Giragira Posted September 19 Hello this is my first attempt at making a miniature instrument. Since the doll I'm making is romanesque I thought the perfect accessory would be a lyre. After some very cursory research I found that most lyres of that time didn't really look like the ones I'm used to seeing in media. Some or more complicated than others, or even use more organic elements like horns and turtle shells. I found one that I decided was in my capacity to make and would look alright. I'm not going for 100% accuracy but close enough is fine for me. So I began with some floral wire and tinfoil and made myself a base. This will reduce clay usage, keep the item light, keep the clay semi even and add some sturdiness. Then I worked some polymer clay and rolled it out so I could get coverage as smooth as possible. I'm not expert so it still turned out lumpy but polymer clay is very forgiving. Kept working it using some cheap plastic tools, paint brushes and alcohol for smoothing. I didn't keep track of the time but this wasn't quick work lol. I pressed in a circle to make the sound hole. Worked some more! Evened it up, smoothed it out annnnd baked! This isn't finished yet, I still have to sand it and add the knobs at the top and strings. But I wanted to post as I worked on this since I'm pretty pleased with how it's going so far. I'll add more pictures as I work. Have any of you made mini instruments? How did it go? 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stupid_Hoomun Posted September 19 I think the lyre looks great so far. I made some 1/3 scale guitars for my dolls but I 3D printed them so it's cool to see someone making something with more traditional methods. Keep us posted with how its coming a long. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RozenGermain Posted September 19 Doing the research was a great idea for your lyre! I remember seeing the stock lyre all the time in stories with an ancient Greek setting, but I've been aware of the turtle shell lyres for a while at this point! Makes me wanna make my own doll instruments at some point, though I already have the idea to make a yaoi paddle in mind! Btw who's the baby this lyre is for? I wanna know! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Giragira Posted September 20 5 hours ago, RozenGermain said: Doing the research was a great idea for your lyre! I remember seeing the stock lyre all the time in stories with an ancient Greek setting, but I've been aware of the turtle shell lyres for a while at this point! Makes me wanna make my own doll instruments at some point, though I already have the idea to make a yaoi paddle in mind! Btw who's the baby this lyre is for? I wanna know! A yaoi paddle would be funny and not too difficult to make. I never owned one but I took pictures with many when I went to cons lol And the baby is Spain from Hetalia lol. Since you mentioned yaoi paddles you might already know that anime lol. But if not it's an anime that has most countries as beautiful men. I wanted to make dolls of some of my favorite characters as children, and slightly more accurate than the anime/manga. So since Spain was part of the Roman empire when it was "young" I thought giving him a little toga and lyre would be cute. Thank you for asking! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RozenGermain Posted September 20 11 hours ago, Giragira said: A yaoi paddle would be funny and not too difficult to make. I never owned one but I took pictures with many when I went to cons lol And the baby is Spain from Hetalia lol. Since you mentioned yaoi paddles you might already know that anime lol. But if not it's an anime that has most countries as beautiful men. I wanted to make dolls of some of my favorite characters as children, and slightly more accurate than the anime/manga. So since Spain was part of the Roman empire when it was "young" I thought giving him a little toga and lyre would be cute. Thank you for asking! Yeah I'm aware of Hetalia, albeit I only know of it by reputation, hehe. Was never into it myself but I was curious about the fact that it apparently got its start as a webcomic.... With the infamous fujobait still there in the beginning because the author may have been into bl lol! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Giragira Posted September 20 (edited) 3 hours ago, RozenGermain said: Yeah I'm aware of Hetalia, albeit I only know of it by reputation, hehe. Was never into it myself but I was curious about the fact that it apparently got its start as a webcomic.... With the infamous fujobait still there in the beginning because the author may have been into bl lol! Yeah it was pretty wild back then, I missed most of that since I wasn't really on social media. But reputation is a polite way of putting it gosh, people were pretty tasteless. When I met my partner we really bonded over it though so I've never really left, even if the fandom is pretty small in the West now comparatively. And yeah the fujobait was real, it got younger me. I'd say it's not so overt now...but they did just do a new musical in Japan where two of the male characters got mock married so maybe not? If the author isn't into bl they're just really determined to get fujobucks I guess lol! Edited September 20 by Giragira Additional sentence 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites