More resin casting

I have continued my experiments with latex moulds. I'm still having trouble with very small/thin parts, so when I decided to try Barbie-sized soles, I chose wedges. I had a cheap set of shoes for Steffi and picked a pair of those. In the photo, you can see an original shoe, one with straps removed, a resin casting, and the latex mould. Pouring resin into a mould this small is challenging, as is getting all air bubbles out, but it can be done.

Another part of my experiments is making foot lasts for all 1/6 scale dolls. In the photo below, the foot lasts from left to right belong to these dolls: Hollywood Royalty Lana Turner, Silkstone Barbie, Tiny Kitty Collier, Monster High Howleen, Bratzillaz, and Pinkie Cooper.

Comparison: Howleen and Tiny Kitty

As I was making resin castings of Monster High Howleen's feet, I started to think that they looked remarkably like Tiny Kitty's feet. So of course I had to check. The first photo shows Howleen on the left and Tiny Kitty on the right. The arches of their feet seemed very similar.

Here are the feet shown with a sole I have made for Tiny Kitty. As you can see, the arch fits Howleen very well and even the length of the feet is the same.

The problem arises when you look at the toes. Howleen's foot is much wider, so shoes made for Tiny Kitty won't fit her. However, I am wondering whether it would be a good idea to make shoes using Howleen's feet, so they would fit both dolls. Some shoes could be too loose for Tiny Kitty, but some models might work. I guess I'll just have to try and see.

Bratzillaz vs. Monster High feet

Bratzillaz dolls have actual feet, unlike Bratz dolls, and of course those feet are different size from any other doll. Monster High dolls come closest, but the arch in their feet is longer. Bratzillaz foot is also wider.

The photo shows from left to right: Bratzillaz, regular Monster High, Nefera.

Foot size comparison

My latest acquisition is Tonner's Jessica Rabbit and I just made plaster castings of her feet. Comparing her feet to the ones of Tonner's American Model prompted me to do some more comparisons. I used plaster castings for these as they were easier to photograph. The unit of measurement shown is cm.

The first photo shows the left foot of following dolls (from left to right): American Model (AM), Jessica Rabbit (Athletic Body, AB), Tyler Wentworth (TW). Considering that the TW body is 16" and the AB is 17", the difference in foot size is notable. However, what I found most interesting was that the feet of the AM and AB have exactly the same arch, only the AB feet are about 0.5 cm shorter, making it impossible to use AM shoes on Jessica.




The next photo shows the left foot of the following dolls: Tyler Wentworth (TW), Sybarite (SY), Monster High (MH), Silkstone Barbie (SB). I did this mainly to check how the MH feet differ from the other dolls. TW feet are a lot bigger, which I could see even without this comparison. SY feet are longer and wider, so no luck there either, although the arch is very similar to MH feet. The SB foot is there just to show you that Barbie shoes could not fit MH dolls. Unfortunately, I don't have plaster castings of Hi:Glam doll's feet, so I couldn't include one in this photo. However, at least their boots fit MH dolls.




The last photo is of smaller dolls' feet. The leftmost is of a playline Barbie, next is Silkstone Barbie, and the one on the right is Tonner's Tiny Kitty. All Barbie shoes fit playline Barbies, some fit Silkstones, and none fit Tiny Kitty.

Shoe size comparison

I ordered a Basic Miss Piggy in May and she has finally arrived. She's about as tall as Tonner's 16" dolls, but as you can guess, she's a bit wider. The picture below shows her with Sybarite Savoy.

Because she is a Basic Miss Piggy, the outfit is simple and so are the shoes, which are on the right side in the following picture. On the left are shoes for Sybarite and in the middle shoes for American Model.

As you can see, Miss Piggy's feet are considerably bigger, which is a good thing as it means more room for details in the shoes. Right now I'm making latex moulds of her feet and next I will make plaster castings of them. Then I will hopefully have time for making something interesting. I guess it's time to look at the shoe books and calendars for some inspiration.
For the Finnish post, see here.