Boat Gijinka Doll Project Log

I'm currently working on creating a doll for a humanization I've made for a side project. I've made an attempt for this character before, but it didn't turn out so well so I'm re doing him again. If it goes well, I'm going to try some other characters in the project but everyone else I would like to make a doll of is significantly more difficult due to hair style/body type/sculpt. I probably won't even make the others due to how much modification I'll need to do to the sculpts and likely needing to make a whole new body for a few of them or printing out articulated hair since that's the only way to reliably translate it and I won't be able to post them here since they won't be a vinyl doll anymore at that point.

Some of the reference for the character below.

I have selected ImD Apsu in Tan for my head. I've previously tried making the character with a Mie head, but the eye is a bit too narrow for the character. Here's the progress on the head so far.

I'm not too good with sewing but I'm sure I can either make or find a collared short sleeved shirt for him. I have some pants that I made on a previous custom attempt for the character and I need to get some glasses for him. I need to get more doll shoes, but borrowing the shoes of others works at the moment.

It's going to be a bit difficult due to the green gradient effect on his hair. It depends on the fibers, but the last time I tried using acrylic hair with Rit Dyemore it barely did anything. I'm going to up the concentration this time since I didn't add as much as I think I should. I will also be using actual wig fibers instead of yarn so it might do a little better.

Imomodoll is the best bet in terms of accessibility in terms of price, sculpts, and color and I already have a bunch of Imomo heads. I think he's closer to SmD Cinnamon or DD tan but ImD tan is fine too. Another thing is his name tag which I could use a piece of fabric but I'm probably going to print out his name tag and laminate it or something because I've tried to paint it on a piece of felt before and it did not work out due to how long his name is and how small the text needed to be.

It's difficult to translate a 2D image to a 3D thing, but he's one of the easier designs so let's see how I manage to do. 

 

 

Edited February 1 by Amapola

5 hours ago, Amapola said:

I have selected ImD Apsu in Tan for my head.

Do they still sell Apsu heads? I’m looking to pick one up, but can’t find them anywhere and just assumed they were discontinued.

22 minutes ago, ragnamuffin said:

Do they still sell Apsu heads? I’m looking to pick one up, but can’t find them anywhere and just assumed they were discontinued.

I think they're discontinued. It's a shame since Apsu is a very versatile sculpt. I think Tiamat and Mie also are discontinued as well. 😔

You should absolutely be able to find a button up shirt that suits you. For the wig dyeing, yes you definitely need a high concentration and make sure the water is BOILING. (Or immediately dip after turning off the heat) It will not do anything otherwise. If you don't want to use boiling water tho, I recommend coloring on it with Posca markers. I've done it before and personally did not have any stain issues (but ymmv). It can also be removed with alcohol.

On 2/1/2026 at 5:07 AM, Amapola said:

I think they're discontinued. It's a shame since Apsu is a very versatile sculpt. I think Tiamat and Mie also are discontinued as well. 😔

That's... suprising. I was under the impression that those were some of their best selling heads. 

Anyway, I'm wishing you luck on your project! The character in your drawings is cute. 

Been trying to work on him recently since I plan on taking him to NYC Dollcon as my only doll since I don't want to bring my 1/3 dolls or my Otohime dolls nor do I want to keep tabs on any doll smaller than 1/4. He'll probably be among the least fussiest doll to bring overall with his simple outfit, lower stain risk, no magnet accessories, light weight, and a slightly more manageable wig (looking at my Julie with her annoying wig). I also added some friction to the joints of his body some time ago so he's not going to drop a leg or arm if I carry him around.

Faceup has been completed and hair has been cut and dyed. The color ended up being too green. Looks like a leek. Might redo it later with a mixture that contains way more blue but it's fine for now. The overall faceup doesn't look that much like him, but I don't have the confidence to cut the eyeholes.

All he needs is his hair styled and a shirt and some socks.

 

Edited April 5 by Amapola

I love the hair even if it's too green for your liking haha. It's very nicely done!

End result. I'll likely redo his bangs in the future and I still need his name badge, but maybe later since I don't know any methods that aren't just a piece of paper.

I'm happy I got him done before the NYC Doll convention. Hope his hair holds up.

I'll likely make another doll from this project since this was fun and this was the first time I had to dye and style hair.

Next doll is likely going to be MV Kaleetan or MV Walla Walla depending on how lucky I am to get their parts. Kaleetan would need a DDH-05 head in flesh which has been out of stock for a long while on Volks and I will use my Karin's body for her (sorry Karin) and Wally would need to be a SmD Bro body in Tea and a G10 sculpt. Tan DCH-26 on a DDB body might work too but judging from what I can see from tan DD photos, it may be too pale for him. Also both of them will have hair that will be an absolute nightmare to make. Kaleetan can only be achievable via 3D sculpting due the patterns in her hair and Wally will require me to stitch his hair like a plushie in some parts. One bonus is that if I can do Kaleetan and figure out how to 3d sculpt, I can also get a DDH-07 head and do MV Yakima as well.

Edited yesterday at 05:39 AM by Amapola

He's so cute! I think the hair especially translated from your design really nicely. if you do decide to try the badge, you could laminate a regular paper badge to make it more stiff and official looking, or maybe use shrinky dink plastic if you want it to be more 3D like thicker badges. As long as you write neatly, it tends to hold little drawn details well.

He looks really great! Very nice to see the end result.

Good luck with your future doll plans!

Happy to see, he came together nicely. - And have lots of fun at the NYC Doll convention.

 

Edit:

22 hours ago, Amapola said:

I still need his name badge, but maybe later since I don't know any methods that aren't just a piece of paper.

You could whip up a badge in photoshop/gimp/<graphics program of your choice>, and have it printed as a photo on photo paper. That should make it a bit more robust and fancy looking.

Edited 19 hours ago by Tierparkzone