Ball Joint Doll Class (part 2)

Here are some pictures of when the class was sculpting heads. And putting them in the oven. The head sculpting part of the class was taught but Pat Lillich. She taught a new approach to sculpting the head that I had never done. I learned so much and enjoyed the new process.

Ball Joint Doll Class

So here are a few pictures of the ball joint doll class that I attended in Ohio. It was a fantastic experience. I learned so much and I hope that soon I will be able to put all the knowledge and new ideas into practice.
These first two pictures show the facility where the class was held. It was a very large building that made a wonderful class room.

New Doll Adventures!

It has been surprising to me all the doll things that are suddenly happening with me. I’m very excited to participate in so many things. Usually they are few and far between. So you ask what it happening? Well let me tell you.
I had seen a contest on the web at a reborn baby site a few months back. I thought it would be fun to try, so I made a like size baby. (The one that gave me all the heart ache, in some older posts of this blog). Now she is a finalist in the contest on the web. Here is the link: www.lifelikedollsmag.com please vote she is number 6. While my family was at Bear Lake my Mom said I should enter something in the Weber County Fair, so since I had this baby I entered her, she won Best of Show in her catergory and I won a whopping $25.00! Pretty fun Huh!

I have helped at Jack Johnston’s professional class for a few years, last year his son had come to help, so I was surprised to get an email from Jack asking for me to help out this year. Of course I said yes, I always have a wonderful time there and get to meet so many fun doll people.
A few months back my friend and fellow doll artist Debbie Sampson called to see if I would be interested in taking a class from Diane Keeler, one of my favorite doll artists! Of course I said yes, so October 16-18 I will be with my fellow Utah and Idaho doll friends taken a class from Diane Keeler! So exciting!
And last but certainly not least, you all have seen here in the blog that I have been working at making a BJD. Well, last year I seen a BJD retreat, but when I found it I was too late, I had missed it :( so; I have been checking this site all year to see when they would post the dates for the new retreat. When the dates were posted they also told of three scholarships people could win that would cover the costs of tuition and food. I entered and won the LilyKoi scholarship!!! I am over the moon!! So I will be attending this retreat in Ohio October 3-5!
I will make sure I take a camera and document all these fantastic doll happening and tell you all about them.
So, wish me luck in all my new and exciting doll adventures!

Updates on the BJD

Well I have been completely frustrated with the BJD. Maybe some of this had to do with the dismal sell of my last baby on eBay. AHHHH!!! I know that setting a reserve on the auction is a turn off to many buyers, but selling this baby at a price that doesn't even come close to covering the material costs let alone all the time I had to make her. It is so difficult!! So then on top of it getting less the satisfactory results with my BJD is not making me feel very good. I will be back to work come Monday so time will be limited again for sculpting, I was hoping to get more accomplished on the BJD. But when I this frustrated with her it's probably best to let her be for a while or she will end up in the garbage as a result of my frustration. So I will post some pictures now, but let you know that I will probably be digging out both her eyes in an attempt to get a bit more symmetry to her face. So there will be more update to follow that hopefully will have better results. Wish me luck :)

Updates

Been a crazy week, but here are a few updates on the BJD. Not much but I'm making a bit of progress.

Updates to the BJD

So here are a few pictures of the updates that I have made to the BJD. As you can see I had to totally redo her hip socket. I still think there is some trouble with the top of the legs and their interaction with the hip socket. As I look at BJDs in general they have a gap so to speak at the top of the legs, I think this helps with the sitting of the doll. I guess I'll see how the joint interaction is when I try to string her. Any way take a look and let me know what you think.

Update on BJD

As you can see I have worked on the BJD a bit more. I added her neck and worked on one of her legs. It doesn't show in the picture but I did alot of sanding and refining. I think I will leave the torso alone for a while, but I'm sure I will have to do some more work on it when I make the ball joints. I'm not going to add any more details to the torso until I finished fitting the ball joints.

Cooked Body

Here are some pictures after she was cured. I'm sure I will need to sand and resculpt some areas, She needs more smoothing and refining, but it's a pretty good start for my first attempt at a BJD.

A New Body

Well I added clay to the torso of the ball joint doll. It's a pretty good start but I'm sure I will need to do plenty of sanding and resculpting before she will be finished. Here are some pictures of her right before I put her in the oven.

Time for dolls

This weekend I was able to work on the new mini baby doll that I have started. I got one leg done and started working on the other one. The proportion of the new armatures that I'm using are better then the last, but they are a bit too thick at the bottom ankle part. I will probably grind the other set down. I'm also going to experiment with making armatures from foil. It will help with the cost of the dolls and I will be able to control the thickness so I won't have all the issues with them being to thick because I will make them they way I want.

I'm excited to start working on the BJD (ball joint doll). I have the armature finished.
















Here are some pictures of how the armature turned out. All that I have read about OOAK (one-of-a-kind) ball joint dolls, is that they are usually made from paper clay. I don't particularly like to work with paper clay so I had to figure out a way to sculpt the doll in polymer clay. After much thought, I came up with making the armature from brass tubes. Then you can string the doll without having to drill hole. I'm crossing my fingers in hopes that it works the way I think it will.
I have the clay and eyes that I ordered. Now I just need to get busy and do it.