musings/mumbles: Dolls, Miniatures, and Customs, oh my!

Hey everyone!
A while back I saw a post on tumblr with some beautiful dolls, dressed in lolita clothing. I was awestruck and amazed, they were so cute! My obsession with whimsical and innocent cute things was weak to such adorableness. I had to know more about these! Turns out, the dolls were from a line called "Pullip" which is similar to its competitor, "Blythe". Both brands are asian fashion dolls that are 1/6 scale, or 'playscale' meaning that they are similar to size of the American "Barbie" or the ever popular "Monster High". However, unlike a Barbie, Pullip and Blythe dolls have wonderful articulation, and are allowed a wide range of movement due to having ball-socket joints. This places them in the category of a "ball jointed doll" or a BJD, for short.

The image that caught my attention

The dolls beautiful clothes were from the Angelic Pretty brand- one of, if not THE most popular lolita clothing brand.

BJDs are popular on sites like tumblr, pinterest, flickr and instagram for their beautiful detail and immaculate beauty. However, what most people don't realize is that many of these dolls are very different!

A Super Dollfie- Volks brand doll

A Pullip, Blythe, ect- these dolls are made of soft plastic (ABC) or vinyl. This material is generally much cheaper and lighter than its counterpart, which is resin.
Now comes the hard part (pun intended)- talking about resin dolls.
Resin dolls are more expensive, but heavier and with a porcelain-type feel. Vinyl dolls are lighter in weight and tend to be much less expensive.

BJD doll sizes vary greatly from mini (a few inches tall) to, well, huge. The vast majority of BJDs are in the 15 to 17 inch (1/8th scale) and 22 to 27 inch (1/6th scale). Super Dolfie (approximately 22 inches tall) is a popular size, as are the 15 to 17 inch size dolls, due to the wider range of clothing and accessories available in these sizes.

Customization

BJDs are well known for their ability to be easily customized. This attribute is often labled "OOAK" or "One Of A Kind" for a customized doll, or a doll that can be customized.

This being said there are many manufactures that allow 'blank' or basic doll parts so you can create custom, one of a kind doll. For example, Pullip dolls may have their bodies switched with an "Obitsu" body, which is a kind of body just for creating custom ball jointed dolls. Many doll owners who like to customize their dolls switch to this doll body because it is well known for having a better range of motion and durability. Yet there is even more to this! In fact, Pullip Dolls even have a line called "Make it Own" which is just what it sounds like- you can purchase the most basic blank doll, and make it your own.
The head may be unscrewed so the eyechips may be changed (allowing for different patterns and colors) and the material to be painted, colored and customized. Additionally, when the head is removed, the body can be switched out for another model.

All of this allows for beautiful works to be created, with a combination of different brands and shapes, wigs, eyes, oh! It's all so beautiful, don't you agree? These are both pullips because I seem to have an obession.

The beautiful designs on a BJD's face is called a "face up". A doll head without a face up is just plain, blank plastic- an empty canvas, ready to work on! A face up can involve altering the shape- for example, one might need to create eye holes or sand down certain features. However, it mostly refers to the lines, coloring, shading and details that give a doll a certain "look"
Artists that excel in face ups are known to have wonderful technical skill so they can create the fine lines and careful palettes in a face.

Starting a Collection

Now that I have a good amount of knowledge on bjds, I want to start my own collection and create custom dolls, too! I thought to start out with a Pullip, due to my obsession- but the price was so high!!! $200 for a doll? No thanks, not for this beginner. Maybe if I was more invested, but this was to get a taste.

little pullip and body example

I wanted to create a custom doll, and I found a tutorial on creating a Little Pullip-Obitsu hybrid. It was straightforward enough, and a cost effective way to start. Essentially, the idea was to take a miniature Pullip doll and combine the head with a larger body. This was great for me because I really wanted a Pullip, but didn't want to blow my budget.

I ended up purchasing a small 'Little Pullip/Little Dall Docolla' which resembled the popular main character from the anime "squid girl". This cost me about $40, and I was really pleased! She was so cute!

However, I didn't have any money left......

Oops? Ah well, I still had a doll!

A month or so later I managed to scrape together some more information on bjds. I rediscovered the tutorial on creating a hybrid, and started to save up. I settled on an obitsu 25cm medim bust body, which cost about $30, and was totally. Worth it. I just have to wait for it to arrive!

The doll I currently have is pictured on the right, and is tiny tiny tiny!!! I have to put her on a stand to get her to stay upright, her head just doesnt fit at all! Without the character hat, she looks different, and I named her Alice. I really can't wait to get the new body, she is so out of proportion right now!

However, I've been getting antsy. I wanted to try doing faceups.

And..... I screwed up. About 5 times, from scratch. But I kept going!!

After at least 7 more attempts, she started to look good! Here's what the head looks like right now.

Also, I wasted like 2 hours yesterday making a little dollhouse room. I added tiles and real wallpaper, it was fun! Hopefully I can finish this doll, and the little room. It won't be as good as some of the other minatures out there, but it's a start. I'm really taking a liking to this hobby, it's relaxing and creative- and a good way for me to practice my technical skill.

She's looking good! Really good! And.... I'm probably going to do her face up all over again, because it got smudged on one side. Maybe it will be better this time! After all, practice makes perfect! Or permanent, either way, I have to be careful.

So let's check out my dorky dollhouse room thing, shall we?

this is probably the lamest thing I have ever done. And I am damn proud.

It's constructed out of a wooden box, wallpaper, some checkered fabric,glue and love. I also added in a little broken barbie table thing we had lying around, and I added a cardboard cover. In the back you can see a makeshift closet from a plastic box, cardboard, a plastic stick thing, yarn and even more glue. So much glue.

Anyways! Did I mention I've been sick with bronchitis? Shit, I don't think I did. Well, that's totally a thing, and I need to catch up on my schoolwork. Or eat lunch.
Hmmm.... Yeah, I think I'll just eat, for now.
Take care darlings, and have a magical day!!!

UPDATES YO

look at this beauty im so proud