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Need help building step by step with doll.

Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 7:03 am
by tucryoga
Hello, everybody I'm new to here nice meet everyone here and excuse for my poor grammer.
I'm still study,learning and figure it out for building my own silicone doll.
Need help "step by step".

1: Create polymer clay for body and head what you like (for example I want to make my favorite "Mihoshi Kuramitsu" from anime or others) .

2:Put alot plaster paper(wet) or alginate mold on polymer clay's front and back. Wait until dry hard then cut side of body's neck to feet and remove plaster paper careful from polymer clay. Head,hands and feet too.

3:Build pvc skeleton from pipe or hose tube.(need help)

4:Put pvc skeleton inside of dry of plaster paper's front and back together tighter.

5:Put non-toxic silicone into hold of dry plaster paper wait for hours.

I guess maybe i'm doing right but i have problem with number 5.

Do i need Gel-10 or Ecoflex® 00-30 from www.smooth-on.com/?!? Or other?

That's why i'm still try find "step by step" of silicone.
Thank you for reading.

Re: Need help building step by step with doll.

Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 8:25 am
by netwit
Welcome to the forum, tucryoga. Sounds like a cool plan; Mihoshi Kuramitsu is a real cutie. :thumbs_up:
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I think this topic may start you off: Mold and cast clay...

The artist used something called "Dragon Skin" from Smooth-On.

Anyway, there's lots more info in this section you're in, so have fun researching.

Re: Need help building step by step with doll.

Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 12:07 pm
by tucryoga
Netwit Thanks for help! Hope in future, I will photo it when i'm working on it.

Re: Need help building step by step with doll.

Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 4:21 am
by Sersi
Honestly, the best advice would be to give up and just save up the money to buy a doll. The necessary skills, material cost, tools, and artistic talent required to make a silicone doll are pretty ridiculous. But since saying that would be very helpful, here goes.

1: Create polymer clay for body and head what you like (for example I want to make my favorite "Mihoshi Kuramitsu" from anime or others) .
Don't use polymer clay it is one of the more expensive clay mediums. The profession clay of choice is Chavant NSP; its a great sculpting medium, holds detail well, and takes textures like a dream. Its also far cheaper in bulk and less perishable, as the solvents in polymer clay evaporates over time . Cheaper still would be water bases clay. Just wrap it in plastic occasionally and mist it with water you can a water clay sculpt soft for years.

You will need an armature to support a clay sculpture of this size. So you'll need some plumber pipe and fittings. For the actual skeleton in the sculpture you can use electrical or copper tubing. You'll also want some small cell insulation foam. A life sized clay sculpture will weigh a good deal more than 100 lbs. You can laminate sheet of foam together to make the rib-cage, pelvis, skull, as well as the upper arms and thighs. Which will save you allot of clay, hours of lay up time, and is cheap to boot.

Both ReynoldAM and Smooth-on sell Chavant clay cheap. I get mine for $5.50 / lb in buy the case. For water clay just Google pottery shops in your area, your can get 50 lbs for around $15. Polymer clay costs like $8-12 / lb.
2:Put alot plaster paper(wet) or alginate mold on polymer clay's front and back. Wait until dry hard then cut side of body's neck to feet and remove plaster paper careful from polymer clay. Head,hands and feet too.
I can see your plaster and alginate mold idea working. Your best bet would be to use fiberglass. Pro manufacturers all use it for a reason. Its strong, lightweight, holds a detail easily, is relatively cheap and can be repaired if damaged. if you have a: alginate, silicone, or urethane mold and screw up you'll need to start over.

Your local library should have books on working with fiberglass.
3:Build pvc skeleton from pipe or hose tube.(need help)
This is probably the easiest part. Just search for cloth+doll in the inventors forum. There are plenty of pictures and descriptions. You can also search the Teddy babes forum their are a few home build skeleton threads there as well.
4:Put pvc skeleton inside of dry of plaster paper's front and back together tighter.
This is probably the hardest part of making a doll. It's not trivial at all. If you do it wrong the skin can be to thin or thick in areas. The limbs won't function correctly and can even break trough the silicone skin. From, what I've seen it appears that most manufactures use small pins or bolts to lock the skeleton in place. Then pour the silicone. Later the pins are removed and small holes are patched. You can see this in some production photos of unfinished Sinthetics and Realdolls.
5:Put non-toxic silicone into hold of dry plaster paper wait for hours.
Your missing some steps here. You'll need to make a foam core for the doll's: rib-cage, pelvis, skull, as well as the upper arms and thighs. This is a good and a bad thing. On one hand you save a ton on expensive silicon rubber, while making the doll lighter and easier to use. On the other hand you'll need a number of separate molds, and the foam to make those cores.

You'll also need 5-8 gallons of silicone for the doll. Assuming you don't screw up and need to start over.

You will also need some expensive equipment to would with silicon rubber. At minimum you'll need a large vacuum chamber and a strong vacuum pump to evacuate the rubber. If you don't the doll will look like Swiss cheese and silicone body will be prone to damage.
I guess maybe i'm doing right but i have problem with number 5.

Do i need Gel-10 or Ecoflex® 00-30 from http://www.smooth-on.com/?!? Or other?

That's why i'm still try find "step by step" of silicone.
Thank you for reading.
Your best bet is to go to Google Reynolds Advance Materials, see if they have a distribution center in your area. They and Smooth-on periodically host seminars on working with silicon.

I should be mentioned that your looking a minimum several thousand dollars to do this the right way. You'll also need space to work and assistance during most of the stages of construction. You might want to re-consider, and buy a cheap/used doll. If not, then start with something small like a head or a quarter torso. Even, Toonist from Private Island Beauties start out small with sex toys before jumping to full blown dolls.

I have a fully sculpted torso, and a quarter torso shelved due to cost. Now, I'm working on a series of cloth doll. Vastly cheaper in terms of material cost; and cloth doll making info is readily and freely available.



Good luck with what ever your decide.

Re: Need help building step by step with doll.

Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 8:06 pm
by pygmalion2
Sersi wrote:Honestly, the best advice would be to give up and just save up the money to buy a doll. The necessary skills, material cost, tools, and artistic talent required to make a silicone doll are pretty ridiculous.

Good luck with what ever your decide.
I would agree with this. You have to be committed long-term with time and money.
I had tried to develop a hand armature back in 2001 and spent about 5K on equipment and parts.
Over the years I have also spent about 3K+ on books/ videos and supplies. I have used 3 types of the chavant NSP clay as well as others. I have tried 5 types of silicone. If you were an experienced sculptor and mold maker I would guestimate about 800 to 1000 hours to the first pour of your doll. If you have to learn things 2000+ hours. My small efforts have made me appreciate the work of the doll makers much much more. The dolls, although not cheap, are a good buy. My two cents,

Mark and the Synthetiks

Re: Need help building step by step with doll.

Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 6:23 am
by LillyAnna
I was just reading this and wanted to add to it although I know the last reply was last year!
Check these video out for example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUykJta7yG0&feature=plcp
Its not as expensive as some people make out!

Re: Need help building step by step with doll.

Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 12:41 pm
by Dude Man
LillyAnna wrote:I was just reading this and wanted to add to it although I know the last reply was last year!
Check these video out for example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUykJta7yG0&feature=plcp
Its not as expensive as some people make out!
If only Abyss would make a video like this :mrgreen:

Re: Need help building step by step with doll.

Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 2:46 pm
by MannequinFan
LillyAnna wrote:I was just reading this and wanted to add to it although I know the last reply was last year!
Check these video out for example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUykJta7yG0&feature=plcp
Its not as expensive as some people make out!
A while back I downloaded all 38 of these videos in FLV format just in case the YouTube site goes away.
I have guide number 4 parts 1 & 2 saved as WMVs with english subtitles. I would be happy to upload them, but I'm not sure what the upload limit is on TDF for videos. The files are about 47 MB each.

Re: Need help building step by step with doll.

Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 5:28 pm
by stratzilla setz
Dude Man wrote:If only Abyss would make a video like this :mrgreen:
there was that super short documentary called Honey Pie which is more like an interview, but they show some stuff like the skeleton of the doll. there's also the amber doll youtube vids which reveal stuff like casting. nothing too detailed but interesting to think about.

Re: Need help building step by step with doll.

Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 2:01 am
by Luka
One thing you may want to look into is contacting or commissioning a person to do a custom head for a pre-existing body. That or trying to do your own custom head for a existing body. It will save you a lot of heartache. Silicone can be contaminated easily by even the clay you use if you don't do your research carefully. I personally don't make dolls but I do work with silicone and resin daily making masks.

Re: Need help building step by step with doll.

Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 11:15 am
by Dude Man
stratzilla setz wrote:
Dude Man wrote:If only Abyss would make a video like this :mrgreen:
there was that super short documentary called Honey Pie which is more like an interview, but they show some stuff like the skeleton of the doll. there's also the amber doll youtube vids which reveal stuff like casting. nothing too detailed but interesting to think about.

Re: Need help building step by step with doll.

Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 1:57 pm
by LovesBlackWomen
See if Abyss is hiring.

Re: Need help building step by step with doll.

Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 1:15 am
by Dude Man
LovesBlackWomen wrote:See if Abyss is hiring.
I would work for free :mrgreen: but i dont live in California :x

Re: Need help building step by step with doll.

Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 4:48 am
by LillyAnna
If anyone in the UK wanted to do a shared venture I would be up for it.

Re: Need help building step by step with doll.

Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2012 4:51 am
by novelleco
Here`s a great way to cut down on clay,weight and cost for an armature: Pile on crumpled tin foil over rebar limbs,trunk and legs and duct tape around the tinfoil.The rebar can be something like #4 which is 1/4 in diameter which is strong yet bendable . Apply clay over the tinfoil. Altough heavy,applying plaster of paris over the tinfoil instead of clay is good too plus you can sculpt that smoother than clay and re-do any mistakes easily.