a rare doll of my own oc, because veryl is an uncharacteristically flashy oc.

he's the character i played on my first round of dragon age veilguard, though his personality didn't really end up working with the dialogue options of rook. i can, however, headcanon.

i sculpted him from screenshot references & didn't use any actual game models. the tattoos are almost directly from the game with small modifications, while the outfit is my own design, with a silhouette based on the lords of fortune casual outfit.

made a doll of my partner's oc again! this is actually based on a monster high custom they made, so there are some lagoona vibes in the face sculpt, and the anatomy is also leaning in that direction, though less spindly. i designed her demon arm & the outfit, and the character & her original design belong to @posnakkel.

i've been asked this a few times, so here's a blanket permission: my doll designs are free real estate to use in personal tabletop games. do link my blog to your players if they seem interested in the creatures they meet.

[i feel like i'm underutilizing them myself; my current campaign is set in the feywild, and i've used like 1,5 dolls in it, when i could just plop a new creature on the table every time the party meets an npc. my next campaign is going to be a somewhat grimdark space affair, but maybe i'll find a place to sneak some dolls in.]

a while ago, partner & i went stick hunting for various projects and found a somewhat dragonish pine branch -> Stick Dragon Time!

all bark, sticks and lichen are natural materials, mostly unaltered except for some light drybrushing. the head and legs are 3d printed, and painted to match the wood. the whole noodle is about 1,5 meters long, and will reside on the living room wall. making this was the most fun i've had with a project in some time; there is a healing power to sitting on the bathroom floor for hours glueing scraps of wood together.

throwback monday, because i snapped a few photos of an old mh custom, made around three years ago. this one is a combination of an abbey head, a venus body, and a jellyfish toy i bought from a second-hand seller at a convention. i also picked up a random cheap anime figurine just to get the sword. the clothes are a mix of repurposed monster high and selfmade.

i've been making a lot of cute little creachers lately, so i wanted to sculpt something more mature & intricate. i was going to print this one in blue & green, but at the last moment my brain went "print the whole thing in beige and paint it pastel, trust me bro" and i think it was a good call. she is lacking back flippers because i just genuinely forgot about them, and didn't want to print an entire new shell and let this one go to waste. if i make more as commissions or such, i'll add the back pair.

also, i actually got some natural light to take pictures in, and oh. right. photography doesn't need to be a struggle when the sun cooperates.

little orchid.

my partner got this lego orchid as a yule gift from their mother, and the shape of the flowers inspired me to sculpt a tiny robot.

hey & thanks!

the ornaments are 3d prints, but there's no reason one couldn't achieve the same result with clay. after printing, i primed them with a couple of layers of wood glue, which is the ultimate lazy primer because it's somewhat self-leveling and easy to apply. this probably wouldn't be necessary with clay, since i mostly did it to cover up layer lines. after priming i painted the ornaments & used some stickers for patterns. the final touch was two layers of acrylic 3d varnish. it is thicker than regular varnish, and self-leveling, so it's pretty easy to use for a ceramic-like surface.

some friends have a few of my dolls on display in their craft room and i love how they have been dressed & styled. it's cool to see another person building on top of my work. all clothes are made by my friend.

unfortunately i haven't used any guides, so there's nothing i can recommend.

BUT here is a very rudimentary post i've made about stringing dolls, and this one talks a little bit about joints. i'm happy to elaborate on both topics if you have specific questions.

if you have access to a 3d printer, you could also download some free bjd models from thingiverse, print them, and examine the joints. it's also good practice for evaluating what works and what doesn't, because some models are pretty good and others extremely janky.

i'm gonna say something sappy and self-congratulary, but it comes from the heart.

sharing art on tumblr this past year-and-a-little-more has been super rewarding and fun. before this, i created for years without putting most of it online, so it's nice to know my motivation for art is entirely internal; i would make it even if nobody saw.

but also, posting genuinely gives me a sense of purpose. because people keep tagging and sharing the fact that they've been inspired, or started projects of their own. my art doesn't have a profound, penetrating message; it is pretty trinkets. but it makes me happy that the pretty trinkets can still improve lives by inspiring people to have fun with making pretty trinkets of their own. so that is why i love posting my stuff.

2024 Tumblr Top 10

1. 13 454 notes - Aug 20 2024

2. 11 918 notes - Dec 23 2024

3. 4 026 notes - May 27 2024

4. 3 543 notes - Oct 14 2024

5. 3 048 notes - Nov 15 2024

6. 2 460 notes - Sep 24 2024

7. 1 426 notes - Jul 16 2024

8. 1 026 notes - Jul 12 2024

9. 850 notes - May 23 2024

10. 849 notes - Apr 6 2024

saw a couple of these on my dash & had to try. thanks y’all for the notes this year, and an extra shoutout to every tag that was either “i want to be this” or “i want to fuck this”. i know a doll is good when it has one of each.

happy new year!

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i have, but there are a couple of problems stopping me. the biggest issue is light. i'm very sensitive to bright lights, and i don't think i could work in a space well-lit enough to get good video footage. my workflow is also not really video-friendly; i have multiple projects running concurrently, and sometimes leave a project resting for anything between days and years when the vibes aren't right. this means my desk is always completely cluttered. i tend to clear a small area in the middle to squeeze my current task in there, and then six minutes later i switch to working on something else. trying to sanitize/organize my process to look half-decent on video would be enough effort & planning to distract me from just having fun with creating, and at that point the reason for doing art at all gets lost.

and yet, sometimes i look at craft youtubers with longing.

and now for something completely different.

this one is two old projects mashed together. i originally made the ruby pool bust stand a few years ago for a different head, and this head was supposed to be a part of a 1/3 doll of my oc. neither project ended up happening, but that is actually good; these pieces work much better together. this project predates me learning to sculpt digitally, so for now, it's a complete one of a kind, made of worbla, air-dry clay and some sticks. i would love to digitize the head & do something more with it, though.

i don't think there's a maximum; where there's a will, there's a way. anatomy alterations might be required if you need a lot of wings, but that's the fun of it when making unusual dolls. i'm currently working on a doll with a long body and 5-10 pairs of wings, depending on what ends up looking good.

some things to consider might be: