What do you mean one size doesn't fit all?

As discussed in my blog Yeah, but what IS a bjd? bjd are radically different than most mass produced fashion dolls.  One of the major differences, is that they come in a variety of sizes.  Barbie, the most well known fashion doll, comes in one size 11 1/2 inches or in doll terminology, 1/6th size.  Other fashion dolls are closer to about 13 inches.  There are smaller mass produced dolls on the market, such as Bratz.  Generally however the smaller the doll you get, the less articulation the doll is given, until the very small ones only move at the head, shoulder and hip (Which I don't really consider fashion dolls, but I'm guess here, I'm just discussing all dolls in general).

Again this is where bjd's differ from other dolls.  Bjd's range from about 90 cm to 5 cm, for those who are don't easily convert from centimeters to inches, that is about 36 inches to about 2 inches.  Bjd hobbyists, tend to break down these sizes into ratios in relation to human height.  As a Barbie is 12 inches or 1/6th size, the 90 cm dolls are considered 1/2 size.  There does reach a point at which this form of size designation seems to break down.  Dolls smaller than 1/6th tend to be known by names related to the size designation that the companies gave them.

But the size differences go beyond just 1/3th, 1/4th, 1/6th however.  Each company hand sculpts its dolls and over time different sizes within the size classifications have formed.

A dolly friend of mine has taken some comparison pictures to show the variations in sizes.



What you are seeing in this group are the SD or larger dolls.  Most people consider SD or 1/3 dolls to be 60 cm but they actually range from about 58 to 62 cm.  The boys we have above from left to right are:  An Uncle size (72 cm) by Dragondoll, a Hong sculpt (70 cm) by Dollzone, Supergem  (65cm) by Soom, an SD by DemonGarden, SD by Domuya, another SD by Domuya, and an SD by B&G type 2 (58 cm).

Now we move onto the MSD (Mini Super Dollfie) and smaller dolls.  MSD's are supposed to run between 42 cm to 40 cm.  Everything after that is a special size from different companies.  From left to right, we have:  an MSD (46cm) by Dollzone, an MSD (43 cm) from Bobobbie, a Teenie Gem (26 cm) from Soom, a mysterious somebody neither Kitty or I are sure of, an Obitsu (21 cm), a Leo sculpt (14.5 cm)  by Dollzone, a Tiny (15 cm) by Bobobie, another Tiny (15 cm) by Bobobie, and lastly a PukiPuki (10 cm) by Fairyland

As you can see by the doll on the far right, his 10 cm (4 inches) is quite small.  Despite his size he is articulated exactly the same as the MSD (40 cm) dolls on the far right.  Only exception would be a chest joint, which the Puki size does not have.  He can bend is arms knees, and wrists, move his feet and bend over at the waist.  In fact the puki's are exceptional posers.  Because they don't have as much weight and height on their ankles, gravity it much less likely to pull them over, making them exceptional standers.  They are also well known for their ability to do headstands, something more more difficult with the taller dolls.
Finally, in way of comparison, the final picture of the day is this one.  In my opinion, this picture provides an excellent perspective as to the very obvious height differences between the large and the small.



And where would Barbie stand in this lineup?  See the doll with long blue hair and his wing held up.  He's waving her over.

It's difficult to answer why are there so many different sizes.  Obviously the hobby didn't start with this many sizes, however over time as new companies tried to find niches for market share new sizes were developed.

All these sizes are fun for customization and allowing customers to find just the right size for their wants and needs however there are disadvantage as well.  Now its much harder to find clothing  in your doll's size because one size of doll pants does not fit all dolls of that size.

I recently had that experience when I bought a pair of turquoise pants off ebay.  Got them home.  They were too small in the inseam for Nievae (Illusion Spirit LanXing), who they'd be purchased for, Muraski (DollFamily body) is an older doll and chunkier in the torso so they wouldn't snap for her, in the end, the one doll not interested in wearing them, Mathias (Blue Fairy Kyle) was the only one who fit them. 

I guess Barbie has her advantages with her mass produced sameness, she's easy to find clothes for.

Spring Blooms

This winter has been very warm, offering me and my best doll friend in the whole world, Aernath, the opportunity to do more outside dolly things.  Unfortunately it is rarely nice on the days we have off, so despite the uncharacteristic warmth, we don't have much to show for it.

However, this last Saturday was beautiful here in the midwest, so we donned our jackets and tennis shoes, packed the cameras and dolls and set off to our local Botanical Gardens.   (which by the way really is quite beautiful, especially for the midwest)  If I could wish anything to change about it, it would be the size.  I'd love to see it twice the size it is now.  But that is neither here nor there.

Here are a few of my favorite shots:

The entire photoshoot can be seen at:  http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?506135-Spring-Blooms-(Illusion-Spirit-Lan-Xing)-15-pics

These pictures are of my Illusion Spirit Lan Xing who I have named Nievae.  Taking pictures of my dolls is one of my favorite parts of the hobby of collecting BJDs.  Over time I think I have gotten better with composition and posing.  Now days, I spend a great deal of my miniscule spare time pouring over other peoples' doll pictures, trying to understand the elements that I like in their photograpy.  I'm hoping by understanding what others do that I like, I will be able to incorporate them into my own work.

Aernath's schedule has just moved to 40hrs and so next week is still up in the air as to whether we will be able to do something on Saturday or not.

I hate it when real life gets in the way of having fun!

Yeah, but what IS a BJD?

Well, now we know how the bjd craze began, but what is a bjd?

Ball-jointed dolls, as one might expect can be most easily defined as a doll with ball joints.  This however is a bit of circular logic because it really doesn't explain anything.

Asian ball-jointed dolls have multiple points of articulation that use ball and socket joints, much like a human's.  Normal points of articulation are shoulder, elbow, wrist, head, hip/upper thigh, knee, ankle.  There are also often one or more joints in the torso, the typical being waist, and upper chest or both.

Waist joints allow for turning the body and side to side movement and the chest joint allows for the slouching posture.

Elastic cord is threaded through the bjd's hollow body and limbs giving it the tenstion it needs to maintain poses with its articulated joints.  The elastic cord comes in a variety of sizes so it will fit a variety of differently sized dolls.  Overtime the cord loses its elasticity and must be replaced.  This is usually called restringing.  We'll discuss restringing in greater depth in a different post.

However what really seperates a bjd from say a Barbie or other similar doll is its customizability.  A Barbie comes with blonde rooted hair, makeup already on her lips in pink or red.  Her only true customization is the ability to change her clothing.  BJD's however if so purchased, come bald with no clothing, no eyes and no makeup to mark their features such as eyebrows or lips.

Through the application of different style and colors of wig and eyes, different colors and styles of makeup, each bjd is unique and presents its own personality.  It is possible, however, to buy bjd's with a faceup put on by the company.  These faceups tend to all look alike.  Oddly, by just changing the hair, eyes and clothing, these dolls often look nothing alike.

This customizability is the root of the bjd obsession.  One sculpt, many dolls.  Many sculpts, endless possibilities.

In the Beginning: Let there be BJD's

Sorry it's taken so long to get another post done, I just haven't had much time to do the research necessary.  So today I got off my butt and put in a little google sweat and found a WONDERFUL livejournal about bjd's.  The address is:  http://bjd-wtf.livejournal.com/309.html


Wood Mannequin

History

I have seen it postulated that bjd's were some manga artists recreation of the wooden mannequin that artists use.  However according to bjd_wtf's research, the actual believed beginning of the resin bjd came from a german artist, Hans Bellmer in the 1930's.  He created wooden ball-jointed dolls that he used in various art forms.  Unfortunately, Den of Angels' thread on the subject has since been moved or deleted.  As a speed bump on the information super highway, I was completely unable to find other considerations as to the original source for the inspiration in creating bjds.

In 1998 Volks, an asian company known for making anime figurines, perhaps inspired by Hans Bellmer's wooden dolls, created the first ball jointed doll for the wife of the president of the company.  Now displayed in the Volks Muesum, this doll was the first of what we consider the modern ball-jointed doll.  In 1999, the first Super Dollfie (Super Doll Figure) Nana was produced.  Shortly thereafter they expanded and added other sculpts besides Nana.  The picture shown is an actual picture of the Nana sculpt from the Volks website and is still available for purchase at http://www.volksusa.com/sd0002.html.  It took several years however for bjd's to take off internationally, as they were only available in Japan or through shopping services.

Custom House was the next company to begin to produce bjds.  Bjds finally reached American shores in 2001 and by 2003 there was an explosion in the Korean market.  Custom House has since changed its name to Ai Dolls

I originaly found bjds in 2003 or 2004 through an online friend who collected them.  I swear at the time there were only two companies to choose from:  Volks and Luts.  However, those who know more about the doll community at the time have convinced me that Custom House was also an option.  (I did mention I am a speedbump on the internet super highway, right?)

Why are we here?

For a high school psychology paper my daughter chose to write about the hobby of collecting Asian Ball Jointed dolls.  As it turns out there is no one definative source of information on the subject.  The closest might be the forum, Den of Angels (www.denofangels.com). 

Unfortunately the forum does not have open enrollment and therefore not a readily available source for everyone, all the time.  Becasue of this, I decided maybe it was time someone endeavored to create a place where all the information on the hobby could be collected, that anyone could access at their leisure.

There is an immense amount of information out there and as previously stated, not in one place.  Obviously I can't begin to pass it all along, but I will try to collect and diseminate as much as possible in the simplest format possible.  I will also, because it is my blog, intersperse the plain information with the going ons of my own dolly hobby as I know it.  Hopefully this blog will be informative.  And if I'm really lucky, I'll manage entertaining as well.

Roulette