#mal crafts

[malacandrax]

On a splendid walk!

I finished making this guy, v inspired by @slocotion, old clown dolls, and Vanessa Stockard. I'm not sure what to call him, Timothy, maybe!

[themalhambird]

Just finished making my first ever quilt, in anticipation of the near arrival of my first ever nibling 🥰

[malacandrax]

I painted a custom figure Halsin >:)

I want to make him some fully joint-covering clothes, but I scrambled something together for the purpose of taking some body photos before all the paint scrapes off his joints!

More info + process

[malacandrax]

Josie!

[malacandrax]

This is the tiniest thing I have Ever painted. I got the head here, and the body was a marvel legends magneto!

It's my first action figure customisation and I regret painting over a purple one haha! His joints will be all purple before long, as the paint scrapes away.

I thought the body was much too dehydrated, so jammed in a load of epoxy sculpt into the muscles, to make him a bit chunkier. I wanted to give him a belly, but this was as big as it could go without sacrificing the forward bend movement -_-. After that I sealed it and then layered up acrylic in the thinnest layers imaginable, in white to try and hide the purple, before eventually moving to the skin tone I mixed up.

The face is acrylic too, with some pastels brushed on for contours! I was shitting myself doing those eyes, they're not the blue/yellow combo but I honestly didn't dare faff anymore once I got the whites on, they have some yellow in there, good enough for me...

I also want to make some socks and sandals- he didn't come with sculped toes, so I didn't really know what to do about that HAHA. I chose the model because it was in stock, and because the only extra sculpting on the body was his glove ridges which I smoothed over. Lots have like... logos and clothes and belts etc.

Anyway I'm so happy I pulled it off, I had a week off and got a damn cold, so this was entertaining while I was too ill to do my other plans.

[malacandrax]

I've added a 'my art' tag, since I keep writing essays!

It's not perfect but it's got most of it, thank you mass post editor haha.

also I use mal talks , mal crafts , and mal wanders if you want to filter specific stuff out on a regular basis.

[malacandrax]

make a ruff, I said, it'll be simple, I said!

This is basically a tiny replica of a real ruff, I used a theatre costuming tutorial and it took over a metre of ribbon to cover 10cm of neck! Every single fold is stitched at the top and bottom, it was insane. I made the costume to be removable, incase I wanted to make more clothes for him, so his inner stuffing is contained in what reminds me of a little union suit haha. I slightly needle felted his stuffing, to give it a better shape and stop it poking out all over. I also had no idea how to elasticate the sleeves and just...jammed some elastic into the cuff, after sewing, which wasn't ideal haha! It worked better than I expected, to be honest!

[malacandrax]

Your little Vanessa Stockard inspired cat doll was just adorable! How did you go about securing the little clay head and hands? Does he have a wire armature skeleton, or is it just stuffing? I'm trying to get more into dollmaking, I'd love to know!

thank you! I made a wire skeleton- all one piece, nothing fancy. And the head and hands had hollow areas, so I just used hot glue to attach. I wrapped it in stuffing- I don't have batting so I felted it in place, then made a little cloth outfit to work as the naked form, since I like to make my doll clothes removable! I know slocotion and mims victims both do similar frame+stuffing, it's probably a common route! Mim usually goes the old fashioned doll style with the head and neck all one piece, which I want to try at some point bc you don't need to cover the neck so much, tho it does sacrifice flexibility!