1. It has come to the attention of forum staff that Dollshe Craft has ceased communications with dealers and customers, has failed to provide promised refunds for the excessive waits, and now has wait times surpassing 5 years in some cases. Forum staff are also concerned as there are claims being put forth that Dollshe plans to close down their doll making company. Due to the instability of the company, the lack of communication, the lack of promised refunds, and the wait times now surpassing 5 years, we strongly urge members to research the current state of this company very carefully and thoroughly before deciding to place an order. For more information please see the Dollshe waiting room. Do not assume this cannot happen to you or that your order will be different.
    Dismiss Notice
  2. Dollshe Craft and all dolls created by Dollshe, including any dolls created under his new or future companies, including Club Coco BJD are now banned from Den of Angels. Dollshe and the sculptor may not advertise his products on this forum. Sales may not be discussed, no news threads may be posted regarding new releases. This ban does not impact any dolls by Dollshe ordered by November 8, 2023. Any dolls ordered after November 8, 2023, regardless of the date the sculpt was released, are banned from this forum as are any dolls released under his new or future companies including but not limited to Club Coco BJD. This ban does not apply to other company dolls cast by Dollshe as part of a casting agreement between him and the actual sculpt or company and those dolls may still be discussed on the forum. Please come to Ask the Moderators if you have any questions.
    Dismiss Notice

BJD by "small-time" even "amateur" doll-makers

Jan 7, 2010

    1. If a thread similar to this one has already been made, kindly link me to that one amd close/delete this one. Thank you.

      I'm new to the BJD hobby and although I've seen literally dozens of company websites, I've only seen one website by a self-employed doll-maker. The discovery of this BJD http://ego-project.net/eng/index.html made me wonder if there were other BJD out there made by self-employed individuals and not big companies. I noted that the creator of Keath calls herself an "amateur" but from looking at pictures of her creation she may as well be a master artist and I really want to buy a Keath! There's something about owning a doll that's made by a self-employed person and not a group of people working for a company. Before I decide to go ahead and buy Keath I thought I should post and ask if there were other BJD's made by similar individuals. I might change my mind and get something else.
       
    2. I believe many companies, though they may have a company/business front, have only one person sculpting all their dolls. Consider Rainman and Elfdoll, or Mr Dollshe, for example.

      Some artist/amateur-made dolls, off the top of my head...

      DoA's own Twigling and Batchix -- Twiglimbs Ylisande and Batchix Machina, respectively.
      http://enchantmentdoll.com


      Yuna of Pixydoll -- she has also done sculpts for Crobidoll (Lance, Yeon-Ho, etc).
      http://pixydoll.com

      Esthy made Peroth and Rad.
      http://distantmemory.net

      Migidoll is a one-person venture.
      http://migidoll.com

      I believe Gomidoll is also one person.
      http://gomidoll.com

      Psyche made her X- and A-line sculpts, but I'm not sure where her website is.

      OceanMoon - http://oceanmoon.net

      Medusa is Blue Blood Doll.
      http://blueblooddoll.com

      Sarina.W is Oasisdoll.
      http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?t=320222

      If I'm not wrong, the creator of Anotherspace clothes makes dolls under the Slinky Neko label.
      http://slinkyneko.com


      There are definitely more, these are just the ones that I remember best.
       
    3. Just a few more that I can think of, off the top of my head:

      Ninodoll
      Alice in Labyrinth
      ShinyDoll
      Ricky
      OceanMoon
      Pixydoll
      Aoi-Tuki
      Production Ariadne

      There are very few "big companies" among BJD makers, in the usual sense of the words. As a lot of DoA threads explain, most BJD makers are small operations--if not a single person, then a very small number of people working together. Having a well-designed website doesn't equal having a large number of employees, or a large factory. Here is the most recent thread discussing the size of BJD "companies": http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?t=343038
       
    4. Many collectors are drawn to the atelier-made dolls. Definitely Dollshe and Dollstown and Narin! They may appear to be "companies" but they are actually studio conceived, sculpted, cast, finished and merchandised. Amazing, eh?!
       
    5. aihre, you're forgetting Sleetwealth's Briar which is also sold via EnchantmentDoll.
       
    6. ...also DD-Anne in China, BishonenHouse in USA, Limhwa in Korea, Charles' Creature Cabinet in the Netherlands...

      ...the list goes on...
       
    7. there are also the artist who are just getting into making there own dolls and such... i've found it can take a good amount of searching to find these such artists! sadly it depends on the artist's style as to if they are DOA aproved, and of course DOA is a great networking website for artists trying to get there name out there.... but of course it depends on what your after, often home cast dolls arnt to the same qaulity, they tend to have a bit more 'personality' in the resin, as home casting can be an im-perfect art....
      good luck with your searching!
       
    8. I'm not sure if you've seen this, but DoA used to have an active artist's forum. I still don't know/understand why they closed it...it makes me sad, but it's open to view old threads and you can see what work members of DoA had done and may even still continue to do!

      I believe Batchix in progress thread of her dolls are there?

      ^u^
       
    9. Thanks, guys! I'm surprised that I'd already seen at least half of those websites before.

      The pricing on the Ninodoll website confuses me. Is it $95 for doll head with faceup? http://visavis.us/nino/
       
    10. I saw some amazing BJD artists on this website alone. Unfortunately some were cast only once and had a heavy price tag attached. :...(
       
    11. Even many of the companies not listed here are only a couple of people in reality. Volks is by far the biggest BJD company (and the oldest, as well as having many non-BJD product lines), Luts is also fairly large and I would suspect that Soom and Dream of Doll are probably larger as well... but I'd be surprised if the rest of the doll companies had more than a half dozen people working for them (for many it's apparently closer to 2 or 3).
       
    12. I also forgot Kazekids, Jpopdolls is their dealer. I believe Aamu also makes her own sculpts, apart from her urethane eyes.

      The Joint is a forum dedicated to BJD sculpting, so check that out for more amateur/independent sculptors and dolls.

      @Santinian re Ninodoll: I think that price is for a blank head only. (The ordering period is over for now, though.)
       
    13. Astral In Rainbow and Dollgru are also one person artists that make some very nice heads. ^___^
       
    14. They closed it because this forum got too big to hold everything! Sometimes things have to be pruned to stay healthy.
      Go to the Joint to check out the artists & their works-in-progress.
      http://bjdartists.com/joints/index.php
       
    15. Secretdoll is very small as well.
       
    16. It's for a blank head :) I love Ninodoll they're in my top three favorites. I always manage to miss the order periods, but luckily they often pop up in the marketplace.
       
    17. LadySaiyuki just got banned for pirating.


      PlutoDolls specializes in really nice headsculpts and Shinydoll is another one-man artist venture, and his dolls are amazing!
       
    18. There's also Kim Lasher & Fancyboots both American artists as is Donn of Bishonen House.