This summer, I had the good fortune to be commissioned to paint Zuri for a friend. I’ve been admiring the sculpts of the artist Nuria Torras for a few years now, but haven’t had the opportunity to see any of her creations in person. It really was a treat to work on this beautiful sculpt.

Nuria Torras is an artist in Spain and she established her company, Merry Doll Round, in 2011. She studied fine arts and illustration and put her talents to work sculpting dolls and toys. Nuria’s dolls are not your stereotypical classic doll faces, her beauties are inspired by women of many cultures. The curvaceous body is also beautifully sculpted and the seams were all removed. I didn’t see any hints of marbling or other defects so common in dark resins. I will also say that the resin itself is the most beautiful and nicest to the touch that I’ve seen.

I found a great blog with an interview with Nuria. It’s called Musume’s My Dolly Adventures.

The interview is from 2015 so Nuria has done a lot of new work since then, but it’s a great introduction to the artist and the whole blog is entertaining and informative. I don’t want to quote too much from the interview because you should check it out: https://mydollyadventures.blogspot.com/2015/08/interview-with-merry-doll-round.html#.YYAktp7MJPb

Zuri was available in three resin colors and this one is called Dark Cocoa. It’s a beautiful deep chocolate with a tiny hint of burgundy. It was a challenge to my photography skills to accurately capture the color.

Here is a photo from the Merry Doll Round website which shows Zuri in the three color options:

Painting dark resin is a challenge. Sealants can be an issue: any faults in the sealant are more noticeable, and many coats of sealant can lighten the appearance of the resin. In my experience, Zoukeimura spray works best on dark resins. When painting, I offset the dark colors with adjacent highlights. On Zuri, there is a thin lavender line highlighting her eyes, gray accents in her brows, and white spotlights in her lips.

Here are some super enlarged detail images:

Our vibrant collector and artist community are fueled by innovative sculptors like Nuria–it’s why this hobby has exploded over the last decade. Support our artists!

Zuri on my work table:

Here are links to sites where you can find Merry Doll Round:

• Official Website: http://www.merrydollround.com
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MerryDollRound
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/merrydollround/
• Tumblr: http://merrydollround.tumblr.com/
• Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bellargus/

Here are links to my sites:

All my project photos on Flickr! Link to open a new window.

My Etsy Shop! Link to open a new window.

Fun stuff on Pinterest! Link to open a new window.

Whatever is happening on Facebook! Link to open a new window.

I’m starting to share projects on Instagram! Link to open a new window.

01 Nov This entry was published on November 1, 2021 at 6:58 pm. It’s filed under Art Doll, Ball Jointed Dolls, BJD Faceups, Tips and tagged ABJD, Ball Jointed Doll, BJD, Dark Resin, Doll, Faceup, Merry Doll Round, Noria Torres, Nuria Torras, Painting, Resin, Robbin Atwell. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.