While pursuing my dreams and creating my first BJD doll, I'm trying my best to document all the process. Not just for myself, (even though I enjoy to watch myself getting better at something) but for you guys as well. Not to pride on my achievements, but to show all the aspiring doll artists, that everything is possible. With hard work, long hours of trying, failing and not losing hope. Read Part 1 and Part 2 if you haven't done so.

Progress update

Now, while I'm already pouring porcelain into the molds I can look back and tell you about the process, that has tested my patience over and over again. I'm not gonna lie, it was hard to make those plaster molds for the first time. I was constantly worried about getting my prototype stuck in a brick of plaster. Of course, this fear wasn't reasonable at all. I've measured and checked the parting line a few times, ensuring no undercuts would appear. But just one thought about burying my six-month work in the pool of hardening plaster gave me chills.

But no horror story happened, even though the process was really slow and messy. After the first few molds, I've started to feel more comfortable. Seeing how plaster replicates all the details of my first BJD doll was remarkably satisfying.

The biggest challenges

I'd never have guessed that it would be such a lengthy process. I was working on these molds for almost two months. That pushed my established launch day further away. I had hight hopes to finish my first BJD doll collection in May, but now I know it's not gonna happen. So getting into the right mindset and being prepared to spend a lot of time on the same mundane tasks were definitely a challenge for me.

One of the biggest difficulty was to make molds for the smaller pieces like hands, knee and elbow joints. I'm thinking of redoing the hands' mold differently and forget about keeping all the fingers separate in it and define them later.

Figuring out how much parts one mold needs took some time too. Surfing through Pinterest and seeing how other artists solve the parting tasks was a huge help. I spent a lot of time studying other people's work because there are just a few tutorials on porcelain BJD dolls and not all of them are relevant to my sculpt. So I'm already thinking of doing some BJD tutorials in the future and give back my knowledge to the doll artists' community.

If you have any questions about my first BJD doll process, don't hesitate to ask. I'll answer them as best I can. Follow my progress on Instagram and don't forget to join our community for future updates and special offers!

You can read further updates on my new website dedicated just for ball-jointed dolls!