Let's not be precious now

I just ripped apart one of the moogle arms because I didn't like how it was laying or rather not laying against him. If it bugs me now it'll bug me more later so I might as well do it right. Details matter and if something doesn't lay right, ppl will see it.


I should still be able to start the molding process Friday or Saturday though.

Moogle update

Quick update on the Moog. He's almost done. Just a few tweaks to his sleeve and overall smoothening. Going to get molding and casting supplies with David tomorrow. Yay!



Sleeve/cuff detail but this is...mmm still WIP for the sleeve since you can see it is rough.

First head mod.

I did my first head mod a few days ago but I didn't finish the faceup until today. The bf picked up some nice new brushes for me to do super fine lashes with and I am astounded at the difference they make. As for the work, I'm pretty happy with the mod but I've found I pretty much suck at faceups on larger heads. Too tired to snap any good photos but here's a quick flash photo to show the details.


These are before and after photos. The top row is the original sculpt. I didn't like the mouth and the nose of the sculpt. The eyes are not symmetrical but I decided against fixing that just yet. Perhaps if i redo his faceup I will change his left eye to match his right. The most noticeable change is that he has teeth now. In the original sculpt, his upper lip was super thick in a weird way with a lot of extra room going back into the mouth so I just carved some teeth out of it. As you can see, the teeth aren't super noticeable from the front. I also trimmed down his super wide nose bridge to create a puggier nose and widened his nostrils a bit toward the septum to minimize the snoutish aspect of his schnozz. In the original the nostrils were set far too wide to look natural.



Not my best work and he's quite uneven. I do like his eyes but his lashes are not as precise as I would like them to be. I think I should be able to get better at this. The eyebrows and lips aren't any good either. Overall he's acceptable but nothing to be excited about. Oh, he's supposed to be a fawn but I need to make his antler nubs. He kind of looks more like a cat right now....

EDIT: Added better photos after I made some small changes to balance him out a bit.

Moogling update plus some Doll news

Brrrrr. It's bitterly cold these days and my space heater is on full blast cause that's the only way it stays warm in the basement. Slick (my cat) has learned to open the windows all by herself this past September. For the longest time I was really mad that some unknown busybody was opening my window. Once she figured out I was okay with her opening the window she stopped hiding her new found skill from me. Unfortunately, even though she knows not to open the window at night, she opens the window at first light so I end up waking to a freezing basement. So.....that window is locked for the winter.

Well, we all know no one wants to hear about my cat issues so lets get on with it. Montblanc isn't finished yet but he has a nice lacy collar now. I'm also working on his hands but they aren't quite done yet. After that it's just his sleeves, his lacy cuffs and the finishing touches. His hair is all done as are the wings and the body and for the most part his head. So here goes. Click on the pics for a closer look.

The illustration doesnt show the lace very well so I ended up just making it up. I like how it looks but there needs to be some very very minute touch ups. The images may look a little confusing but I hope you guys can see the details. Oh, and I measured him. From tip to tip, toes to ears he is five inches. My friend thought he was smaller but I was right! He looks smaller because a lot of his height is from his ears.

In other news, I am currently obsessed with dolls. I want to make em but I have a bunch of ideas for garage kits to do first. My next sculpt will be Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion. It seems most ppl like them in 1/6 scale with Endymion in armor. I have big plans for these guys and I promise more detailed WIP updates even if things look bad in between.

Oh, and this is Peyton. She's my first BJD. I got her months ago but I didn't take her out and do her face-up and body blushing till about a week ago. She is currently eyeless but I like how she turned out even if she isn't an official sculpt. She is the free Happy sized head (1/4) that came with the New Happy Sized Girl Body from Doll In Mind (D.I.M.).

It's my birthday and I'll Grind if i waaaant to.*

You know someone loves you when they figure out something you've been wanting and needing before you even realized you wanted or needed it. I got a Flexible (Flex) Shaft from el Capitan for my birthday!...Now now, settle down. It sounds dirty but it's probably one of the more geeky presents out there. For those who don't know a Foredom Flex Shaft is basically like a Dremel but more powerful (more horsepower) and maneuverable (less weight on your hand). It has higher and lower RPM capabilities and a foot pedal controller that works much like those on a sewing a machine. I've actually never used a Dremel, but I have used a flex shaft so to be honest, I don't know from experience that a flex shaft is better than a Dremel or other similar tools. From what I've heard though, a Dremel can be fairly similar to a flex shaft if you get the flex shaft attachment and a foot pedal if you are working on small items. Once you move to bigger sculpts a Dremel won't do.

Here's a pic of my new baby! I haven't opened him up yet. I'm going to have to set up a space and make sure he doesn't get ruined.

My other present is TA-DA! Mini food jellies. My friend got them for me because my first initial is W. Pretty cute. I also have a terrible sweet tooth and yes I did eat them.

Yes, I was pretty excited about both presents. I get excited easily but I was blown away by the flex shaft. The project I'll be popping my Foredom's cherry on is a scratchbuild of Montblanc. He is about 1/7th to 1/6th scale. I don't know the actual height so I'm guessing since the game shows them to be about thigh height. I've only played a FFVIII and Chrono Trigger so I chose the character because I liked the design. He's a simple shape but there is a lot of nuance. The bunny ears were a big plus because I wanted to try making animal ears. Here are some WIP shots.

It's taking a while to work on him because I have a lot of interruptions and because I haven't sculpted in five years. This is also my first project sculpting in pieces and my second project using Magic Sculpt.  I don't have a lot of experience sculpting but I am familiar with Sculpey. My friend David (a sculptor but we have very different styles and he has also never used Magic Sculpt) and I both agree that if I had made him out of Sculpey I would have finished him in a snap. I would also have made him as one piece but I approached this as a learning experience. I almost swore off Magic Sculpt after my first project for my Halloween costume and that was something very simple. (I made hooves for myself)

When he is done, I will be casting him. It will be my third time casting since I made very simple casts a long time ago. Hopefully I can get some good results! Please stay tuned for his progress. I will also posts pics in the near future of my previous sculpts and casts. The casts are really simple so it's just to show I'm just learning along with everyone else.

* Grinding refers to grinding a sculpture with a tool to either add detail or smooth out and area etc.....Though it can also refer to other things......  >:)