3/6/11
Working with porcelain has been the most challenging experience to me. This is one of the reasons why I am taking so long to finish this project. I want to be satisfied with my doll and that means a lot, I am a bit too perfectionist... I've lost track of how many test castings I have made, but I know I've failed a lot of times. I felt discouraged sometimes, so tired to see another set of doll parts going to trash. But there is beauty everywhere... porcelain and I have slowly started to get along well, understanding each other and allowing each one of us to go a little deeper in our relationship. ♥
I took this picture because I thought it was beautiful to see the doll parts together while they are drying. Unfortunately these pieces were part of my failure proccess.
So I keep trying, never giving up. Until I can make myself happy.
I took this picture because I thought it was beautiful to see the doll parts together while they are drying. Unfortunately these pieces were part of my failure proccess.
So I keep trying, never giving up. Until I can make myself happy.
I'm sorry I haven't taken many pictures during the proccess of my doll becoming porcelain... there is just so much work that I ended up forgetting all about pictures...
This picture was taken some months ago when I started making the molds. When I started I thought plaster would drive me crazy! But now I wish porcelain was as easy as plaster...
This picture was taken some months ago when I started making the molds. When I started I thought plaster would drive me crazy! But now I wish porcelain was as easy as plaster...
11/7/10
Sometimes I fell I am the slowest person in this world when it comes to art. There were times when it bothered me so much but I can see the good side of it now and it looks like an advantage to me. Although I wish I had already finished this doll in porcelain, I like the fact that I am taking all the steps carefully, planning before each one of them, making tests and learning a lot. Did I mention how much I love learning? I love it so much that I'm afraid I will feel empty when I finish this doll and see there will be nothing else to learn! I will try to find something new to learn - for sure!
This is the first porcelain firing of my bjd prototype. It was only a test firing, it helped me find out that my kiln is overfiring so I have to make some adjustments. I noticed the head warped a little bit due to the high temperature, I believe. But I love the porcelain look already.
It has been a wonderful learning experience.
This is the first porcelain firing of my bjd prototype. It was only a test firing, it helped me find out that my kiln is overfiring so I have to make some adjustments. I noticed the head warped a little bit due to the high temperature, I believe. But I love the porcelain look already.
It has been a wonderful learning experience.
9/1/10
These are the last pictures of my BJD prototype before she becomes a porcelain doll!
More beautiful pictures on flickr!
It has been a truly wonderful experience so far.
I would like to thank you God, first of all, for everything.
Thank you my family for the love and support.
Thank you my friends for being there watching this new project and posting wonderful comments of encouragement and love.
This project would never be possible without all this help. I am blessed.
Now I have a new, challenging road to follow. I will still be counting on you.
More beautiful pictures on flickr!
It has been a truly wonderful experience so far.
I would like to thank you God, first of all, for everything.
Thank you my family for the love and support.
Thank you my friends for being there watching this new project and posting wonderful comments of encouragement and love.
This project would never be possible without all this help. I am blessed.
Now I have a new, challenging road to follow. I will still be counting on you.
8/5/10
What a magical moment to finally find out that TatiDoll stands on her own!!!!!!!!! (more pics on flickr)
I couldn't wait for the moment I would say that and it has finally arrived!
I am really, really happy! =)
But work has not finished yet, besides sanding a lot, there are some little details I want to fix and improve. I am a perfectionist.
You know what? I had this dream that I would finish this doll just before my birthday... My birthday is on Saturday and although she is not totally finished yet I am very proud and I think my dream has come true!
I couldn't wait for the moment I would say that and it has finally arrived!
I am really, really happy! =)
But work has not finished yet, besides sanding a lot, there are some little details I want to fix and improve. I am a perfectionist.
You know what? I had this dream that I would finish this doll just before my birthday... My birthday is on Saturday and although she is not totally finished yet I am very proud and I think my dream has come true!
7/26/10
I have been quiet around here for the past weeks, trying to figure out how to make the difficult elbows and knees joints... I felt a bit discouraged, but didn't give up!
Today I wanted to assemble the top part of her body just to make sure I had the elbows joints right and OMG, I couldn't stop playing with her! =)
I'm so in love.... it's almost hard to believe I made her with my own hands... thank you God!
she is very rough yet, lots of sanding to come...
more pics on flickr.
Today I wanted to assemble the top part of her body just to make sure I had the elbows joints right and OMG, I couldn't stop playing with her! =)
I'm so in love.... it's almost hard to believe I made her with my own hands... thank you God!
she is very rough yet, lots of sanding to come...
more pics on flickr.
6/27/10
Work never seems to finish on this doll. I've been making all the clay balls and adjusting the body lines, carving the baked clay which is not very nice. I love taking pictures of her body parts just to imagine her finished! Imagination is much easier than reality! =)
So, better get back to work!
So, better get back to work!
6/21/10
I've been working more on TatiDoll lately thanks to my dear husband! =)
He is being so supportive, I think I will be able to finish this project sooner than I expected!
The picture shows the legs ready for the ball joints, I started with the easiest joints which are the feet and hands (in my opinion).
More pictures on flickr.
There are SO MUCH work yet to be done....
but I'm loving EVERY second of it.
He is being so supportive, I think I will be able to finish this project sooner than I expected!
The picture shows the legs ready for the ball joints, I started with the easiest joints which are the feet and hands (in my opinion).
More pictures on flickr.
There are SO MUCH work yet to be done....
but I'm loving EVERY second of it.
6/7/10
I've just finished sculpting my BJD feet today! getting ready for the next step - joints!
5/27/10
I just took these pictures, while playing with hands and face - my favorite things to sculpt.
5/18/10
These are the hands for TatiDoll that I finished today.
I've been so busy with my new online teaching website and I feel so happy, the website is a success with lots of happy students! =)
I am trying to finish this doll soon.
I've been so busy with my new online teaching website and I feel so happy, the website is a success with lots of happy students! =)
I am trying to finish this doll soon.
3/14/10
My little niece Ester turned 1 year old this week so I was very busy with things to do for her birthday party, that's why I haven't worked so much on TatiDoll. The little progress I made was sculpting arms, I finished them and baked already. They are so smooth, it won't require almost any sanding, which I am happy. Next step: sculpting legs. Then hands - I LOVE SCULPTING HANDS! And the last part, feet. It will be like a dream when I am done with sculpting, but It will also be the beginning of another challenge - the joints!!!
3/3/10
I am sick and feel so tired! My son is sick too, I believe it's because of the drastic weather changes. We had a sudden "winter" right in the middle of summer if that is possible.... really crazy!
Last week I baked TatiDoll's torso, as you see in the picture, but it's not totally finished, I will add more details and sand a lot. Please excuse the dirty clay. For the first time I don't have to bother about the clay getting dirty since this doll is a prototype and I love that. This clay really picks all and every dirt!
Apart from that, I have been spending a lot of time on learning a new medium. I just love learning. It is like the fuel to my work. It seems I need to be learning constantly. I'm very excited about the new discoveries I'm making.
Will talk about that later.
I hope my son, me (and the weather) get better within the next days.
Last week I baked TatiDoll's torso, as you see in the picture, but it's not totally finished, I will add more details and sand a lot. Please excuse the dirty clay. For the first time I don't have to bother about the clay getting dirty since this doll is a prototype and I love that. This clay really picks all and every dirt!
Apart from that, I have been spending a lot of time on learning a new medium. I just love learning. It is like the fuel to my work. It seems I need to be learning constantly. I'm very excited about the new discoveries I'm making.
Will talk about that later.
I hope my son, me (and the weather) get better within the next days.
2/15/10
I've finished sculpting the doll head, and you can see the baked head on the picture. She was on the oven longer than the other dolls I make. As she is a prototype the clay must be hard for the purpose of mold making. When I think of all the stages I still need to conclude it makes me feel a little anxious, but it has been great so far. I am really enjoying this work. thank you for watching.
2/13/10
This is the first face I wrote about in other post, the face that came from my mind, without any reference and that I almost gave up sculpting. I think I like it now. I'm still working on the final details, like ears and smoothing... and I think I don't like the mouth very much. I just have to find out what exactly I don't like about. I'm trying to imagine her face after painting to see if she is the doll I was dreaming of...
When I finish this one I will start making the head based on that famous girl. =)
When I finish this one I will start making the head based on that famous girl. =)
2/8/10
I decided to create a flickr account to share photos only. I think it is neat and easy to use. I will keep writing about Tati Doll here but most of the pictures will be on flickr. By clicking on the picture you will be taken to my flickr page. Thank you!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tatidoll
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tatidoll
2/7/10
I had an inspiration while making a cake with my son. Laugh and mess!
~Inspiration usually comes when I am happy~
Here is some update about Tati Doll:
I spent the last 3 days working on the head, I have to admit I was getting quite upset about it. I thought I could get something from my mind, as this doll will be specially made for me I thought she could just "come out" of the clay using my memories as a reference. I even tried some sketches before putting the hands on the clay, but although I love to draw, sketches don't work for me. So I started the first head, concentrating on what I wanted my doll to be. No, it was not like that. The first head came back to the pack of the clay. Started a new one and NO, NO, NO!!! What's wrong? Oh well, I was very upset. But then, in the afternoon, I had this inspiration... I started singing a song, while making a cake for my son (and WITH my son - what a mess!). A song from a movie I love so much. And I remembered the movie that made me dream when I was a child. The beautiful girl.... THAT'S IT! The girl.... she will be my inspiration!!! At that moment I was so excited I wanted to go to the studio and start working on her right away, but had to finish the cake and put my son to bed. I couldn't stop thinking of this wonderful inspiration, and the more I thought about it, more ideas were emerging out of it. When everything was done, I went to the computer and started searching the web for pictures of her. So many beautiful pictures... wow! I am so happy that I finally found a reference for my doll. A heavy rain started, I had to turn the computer off, and looked at the second head I had started. I almost destroyed it as I did with the first one, but then I thought - well I won't be able to start the new head now because of this rain so I will spend some more time on this head here. Surprisingly, after 2 hours working, the head I didn't like became a gorgeous head! So now I will have two heads to start! One that came out of my mind and the second that will be inspired on a famous girl. It couldn't be better! Inspiration was really the thing I was missing. When I found it I could relax and make a beautiful head without any reference model. It is wonderful. Now I have big plans for this doll, she has a romantic pair which I have always wanted to create too. Maybe I will make a male doll too? This would be my dream come true.
I won't tell the name of the girl but I will post work in progress pictures and wait to see if anyone can guess who she is. If I get any close to her beauty then I will be truly satisfied.
1/6/10
I think this new template is so cute, I feel it is just perfect for the new projects I have this year...
So I am starting with a doll for myself...
I've been thinking about what I want my doll to be. I've been trying to remember the time when I was a little girl and I used to dream about the dolls I wanted to have. The "baby dolls" never attracted me much. I never liked to play mommy. I only had one baby doll. I was always amazed by Barbie. I can even remember the first Barbie I saw! I took a long time of dreaming before my mother could afford buying a Barbie for my sister and me. I think I was 11 then. I remember I was never happy with Barbie's body though. It was not poseable enough. One day, while we were visiting a cousin, she showed me her "Susie", and I was amazed by the doll body, it was all articulated, I could put her on several different poses! Wow, I was so surprised that kind of doll did exist! After that Susie, I never saw any other doll like that in my whole childhood. I think it was not very well accepted in the market so they stopped producing it.
Although I have no sketch, no real plan for her, I can already feel close to this doll, I realize now that I've been dreaming about her my whole life... For this reason I decided to call this doll "Tati Doll". Tati is the short form for my name "Tatiana". Family and friends call me Tati. The sound of this short name evokes love and tenderness to me as they are mostly said by people I love. Tati Doll is a perfect name for the doll I have in my dreams, as she will be like the symbol of everything I love, everything I believe and everything I wish for me and for the world.
So now, I think I can say a little about the doll I want to make for myself.
- First of all and the most important: she must be playable.
The dolls I have created so far are mostly to be admired than to be played with, that's because of their size and fragility. I really need to play with my doll so the Tati Doll must be made of strong material and be poseable, allowing me to play with her as much as I want.
- long hair - this is just viewable in my work style, almost allt he dolls I have created have long hair. But hair for Tati Doll must be also playable, so that I can brush, wash and style it.
- clothes - I also remember I loved to dress and undress my dolls, once, my aunt made some pretty clothes for our barbies. They were much better than the clothes available for purchase.
These are the things I can think of now. I will talk about this project frequently and I will add some pictures too. I would love to read any comments, suggestions, anything. Thank you!
see you soon...
Although I have no sketch, no real plan for her, I can already feel close to this doll, I realize now that I've been dreaming about her my whole life... For this reason I decided to call this doll "Tati Doll". Tati is the short form for my name "Tatiana". Family and friends call me Tati. The sound of this short name evokes love and tenderness to me as they are mostly said by people I love. Tati Doll is a perfect name for the doll I have in my dreams, as she will be like the symbol of everything I love, everything I believe and everything I wish for me and for the world.
So now, I think I can say a little about the doll I want to make for myself.
- First of all and the most important: she must be playable.
The dolls I have created so far are mostly to be admired than to be played with, that's because of their size and fragility. I really need to play with my doll so the Tati Doll must be made of strong material and be poseable, allowing me to play with her as much as I want.
- long hair - this is just viewable in my work style, almost allt he dolls I have created have long hair. But hair for Tati Doll must be also playable, so that I can brush, wash and style it.
- clothes - I also remember I loved to dress and undress my dolls, once, my aunt made some pretty clothes for our barbies. They were much better than the clothes available for purchase.
These are the things I can think of now. I will talk about this project frequently and I will add some pictures too. I would love to read any comments, suggestions, anything. Thank you!
see you soon...
;;
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