Making an Articulated BJD Pony Doll

Hi! I love dolls, and I'll show you how I made this articulated Fluttershy pony doll out of clay.

I used some simple foam clay from a local craft store, though paper clay would work too.

1. Note: If you want your doll to be more resistant to wear from posing, there are paper clays specific to dolls you could buy online. I just went with an accessible material for this project as I just want to use this as a drawing reference and pony fashion mannequin

1. Foam clay or paper clay
2. Clay tools (toothpicks and straws could help with adding color or shaping rounded channels)
3. Paints (I prefer watercolor for foam clay, gouache for finished paper clay dolls because it looks matte and vibrant)
4. Power tools (helps with sanding and drilling holes)
5. Elastic (I used bracelet elastic because foam clay is incredibly light and fragile. Use a thicker elastic cord for paper clay)
6. Note: the other 2 pictures show the basic parts of a pony doll and how you could string it/add magnetic parts like ears, horn, and the front and half of the head and body.
7. Tip: You can exclude the horn and wing holes if you want a pony without those features.
8. Tip: Magnetic front and back of the pony make it easy to swap the back for a merpony tail or something else later.
9. Tip: Magnetic front and back of the head make stringing the head easier (access to inside of the head to tie knot)
10. MEGA Tip: This craft takes a lot of doing and fixing and waiting to dry, etc. It's not a sit-down-and-finish-in-one-afternoon craft, could take a week~month depending on detail and revising needed BUT it's super rewarding and worth the wait!

(This step is for foam clay users. If you use paper clay, just paint all the dried parts in layers and allow to dry before stringing)

Add a few dots of paint at a time, mix, and repeat until you get the colors you want. Due to the nature of foam clay, start carefully with a few dots for pastel colored ponies, don't be afraid to use a lot more for vibrant ponies.

Shape the clay into ears, a head with a snout, and horn if you like. Add magnets for ears and to shut the head halves closed when the parts are dry (might mess with shape if you do it while wet. Use power tools to make slots for the magnets and test to see if the head is closing properly/ears & horn are attaching well and glue when satisfied).

1. Tip: I have notes on the second image on where the magnets are. Hover/click over the picture to check them out!

Create the wings and body shapes, and add channels for the string.

1. Tip: Click on the images and check out the notes I left for the wings!

Create the front & back legs

Follow the stringing guide from the start of the Instructable

1. Wings (tie a knot, cut excess),
2. then back legs & half. (You can add magnets to attach front & back half of pony, I had a lot of excess elastic from the back legs so I fed it through the back half/hips to the front/chest half and used it to string the front legs and head. I did: Back legs+knot, front legs+knot, head+knot, cut excess)
3. Then front legs and head.

Make the mane and tail, leave room for movement of other limbs like legs and wings. Try not to make the parts too long that it can't stand on the table (had to chop part of the tail short and reshape it haha)

Now enjoy posing, dressing, and playing with your new doll!!