bjdbaby? Probably not legit, but asking just in case...

[Dirili]

Thanks so much for the support you all!

It really helps knowing that I'm not the only one like this... I tend not to talk about it much because a lot of people really don't understand.

My psychologist is always telling me about these workshops he goes to about "creativity and madness" so maybe this particular sort of psychosis is fairly common amongst artistic types? I just figured modes of depression and mania were common, didn't know that a lot of people went through things so similar to what I go through!

[DollyKim]

Why are we mad? Why can't we be the normal ones? What if this is the next step in the mental evolution of human beings?

[SugarCorpse]

i think it is kind of normal, society is set up in a way that makes ever aspect of living suck in one way or another... its bound to result in people being affected negatively. most people just hide it nd have a better time suppressing things... even the people who look completely happy and seem problem free have some sort of disorder or something. at least all the ones i've met lol

Also, getting back on topic, kind but not really, i'm thinking of trying to make a doll myself soon....but if its really so time and money consuming i'm not really sure if its something i should do. x.x

but i might make one for myself, with out casting it or anything, would it be bad to look at a specific model of a doll and try to make it as similar as possible? or is that also considered stealing? what if someone looks at a model and makes a doll similar but changes some of the details?

[Dirili]

I think you're right that most people suffer some sort of mental illness at least during significant portions of their lives at some point or another. Don't think I've ever known a person not to go through some sort of hard spot in their lives and have a very difficult time dealing with it. Don't know how many of us have a hard time when we're not even in dire circumstances though hehe.

SC, legally you can make whatever you want as long as you're not selling it. If you ARE selling it, you can get away with copying a design fairly close as long as it's different enough in shape that you can tell that it's not an actual recast or a stolen mold or something.

[DollyKim]

Step one if you've never made a doll or a jointed doll before is to just make one to get yourself familiar with the process. Supplies can cost a bit but you'll get what you pay for with some brands. Don't worry about mold making and casting and all that. Don't worry at this point about copying or basing it on anyone or anything. Just ask my Roger, Pete, Sid, and Garak.

Have you sculpted before? Are you more comfortable with polymer clay or air dry? What size are you aiming for? If you want to get serious we can start a doll making Q&A thread.

If you have done it before I haven't got to successful mold making yet :/

[iron_dog]

I'm probably talking out of my ass here, but starting to get the feel for sculpting if you've never done it before might be easiest if you work with actual clay. Or at least I found that to be true as you can drape/cover your WIP with a very damp towel between sessions and it won't dry out on you as long as the towel remains damp/wet.

My experience with sculpting a face was... difficult is probably the most polite phrase I can use. I have prosopamnesia, a type of face-blindness, and that presented me with a very unique challenge with regards to sculpting a bust (this was back in the dark ages for an art class in high school and before I was diagnosed with the disorder). But, I found clay to be a forgiving medium because of it's ability to stay "wet" and malleable between the periods I worked on the bust. As far as I know, regular pottery clay isn't that expensive (or at least it's not where I live) and once you get confident/quicker with sculpting, you could always move onto the airdry or baked clays.

[famedglory]

That's why I prefer sculpting in earth clays or paper clays before I make my molds. If you want the complete final doll without having to make molds and deal with the next steps, I find paper clay to be the easiest to work with with the nicest final presentation.

[SugarCorpse]

i actually took a pottery class in high school! i loved it so much. and i've used air dry clay before, i found it breaks way to easily, and i've worked with plasticine a lot just for fun. i used to sculpt little animals and use them as toys when i was little lol

http://haylzy-heartbroken.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d3dd8ti
thats a dragon i made with air dry clay for art class

http://haylzy-heartbroken.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d2pkjps
and thats a face i made with plasticine back when i had really bad insomnia at 6am after a day of no sleep lol its the size of a quarter

i'm not great but have an idea of how to sculpt things, i've never tried bake able clay though, thats what i wanna try making a doll with though, it seems stronger than air dry clay

[famedglory]

i'm not great but have an idea of how to sculpt things, i've never tried bake able clay though, thats what i wanna try making a doll with though, it seems stronger than air dry clay

It is a lot stronger than the paper clay, but it's harder working with directly. What I've started doing is sculpting the original in an air dry, then making simple flexible molds as a press molds for the sculpey. I used to do the final doll in resin, but I've developed a pretty bad allergy to the casting resin and have found this to be the next best alternative that I can do from home.

[SugarCorpse]

i'm not great but have an idea of how to sculpt things, i've never tried bake able clay though, thats what i wanna try making a doll with though, it seems stronger than air dry clay

It is a lot stronger than the paper clay, but it's harder working with directly. What I've started doing is sculpting the original in an air dry, then making simple flexible molds as a press molds for the sculpey. I used to do the final doll in resin, but I've developed a pretty bad allergy to the casting resin and have found this to be the next best alternative that I can do from home.

o.o oh man thats a good idea! i dont really want to use molds yet though, i might when i get more into it though.

and how is it more difficult?