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This is the first ever doll I sculpted, in 2022. I wanted to own a BJD (ball jointed doll, a kind of doll that is expensive and high quality) but didn't want to spend a big amount of money so I looked up tutorials for making a BJD out of curiosity and found a youtube video of someone making a BJD head out of toilet paper, tape, and cheap paper clay.

Having a love for arts and crafts, I decided to follow the tutorial and just making a head. Which lead to making a body, and some arms, and some legs and eventually my doll came together!

Being my first doll, she has a lot of imperfections, like the asymmetry in her face and body, being unable to stand straight, worn off makeup, poorly made dress etc. but I have no intention of fixing her because by leaving all the imperfections on her, I get to see how much I've improved compared to future dolls!

Making Process

Disclaimer: Due to me being an absolute beginner at the time, some of the materials and methods used are not so ideal so I do not recommend using this doll's progress as a guide!

First look at the head. It looked quite funny before making adjustments.
The face after doing some adjustments by carving and more sculpting and adding eyes.
The finished body unpainted. Stringing (putting the doll together with elastics) her for the first time was very exciting!
Body painted and face-up done. As you can see, her makeup is more visible in this picture than the more recent photos of her, meaning her makeup has unfortunately faded.
  • The eye base was made with paper clay and the iris was filled with clear nail polish.
  • The wig was made with brushed out acrylic yarn wefts.
  • The paint was sealed with a glossy varnish meant for wooden surfaces.
  • Cheap rubber bands were used for the elastics inside the doll.
  • The dress was made by gluing together fabric from an old shirt.
  • She took me about a year to fully finish (minus the dress, she used to be naked for a while lol) due to procrastination. I think I could've finished her in just a few months if I were motivated enough.
  • She still doesn't have a name but I've been thinking of naming her "Prima," meaning "first" (Latin origin.)
  • I learned a lot from making her which helped me a lot when making my next doll.