling those elbows and knees.
Doing a rough sculpt and adding detailing to the body is the next step I'm going to take on my project. I can't wait to do it! If you have any questions or input, please share them in the comments. See you next month with another progress update.
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EDELWEISS