Rozaliin, the orange-white rat girl

My tries to create female dolls continued, and I once (3. Feb 2017) finished one new. She got called as Rozaliin, and as I planned, she is finally the girlfriend for my CM Breyer rider doll Asko.

It's made from orange foam clay, mixed from red and yellow (the simpliest and easiest color to mix, and still I know some people find it weird and difficult). This time I decided to paint the markings, and it was OK.

These are the first progress photos I took about Asko's lady. When I had already sculpted all needed. And yes, all the same time, no drying pauses between layers. Stupid thing but it works when you have no patience and you want to finish things quickly and see them becoming alive... Now, sorry if anyone is scared of seeing naked rat girls, there is no details. 

Her proportions were carefully made after Rämä, using him as a reference. I also wanted to make sure she gets right lenght limbs. I must say that this doll can be my most 'balanced' right now. Happy with it... And when I now, before publishing, look at these photos, I see some mistakes in anatomy but... Well, it still could be a lot worse.

And as you can see, I also used green wire instead of red. Not bad and it should not really matter, but I somewhat loved and also hated to see orange and green together... I don't know why, the tastes I connect the colors to don't match to each other.

Face is always the most important part of the doll, because it shows their personality. This girl got quite closed to what I planned, although her mouth looks slightly too big. Also the neck is attached to the head a bit too behind, what causes that it can look stupid in my eye. Her nose and eyes are OK to me, although I got the eyes placed a bit asymmetrically.

I take a ton of photos of same thing with different angles and setting, and can't decide which of the pics are best to publish... So, suffer from this boring photo flood. Mostly I took these because I think they can be helpful for those who need example of how rat noses can be sculpted (I do things realistically).

Ears she got to be too small, but I don't mind anymore. She can be what she wants to be, no one is perfect and so on. Left ear also got a small notch made with scissors. For some reason it's a lot scarier to cut doll ears instead of thumb rats, although you might think that bigger is easier.

As an important part of head-sculpting I sawed a notch to her skull's backside. That was because I was going to add a viscose mane for her, later. I used my beloved craft knife for the notch, if anyone wonders how. And I always wait the head to dry a bit (not fully) before sawing. 

After those photos I seemingly glued her leather areas: paws and tail. (Normally I also glue fabrics after them, but with this doll I didn't.)

Then it was time for some paint. I had planned that this rat is going to be one of my dream-rats in color: orange with 'badger' pattern, what means that she needed white belly area and a blaze! When the white areas are ready, I always add some skintone there to the mouth and nose, and around the eyes, maybe a bit to the body too. Maybe even a bit of bright red to mix with skintone to make shadings in nostrils and other hidden details.  

I pop the doll's eyes out for painting moment, then glue them back later. And hey, my worktable looks always that messy.

Captured a poor rat waiting for paint before starting, only because I want to photograph steps.

These are the paints I recommend. I use them for model horses too, so... Mont Marte Satin and Louvre, both acrylics of course.

All paintings ready, took the pic too late...

Painting the eyes is always nice, because, you know, it's the moment when the doll gets it's personality more visible. For this one I used just bright red and purple. It is so easy: paint the whole eye red, let it dry, then paint the pupils with slightly darker purple, let dry a bit and paint a next pupil layer - so it peels the previous layer with it and shows that brighter red. It just is easy and simple. When the paint had dried, I add few rough layers of bright varnish on the eyes.

And before anyone screams that "is there blood", I say it is not.. It's porphyrin. It dyes rat snot to red with some colder tint in it. I painted that with dipping a wet (dipped to varnish) paintbrush to a Derwent Intense pencil and stroking it carefully around her nose and eyes. I needed to be quick as I didn't want the varnish to kill the brush or pencil when it dries. After the painting I also varnished the porphyrins once to make sure they stay.

But that much porphyrin is a sign of stress or other problems, I think, so what have happened to her as her face melts...? Maybe she has an upper respiratory infection, what can get chronic in rats. 

I didn't know what to do with her limbs yet, so I decided to do the difficult thing and glue her mane on. I cut some reddish-brown viscose tufts, glued them and left to dry. Then I added glue to the notch at her head's backside, where I placed the tufts one by one. When the gluing was ready, I ripped loose hairs off, brushed the mane with wet paintbrush, showed them a bit scissors... And at the end it was a droopy mohawk. 

I had no idea what to glue to her limbs to be 'fur', as I had only few types of white fabric and they didn't be what I wanted. So as I had almost finished her already, I decided to add that thin, glossy white fabric as I simply had no anything else - but I already knew how this fabric worked, so, that was the reason.

Then she was finished. I quickly made her a blue vest-thingy, who does not really work as I wished... Of course it does not. But it hides her body, and yet even neck.

As much as I see unfinished texts and try to continue to write them, as much I stay noticing same irritating things in the photos. One of them are this doll's hands. I know they look stupid, maybe more stupid than any other dollhands I've made. But the fact is that I simply can't make them more realistic if I want to create them from leather and also keep them good for use. And arms should be hidden under sleeves, with every doll, so the only reason they show is that I don't really make good clothes. Those stupid vest thingies are only for the "something is better than nothing" -logic. My dolls aren't going to ride naked, if possible. Although no one of them (Breyer CM dolls not included) has trousers yet... 

The orange rex gal got called as Rozaliin. Roz for short. I often modify normal names to make them more different, as I want my dolls and characters to be... well, different and unique. The name fits her look. She also is getting a surname later, but I don't hurry with it. Why should I?

Right after finishing, her mohawk was a bit too droopy and messy, and looked like in those next pics. 

Here's a better mohawk seen, after I once re-brushed it.

The hem is... meant to be what it is; long and ripped. I can't cut straignht lines to fabric so I let it be what it already was.

Innocent, nice, safe, sharp, lively. That is how I wrote her personality to be in the dolls' page (not published yet...). So, she's honest and tries to be nice for all, if possible, but of course this rat can also get angry or sad or whatever. Everyone can if there's nothing too wrongly...

She also is those who mass produce selfies with a cellphone... Harm that I haven't yet made her one, as I simply failed my first try. But when I make her actual phone, I can say THAT is a smartphone who is not going to break it's screen after one drop!

But, anyway, Asko and Roz are my first 'complete' doll couple. (And, unfortunately, they also show too clearly my improving process in dollmaking. Just so different dolls - one CM and one OSC. Another problem is that I just don't know how I could make fingers to my dolls if I want them to be bendable at same time.)

Hah, both smile!

I wish I could once take a full 'family portrait' of that couple and their... pets, as they, I think, are not going to have kids. At least they need more horses. I could also like that Rozaliin could have her own matching horsie to ride and take care of... Her man has two right now, but he seemingly sells or leases one of them to another guy at the stable. (And Omar is too possessive of his horses to allow anyone to even ride them without him watching... Sorry, wanted to mention.)

And when time goes, Roz should get real punk rock stuff on instead of that stupid umbrella-vest-whatever.

She also is accidentally our fellow hobbyist in one way... She collects animal models! Not only horses but also dinos (my dream!). Roz photographs them in a homemade studio who's made from cardboard box. Viiskytkin is often with her to capture the mini world (or mini-mini world). As Rozaliin just recently moved to her guy's home, I guess that also Asko had been a model horsier for a while...

It was funny to make a 1:9 cardboard studio as I have already made two real ones to photograph Schleichs and other small items with... Here we see how Roz had already choosed one dino to photograph, and Viiskytkin takes test pics before actual photos. (That mini dino is from my childhood... And I have all my dinos with me yet.)

And then... work. How many of us can photograph miniatures when a real horse (heh) is next to the studio?

This text took too long time to get finished and published. I want to tell about my dolls a lot when one gets their own text, but with someones it's difficult. So... If I later know Roz better, it can be noticed via the blog!

To notice, I mention that I have decided to add pics as larger as previously now. The actual files are not different, they just show larger at the page.

Biggest doll for a while

(Published only now although the doll itself was made before the end of 2016.)

I doubt that almost no one has similar dolls what I do. Blergh. It's nice to know.

After making accidentally short female dolls, I wanted to do things what I am more comfortable with - so I created a BIG MALE RAT who is just so different from those as possible. Ooooor... Not that much, he is simply big and cute. The difference is in someone else I made after this one.

For first, I made him a wire armature from thicker wire. Over it I added thinner red wire. It helps clay to stick and makes everything just better and stronger.

Of course, as I am mad about recording creating processes of my things in every possible way, I shot him with flash with other dolls standing next to him. Here with Asko and Rämä. I still noticed that his legs aren't as long as I want them to be, but bllll another doll can get long legs then. That's my logic.

Yet some closeups of wiring details. If anyone finds these somewhat helpful for dollmaking, feel free to steal my techniques. Being helpful is nice. And to point a bit about why things are as they are, I added more wire to the head to keep it strong enough for bending the neck. As well as that, I added wires coming from shoulders to his ribcage sides to keep arms in right position easier; clay is still going around the wires and hides all that.

I decided to test how the tail works if I leave it without red wire.

Remember to keep in mind how much wire you need to bend before adding clay; it's easy to make limbs wrong length.

Ribcage wires.

Then I added clay to his upper body; head, shoulders, tummy... Or part of tummy. Sadly I didn't bother to photograph him after that until finishing, but it's just OK because finishing things is more important that showing camera in every possible step. That small glue bottle (Eri-Keeper; good for wood and paper, not for tackmaking, to mention if anyone wants to know) kept him on his legs while the clay dried; he was and is heavy, even when known that foam clay is very lightweight compared to many other clays people use.

(Sometimes I decide to remove clays just after sculpting, as happened with Hupi once.)

I use beads for eyes and paint them before finishing whole doll.

Because I added more clay to his body, these spots (in his back and tummyside) aren't visible anymore. I added more brown spots on the clay what hides those seen in the photo.

Okay, so there were those progress pics. Now I throw you with photos he's already finished in. At the same time I try to do a funnier job and, instead of just showing what the finished thingy looks like, I JUDGE my own work. That's nothing unusual from me, I just haven't been OK with writing well lately, thanks to the damn internet...

Need to mention, before anyone gets confused, that I called this as Hupi. It's Finnish and means fun or amusement. For real name I could add Dandy, suggested by my twin. Others (dolls) just call this ratty Hupi for some reason. 

He turned to be tall, as I planned, that's the good part. Breyer dolls look short next to him.

What about the head, it also is OK for my taste. I recognize it to be clearly a domestic dumbo eared rat. But, to be honest, maybe the neck starts from a bit too behind, making it look weird. A real rat has neck bone from that, but these dolls are anthros, not real rats (so-called ferals, an opposite for furry, meaning the normal non-anthro animal), so they should have fitting necks too. But I like his face anyway. Good head is more important that right start for a neck...

But does he also have mistakes, like too big nose and slightly stupid face pattern... But those don't disturb so much as if I had placed eyes badly or if the side profile looks nothing ratty. That nose just makes him remind a bit from ferrets... As dumbo rats can do, often, with their lower-set ears. 

I really planned Hupi to have a white mohawk and beard too, but after seeing his face, I didn't bother to glue there anything else... Because I am better at ruining hairings than finishing it well. Someone else can be my first full-coated (fake, because of clay) male rat with a mohawk.

After finishing the claywork and painting (eyes, and skintone to his lips), I decided to go crazy and add metal pieces. Hupi wears stupid earrings, but is also my first rat sculpt who has a nosering now. I simply punched a needle through the nose and placed an opened ring there; didn't actually close it, but yea, if it stays well enough, it works. 

His patterns are OK to me, although I have started to think if I possibly added too much spots. He was really meant to be just a masked rat with one or two extra spots somewhere (at tummy, I guess), everywhere else he was meant to be white. But look at him now... Brown spots in tummy, back, chest, and legs. I haven't taken naked photos of him as finished, but they all can be seen from that when I take.

Sorry from showing this bad photo, but that shows how the leg's upper part is sculpted.

Ignore his clothes. I hate making any fabric works, but I am forced to, because dolls need clothes and I want to use my leathers for model horse tack and other strap-like works only... Except if I have bad leather, but a vest made from that happened for another doll (and isn't any better in quality).

Wire neck hiding with scarf is another tradition I have started. And aaaagh look at the cloth COLORS. I hate them. Hupi, for real, is meant to wear metal style clothes, so he should get a long black leather jacket someday, as well as black trousers, boots, etc. Just black leather with gold colored metal pieces, that's what he needs. Nothing stupid yellow towels with sugary red. Urgh.

But now, off the cloth discussion. I judge my doll here. His clay job is quite OK enough to my view, and I find him really photogenic. Even the fact that he has just stupid leather pieces hiding wires in lower legs and arms does not disturb me that much; I know I can rip those off and add something better instead, if I feel right to. But just now I am OK with what he is, because I simply can never finish anything if I try to make things better what I have skill to.

Hupi started to make different positions and show interest to things before I had fully captured him... So... What can we expect from his future? He was the one who brought a new halter (again) to the stable and tested it for Remu (one horse).

And, I think, because he's a buck rat (male rats are 'bucks'), he likes to sniff air when ladies are around. (I have read that when female rats - does - are in heat, they smell like flowers. So weird.) But because he is also a gentleman, he does that more secretly to avoid disturbing anyone. That just is a way to get information in rat style; to smell things.

He got a weird pattern to his right knee. It's very weird decision from me. A heart! I hate hearts generally, but as Hupi mixes so many things I like, I wanted to make a heart-shaped spot to him somewhere. So he has now a heart at his knee. I originally tried to sculpt it to the other leg or tummy, or something, but I didn't like it's too recognizable shape, so I added more brown clay on. This knee spot is pure accident, what I simply shaped a bit with a barbecue stick, but the biggest fun in clay rats is to allow patterns to make themselves mostly without help.

His jacket is too short and stupid at all, so I need to reposition it few times if I want to photograph him believably from all sides.

Paws are made from leather, as always with my rat dolls. There's wire inside, so they are bendable. To protect the leather I better keep the hands in hook shape, as they are just meant to hold things. Sometimes I wish I could dare to open them more, but... Just because of the leather, I don't dare to. (I bend them with round-nosed pliers.)

Then there's a tail, an important part of a rat doll. It's just a metal wire who got leather glued on. There's no possibility to add any rounder shape anywhere in my skills, so that's what we have yet... But aaagh it works well and looks good enough! Glad I'm so damn perfectionistic, it seemingly makes things happen...

Making a doll tail from wire and leather seems to be easier than drawing a good looking one with drawing tablet, I think...

Rämä and other shorter dolls look TINY next to Hupi, yeeee! It's cute to see. If I now get a fake reason to use black clay, because, aaargh, I want to sculpt a mother for that rat kid! No matter that Hupi easily behaves like a dad with younger ones around him, ehm. And as Hupi still is planned to get a family created later (when I have more materials), I simply want more dolls, MORE DOLLS.

He wasn't fully dry yet when took those pics, so I didn't dare to bend him to ride a horse yet then. Later I took some pics from his rides. Sadly, because my dolls haven't trousers (except Breyer CM dolls), I hide their legs and bodies with bad cloth and that also makes impossible to show well what their positions are. I am really fanatic with realism and that's important to me, not only with the horses but as well with dolls too. Both should work, and it's not that often seen when they do. (Breyer dolls' factory faces, what the?)

But because my dolls aren't meant to be people at all, they have some species-specific features. I find this funny and useful.

Hupi has quite typical personality of a domestic rat who had good growing-up environment. He's friendly, cute, healthy and curious, yet very funny. And, typically for male rats, he's also somewhat lazier and likes easy things (food and sleeping).

Okay, this view isn't so good for those legs...

Aaaand... If anyone waited to see good riding photos where the rat really shows it's position... I mention that I should photograph my dolls naked, I should bend them to riding positions naked, I should do this and that. Haven't popped to my mind yet while having camera in my hands, because, well, I don't plan everything so surely as others; I just wash hands and wear white cotton gloves before grabbing dolls and horses I need for that photo story (or whatever I am going to capture), and that's it. Many things make themselves alone.

It's called as imagination, I think.

(Again one note about the blog; I have a lot of things to write what focuses to dolls. Sorry. But I also have nice news about my tackmaking life - in Stablemate scale!)