28 December 2015

Frawzo²

Yay! Fìzìsìtä tì'i'a stum awngaeo leiu, mehapxì amip Layon Yayoä ayngar leiu... set tsun wiveyn lahea relit leNa'vi oe ulte var ngivop Na'vitsyìpit oeyä nìmun. Trray leiu trrmuve ;) Oer lu tìtslam* amip sì fpom nì'ul.
Frawzo. A fì'ut fpìl oel. ^^'


*tìtslam - (abstract) understanding, insight

25 December 2015

Ayftxozä lefpom...

Tbh fayftxozät ve'kì oel nìtxan nì'aw nìwotx ... nìngay. Ve'kì okit, sängä'änti. Tì'efut sì yewlat. Fra'ut.
Trram tsngawvìk txono. Ngä'ängän... (kea ftxozäl, ki okìl tsngeykawvìk oeti.) Nì'aw new oel futa fìtìsraw, fìsängä'än 'ivìp.

Ke omum futa fnepehem livu swey. New tswiva', slä tsaw ngäzìk längu. Nìrangal hirvahaw vay sngä'ikrr zìsìtä ahay.

Kxawm sweylu txo wiveyn fu vivar ngivop Na'vitsyìpit oeyä... ulte sìlpivey tsnì zìsìtay ziva'u nìwin.



...
Tsalsungay sìlpey oe tsnì ayngar livu ayftxozä a zawprrte' ayngane sì fpomtokx sì fpom.

21 December 2015

Sculpting the head - Part 5 + Wig + some Jewelry (BJD Blog #09)

Tse, ma frapo, poeri key/re'o lu hasey! Well, everyone, her face/head is done! Almost, that is. She's still missing her ears, hehe, but her "faceup" (painting of the face) is all done.
I even created the wig cap + wig and made some jewelry already. Here are the pics of all of that:

I made the wig cap after her face was done so far... for that I wrapped some plastic foil (saran wrap) around her head and fixed it with some rubber bands. This was for making sure that her face won't be damaged in any way. Above of this I wrapped some fabric around her head. I used some old tights/pantyhose in black. Fixed again with rubber bands. Then I added a layer of glue where all of her hair would go. Let it dry, added another layer. Let dry again, then removed the layers from the head, separated foil and fabric, cut out her hairline very roughly and put the wig cap back on her head. Then I marked where her hairline would go exactly with a white colored pencil and cut along those lines. Done was the wig cap:

Onto a wig cap like that you can glue or sew any hair you want to. Since I had her dreadlocks already prepared and waiting, I added those - row after row, starting from the bottom.
First row of dreads:
As you can see I wrapped her in saran wrap again, because I glued the dreads to the wig cap. Working with glue can get messy, so yeah, safety first ;D

This is what she looked like after most of the dreads were glued onto her head (still missing the topmost dreads):

After all dreads were glued onto her wig cap, I added the tswin (long braided queue) and checked the overall length of her dreadlocks, realizing that most of them needed to be cut a bit in length:

After cutting her hair I put the wig aside and focused on adding the sanhì (glowing dots) to her face.
I haven't had any UV active paint or pigments at home, but a small UV black light lamp. So I used it to see if any of my pens and stuff would glow under UV light - and yes, some did! :D No need to buy expensive UV active pigments, yay!
I cut one of my yellow marker/highlighter pens open and removed the middle part which holds the ink. I squeezed most of the ink into a small container and added white and blue acrylic paint. After mixing it well (checking with the UV black light) I put some of it into another small container and thinned it down with quite a bit of water. This mixture was used to add the sanhì to her face with the help of a very thin detail brush:
First row of sanhì... Normal light and UV light. Constantly kept checking if I spilled or smeared any of it all over her face, in order to keep the dots as clean as possible.
Kept adding all of her sanhì one by one, creating a unique and pretty pattern I liked. After every dot was where it should be and everything else was clean, I sealed everything with 2 layers of matte varnish. I added some high gloss varnish to her lips (after I lightened them up a bit) and upper eyelids, as well as to her waterlines, to make them all nice and shiny. After everything was dry, I glued fake eyelashes to the inner side of her upper eyelid.
And yeah, that was everything else I had to do in order to finish her face. Here's the final result:
UV black light
With her wig on

While everything was drying (glue, varnish, blablah) I used the time to create some jewelry. I made some necklaces, a belt, a bib necklace and even a necklace with a bird skull pendant. Here is some of that stuff:

Some necklaces and the belt are adjustable in size (close mechanism). I even bought some small magnets for her head to be closed and opened easily. Also some thin felt for protecting her joints in a matching blue color. And also some feathers. Yeah, I'll prolly add some feathers to her accessories and also a bow and arrows!

I still need to make her ears, hehe. This will be the next step (for real!) and then her torso + neck.
So, again, stay tuned! :)

14 December 2015

Sculpting the head - Part 4 (BJD Blog #08)

Short notice on LAYON YAYO: The newest page is halfway done and will be published asap! ^^ Didn't forget about that, hrh. Luckily only one week left until holiday and looots of spare time. Also I made a dream of meself come true and got a new Wacom Intuos Pro M! So awesome!!!

Now, on the BJD head. ^^

A lot was done again. I fixed the broken eyelids, sanded a bit again, gave it an overall finish, cleaned it and applied 2 base coats of blue acrylic paint. I mixed some blue with lots of white, a bit of black and a bit of red to get a nice blue, somewhat desaturated base color. I tested the color on the back of her head and adjusted the mixture until I was happy with it.

Once the base coating was dry, I applied some first blushing with the pastel powder I've had prepared some while ago.

Then I forgot to take more pictures, again xD Txoa! What followed was more blushing with darker blues and light blue and even white. Then I started to get the details on her face with colored pencils in medium blue, dark blue, black, pink, flesh color thingy, magenta... until I was happy with it. Filled in the blank spaces where her ears will be with basic color, adjusted the blushing and began to add the stripes to her face with medium and dark blue.
In between I sealed everything with varnish over and over again.

I've added some black eyelashes and stuff until I thought it was done. Then I inserted her eyes back again and made some tests how she'll look like with ears and stuff :) So yeah, that's how she looks now.

She looks way better in RL, the camera doesn't get the colors and the proportions right (some kind of fisheye lense effect). I'll make a video in proper daylight once her head is all done!
 I need to coat her eyes with another layer of varnish to make them shiny again. They became a bit dull after adjusting the eyelids. I also think that her lips look somewhat too dark. Need to fix that.
Also, her tanhì/glowing dots are still missing and whatever I'll find worth adjusting ^^

But, first will come the ears. As you can see I attached them too the joint balls and next will be detail work on them. So, yet again, stay tuned for the next part! :)

08 December 2015

Sculpting the head - Part 3 (BJD Blog #07)

I refined and sanded the nose and added more to the brows and connection between nose and cheeks. I also added the base of the mouth. I really like her nose, I think it looks great :)
I also filled up the holes where the ear joints will go, because they became too big due to adjusting the exact position.

The inner eyelids keep breaking or crumbling, because they're too thin. Overall I need to thicken up those lids, so they won't break once everything's painted and done.
I want her to have a somewhat neutral expression, so I'll try to make the mouth as "relaxed" as possible.

Sanding is a really great thing. Every little dent and unevenness will simply disappear and the ugly duckling becomes beauty with skin as smooth as silk. You'll see once all the sanding on her face is done :)

Time for dem sexy lips.

 Then I was so concentrated on sculpting and sanding that I forgot to take more pictures. Oeru txoa livu! >.<
I literally kept going until she was done. Adjusting symmetry, adding details, a little bit of carving and lots, lots of sanding. Additionally I drew a line on her head where I would cut it in half in order for stringing, jointing and so on.
Face done!

After I was done with sanding, I began cutting along the line daaaaamn carefully. I didn't wanna break her head, hrh... o.- Well, I actually did, but whatever ^^

Then it was time to peel out that damn styrofoam piece after piece, rather too little than too much at a time. The clay on the inside at the back of her head was still somewhat wet. Oo
After I was done with that, it was time to remove the wooden beads that helped as a replacement for the actual eyes. That proofed to be the trickiest part up to that point. Because the beads kinda bond with the clay very hard... So yeah, I messed up, I broke out a bit of her eyelids. But that's nothing that can't be fixed!

Now look at her in all her glory, hrh. I am totally in love with her. How about you? :)

 First eye test after removing the first wooden bead.

Final eye test. With a broken eyelid. But whatevaaaa ^^ Love her. <3

But the head is not done yet, of course. I need to thicken the inner layers a bit here and there to give her head more stability, prepare the joins for the neck and ears, and of course, paint her ^^
So, again, stay tuned for the next part!

07 December 2015

Sculpting the head - Part 2 (BJD Blog #06)

 After the eyelids were added, I layered the epicanthal fold on top. This picture also may let you fathom how big her head actually is (a bit bigger as the bluescript head, so I guess she'll become between 70 and 75cm tall in total).

 Added more to the forehead and the core of her new nose. ^^

 More defined nose, a bit asymmetrical, still. Will adjust that later. The clay looks a bit dirty because of the aid lines drawn with (colored) pencils (the clay picked up those pigments here and there).

 Also, more cheek and chin as preparation for adding the mouth.

Now she's drying again. If you look closely, you can see the core structures for her ears and neck (behind her head hrh) :3

Tewti, what a day full of sculpting that was. Hope I'll be able to continue tomorrow ^^ Ha, kìyevame! ;)

06 December 2015

Sculpting the head - Part 1 (BJD Blog #05)

Yeah, here's the progress of scultping the head for ya'll :) Slowly but surely it's assuming a form I'm pleased with. Forgot how much work it is until you get the proportions, symmetry and stuff right, though ^^

I started with a styrofoam egg and drew a basic draft of a face on it, to be able to visualize better what will go where and so on. I stuck a knitting needle and later a triangular rasp into the base of the head where the neck would go, to be able to hold the head better during sculpting. That looked like this:
 (Excuse the poor quality, forgot to take extra pictures of the styrofoam core ^^')

After my clay arrived here I applied some basic layers of it onto the styrofoam core until it looked like a basic shape of a face I could work with later on. Of course I inserted beads where the eyes and joints of the ears would go. For doing so, I cut some of the styrofoam away, so I could insert the beads with a bit of putty.

I let everything dry over night, sanded away some dents and bumps and added more clay to get a more realistic back of the head and skull shape overall. Again, I let it dry over night.

Then it was time to define the face a bit more, because the final size of the face will define the overall size of the skull/back of the head and everything else.
I added eyelids to the beads and then noticed, that the nose was a obstacle rather than of any help, so I removed it and decided to draw aid lines all over the head. This is supposed to help me get the symmetry right, because symmetry is a hard thing to achieve, but it's crucial for sculpting. Also, symmetry = beauty. :)
This stage reminds me a bit of Voldemort, hrh.

While the eyelids are drying, I'm trying to think of a good way to protect the joints and the paint there from abrasion later on. I guess just varnish won't help, so I'll maybe add blue, thin felt to the joints?

Once the eyelids are cured, I'll add the brows, epicanthal fold and pica semilunaris/lacrimal caruncle.
Image source: http://www.isec.my/

Once that is cured, I'll add the nose, then the mouth and afterwards I'll adjust the chin, cheecks, forehead and so on. So, stay tuned for Part 2! :)

04 December 2015

LaDoll Premier Short Review (BJD Blog #04)

Yay! The modelling clay finally arrived at my place today! Well, it arrived here yesterday, in fact, but I wasn't at home, so I had to pick it up from my local post office before going to work this morning ^^'

At work I couldn't wait and opened one of three packs right away, to test the consistency and feel of the clay. It was smoother and lighter than I would have expected, so I was wondering if I could handle it well.

As soon as I got home I started sculpting. The core of the head, to be exact. ^^ Here's what it looks like right now, resting in order to cure properly over night:

I wanted to add just a few layers of clay and let them cure completely before continuing working on it.

I'm not used to such a light and "fluffy" clay, but once you kinda get the hang of it, everything works just fine. You can add water (I use a spray bottle, comes in handy) as much as you like and need it, but if you add too much of it at a time, the clay gets kinda "slimy" and harder to handle.
It kinda gets dry to the touch pretty fast, which can be an advantage, but also a disadvantage.

Advantage, because a little dryer surface allows you to grab and hold the piece you're working on with a little bit more strength, which is nice if you're adding bigger amounts of clay to other parts of your working piece. Also, the kinda fast drying pace allows you to add more clay and finer detail to previous layers (waiting for hours before being able to continue working on an area can be so frustrating, I tell ya).
Disadvantage, because you need to add water every now and then to allow new clay to stick to the dryer surfaces. But that's not a problem at all.

In my experience with different clays it was kind of a problem to let some layers cure and then try to add new clay to it. It either sticks pretty well together or it becomes a weak point, allowing cracks and stuff to form. So yeah, I'll have to see how it's with this clay, but my overall impression is pretty positive.

Unfortunately the text on the packaging is in Japanese, and even if I can say who I am and where I wanna go in Japanese, I couldn't read a bit of it, hrh. Google translate ftw, eh.



TL;DR:

Pros:
Easy to work with, easy to keep it soft and smooth, easy to apply new layers to dried clay; pretty, white finish; easy to fasten up drying at very low temperature in your oven; even dry clay can be softened again with water to some extent. Overall the best clay I've had so far.

Cons:
It's very cold to the touch, which is kinda bad for me since I often have cold hands anyways, hrh; clay sticks a bit too well even to your hands, fingers and tools; adding too much water will get you some kind of slimy muddy goo pretty quickly; needs good sealing after you're done working on it, because it loves water and humidity THAT much; the small amount of paper pulp shows once it's dry (sanding might help).


I can't say anything on sanding and sealing the clay yet, but I got my hopes up :) Next post will be focused more on sculpting! Kìyevame ^.^


Edit on sanding:
Make sure it's completely dry before sanding. Depending on the thickness it may take more than a day to cure.
Sanding is easy, almost too easy, so be careful and test it out before you apply more force. And wear a good filter mask, lol, you don't wanna inhale the dust. I'm sure it's not toxic, but I bet it's not too healthy, either. ^^
The paper pulp shows more during sanding, so use finer grain and seal with a good varnish when you're all done with sanding, painting, whatever.

29 November 2015

Making BJD eyes (BJD Blog #03)

The modelling clay didn't arrive here yet - still. Right now I wonder if it will arrive here at all, hrh... ~.~
I spilled half of the pastel powders, 'cause I'm being the usual clumsy clutz that I am. Anyways...


The eyes are almost all done!

I made a pair of eyes with more or less normal sized pupils and a pair with huge ones, lol. Like nighttime huge. That's because the pupils I bought turned out to be somewhat too big for the iris', but I guess it works anyhow...


Here's the progress for y'all:

I used Fimo Soft white, because of the lack of proper modelling clay. Fimo or any polymer clay tends to attract a lot of dust and fiber, though, as you will see in the following pictures...

I made more eyeballs than I would need, because making a ball, sticking a bead into this ball for creating the iris, tends to make uneven eyeballs. By making more eyeballs than needed, I had more candidates to be somewhat near to perfect round shape.
First I made the eye "core" that looked somewhat like this:
(I forgot to take a picture of those cores, so I hope this drawing will show you what I mean)

After the core was done, I added some more Fimo, to make the ends of the eyeballs kinda coned. This will help inserting and adjusting the line of sight later on when you put the eyes into the eye sockets of the head. After the coned eyeballs where shaped and baked, I started sanding them the 1st time, in order to make them and the transition from core to cone smooth and even:

Then I started painting the iris. For this I started with a light coat of acrylics, some yellow, white, brown. I added the first layer of shiny yellow and highlight pastel powder and sealed everything with a layer of matte varnish. I let every layer of paint and varnish dry properly, to avoid the paint or varnish to blister. 

After they were all clean and dry, I started using colored pencils. I added more yellow to the iris, making small lines to imitate the structure of the iris, a tint of orange and green, also some light brown. I added light and darker brown to the edge of the iris to make it darker and to give it somewhat of a frame. I again added yellow and highlight glow pastel powder and again sealed everything with matte varnish. Again I added another layer of shiny highlight pastel powder, because it wasn't shiny enough yet, at least for my taste, hrh.
Then I inserted the pupils. First I tested how they look like, removed then again and then glued them to the center of the iris, adjusting their exact position gently with a tooth pick.

I know, I know... the big pupils look like someone's smoked too much of a certain weed, hrh.
For the smaller pupils I split 2 red plastic beads I had at home and painted the best 2 halves with black nail polish (hrh). After they were all dry I also insterted them into the iris using glue and a tooth pick.
After I made sure the glue was all dry, I cleaned the pupils and white edges of the eyeballs with a cotton bud/swab and some alcohol (99% isopropyl alcohol) to remove excess pastel powder and dust.

Then, the tricky part followed. It was my first time working with resin, so forgive the not perfect results, I'm still working on it xD
I mixed the resin and hardener as instructed, but I couldn't keep the mixture from having some air bubbles in it. I tried my best to remove them by using a straw and a lighter, but unfortunately I couldn't remove all of them. Well, for my first attempt, it's not the worst result, so I'm kinda happy with it anyhow.
Well, yeah, I mixed the resin, let it set a bit, removed the bubbles and then gently added drop after drop into the iris using a tooth pick (wow, much handy, very tooth picks). But the resin wasn't thick enough (should've let set it a bit longer), so it kinda flowed over the edge of the iris and the intended eye dome turned out to be flat. Ke sunu oer. It took the resin about 36 hours to cure.
Using sanding paper again, I tried to create a more roundish shape.

Since I'm not satisfied with the flat dome, I tried to think of a way to create said dome to the eyes. I want the dome (cornea) to be more round, more prominent, so I now try to achieve this the following way:
I added more (uncured and hence still soft) Fimo by making a little strand by rolling a small ball of Fimo and put it around the iris, to get kind of a mold for the dome.
Then I mixed a bit of resin again and added it to the iris/mold using a tooth pick. Now they're still curing: 
(This pic was taken before removing the air bubbles several times with a lighter... It takes some time for all of the air bubbles to come towards the surface ^^)

Once they are fully cured, I want to sand the cornea to a nice and round dome (starting with coarse grained sanding paper and ending with fine grain).
This sanding will make the resin look dull, but I will make them all nice and shiny again by sealing everything with a layer of high gloss varnish.

I hope they'll be cured by tomorrow evening, since I added a little bit more of the hardener this time. I can't wait to finish these eyes, because they're already starting to be a little pain in the ass hrhn :D
All in all it will prolly take me 2 or 3 more days to finish them T_T

So yeah, that's it for making the eyes of my BJD. I'll add more pics here to this post after they're done (I didn't want to wait until then with posting the progress hrh).


Update: So, I let them cure overnight, removed the Fimo mold and did a very rough touch up of the "sharp" edges with sanding paper.

The resin was not fully hard, so I put them in the oven for 1/2 hour at 50°C (122°F) to fasten up the final curing a bit. Warmth will speed up the chemical reaction and since the resin layer was not very thick, it needs more time to cure (the more resin and the warmer the surrounding temperature, the faster it cures).
More sanding is the next step to give them a nice round dome.

Getting there...

Final shape... that's more like it, eh?

A bit of polishing and evening out the sanding paper scratches...

And finally adding 2 - 3 layers of high gloss varnish to them. Finally done! :)

They're far from perfect, but I think for my first try of making BJD eyes, they turned out not so bad at all. I'm quite happy with them and I'm sure they'll be of good use... Maybe, if I feel like it, I'll make some more eyes and using the stuff I learned in the progress of making the first pairs of eyes.

Until then... I'm still waiting for my modelling clay, hrh, and once it arrives here, I'll finally get my hands on sculpting the head. So, as always, stay tuned! >:)