Today, I wanted to talk a little about the dolls or rather doll company that got me into the bjd hobby. Let's rewind ...
It's 2006. I've been playing The Sims 2 for a bit of stress relief. In those days, I was heavily into custom skins for my Sims. I discovered some 'ball joint doll' custom skins and was curious about them. So I started browsing around the internet for this term. I stumbled across a website called, "Angel of Dream." I thought to myself that this was such a sweet name. Then I saw the dolls. Suddenly a new world opened up. The ability to turn my Sims 2 story characters into reality. Of course, in those early days, I couldn't afford to buy one of these dolls. But I continued to admire them until 2009 when I made my first purchase. At the time I had lost the link to the Angel of Dream website so couldn't find it again (mostly because I had forgot the name of the website too!). I knew nothing about Den of Angels and didn't even know this forum existed. My first doll, a Doll Family Lyre, was purchased from Jeeryama on Ebay. I narrowed my first purchase down to Doll Family Lyre and Dollzone Hid. I went with Lyre because he was bigger and I was curious at the size.
But the dolls that got me interested were the Angel of Dream dolls. Their style, aesthetic and overall look.
It was a year later that I rediscovered the Angel of Dream site and the first of these to arrive was SD Jimi. He was unpainted. I ended up giving his head away to a girl I knew who was practicing to do her own face ups.
I later replaced his head with SD Gu who I had wanted for a while. Angel of Dream re-released him and of course I purchased him not long after.
Here he has his first face up by Xhanthi. A face up that I adored quite a bit. However, the face up ended up getting pretty damaged due to an accident with trying to give him piercings and then having to remove them again. So sadly, I had to get him repainted. By that stage, Xhanthi was in high demand so getting a spot on her list was pretty impossible so I had to send him off to a different face up artist. That ended up being Ticuk whose work I was so pleased with that I ended up sending a few more heads to her to paint later on.
But before SD Gu, SD Qian arrived.
She is painted by Xhanthi. I absolutely adore her face up and am super careful with it as I don't ever want to get this one repainted. Xhanthi really captured the essence of her character so well. This was her when she was on her original AOD body. I've always loved Qian and she was the first SD girl I had fallen in love with. I hadn't really liked a lot of others before her. Two came and promptly went in a effort to shell her character but in the end the right sculpt came home. She was the only female here for a long time as I was super picky (and still am) with female sculpts.
My plan was to only collect male sculpts but Qian's presence changed a lot of that.
My biggest regret, by far was selling my Dollzone Floy head.
I had him on a Demon Garden body which was actually not a bad body for all its flaws. It was a trooper at standing poses but it did have some trouble with sitting poses but overall, I thought it was a nice aesthetic and would have kept the body if I hadn't ended up selling Floy. I think at the time I was just so frustrated because I could never find the right wig for him or the right style. But years later, I really regret selling him and wish I could get him again. But he is one sculpt that I don't believe was super popular so doesn't come up much on the second-hand market.
He was to be my demon prince, Kael. In those early days, I was really keen to get my fantasy characters in doll form. (I kind of still am but have had to adjust my expectations a lot).
Looking back through these older photos I have of my past dolls (those that have gone and those still here), I've come to realise that I prefer a certain style and aesthetic of dolls that are hard to find today. I really love the stylised faces of the older dolls compared to the newer dolls. They just excite me more.
And I have also come full circle. The dolls I am now drawn to are SD size dolls again. Will I end up selling off my smaller dolls? I don't know yet. Because all of my smaller dolls are older dolls and most I got before the companies decided to send out COAs with their dolls, I think I might have a hard time actually trying to sell them. For some reason, a lot of people new to the hobby are assuming dolls always came with COAs which isn't the case. That's only been a thing since the whole recast issue came about and became more well known.
And a bit of news. I ordered a Resinsoul Mi on the upgraded Su body with a requested custom face up from the company. I am curious to see how it turns out. I just love the new 60cm female body for its lankiness. Resinsoul face sculpts, particularly their bigger dolls are one of the stylised faces that I like.
How did you find your preferred doll style/aesthetic?
I'm sorry to read you are not well, I wish you a good health very soon! The head of Modoll that I sold a while ago was on an Angel of Dream body, and it was the best body I ever have owned. I really like their dolls. The face-up by Xhanthi is indeed gorgeous. I can't wait to see your Mi, she's such a beauty. As far as preferred doll style is concerned, I actually like both the stylized and the hyper realistic faces. The big eyes, sharp noses and chin and lean bodies of the more classic dolls like Resinsoul dolls appeal very much to me, and the muscled bodies and realistic faces of for instance Dollshe dolls appeal to me too :-).
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to read how you discovered BJDs and about your choices in dolls. I'll keep my fingers crossed that you wil find Floy again one day!
I am feeling much better but my cough is still persisting. Hope it disappears soon!
DeleteAngel of Dream bodies are great to work with. I find them quite stable and solid. I don't mind their posing ability either and they're affordable.
If the stars align, perhaps I will stumble across another Floy one day or find another elf boy just as great.
Get well soon! And I recommend flu vaccination.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, there is only one doll from AoD I like - Yuki. I'm fond of hyperrealism so I want my dolls to resemble real people. But it wasn't always like this. I think my hobby also started around 2006. I was into Japanese fashion and gothic lolita style and discovered some photos of resin dolls in lolita outfits. I did some research and thought that if I had such doll I would make it look like OC from my fantasy book. Back then I couldn't afford a BJD and hardly anyone in my country knew about such dolls. When I finally decided to buy one, I wanted Dollzone Hong but after I placed an order it turned out it was sold out and discontinued. Hong was supposed to be my half elf character. I had to change my order and therefore I changed the whole idea of my OC. I dropped the fantasy project. That's how Akira was born. And I never regreted I had to choose another sculpt and body. However there are just a few DZ sculpts I really like. Raymond was perfect for me. So you can guess what facial features suit my taste. I like high cheekbones and big lips, that's why I adore most of Little Rebel sculpts. As for bodies I don't like very muscular ones. I prefer thin, slender bodies, sometimes even skinny like those from Doll Chateau. It's really hard to find a good body (with well shaped bum) because most of them are too muscular in my opinion. Akira's body is almost perfect, the legs are just a bit too long. And of course all my OCs are adults so I only look for mature looking sculpts.
I hope you'll find Floy one day. It was a pleasure to read about how your doll hobby started. Best regards.
I got the flu vaccine but sadly it doesn't protect against the common cold. Wish they would make something for that!
DeleteFantasy themes are so hard to make into reality I think. I am finding that this seems easier on smaller scale dolls like the playline dolls as you can do more things to them without freaking out you might break them. At least for me.
Thank you for sharing about how you found your own style and aesthetic for your dolls. I think Akira works so well in the style you have chosen for him.
Hi Alasse,
ReplyDeleteSorry you are still unwell, hope you feel better soon.
I love the doll with the Xanthi faceup, her faceups are always so well executed, just a pity she is overseas and not still living here . . . we could do with a few local faceup artists.
Don't know much about the other dolls you mentioned, but I'm not that fond of real masculine dolls and as you know I am more into fantasy and cute than realistic dolls, so I really don't have much to add to what's already been said . . . my mind is not the best at functioning this early in the day. :)
Take care of yourself.
Hugs,
X
Thanks Xanadu. Still having lingering cold-like symptoms. But at least I feel a lot better now *touch wood*.
DeleteI agree that we need more Australian Artists. The only ones I can think of right now don't take commissions anymore.
I love that you have the fantasy and cute style of dolls. I like being able to enjoy them through you.
Sorry to hear that you are unwell, hope that you feel better soon!
ReplyDeleteI have admired Xhanti's faceups and she did a good job capturing SD Qian. :) I am not familiar with Angel of Dream, do not even remember if I visited their site while searching for my first doll. The sites I visited were Fairyland, Dollmore, Iplehouse and Luts. I did not know in the beginning what I was looking for, but I felt more for the soft faces and dolls around 30-35 cm. So it was Narsha, Petit Delf or KID/BID basic. Ended up with Narsha from Dollmore. I wonder what I would have chosen if I was searching for my first doll today? Oh, well, found the links in a magazine I bought and the rest is history. :)
I am, Slowly but surely getting better!
DeleteI was the same. I really had no clue about what I wanted other than a really nice looking bjd. I started out with white skin dolls. Wow, was that a lesson in yellowing!
I always enjoy seeing your dolls. I also love that you do their face ups yourself!