Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Girl in night gown

Little girl in a night gown.
Been really in to working on larger projects lately, which is good! because that equals more variety on my stand at the next Farum fair.

Really happy with her - I think she looks cute :)
And I did record clips from the process of making her, so that'll be up as a video within too long. I didn't record the complete process of sculpting the face, but there should be enough clips to get an idea of how to sculpt a basic child's face.



Saturday, November 22, 2014

Mini Hedgehogs

Not quite a cat,.. haha.
I am planning on making a cat next - but I just didn't feel like making an eyeball cane today, so instead I made these;
Miniature hedgehogs.


Aaaaand - because I'm close to 200.000 subscribers on my YouTube *yay*, I'll be uploading these as a bonus tutorial today :)

Old picture of me.. Probably 10 years or more since it was taken ;)
My mom has always loved hedgehogs, and fed them leftovers from dinner (outside, like you feed birds). She used to bring hedgehogs in to the house and care for them if they were underweight or ill. So I have fond memories of these little critters.

Friday, November 21, 2014

Pumpkin pie & a German Shepherd

Miniature pumpkin pie and German Shepherd - because that goes together.... or not :)



The pumpkin pie was posted as a tutorial on my YouTube Wednesday, and I just finished the German Shepherd today. That dog has good taste, haha - it's (or she is) wearing a sterling silver chain with a sapphire as a charm.


The colors in the picture aren't 100% correct, but it's close enough.
I didn't have the right color of fur/fibre, so I had to use mainly ash blonde together with 2 other blonde/white  shades, and then add extra shading to give it a more golden tone.. Really need to buy some acid dyes in case I end up in a similar situation.
It will be up as a tutorial on youtube,. at some point. The rottweiler will be up today,. The bulldog will be up in 1-2 weeks, and then this will be uploaded a week after or so.

Think I'll make a cat next.. need to take a small break from the dogs :)

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Bulldog, Done!

Finished the bulldog - and I think he came out cute! :)


And then I remembered, that I made a bulldog in 2012 as well,... to be fair, I only made 2 dogs in 2012, and the bulldog was the first one... but it sure looks different, haha.


Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Fur/hair for miniatures

I'm writing this post to answer some of the questions I get about the fur/hair I use for my miniature dolls and animals, so hopefully this is going to help those of you who are wondering about where to get it, what it is etc :)

What is it?
The hair/fur I use is real animal fur/hair/fibres. And when saying this, I usually get some comments saying it's animal cruelty - but it doesn't have to be;
Some of these fibres come from animals like alpacas, yaks, sheep, rabbits and more. It is possible to "harvest" all of these without hurting the animals. You can cut, trim, shave or brush it off depending on which animal you're talking about. As an example it's normal to shave a sheep to obtain its wool. As for rabbits, a lot of people brush them like you often do with pets - this way only the 'mature' strands of hair are collected. It's always a good idea to check with the seller (often it'll be stated on the listing/website).
I do have 1 pack of hair where the animal was killed. This was from lamb. I chose to buy this because I needed a very specific texture (curls that would be small even in miniature scale). But when you think about it, a lamb is one of the animals we eat, and I personally am of the belief that it's better to use up as much of the animal as possible, so if you eat the meat, you can might as well use the fur as well. (everyone is entitled to having an opinion, if you disagree, you can choose not to buy this specific type of fur).

Where can you buy it?
A lot of the fibres I have (Mohair, alpaca and angora rabbit) is from a website called forest-fibres.co.uk... Unfortunately this site does no longer exist. I bought it back in 2011/2012, and had I known it was going to close, I woul've bought a lot more.
But you can also find sellers on other websites, if you make a search on Google, or from sellers on ebay. I have bought fibres from ebay sellers multiple times, but one thing you need to keep in mind is that these listings may not stay available for weeks, months or years if stock runs out and they don't relist.
when searching on ebay try something like "mohair fibre" or "alpaca fibre".

What types of fur do I use?
The ones I use are;
Mohair,. Alpaca/silk mix,. Alpaca,. Angora rabbit,. Merino.
But there are others available as well.

Can you use other types of wool or something else?
In my first bunny tutorial (and for a couple of dogs I made in 2012) I used yarn. Depending on the type you get, this can work really well! but the type I used give the animals a very fuzzy texture and would look horrible for doll-hair.
When I started making miniature dolls I experimented with synthetic hair. The problem with synthetic hair is that it doesn't work well for 1:12th scale. It can be extremely difficult to manage in such a small scale, and even though it can be forced to work, the end result is not worth it. It just looks too shiny and fake, and is too thick as well.

What are the difference between the different types of animal fibre?
I am not an expert, so it might be worth doing some research or experimenting on your own - this is just my opinion;
I've found that mohair is really good for doll hair - I've used that on all my miniature dolls. When it comes to animals you could definitely use it for the mane and tail of a horse or something similar. It also works pretty well for achieving a shiny looking fur on larger animals - I used it for the brown parts of my Saint Bernard.
Alpaca, to me, would work for the same as mohair - I used this for the mane/tail of my unicorn. It's a bit more fine and softer than mohair, so I think it works better for small stuff like the fur on a bunny.
Angora fibres are extremely soft and the individual strands of hair are not very defined. I've used this for the beard of a santa before and I use it for the white fur on animals - as it's the only WHITE I have, I have other 'white' fibres, but they are more like a natural white which would work well as blonde hair on a doll.
Merino is a fibre I only received a few days ago (am waiting for more in the mail). I've found that it is very soft as well, probably softer than alpaca. The individual strands of hair seems to be more defined than the angora fibres but less defined than alpaca or mohair, and I did use the merino for a grey bunny which worked out wonderfully. it looks a bit more fuzzy than sleek.