Toes, toes, toes, toes....

...are what I sculpted today.

Cute but so annoying to make

This was my second try. The first totally failed. I find toes and feet even harder to get right than hands. It seems so difficult not to make them look short and stubby but not creepily long.

And here are the legs those feet are attached to.

I like the way the legs turned out. I still need to sand the feet, they look a little gnarled right now. I'm planning on making the arms and hands tomorrow or the day after. Then I can get to painting, padding, wigging and clothing!

I also made more eyes today, but they don't photograph well without sunlight and my cameras batteries keep on dying. I love making eyes, shame they never look as good in pictures as they do in real life.

Thank you for reading!

My first Sculpting from Life and a Quick Eye Tip

Yes, I skipped yesterday as I was exhausted. I had six hours of school and then three hours of life drawing/sculpting, it was nine when I got home.

By the way, it was my first time going to a live nude study, and I'm rather pleased with how my sculpture turned out.

More picture on my flickr

Not perfect, but good. At least I think so. It was definitly a new experiance, having a live nude model. She was a cute asian girl with a buzzcut. I'm just glad it wasn't a fat old man, nothing against fat old men, it would just be even more uncomfortable seeing them naked. At first I was quite embarrassed and it was hard to look directly at her. I soon got use to it though, and it was very helpful having real 3d reference. The sculpture is unfinished and the model won't be doing this pose again so I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I still see many things that need fixing, but can't quite get them right. So any constructive criticism you have would be welcome. I am also unsure of what to do with the sculpture when it is done. I don't want to keep it, and I don't want to squish it. My stepmother suggested I sell it, but as my father says, it isn't the most attractive pose. Any suggestions?

Anyway it was fun, and I think I'm going to go back. I might even take a class there on figure sculpting, though the flier mentions group discussions. And I don't like group discussions, the make me nervous and it's hard for me to speak up. I think it would be worth it even enduring the discussions, to learn from a professional.

And here is a picture of some of the eyes I was talking about last post.

Click to enlarge

I was right, the problem was the type of paint. If I use artist acrylic instead of craft acrylic I can get perfect circles using the dotter/embossing tool or a toothpick. It's still hard to get the pupil centered, but at least now I only have one problem to deal with instead of three.

Also, here is a tip for getting rid of airbubbles in your resin. First try your heatgun on them, most of the time the air in the bubble heats up and rises to the top. If that doesn't work, poke at the bubble with a needle, nudging it to the top. The needle won't pop it, but now if you heat it up again it should work. I think sometimes the bubble gets stuck/attached to the eye and nudging it frees it allows the air to rise when heated.

 One more thing, when using uv resin I find even when the resin is fully cured the surface layer stays sticky and if you touch it, it loses its wonderful shine. Instead of always having to re-gloss the eye, which doesn't even make it as shiny as before, simply use your heatgun or the oven to make them hot - before - you touch them and they won't be sticky and will keep their extreme glossiness.

I received the liv doll that I ordered from amazon. I glad I found her on sale for 6 dollars. I'm going to try to modify her lips, her top lip is just so derpy looking. The space between her nose and top lip is just too large and I hate it. After fixing that I will repaint her. I'm going to be posting more about repainting soon, when I go back to my moms where all my paints and pastels are located. I think I'm going to be posting several repainting tutorials soon. There seems to be barely any at all, especially for monster high dolls. But yeah, expect to see alot more fashion doll repaints, I've amassed a lot of dolls to paint. Three monster highs, one moxie teenz, around 8-10 various barbies and now this liv. I think I must be crazy.

I will still post ooak sculptures, I promise!

Thank you for reading!

A Boring Day with Grass and Eyes...

To be honest, I really didn't do much today.

 My father and I put together a static grass applicator using an electronic fly swatter and a metal mesh shaker. In case you don't know static grass is green short rayon fibers that hold a static charge that helps them stand upright instead of matted down. It is pretty realistic looking miniature grass and is commonly used in model train sets. It's just like when you rub a balloon on your arm or hand and your hair is pulled towards the balloon. The static grass applicator just makes a stronger field, therefore straighter grass. I'm going to use the grass on my bases and I'm also going to try to make a wig with viscose fibers for a shaved/short hair look.

I also played around with the perfect eye tools from Pat Moulton that arrived today. Oh my god, they make producing the eye bases a cinch! I first discovered these tools from this wonderful tutorial on making glass like doll eyes. Seriously go check it out, it's great! I am really glad I bought the tools, I'd say they're well worth the money. Despite the clay part of the eyes being so easy, I've been struggling with the rest. The iris isn't too hard, but the pupil! Argh! I can never get a perfect set, they are either misaligned or not even a circle.
I have no idea how Aimee manages to get pupils like she does, I've tried the dotter tool, and while it works on fashion doll repaints, the paint doesn't seem to stick to my clay eyes. I think I might be using the wrong paint, but alas, my quality acrylic is at my moms house.

I will post some pictures of my attempts tomorrow, but right now it is far too late.

Good night. Thank you for reading!