Charm Doll Discussion

@Quinn.nnp - Oh wow - it's a small (BJD) world!! ^_^

I was trying to search on Weibo for Charmdoll and Loong Soul - and it seems that Loong Soul is *much* more popular. At least, more photos came up when I searched for Loong Soul.

I don't understand Chinese, so it was a matter of trial and error for me. I did catch the Chinese characters for "Loong Soul Doll Company" from Loong Soul's site I understand some Japanese, and some characters have similar meanings - so I caught the characters for "doll" and "company, and figured out from process of elimination the characters for "Loong Soul". (Which according to Google Translate, means "Dragon Soul". Cool name! )

For reference, "Loong Soul Doll Company" in Chinese characters is: 龙魂人形社.

@Quinn.nnp - I saw one Cora photo on Weibo,, but she looked like a different doll - like a different sculpt totally. I wonder if that is the one you saw? She was reclining, with an orange outfit.

 

Hi! I've had my eye on Baron for a while now, I just love his face! I also love his wig but there's no option to purchase him with the wig or full set anywhere. You can only buy the doll with or without the faceup/body blushing. However it's annoying because all other 70cm dolls have those options available. Does anyone know if CD has any plans on re releasing him with the wig and clothing options? Or if they have done something like this in the past?

 

Hello everyone! I have a question about stringing the 71 cm bodies. I recently got my Baron dyed. I sent him unstrung, and while unstringing him I noticed he was EXTREMELY tightly strung. Like the elastic is bigger than the holes even before it is doubled up. This made him a dream to pose but...now that I have him back I cannot for the life of me restring him. Does anyone have any suggestions for restringing or should I just break down and send him out to be restrung? I tried using a string to get the elastic through, but it broke. Hubby suggested I sand down the holes to make them bigger but I am very hesitant about doing that because i don't want to weaken the parts.So anyone have any ideas?

 

I can finally post here because my Charm Doll Aria is back from the faceup artist, and the work promptly got a seal of approval from the resident inspector.


Lily in Love 01 by Yela Gatchalian-David, on Flickr

Even though I haven't taken her apart to study her joints in detail, I have to agree that she has the signature TIGHT STRINGING that many Chinese companies seem to like (encountered it in LoongSoul, Angell-Studio, Impldoll, and Granado). However, I would rather restring her with smaller size elastics than widen out her channels. Too much sanding may end up compromising the structural integrity of the resin.

 

Greeting, I have a question about the resin of these dolls, if this company is a sister of Loong Soul, I would like to know if their resin is similar and if the white resin is as white and translucent as Loong Soul's or does it have its own white? and if it is a tone that seems more pink or yellow?

 

@NuttyRojita I've asked Alice's Collections a similar question before. LS and CD use the same resin, but if you're afraid the information is out of date, you can ask again. Hope this helps

 

Thank you for the information!! I was checking some 1/4 scale my sister would be interested in, but the one she likes has yellow skin in the pictures but she doesn't want to get any yellow-skin-toned dolls and most of the time Charm doll's promo pics are with their dolls in white skin, when I found out about the relationship with Loong Soul I couldn't take out of my head that unsettling white skin of theirs. I will ask Alice Collection if the resin is still the same as the one Loong Soul uses, if so I would suggest my sister get the normal pink.

 

@NuttyRojita I think that's a solid idea, pink skin resin will mellow out in a few years so even if you end up thinking it's too pink in person it will be a matter of time until it looks okay

 

Does Charm Doll white resin yellow easily? I have a Renard in white skin, and he's been packed away in a box (not exposed to any light) for 5 years or so, and when I take him out I noticed he looks much more yellow than I remember him being. My other dolls that were packed away the same way/same amount of time haven't changed resin color, so I'm wondering if Charm Doll resin just yellows easier.

 

Not in own my experience, no. I've rather abused my WS Nastya and left her on my windowsill for longer than I should readily admit on this forum (to be fair, I do live in a forest). At most, she's mellowed a tiny bit over the six years I've had her. It could be down to the resin batch?

 

I'm heavily considering adding Bowen to my crew. How are the company face ups? I know a lot of people opt to do their own but I'm not artistically inclined and I'm okay if the company face ups are decent.

 

Hey! Their faceups are nearly identical to the company photos in my experience. They're also very sturdy, as found out when trying to wipe one. It took a lot of elbow grease.

 

@knona_ona Thanks for the info! I'm even more eager to order Bowen now.

 

Well guys, Charmdoll is discontinuing a ton of sculpts, so we have until October 10th to get our last orders in for those.
I was not planning to get Nastya this year, but it is rather coincidental that I just recently thought of her and figured she could probably get discontinued any second now...
I'm trying to decide if I would rather pay $230 upfront on Taobao or $360 on a layaway with Alice's Collections. Probably would rather do $230 + shipping, but having to keep track of the preorders myself is kinda stressful sometimes.

 

- did they announce it on their page? What about Aria? Is that why they have event now for many of their dolls?

And what's with those limitations in other companies? Dollzone has only a few dolls, so does Doll Chateau, Soul Doll and other companies limit their dolls heavily...? What is going on?

 

I'm barging in despite having no business with Charm Doll currently (though I loved Nastya and Trista... sad to see them go) but I'm a bit concerned about this too. I'm struggling to find a head for a DC body I want to own because everything is discontinued...
It could be that these companies are all switching to a strictly limited business model, although I don't really see why it would profitable to discontinue the rest of the catalog just let me buy a head please

 

@Lady Mariko Alice's Collections posted the notice in the DoA News section. Aria looks like she is safe, but you can see who is being discontinued here.

Souldoll and DZ have a heavy demand to keep up with. Hell my DZ head just took 8-9 months to get to me. Souldoll made this change several years ago because the order loads were simply unsustainable. I imagine it's a similar case for Doll Chateu.

 

Thank you so much for your reply! It all makes sense now, although it's strange they kept big dolls and not the smaller ones.

Aria is safe for now, but who knows. :/ Also, I liked Nastya Timeless Love and once even wanted her so I get it is hard on people who wanted her. She is a beauty.

Still it's good that the demand is too high and not too low, as it was my first thought. :/

The only good thing about all this is that AOD is back after a long time of waiting.

 

Maybe master molds are difficult to maintain and they had to cut on those. :/

 

Yeah, if those particular dolls aren't selling then cutting your loses is actually the best thing to do. The tastes of the Chinese market has changed a lot in the last few years, and they're kind of the biggest part of the market right now.