typical confluence

after i made my wooden doll, i was musing about what other unusual materials i might use for a bjd. my partner suggested paper, and also gave me access to their craft paper collection -> i made this.

she is almost entirely made of paper & cardboard. the joints are wooden beads & worbla, because i did figure out a way to make ball joints out of paper, but it really was not worth the effort. all her limbs have tubes of rolled-up cardboard in them to keep the structure sturdy, and the origami flowers are glued around those.

–Does this bother you while you're reading?

–No, it's fine. I actually like the sound of the pencil scratching on the paper.

–I'm a bit slow, so this will take a while.

DenofAngels Thread by EilonwyG Transferring here for newer hobbyists. I am concerned that DoA will eventually become a dead forum result in link rot of a TON of useful and important information. Photobucket's purge has already done massive damage to the information that had been shared on DoA before 2015-ish.

All images from the original thread are gone.

Original post date: Apr 19, 2012 https://denofangels.com/threads/resizing-human-patterns-tutorial.513354/ I've had people questioning me for a while now as to how I've resized human patterns. There is a rather detailed tutorial that Dale Rae did on her web site - http://dalerae.com/enlargepattern06.htm It is well done, but requires waaaay too much math. I did try to use this tutorial, but decided there had to be an easier way. Through experimentation, I came up with this method. The beginning of the tutorial follows Dale Rae's instructions.

Steps

Take out the pattern instruction sheet, the first section if there are more than one in the packet. We'll be dealing with the section where they have the pictures of the pattern pieces.

You'll need to scan the pattern pieces into the computer. (They mean the images like this from patterns, I remember seeing this thread back in the day.)

Dale Rae's instructions call for scanning the patterns in at 125% to make it easier to work with. I've done the same, even though we won't be working with the pattern the same way she does.

Once you've scanned the picture in, you'll want to open it in a picture editing program. I use a program called Xnview. It's a free program you can find and download online. Personally I swear by it, but you can use any program that allows you to resize, cut and edit pictures.

If you haven't already increased the size of the patterns 125%, do that in the picture program.

Save the new size. Then cut each pattern into their own separate picture file and save it in its own folder.

There are a few pattern booklets where the instruction sheet has the pattern pieces at a much larger size than usual. If it appears that the patterns are on the large side, you can skip the increase of 125% step, as essentially, the pattern makers have done that for you.

This [125% pattern] will give you a basic size for a MSD scale 1/4. You will need to tailor the patterns to the appropriate body, as it is not exact for Minifee, Kid Delf, Bobobie mini, Dream of Child, JID, or whatever mini doll. It just gives you the basic size to start from. [BJDs tend to have longer arms/legs. Take some measurements and add to the length and such!]

Once the mini size has been made, from there you create all other sizes you need.

Scaling for other sizes:

SD Scale 1/3 or larger (+125% of the MSD size)

SD is 125% larger than mini (percentage found on another resizing thread on DoA about resizing existing doll patterns for other sizes). As for those dolls over 60cm, use SD patterns and add length to arms and legs were needed, as most are not that far off in chest size for a complete resizing of patterns to be necessary.

YoSD scale 1/6 (58%)

Again from the mini size, resize the pattern 58% to get a Yo-sized pattern for Volks Yo, LTF, Bambicrony, Teenie Gems or other similar sized dolls.

Pukifee / Tinies (15cm) scale

From mini size, resize down to 35% for all Pukifee sized tinies. For Cherishdoll Faith dolls (as I have two of them), resize to 52%. (They're a little smaller and thinner than yo dolls.)

I have not yet come up with resizing for Puki size or other in between sizes. For some, like Minoru world minis and Customhouse Petite Juniors, I would suggest starting with a yo pattern and adding in the length of arms and legs needed, as generally they can fit Yo clothes but are a bit tall for them. Same with 5star yos.

One thing I cannot stress enough is tailoring. As I said, this method will give you the approximate values for the pattern. Once you print the patterns out, I suggest cutting out a mock pattern piece in paper towels (the Viva paper towels are fantastic for this as they're much softer and closer to material) so you can then drape the patterns over the doll, figuring out where material may need to be subtracted or added to get the right fit. This way you won't waste valuable material on an outfit that may not end up fitting correctly. (This is something I did not do on my first outfit when I started sewing for the dolls.)

I would like to also stress that the instruction sheet patterns do not have any of the sewing markers that are generally on the actual pattern piece. You will either need to gauge the general area where these marks are located, or you'll need to consult the original pattern piece.

I have a variety of dolls and sizes in my collection and feel fairly confident that this tutorial covers most of the doll bodies out there. However, I do not own a doll from every company and there may be a few sizes I have overlooked. As I add to my collection, if I end up with a new type of doll body, rest assured I will come up with new numbers for resizing for that doll.

If you see any size not on this list that you would like to resize for, let me know and I can at least see if I have a friend who owns that type or similar for me to borrow and create a size for.

Examples from the thread:

Check it out at afroindex.org! 💛✨

Do you think pegasi, gryphons and etc will land on their hind legs or forelegs after flying?

It seems to me that artists often draw creature's landing on their hind legs, like birds, but wouldn't it be more logical to repeat the landing of a four-legged animal after jumping? Even if it will be smooth like landing an airplane. They can land on their hind legs in place, but it requires a lot of wing work.

Hi there! And thanks for being here for so long :)

Great question, this was a fun one to work out lore for!

I think 4-legged flying creatures should land on their hind legs.

A horse jumping over a jump fence must land on its front legs and propel the momentum forward. That's generally harmless with standard jump heights, but is still stressful on the front legs, shoulders, neck, and spine. There's no way to slow the physics down and the front half of the body must absorb the full impact of the landing.

The reason airplanes flare (tip the nose up) while landing is to present the greatest wing surface possible forward to reduce the speed, and thus the reducing the force of the landing. This will minimize stress on the airframe and generate a much slower landing speed, which reduces stress on the brakes.

Here's some basic sketches on how that manifests in pegasi (and other four-legged flying creatures).

Essentially, landing without flaring is controlled crashing. So even if it may require a little more work from the wings, the benefits of a slower landing would make an animal prefer flaring to reduce the stress on their frame and avoid serious injuries.

~ Larn

--

When I said "landing an airplane" I thinked about running drop mostly and didn't know how to explain it. And @wandererunlost can be right that this is a less preferred option. There are stones and roots everywhere. Although I think I've seen some birds gliding down too. Hmm...

Birds have only two legs, so I tried to remember if there were four-legged flyers. I could, but both animals are tiny, so for them landing will not be as painful as for a larger animal. And they land on a vertical surface.