[Elves] Emily's Grandmother

[Xaran Alamas]

SPOILER WARNING FOR UNITE THE MAGIC

Now that's out of the way...

I recently got Skyra's Castle on sale and started putting it together today and noticed on the sticker a picture of who I assume is Emily's Grandmother as an Elf with Skyra (the two were friends afterall)

This got me thinking about making a custom figure of Emily's Grandmother and/or seeing if anyone else has had the same idea. Thus far the only minidolls I have are the ones from the Elves sets so I would need to Brick-Link the parts and I wondered if anyone had any suggestions?

I have attached a cropped version of the sticker below.

So far I figure I can probably just use Emily's head and possibly torso as it has the pendant on it (perhaps the 2016 Torso will work better as it doesn't have the stripes), though possibly replacing the arms as from the picture it seems the Grandmother Elf is wearing a top with long sleeves.

I'm sure there's a leg piece suitable from Friends or Elves but the biggest issue I can see is her hair. I've no idea if there is a suitable hairpiece and I'm guessing I would need to try and add ears myself using modelling putty?

Anyway sorry that became a bit of me thinking out loud heehee but as I say any advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated and I'll update this post when/if I make progress on this project :)

~ Xaran

Edit: Hmm I guess http://brickset.com/parts/4621315 could work as a purist solution for the hair, though it's red rather than brown (like Emily's hair) but it's a dark red which isn't a million miles away from brown... of course it would still need ears.

Now idealy to get the massive ponytail thing going on from the pic some combination of a hairpiece with the piece use for Macy's plume (from Nexo Knights) would work nicely :D

Edited January 28, 2016 by Xaran Alamas

[OmShanti]

That is in fact Emily's Grandmother when she was young.

You could use Disney Princess Merida's arms for the long sleeves. I think it's the same shade of blue as Emily's new shirt.

That hair you chose does come in brown, in the new Friends Cupcake Cafe Set http://brickset.com/sets/containing-part-6136807

There's also this hair as an option http://brickset.com/parts/4527065

Or if you were feeling adventurous, maybe try painting Aira's hair piece (the braid might not show up so much in a darker color).

[Xaran Alamas]

Good to know it's not just me who picked up on that nice detail by LEGO :)

And thanks for the suggestions! I'll look into them :)

I have been considering Merida for the Torso and/or Arms in fact since I made the original post.

And hmm painting could also work.

Again thanks for the reply and suggestions :) Guess I'll be making a Bricklink order soon ^^

Edited January 30, 2016 by Xaran Alamas

[Xaran Alamas]

Update, got some pieces ordered, hopefully they'll come soon and come together nicely. Though she will be lacking ears for now - Warrants more investigation into how to do that part right. I'll post pics when I've assembled her!

[OmShanti]

Sounds great. Can't wait to see her. Good luck with the construction of the ears.

[Xaran Alamas]

Sounds great. Can't wait to see her. Good luck with the construction of the ears.

Speaking of ears, do you have any idea if 'Green Stuff' aka Epoxy Putty works with LEGO Hair? I'm a bit concerned due to the hairpiece I've ordered I believe being one of the rubbery kind as opposed to just plastic...

[OmShanti]

I haven't used it with the minidoll hair myself, but I'm pretty sure epoxy putty adheres just fine to rubber. Shouldn't be a problem.

[Xaran Alamas]

Hah well that's a little morbid. The hair and head have arrived, still waiting on the torso and legs.

Also a bit concerning, my cashbook currently has entries for "Head, Torso, Legs and Hair". I'm not a serial killer, honest! xD

[Xaran Alamas]

Good news! The torso came today so I can now present the currently purist first version of Emily's Grandmother!

I think perhaps the brown hair will ultimately be better but I'm sure I'll find a use for this red hair somewhere :D

Obviously she is lacking her ears at the mo so let's say this is her right after she became mortal ^^

I've also realised I need to come up with a proper setup for taking pictures of my LEGO. Oh well. I also hope sooner or later we get Aira's skirt piece in dark blue as that would match the picture perfectly. Or if I get adventurous maybe I can paint it... speaking of I might also paint over the rips in the sleeves from Merida's torso, though that would require good colour matching hrmm...

Anyway I'm pretty pleased thus far :D I got two of Merida's Torso so that when the new Emily Torso is available I can rip the arms off one while keeping one as is ^^

[Xaran Alamas]

Sorry for double post but I need to attach another file.

So I tried her with Aira's skirt and the white actually works quite well! Perhaps I'll try a version with the purple underskirt (I'm not sure what to call it) painted blue?

In either case, changing the colour of the shoes would be the really tricky part!

[OmShanti]

She looks good with both skirts. But blue would look great with Aira's skirt. I think there are lists online of color matches for Lego, that should help with covering the rips in the sleeves of Merida's top and matching the skirt also. Good luck with the rest of the customization, it's coming along nicely so far.

For the shoes; a good overhead lamp, a magnifier, and a steady hand should be all you need to make it work.

[Xaran Alamas]

She looks good with both skirts. But blue would look great with Aira's skirt. I think there are lists online of color matches for Lego, that should help with covering the rips in the sleeves of Merida's top and matching the skirt also. Good luck with the rest of the customization, it's coming along nicely so far.

For the shoes; a good overhead lamp, a magnifier, and a steady hand should be all you need to make it work.

Hehe thanks for the kind words and advice, I'll look into that!

However I fear it will be some time before I'm able to post any further updates, my workspace for greenstuff/painting is currently overrun with poorly organized LEGO boxes ironically ... I really need to tidy up a bit

[Velouria]

Ah, a fellow minidoll modder! Excellent work!

[Xaran Alamas]

Ah, a fellow minidoll modder! Excellent work!

Hi! And thanks that means a lot coming from you, I love your Dark Elf customs. I think adding elf ears and a bit of painting will be my limit on actual customization at least for a while... when I'm able to do it that is ^^ The Elf Ears bit will be tricky enough xD

[Iria]

Nice work so far! I like seeing the progress you've made. I think you made great choices on the hair piece and torso. I think the hair colour is fine since it's not too bright a red. Also both are decent skirt pieces, I agree that Aira's skirt style is a better match to the art, but I think the blue one matches better with the top. I'd probably paint the white part of the Aira skirt a matching blue, and the trim a yellow-gold. I have minimal painting experience with minidolls, so I can't give advice there, other than I've found it difficult to get the paints not overly glossy.

Emily and her grandmother shared the same eye colour, so you could use Emily's head as well for the figure. If you want a freckle-less head, I don't think I've seen the light green in the other minidolls. The Emma minidoll has dark green eyes.

[Xaran Alamas]

Nice work so far! I like seeing the progress you've made. I think you made great choices on the hair piece and torso. I think the hair colour is fine since it's not too bright a red. Also both are decent skirt pieces, I agree that Aira's skirt style is a better match to the art, but I think the blue one matches better with the top. I'd probably paint the white part of the Aira skirt a matching blue, and the trim a yellow-gold. I have minimal painting experience with minidolls, so I can't give advice there, other than I've found it difficult to get the paints not overly glossy.

Emily and her grandmother shared the same eye colour, so you could use Emily's head as well for the figure. If you want a freckle-less head, I don't think I've seen the light green in the other minidolls. The Emma minidoll has dark green eyes.

Thanks for the comments and reply! And D'oh, I forgot there was a colour photo of Emily's Grandmother that showed her eye colour >.< I guess I'll experiment a bit. I may opt for artistic license though, while I could use Emily's head as you mention she has freckles and I'd rather the two had different faces if at all possible.

As for clothes well I'm probably going to end up with a couple of outfits for her at this rate once the new Elves minidolls are available.