Doll Leaves Mini [45 cm] Discussion part 3

Thank you so much dizzymoon!! I totally agree, I wasnt sure I'd like his faceup in person, but I really do like it better in person

 

Hey, so my poor DL Betty is in dire need of restringing and I'm rather new to this, what's the best size elastic for the job? It's the newer body if that makes a difference

 

@KimC Congrats! I'm so glad he's home. Great job on his styling. I really like his hat, very cool. His ears are super cute too! I'm so happy for you!

@Blizzuni If you like, I can open my guy when I get back home and see what size he has. However, based on experience, I find it's best to do the largest size that will fit through the holes. I've put one size in arms, and another in the legs, for example. So, if you open your doll and find the smallest hole in the path of each the arms and legs, note that measurement. Half it and that would be the size that will most likely fit well. This method has saved me from wiring.

 

Thanks mollym, I'm so glad I finally got him too. Yeah, I got an urban elf vibe from him. Maybe a hint of his emerging personality.

 

@mollym thanks for the advice! I'll take a look at the measurements as I take the body apart. It needs a little cleaning anyway

 

Hello! My Doll Leaves girl is on the dream body, and while I love the shape, I'm not satisfied with the mobility of the hands and feet and thinking about Frankensteining different pairs. Does anyone know any brands that sell just hands and feet, and has a good resin match? My doll is in normal skin.

 

@ViperOrchid I'm trying to hybrid my girl too, so I've tried some hands. I got Resinsoul 1/4 hands with long nails, Dollzone's clasped girl hands (H-G-45-09), and Doll Legend 1/4 girl hands nr. 2. Resinsoul and Dollzone hands are a good match size wize (Dollzone is a bit on the bigger size) and Doll Legend hands are a bit too big. The first two were normal skin, which is way too pink for Doll Leaves Normal skin. I think it would be better to order hands in white skin and blush them, as the normal skin of Doll Leaves is very light. Also, changing the default hooks for a smaller size helps a lot with the mobility of the hands and feet!

 

@toastygal Thank you for the suggestions! I think I'll look into Resinsoul's hands, but first I'll try smaller hooks.

 

For what it's worth I got Resinsoul 1/4 hands for both my Doll Leaves bodies (all normal skin) and the resin match was pretty much perfect

 

Hey everyone, im in desperate need of some help or advice!

I have this Doll Leaves tan Yoko I bought secondhand, and her condition is not exactly what I expected!



Her sanding is so scattered all over her body often in senseless places, and is EXTREMELY apparent. Her sanding is downright unprofessional and the grooves from it are so deep im worried it would be impossible to buff out.

Does anyone else own a tan doll leaves doll? Is this normal? Is there some way to fix it? Its present on genuinely every part of her body and on her head. Im at a loss here.

 

Oh that looks like the Aspen tans they did. They only did a couple and weren't happy with them because of the sanding marks and marbling but from what I understand of it had an agreement to sell them via Denver Doll so sent them but were like "we won't do this again, it's a pain to get it to look good". Or something.

They ALL had issues with marbling and wierd sanding issues. It is wierd though how deep and random several of those marks are. The ones of the leg I understand but what is up with that huge gouge along her side? That must have been a bad seam line to go that rough on it.

A very high grade sandpaper will buff the scratches out BUT it'll also take the colour and you'll end up with more lighter patching. Sadly it seems to be the quality of whatever this mix was, it's not very even and doesn't seem to penetrate as deep as it could. DS don't tend to do tans because apparently they find them extremely difficult to do.

Still, i'd be inclined to try to buff the worst scratches out so at least it's smooth and then maybe blush to disguise the lighter patches if buffing with a bit of pure wool doesn't help even it out (yeah for some reason wool buffing can help, go figure?)

it's such a nice colour but I remember when they were selling them originally there were individual photos of each doll becuase they ALL had issues like this. I might still have the photos of the Jeremy I was considering buying, let me have a look. I ended up not getting him because of shipping and customs costs.





Looks like the same discolouring sanding marks and just as large. You can also see the mottling around his head.

Sadly Aspen tan was a very temperamental experiment. I hope you can fix her up though, she'll look stunning I think if you can get the worst of the marks to fade.

 

It is very hard to sand saturated colours so that they look good. Usually you have to either sand the entire surface, or you need to even it out some other way to disguise the difference in texture. You can "fill it in" with something (I think it was Volks that sold a "balm" that was supposed to disguise the sanding marks and I know from other casting projects that a thin spread of vaseline can do the same job even if it's not good for the polyerthane long term and will make it impossible for sealers to adhere.) Luckily, if it's a slight differnce in texture a layer of sealant will usually make it uniform enough to be almost invisible.
I have heard rumors of casters treating the entire parts with acid to even out the texture after sanding, but I have not tried that myself. (I am curious though so I may try it at some point.)

Sanding marks that seem to be in odd spots may be from removing gates and vents and yes, every part will have some of those. Usually you'd try to place vents in places that won't be very visible, but depending on the shape of the part it's not always possible.
Add to that the fact that sometimes a different mix of pigments will make the resin behave differently. You may have to make the molds with tans in mind or there may be additional problems with molds not filling up fast enough (causing marbling) and then they need bigger or a larger number of vents. In some cases you may even need to take tans into consideration when finishing your original sculpt to make sure the texture in very uniform between different parts and that is has a texture that is possible to emulate with sanding and buffing.
It's not as easy as simply pouring tan resin into your existing mold, sadly. And even this little rant is a serious simplification of a very complex problem.

What to do with an existing doll... Well it's worth trying to sand it a little bit more even and then buff the surface as smooth as you can get it. But this is best done when the doll is brand new. If the doll is a few months or more the surface will have started to slowly oxidize and thus change colour. If the state the doll is in now bother you enough it's still woth it as the freshly exposed material will catch up over time and it tends to even out once the surface texture is uniform. So the end result may still be nicer than what you have now. That's a decision you need to make for yourself.

You don't need to worry about the colour not going all the way through. It's true that a few early companis experimented with a pigmented outer layer, but over time it's become a lot more economical to simply mix the pigment into the resin and make a single pour. The extra pigment used is well payed for by the fewer working hours spent and the easier finishing.

 

It's "normal" for that kind of tan from DL. I've complained about it since I got my boy because it's so unprofessional. You can even see undissolved flecks of green colourant embedded in the resin. They passed it off as "to be expected" and "normal".

No, it's just them. Almost half of my collection are tans from different companies and none of them are anywhere near in the state they released their aspen dolls in.

The only thing I can suggest is blushing the streaks to blend in, or cover her in tattoos. Sorry for your disappointment... I know how it feels.

 

So I wanna Firstly thank you all for your input, the more I look into it the more I see that this is an unfortunate 'normal'


I was extremely worried that something was outright wrong with my doll, and you all have at least helped me down the "okay this is what she is like, now time to fix it" path, so to speak. Im looking into like was mentioned here, a salve or Vaseline to disguise some of the more glaring parts of discoloration due to sanding grooves, and im also gonna make her a bit more smooth on the very rough parts.

At least to me I love her a lot, even if she's a million shades of the same tan haha.

 

Sorry to post off-topic (and so late, I hope you see this), but what is the sculpt on the right?

 

@strangesolace - I got dropped off the thread. Not sure which right you mean but the guy with the orange hair is a doll leaves wish and the guy with the brown hair is a dream valley greyson dragon ver.

 

Hello! I just discovered Doll Leaves Pearl on Alice's Collections - she's *so* pretty. I have fallen in love with her face-up and steampunkness! Though, I have a few questions....

Her ears do not show in the company photos, though I saw a nude owner photo of her with elf ears. I'm curious if human ears are an option.

I'm also interested in seeing owner photos of her face up and/or full-body photos of her outfit. All the company photos only picture her from around the waist up. Her dress looks cool, and I'd love to see the whole outfit. From what I could tell, the outfit consists of a dress and maybe a hooded cape. (or maybe the dress has a hood attached?) Does she also come with shoes and stockings of some sort as a part of the outfit?

Is she new to the Doll Leaves mini line?

Thanks in advance!

 

I apologize if this has been asked already... I searched all over but I could not find an answer...
Are there any side-by-side comparison photos of the Doll Leaves Version 1 bodies: small bust and large bust? I found several photos of the entire body with the small bust, and then a photo of just the torso with the large bust on Doll Leaves' site. It just would be really helpful to see these bodies side by side in the same photo.

 

Hi hope this is the right place to ask about what alternative hands I can use for doll leaves new female msd body?

I have my first doll, a doll leaves Hilo pre ordered and I love everything about her except her hands, just don't look quite right to me.

I'd love some more detailed delicately posed hands but scared to order something that won't fit.

Any suggestions would be really appreciated, sorry if this has already been covered I'm new and don't know what I'm doing!

 

I recently recieved my Lan fullset and though she is truly stunning and her face-up is a work of art unlike anything I've seen, I'm so sad that my very first resin doll's arrival was soured by all the things that went wrong from losing a finger somewhere in transit to her outfit not fitting correctly (far too baggy around the waist, and I don't have the sewing know-how to tailor it) to the wig I got for her looking nothing like the photos and being terribly ugly but not having any replacement. I still love my dear Titania but I'm disappointed that so many small frustrations have dampened my excitement about her arrival. And to make things worse it's been far too sunny to bring her out to take photos of her outside as I don't have enough shade in my yard and I don't want to expose her to any potential yellowing earlier than necessary.
On a related note, does anyone have any suggestions for a long white/ash-blonde wig with no bangs that is not too thick that will fit nicely on a Doll Leaves head?