Dollshe Discussion - Part Seventeen

I don't feel confident enough to try sculpting a headback for an existing faceplate. Sculpt a whole head, yes (I've done it before when I used to do pottery/ceramics), but that's a different thing.

 

I haven't posted photos here for a good while, but not because I feel any "shame". I did want to share a photo recently but I just felt it was tactful to wait a little while as the situation had just deteriorated and the ban was implemented. Anyway, thank you @nattherat for bringing this up, and as @overlordu said we can certainly do both. So here's my Fionn, he's an old boy, a Tensiya Hu Die Meng with a faceup by Lynsey. I bought him second hand in 2011. His wig is by Eclipse21.

 

He is very handsome!

 

He is handsome and I'm glad to see him. Thank you.

 

I cherish my 3 Dollshe's that I have and probably won't post pictures of them since they are in storage. I do not feel comfortable having them in my apartment cause I have a lot of BJD's and we don't live in a friendly area. I miss living in a actual home where I felt safe. I had to give up my order from 1 dealer cause it was 2+yrs of not getting my doll. At least I got my money back, but I had a feeling then that he was just taking the money and running. So sad cause he was talented.

 

I've found that my dollshe doesn't pose/hold a pose very well. Is this a me problem? he has the supermodel body.

 

@Malvolio What sort of poses do you wish to do? I have a Neo with the supermodel body and I've noticed the body is not very good at holding certain poses. His elbows and wrists in particular love to snap into angles, the legs can twist awkwardly, and the chest slouches forward often (my Saint on the mystic body likes to slouch too ). I find he looks best in various lying down/sleeping poses, or when just standing or sitting normally. Anything more complicated or dynamic and he won't cooperate. I plan to suede the big areas like the chest joint eventually to minimize those issues hopefully.

 

Mine are also prone to knee bending and chest joint slouching forward. I have the 18m Mystic body and Arsene body. Out of the two, the Arsene body is more functional for me, insofar as posing goes. I had Khan's 24m body a couple years ago but sold it, as I found it very kicky and too large (and weird uneven yellowing issues occurred, even though my other Dollshe dolls didn't display this even though they were housed in the same place). I can only assume that as time went on, Dollshe must've tried to cut corners with resin quality, as I received Khan in early 2023 I believe. He was the last, as I doubt Dollshe will ever ship the remaining Aramis I'd ordered in 2019.

All that said, I've been working on a project with my Dollshe 3x Saint heads. They're in Oriental resin and match my Arsene body. I'm thinking of making him into a character doll from Arcane, but of course it's still very early at present.

I also ordered Ashuradark's eye sizer kit on Etsy. It looks like an absolute life-saver, as I've generally been defaulting to 14mm eyes with small irises for my crew and they fit some but not all.

 

@Malvolio I have Pure, Rerelease Hound and Mystic bodies. They all take patience with standing poses. I wired and sueded all three and that helped a lot. Without suede and wire, they’re best at looking good while sitting around. Great at slouching.

 

Dev came out of the wardrobe today for a photo. It's actually amazing weather here in Ireland, unheard of for a bank holiday weekend! We managed to find a shady spot by the lake to take the pic.



He's an old boy who came to live with me in 2008, and when I picked him up today he felt like a rag doll so I'd better go and hunt for my bag of elastic!

 

He's so beautiful! I'm glad you were able to enjoy the nice weather together today!

 

I hope this is the correct place to ask; do anyone here have any suggestions for successful hybrids containing Dollshe heads in terms of sizing and resin matching? I absolutely love many of the head sculpts, but am not a fan of how many of their bodies look, so I want to try to hybridize one. For the time being I only collect 1/4 scale dolls, and would like to be able to find bodies that are readily available second hand or through a dealer without breaking the bank completely.

 

This thread is for the large Dollshes (1/3 scale, approximately 68-70cm). If you intend to stick to the 1/4 size, you'd need to visit the thread for the fashion dolls in the 1/4 scale section of the forum.

With that in mind, be advised that the heads for the fashion line are much smaller than the typical 1/4 scale doll. I think they wear a 5/6 wig where a large number of 1/4's wear a 7/8. Dolls that have a similar head size would be Batchix Dark Elf, Racoon Doll, Iple FID, etc. I don't own a fashion size Dollshe but a friend does and I gave her a hard cap wig for her boy that came with my Batchix Dark Elf and it fit perfectly. The body shape/proportions will also be very different from most 1/4 as the fashion dolls are mature adult where a large number of 1/4 are not.

Resin matching will depend on what you're trying to match. If you have a head cast in any of the honey resin, it has a lovely sort of luminescent quality that will be extremely difficult to match to anything but Dollshe honey resin (I have a Hound in honey oriental mango so I know what I speak of). You could have the head airbrushed to match whatever body you decide to go with but you can't airbrush to match the honey luminescence of the resin unfortunately. I feel this deeply as I have another Hound head (my boy came with 3) that has a lovely face-up I'd prefer to keep but finding him a body to match is very high on the impossible list now as Dollshe stopped making honey resin some time ago.

If the head is the pure resin, it'll be easier in that it won't have that luminescent quality but there's a lot of different skintones that Dollshe has produced over the years as standard colours. He used to cast for Dollstown (I'm unsure if he still does given his erratic and unprofessional behaviour over the last several months in particular) so they would potentially match several of the colours. Some companies will also resin match for you for a fee. They require a sample to do so and I cannot stress enough that sending a physical sample will give you the best results.

For the sample, should you go that route, I would highly recommend sending a paint swatch (you can get them for free from any paint store). The cost to send that is much cheaper than sending the head cap and should the item get lost/damaged in the mail, who cares, it's just a paint sample. I did this when I ordered a custom green Ziv from Impl and after they got the sample, the doll I received was exactly the same colour as the sample.

 

@Fractal I found this thread about Dollshe hybrids https://denofangels.com/threads/dollshe-fashion-head-akagidoll-body.866571/

I’ve got a few hybrids, but not with Dollshe heads although I’ve had fun swapping heads and taking pics. In addition to Iron_Dog’s great resin advice, there is head to body size to consider and you may not know what you want or prefer until you see photos.
I can’t speak to the fashion size heads, but the Bernard and Saint Classic 70 cm heads are small and wear 7” wigs. Hounds wear SD size wigs. So the body you get will depend on the specific sculpt you want to hybrid. You’ll need the neck measurement to narrow down your body choices and even then, you’ll want to see photos. I suggest posting a query in the Photo Reference section for photos of the head and body combos you’re considering.

I had some anxiety over posting pics of my lads, initially and changed my profile pic in protest to The Shenanigans. But I’m over my angst and will share my favorite portrait of Brick Facade, my SA Saint.

 

Even after my frustrating (and disappointing) run around with Dollshe over my Saint order (which I eventually cancelled), I still really love the sculpt so I'm glad you decided to share your boy, @tenukihandcrafts .

I'm unsure if I'll ever own a Saint or if he's now one of those admire in other's collections sort of deal due to the BS I went through in my attempt to get a Saint (he would've been the 55cm version (that's never been made) and in the honey espresso ebony). The same friend that has the fashion sized Dollshe also has a Saint she picked up 2nd hand so I can play with one when we visit.

 

It's hard because I really like the DS boys, especially Saint, always have. I hate what's happened with the company and all. At this point I don't have but one DS boy, an Arsene, and he's a mini that a doll buddy sent me.

He really needs a better face up and clothes before I can take pics though. His stock faceup is severely lacking. Whoever painted him did a really terrible job of it and they actually still sent it out. My friend ended up not liking the doll after all so I ended up with him. I think his sculpt is wonderful but he really needs a serious makeover..

Someday I would love to have a mini Saint. The Saint I had was a gorgeous hybrid doll but he was stolen from me during a move. I would love him back but smaller like my Arsene. I really like that size...

 

I think it's fair for me to say Saint was my first Dollshe love. I saw him in person when I attended YaoiCon waaaaay back in the day (I didn't own any dolls at the time). Then, he was so far out of my price range, he wasn't even a contender. Funny enough, it was after YCon, when I came back with money still in my pocket, that I started down this slippery slope of doll ownership. I bought Moswen (AoD Chi; still my favourite doll after 16 years and now 83 dolls deep) with that money and haven't looked back since.

I agree @magkelly , a mini Saint would be pretty sweet. Certainly far more portable than the big boys, lol.

I actually have one of my Dollshe's out in the living room right now (I rotate out who gets to sit on a chair in the living room every now and again). Wu-Tyr (Orijean) is snuggling with the love of his immortal life, Yalaren (SD Ize). He is such a beautiful sculpt with an utterly gorgeous face-up by Meenist. I hadn't had either of them out in a while and it turns out that I needed to replace Wu-Tyr's strings as they'd decided they weren't going to elastic anymore. I ended up using a slightly thicker elastic in this torso/legs than the one Dollshe used and I'm pleased with how... steadier he is when standing. Still muttering unkind things about the (lack of) strength in his faceplate magnet but it is what it is.

I also discovered that his favourite outfit (and ancient DZ pleather number that was... Wing's default? I bought 2nd hand years ago) is now finally starting to show its age. It hasn't started to peel/flake yet but cracks/wrinkles have appeared and there's a couple of places where the pleather has bubbled a little off the fabric backing. It's such a cool looking outfit but such is the life cycle of pleather regardless of how careful you are with it.

 

I know pleather is far more affordable and easier to use make doll clothing, but boy does it sure have an expiry date. Saint was also the first Dollshe I ever saw and fell in love with, even if David Kuncci was the first one I ever bought.

 

Most definitely on the ease and affordability of pleather over the real deal for doll clothes. Especially on the smaller outfits. Thin suede could potentially be subbed in but there are issues with aging leather, too, and suede has a different texture than leather. Pliver and skiver could also be used but the thinness of it could have seams tearing if someone isn't careful.

Orijean was my first bought with Hound my 2nd. I'd never considered Hound but then I saw Akusuo for sale and he was perfect to be the character he is so that happened.

 

Hello, just want to share here my Van, because he's so rare bird!
I've got this head near 10 years ago and this year finally paint him.