Projects: In Progess or Ideas? What'choo Workin' On?

[Jobee]

Richila, that costume is adorable!. I'm a huge old school Star Trek fan.

Iwa_Hoshi, they are such a lovely couple, I can't wait to see a photoshoot.

[richila]

Richila, that costume is adorable!. I'm a huge old school Star Trek fan.

Iwa_Hoshi, they are such a lovely couple, I can't wait to see a photoshoot.

Thank you Jobee!
Iwa Hoshi, that bodice is gorgeous! It frames her so beautifully.

[Iwa_Hoshi]

Richila & Jobee

Thanks. I kinda pinch and roll in the center part of straight bodice to get that curved effect. Seem to work well enough after stitching it tight. Now i need to fix the back of the skirt.

[Ruva]

I'm trying to make dress forms for my dolls and hopefully, if succesfull, develope an easy to follow tutorial for anyone else that wants to do the same. I know there's tutorials out there for easy tape dress forms, but I want something better. Not that tape forms aren't a perfectly viable option, but they tend to be inaccurate, and the glue on the tape is terrible for pins.

I recently found a tutorial for making a human size dress form out of expanding foam (aka polyurethane foam). I want to see if I can scale that down to doll size.

The first problem I've run into is making a mold of the doll body. The human tutorial says to use medical grade plaster which would be fine on human skin. But I don't know how resin would react. So I tried spraying the body with Pam and making a shell out of air dry clay. That didn't turn out so well. The clay cracked and fell apart into little pieces when I took it off. Even if it hadn't I could tell it wouldn't have been strong enough for the expanding foam.

Anyone have any ideas? Otherwise I'm going to go ahead with some regular craft plaster then medical if that doesn't work. I'll try it on my Magical Angel doll. That body is pretty affordable (but really solid and a great poser).

[DollyKim]

Wrap the body in plastic wrap then use plaster bandages, Rigid wrap is a brand name. When you get them wet the plaster activates then hardens. I just can't think off the top of my head how you'd get them off. Or use white oil based/modeling clay to make parts of the mold then fill with plaster.

[SetsunaKou]

I'm trying to make dress forms for my dolls and hopefully, if succesfull, develope an easy to follow tutorial for anyone else that wants to do the same. I know there's tutorials out there for easy tape dress forms, but I want something better. Not that tape forms aren't a perfectly viable option, but they tend to be inaccurate, and the glue on the tape is terrible for pins.

I recently found a tutorial for making a human size dress form out of expanding foam (aka polyurethane foam). I want to see if I can scale that down to doll size.

The first problem I've run into is making a mold of the doll body. The human tutorial says to use medical grade plaster which would be fine on human skin. But I don't know how resin would react. So I tried spraying the body with Pam and making a shell out of air dry clay. That didn't turn out so well. The clay cracked and fell apart into little pieces when I took it off. Even if it hadn't I could tell it wouldn't have been strong enough for the expanding foam.

Anyone have any ideas? Otherwise I'm going to go ahead with some regular craft plaster then medical if that doesn't work. I'll try it on my Magical Angel doll. That body is pretty affordable (but really solid and a great poser).

Try a silicone putty mold like Alley Goop or Alumilite Amazing Mold Putty. They work amazingly well for putty silicone---especially the Alley Goop.

Alumilite's version is decent,too, but Alley Goop is better----however, the price is almost 3 to 1 ratio (Alley Goop $37 to Alumilite's '$12)

I use both for different projects and can honestly say I rebought both, too.

Alley Goop conforms to the original master piece better and holds on while it dries. Alumilite slightly pushes away from the piece edges, but if you're not making a symmetrical 'circle' or something that needs to be absolutely perfect like the original, then the Alumilite will do the trick. (It will be near perfect but maybe some weird edges due to the compound's penchant for 'pushing off' the original at the edges.)


Anyway, once the putty dries (3 mins for Alumilite; 7 mins for Alley Goop) just pull off and fill with resin or plaster of paris or anything.

The best and most economical molding compound for small projects is Alumilite's Rubber Making Mold-----but this is a bit messy and you'll definitely need to close up any holes so the liquid doesn't pour into them. It's about $18 but it's a pour silicone/rubber so you'll need to make or find a mold box and buy a LOT of the compound to cover your original piece. (Best trick is to make or use a mold box that is JUST exactly the size of your original master piece. That way you don't waste any of the liquid compound.)

All three types are reusable at least 20 times if you are careful with the mold and no spray is needed at all. Anything you put in these, will pop right out!

Since there are a lot of options, I'd start with the Alumilite Amazing Mold Putty and see if that works for the project. You can buy it on Amazon for $12-$13 plus shipping (or free shipping if you spend $35 or more).

Hope it helps!

[ShortNCuddlyAm]

Editing to remove as SetsunaKou got in before me with a far more helpful reply

[Ruva]

Awesome suggestions folks! Thanks very much. I'll try both, the plaster and the pour mold to see how they both work out. Hopefully both work, everyone likes multiple choice right? I'll report my progress here on the forum. I don't know if I should stick to this thread or make a new one under the tutorial section...

[Vetinari]

Oh no! I hate that the gates/seams are such a mess. Post pics? I think Vince is 1:4 scale, right?

Argh! Sorry totally missed this I'll try and get some photos up soonish - there are still some parts that I haven't started on, since I keep picking up pieces and doing them and stopping when my hands get sore!

Yea Vince is 1/4 scale. Argh I mean I get that this is basically a no thrills kit that I've bought; I expected heavy seams - but the gate gouges annoy me quite a bit! Overall he's been wonderfully cast; the placing of the seamlines on the hands implies some wonderful mould-work and to be honest if you don't mind seamlines they aren't horribly bad at all; you could probably get away with just stringing him together - but since this is the 1st doll I've had with seams I figured I'd remove them!

[ShortNCuddlyAm]

Currently making tables made out of recycled pallets and oil drums, but doll sized (so coffee stirrers and some small metal tubs that had ink cartridges in, plus glue and washi tape). They're about the right size for Pukipuki and Realpuki to use as tables to sit up to for food (they're nowhere near smart enough to be called a dining table, and patio table seems wrong); or 21-23cm Obitsu (and I suspect therefore also Makies) to use as side tables. The round top one is almost done, the next one is going to have a drum each end and be a longer rectangular one.