Making A Ball Joint Doll - Part 2 first layer of clay

I've got to say I'm really getting into this :)
My paperclay came in the mail yesterday (just brought mine off ebay) so today I did my first layer of clay.
To make things easy for myself and to protect my plans Ive got a piece of glass as my work top (just took mine from a cheap second hand frame). Now there's really not much to this step, its just a matter of covering the core with a thin layer of paperclay. There's no need to be fussy with this step as you can easily add and subtract from it once its dry. Also holes for the joints can easily be carved out later so don't worry about leaving openings. Then its just a matter of waiting for the clay to dry.

If you need a bit more guidance I found this video very helpful.

Making A Ball Joint Doll - Part 1 drawing up my plan and making the core

So Ive started working on my ball joint doll. Above is my 1:1 scale plan. For my first doll I'm not trying to follow standard BJD sizes, Bella Flora will be 25.5 cm (not including the antlers, not sure if ill put them on yet).
On my plan Ive penciled in the core sections(areas that need to be hollow). There are a couple of methods Ive seen for creation the core and Ive decided to combine 3.

For the head I'm using a 40mm styrofoam ball that Ive trimmed back to fit better. Its important to check both the front and side view.

For the body cavity I made a template from tissue paper and cut out 2 front and 2 side from a cereal box. Then used sticky tape to connect the pieces and create a box.
For the template I highly recomend making the front panel symmetrical to reduce twisting.

For the top and bottom i just covered them with tape and added a piece of thin straw to create the neck.

Ive been collecting various sized straws for the arms and legs. Im using thin bendy straws for the arms and medium straws for the legs.

So now Ive got my very strange looking skeleton and I cant wait to get started on the sculpting.

If you have any questions I'd be more than happy to answer them.
Here is an great youtube video that helped me out a lot.

My Little Garden

I know I've been in my new place for months now but I'm still in love with it. Michael and I are very happy here. And I'm even more in love with our place now that I've started up my little garden. We only live in a an apartment so we don't have a yard or anything but we have a nice little balcony for two. I've brought some pretty white pots from Ikea and a wooden planter, I'm growing some sweet little white flowers, lavender, strawberries, tomato and lettuce. It's the beginning of spring here and all my plants are looking happy and healthy, my strawberries have started to flower and I've got some little tomatoes on the way. For this being my first attempt at a garden I'm quite pleased with how things are going.

Ball Jointed Dolls

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I love ball jointed dolls!

For those who dont know a ball jointed doll or BJD is a doll that has ball and socket joints which allows for movement very similar to a person. Their bodies are hollow and are connected with elastic. They can vary quite a bit, some are very realistic others more stylized, the number, location and design of joins also varies.

I came across these beautiful creations a couple of years ago and have dreamt of possessing one ever since. But unfortunately they are not exactly a cheap item to collect. These last few weeks I have been doing a lot of research into them and the process of creating one. Its not an easy task, the process is very time consuming but all those i have come across say that it is an enjoyable and rewarding journey. So I have decided I am going to give it a go. I know I'm crazy but I enjoy setting myself a challenge.

At the moment I'm still rounding up all my supplies but when I get started I'm going to try my best to document my progress and maybe create some tutorials to add to the info that's out there (this is assuming it turns out half decent). Because there isn't heaps of info out there and even less that's in English.

Wish me luck : )

Pretty New Pen

I brought myself a pretty new pen and it arrived in the mail today. Its a Kaweco fountain pen. Lovely white body (i had trouble deciding between the white and clear), nice fine nib and super smooth ink flow. I love this pen. I even got some pretty inks to go with it- aubergine, sepia and black.