How to Make Perfect Ball Joints for BJD

I found this tutorial on a Russian website for making a perfectly round ball using LaDoll clay.  The artist will use the balls for the joints in her BJD dolls, but I bet there's other uses for a perfectly round clay ball!  This technique may also work for other brands of air-dry clay (such as Creative Paperclay).  You'll have to experiment.

Sculpting Head and Face for BJD

~ click photos to enlarge ~    

Linda Macario, the Italian doll-maker, has written a wonderful tutorial for creating the head for a BJD (ball-jointed doll) .   LaDoll air-dry clay is suggested.  Creative Paperclay would also be suitable for this project.   Lots of photos demonstrate how to sculpt the Styrofoam core, apply the clay, model the facial features, hollow out the head & insert the eyes and also create the head articulation.

How to Make Haru's Doll (BJD)

Japanese tutorial for creating a traditional ball-jointed doll (BJD) using air-dry clay. Very detailed, advanced tutorial using a Styrofoam core that is removed in the process to result in a hollow doll.. Chapters include lots of photos showing

How to make a BJD doll with Paperclay

Great step by step tutorial for creating a ball-jointed doll (BJD) using Creative Paperclay. Lots of photos showing the details involved in forming the face, body and limbs, making ball joints and stringing the doll for lifelike