Here is the 12” fashion doll version of Zuckuss’s completely esoteric and obscure fanfic sweetheart (who can also be seen here and here at 4” scale).
This little lady had been on my “in the works” list for a good long time, so it wasgood to have her done at last.
My first 12” custom dolls were the three Padmés, but Telfien was definitely my first really difficult and involved 12” doll. She involved a large amount of sewing, sculpting, and painting on my part; I had to sculpt all the details of her head, and sew most of her clothes myself (by hand!), whereas the Padmés mainly involved switches of preexisting heads and clothes. I was done with the Padmés in an afternoon or two, but Telfien took significantly longer, since there were more things that had to dry, cure, and so forth.
This was a pretty involved customization, so forgive me if it takes a little while to explain what all I did! I had originally intended to use a Takara Jenny doll as a base, but as soon as I found out about the super-poseable Obitsu doll body, I switched to that. I used a blank, hairless Obitsu head as the base for her head, and then sculpted her alien details onto it with various Sculpeys. It took forever to get right! (Her two little antennae are made from pieces of peacock feather.)
I had hoped to give her “sleepy” eyes (the kind on baby dolls that open and close), and had ordered a big bag of these eyes on eBay. Unfortunately, they weren’t quite the right size, and in order to get them to fit properly in the holes I had cut in the Obitsu head, I had to take the spherical “eyes” out of the casing that allowed them to open and close. So, alas, a “sleepy” (meditative?) version of Telfien will have to wait for the future. Still, the eyes fit perfectly once I took them out of the casing. I painted them first with gold paint (Testors Model Master Acryl), then gold glitter glue.
Her outfit is based on the one worn by the 4” Telfien. It is all hand-sewn, including the cream-colored chemise and bloomers under the pink robes. The exception is a pair of white doll socks and the pair of lavender slippers that came with 12” Arwen from Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring.
Her sash and scarf are both just swaths of various types of ribbon from the fabric store, as is the flower garland around her left arm. In her story -- which I promise I’ll post someday -- her parents are gardeners, and though she goes on to become a Findswoman, she wears this symbol of their trade in their honor. (Besides, they’re pretty.)
Those of you who have seen the various Zuckuss figures put out by Hasbro may notice that he has something that she doesn’t. That is correct: my Telfien doll is not wearing a breath mask or respirator of any kind. What you see here is all the mouthparts, palpi, antennae, etc., that are hiding under there. Why is this, you may wonder?
Most of her story takes place on Gand, where she wouldn’t need one.
Because of (1), Beedo and I were wondering what a Gand might look like out of breathing gear, and Beedo, who is a biologist by training, sent me some drawings and diagrams that he’d come up with. It is upon these that the design of this custom is largely based. (See Beedo’s story “Breathe no More” for a really ginchy-cool prose description of a maskless Zuckuss.)
The bulky box, tubes, harness, etc. would obscure her beautiful, hand-sewn outfit, of course!
