Facial and Body Reshaping


To reshape by removing you need:

  • Sandpaper (700-800 grit)
  • Craft blade
  • Rubbing Alcohol

To reshape by adding you need:

  • Doll safe apoxie
  • Q tips
  • Sculpting tools

Little things can make a big difference. The namu on the left is stock. His lips are thin and pointy, his nose is sharp and pointy, with a bridge extending into an obvious 'V' shape up into his forehead. His eyes are unnatural half-moon shapes that show the eyemech behind them even when they are looking straight ahead. All in all, not so nice to look at.

The namu on the right is my customized Wolf, Eric. Eric's eyes have been rounded out and taken in at the corners for a natural look that doesn't show the eyemech around the edges. His lips have been blunted for a fuller look, and his nose and that awful 'V' have been sanded blunt. The outside edges of the eyes were built up, but everything else was 'fixed' with sandpaper and an exacto blade.

Tips for reshaping by removing:

  • Use a lower-than 800 grit sandpaper when you start, and then smooth out the reshaped are with a higher-than 800 grit sandpaper for faster results.
  • When reshaping something that needs to be symmetrical, like eyes, mark the areas you want to reshape it to with pencil so that you don't have to worry about sanding/cutting evenly.
  • To reshape using an exacto blade, hold the blade at a 90 degree right angle to the surface you are shaving and drag the blade along the surface. You should get little curly-cues of plastic being shaved off. There should be no nicks or scratches as a result if you cut like this and any unevenness can be sanded out easily.

Sometimes nature doesn't give you everything you need.

Elf ears, boobs on a type 3, lowered eyelids, etc are all things you're going to have to add with a doll-safe apoxie to get. Do NOT use sculpy or anything that will require you to put your doll in the oven. Even at low temperatures, it will shrink. You may get some softening of the plastic from boiling it too, so just pay for the apoxie, which will be sturdier once it dries anyway.

Tips for reshaping by adding:

  • You can tone white apoxie sculpt by adding ground pastel or paint to bring it close to the body color to avoid painting.
  • Use sparingly. Even if you tone the apoxie or paint over it, you'll never match the color exactly, so dont' put it anywhere you don't absolutely need to.
  • Apoxie sculpt can be smoothed with a Q tip dipped in water after you are done sculpting. Do this until the addition is smooth to both your eye and fingertip. After it's blended properly and it dries, take a higher than 800 grit sandpaper and sand it smooth.