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[eph]

In the Media gallery there is a making-of now.
This time I try to turn a Pullip ball-jointed-doll into our dear Nareen Demetri.
I make pictures of everything I do and you can watch as the work progresses.
The story of this project: Some years ago I was contacted by a tiny company who offered to make painted plastic statues of my comic characters (action figures, basically). They showed me samples of what they did for other webcomics and their work was stunning. Alas I couldn't afford to pay for the minimum run (30 pieces, if I remember correctly) and didn't have enough readers for a realistic chance to sell them all. (I couldn't even get a dozen people interested in a calendar, so how to get 30 people to buy a more costly doll.) So I passed on the offer, but I always wished I had a doll of at least one Seeker.
When I started collecting Pullips I decided to try and make myself one.

The making-of is in the gallery because this way I can post the pictures just once and write explanations and reports for both the German and the English board.

(Btw, since this is a brand new picture album: Once this doll project is done there might be another making-of. I plan to post stuff about how a comic page is made, how I make colour artwork, how other real-life Seekers things are made etc. To keep things tidy there will only be one making-of in progress at all times though, so that the pictures can be viewed in the right order.)

I will keep you updated on new entries in this thread, and feel free to post comments about the project here!

This is where the making-of starts:

Details

(Click the thumbnail, then "details" to jump to the album. The detail page has all the text with medium-sized pictures and the pictures can be clicked to view them in full size.)

[mimee]

Ephie! Good luck with your project. I'm cheering for you all the way.

[eph]

Thank you, I need all the good luck I can get. ^^

Today the adventure continued:

Details

I'm really, really, REALLY peeved at the weather. Today it was like 5pm all day long, and it wasn't any better in the last days and the next days will be the same. All pictures I take are either blurred, black or totally dull and I apologize in advance for the bad pictures in today's making-of episode.
My whole Pullip gallery looks like poo too thanks to this.

Apart from that I'm quite relieved that I managed to paint this doll head without ruining it completely.

EDIT:
There's more new pictures now, as I also finished Nareen's body this evening.

[eph]

Nareen makes good progess. Today's report starts here:

Details

Since I have the feeling that I only bore you guys here's the status quo if you just want to see today's results:

Details

(For the record in case someone doesn't read the comments beneath the pic: That isn't Nareen's wig, just a substitute to get a better impression.)

[eph]

This seems to be a truly boring topic. Maybe making-ofs wasn't a good idea after all. Sorry. : /

Nareen's wig arrived today. But something's not right:

Details

Granted, Nareen has a lot of hair. But this is a tad bit too much.
I got in contact with the vendor and asked how to remedy this. It's my first custom wig and I don't want to ruin it with experiments.

[Darkest_Secret]

Poor Nareen's gone blind. :/  I take it the bangs weren't supposed to be that long?  Or is it the way it sits on her head?

I don't think it's a boring topic, eph.  I think people just don't comment very often. *is bad at this herself sometimes*

[Lirael]

It's not boring at all eph. I've been keeping up to date with the photo gallery. I'm sorry I haven't been commenting.

So far I think you've done a wonderful job!

[eph]

I think the gallery doesn't count all views then, as most pictures still show 1 count after some days. Maybe it only counts the full size views...
So glad that it's a bit interesting after all.

Anyway, yes the bangs are very long but the real problem is that the wig cap seems kinda large. Maybe I should put some foam on the back of her head to pad it up. It still looks nice when styled although I can't go with the high ponytail Nareen often has. The wig is a bit too bald in the back for that. Looks great with a regular ponytail though. Or maybe I'll go with a braid.
(Btw, this custom wig has an elastic wig cap and sits way tighter than the original wigs + velcro. I was able to style it several times without any glue and it didn't come off.)

It seems I have to disassemble Nareen again though. She's becoming a true bobble head due to the movable neck and the very heavy head. Luckily Gwen from Requiem Art has a video tutorial for fixing that but it involves opening the body to insert foam. So the head must be removed again.

Nareen's clothes are done by now though. I finished the top and the belt and everything will go in a colour fasting bath today. Afterwards it's just accessoires missing, like the earrings. I think I'll give her a little bag around the waist too, and of course she needs a hairband and maybe the little tiara from the arena chapters.
Pictures coming up once I fixed her body.

EDIT: Okay, so I completely disassembled her again to look at the floppy neck. The tutorial was for a different problem, but I think I was able to modify my neck accordingly. It seems sturdier now.
One thing I noticed with growing worries is that other parts of Nareen are becoming more and more sticky now. Her temples and chin are sticky, as are her shoulders. Black fuzz starts to stick to there.
I really must check the art store for a brush-on sealant before Nareen is ruined. It seems this varnish doesn't do well on a doll at all. Darn, and it worked so well on my artwork, tin miniatures and terrain stuff (even polystyrene!).

[eph]

Right back from the art store. I quickly grabbed the only competent shop assistant they have and she totally paled when she heard about my spray can adventures. Turned out one of her former colleagues collected "those Asian dolls from the internet" years back and on their forums they always talked about varnish/sealant.
The problem was the propellant, it destroys the doll plastic.
She sold me another acryl varnish but this time it's brush-on and water based. So I'm gonna sandpaper Nareen's body now... I'll only sandpaper those parts of the face that aren't painted (only those are sticky so far, luckily). I'll just have to hope that the face will be saved then because I don't want to sandpaper it away completely.

[Lirael]

I conversed with my mum! It's not Mr. Super Clear she uses, it's Testor's Dulcote. (Sorry, I don't know the proper spelling!)

[eph]

Mine is called Hobby Line. Let's see how good it is... I better try on the shanks first.
At least it's saliva resistant. How important, now I can drool on my doll without any worries! 

[Lirael]

Hahah! Nice! XD I hope it works out! =)

[mimee]

Saliva resistant? What? xD
Ephiee~~ Making-of threads are not boring at all. Don't worry about it!

Nareen is looking pretty good so far.

[Darkest_Secret]

It's what? *gigglefit*  I thought it was my job to drool over the Nareen doll!   Well, I guess it's good to be prepared for anything, but still.  At least now you know what the problem was! *crosses fingers*

[eph]

I spent the last few hours sandpapering body parts and the shanks, head and parts of the arms are sealed already. The new varnish is shinier but it doesn't stick so far. Gets off easier though, so I must be a bit careful. Nareen's face shines like Nahh-Ato now. Sad, but this IS the matt varnish already and I don't dare to put yet another sealant on.

Tomorrow I'm gonna repaint the tattoos. (They are almost completely gone now.) And then brush the varnish on those body parts and assemble her back again.
Her earrings will be dry in the morning too.
Then it's hair cutting time! CoolCat told me to just drag the wig all the way to the back and cut off the rest. Well... doh. It is all the way in the back already. Maybe I'll glue some foam to her scalp.

Almost done. She will get a small waist bag because the original outfit is a little bland on a doll. And I decided on a braid instead of a ponytail.
I'm sure there will be more pictures up tomorrow evening!