I've been working on Tama-Doll [lovingly named] for a few months now! I've done a lot of work on them, so here's a little chronicle of it!
The doll is a PicoNeemo! Suprisingly, I didn't find much in terms of things on these dolls, at least on the English-speaking
web. Which, honestly it's a bit of a shame because for dolls, these are a decent size, 1/6 I believe, and in USD they totalled
about 30$-35$, not including shipping and proxy fees. Granted, they don't have the most amazing poseability, but they're definitely
not bad, and especially for someone like me who wants to make their OCs in doll form. [PicoNeemos do come in other sizes,
the Chihiro doll WIPs were also PicoNeemo, I believe 1/12 but I don't want to go back and look now lol]
Anyway, because of the lack of information, and being someone who doesn't really know much about dolls and textures, I couldn't
figure out what exactly they were made out of. Some type of plastic, it feels, but I'm no expert. Anyway, my first attempt
was trying to print out eyes, glue them on and paint them. I don't have a color printer, and this method... had some shaky results.
Akiko, the other doll I'm making with the same type of doll, just slightly different base, still has hers on months later. I don't
know if I'm keeping it though.
I didn't think the printed and painted faces worked well for Tama, so I took them off and straight painted on the doll, sealing it
with some mod podge. However, this is not the final face either, and I'll get into that in a second.
Next was the hair! Luckily for me, this was not my first time making a doll wigcap and hair. I used the method of yarn for the hair,
which includes brushing it out with a dog-brush, flat ironing it and making it into wefts. The hair that comes from this is soft and
for me, feels a lot easier to use than synthetic hair. I made the wig cap by covering the head with plastic wrap, putting fabric
ontop, securing it with rubber bands and mod podging it to hell and back until it was hardened. I put the finished wefts on in
a circular patterns, mimicking a real hair line. The wefts were also glued on with mod podge. I kind of forgot to take pictures between the steps, but I will if I can remember for Akiko. However, her wig cap is already done-- but this is stuff I learned from YouTube, so theres tutorials out there!
I cut Tama-Doll's hair with scissors-- first normal ones and then hair cutting scissors. However, the issue came when I was cutting it
shorter and shorter... Which is... The extra hair bits stuck to their face, presumeably due to the mod podge. It also had an unpleasant
slight stickiness-- not horrible, but like used tape -- which was not ideal. This led me to having to completely remove their face through
various rounds of water and soap. It was not a pleasant experience, and I don't suggest doing that method to anyone.
Their current face is watercolor pencils. I think it works well, and the hair does not stick to it. This seems like the best method I've
found for their face. It's not sealed by anything at the moment.
This is when their hair was finished! I used an oil-based mist to help shape their hair-- sadly it got a bit messed up when I dressed them.
I made sure when I cut their hair to leave an under-layer for their braid. I bought extra small rubber-bands to keep it in place after
I braided it.
Right now, I'm planning to get them some pants and shoes-- ironically, shoes are coming first.
It'll be my first attempt at shoes too! For their sweater, I did a basice trace of their body and sewed two pieces together. It's a little
oversized, so I might cut it back a bit. I want to add velcro to the back, because taking off their head from their body messes up their
hair, and it's a pain to style properly, especially their bangs. But, this is currently how they sit...! I'm very happy!
4:08pm .. .. // 1.20.2023