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Quality of Sculpts?

Jan 25, 2017

    1. I remember someone saying that the eye wells on Doll Legend sculpts are lackluster, but I don't really understand why? I am fairly new to the hobby, so I'm trying to figure out what makes a quality sculpt?
       
    2. I don't have a Doll Legend doll, so I won't be able to discuss it specifically. I'm a bit of a beginner with resin BJDs myself, and I think it comes down to personal views at times. I would say for me it comes down to joints being able to move well, doll is pretty smooth feeling, can tell where lips/eyes so forth are, posing ability, stringing should be good when new doll arrives, and long lasting doll in general.
       
    3. Quality of sculpt is about many things: aesthetics of doll/sculpt, working of the joints, working of other parts (like the eye wells), quality of resin itself and quality of finishing of the doll (like sanding seams). I think it's considered good quality doll if joints work well (the doll poses well), doll looks good (this is matter of taste, mostly) and it's made of good resin.

      The thing with eye wells is not uncommon. I own some dolls (none from Doll Legend, though) that have either too deep or too low eye wells, so eyes don't fit well into them. That make positioning the eyes harder, and often results eye putty (general term for various stuff we use to stick eyes in) showing from gaps. It's one of the smallest faults in a doll, in my opinion. Bad posing or ugly sculpting are far, far worse in my books. But having badly made eye wells can be really frustrating - specially if you have to change and/or re-position eyes often.

      I hope this helps you with your question!
       
    4. Yes it does! Personally, I have not noticed any of those sort of problems. I've never had to reposition the eyes in my dolls or noticed the putty showing. I can't speak for how easy they are to place though, because I've never done it. So it would probably be hard for me either way.

      Of course, the aesthetics thing is really a matter of personal preference. I know the anime style that Volks makes is really popular, but personally, I find them kind of freaky looking. Fairyland dolls are a little more toward my preferred aesthetic, but the eyes are a bit narrow by my taste. That's why I love the large round eyes of my DL dolls.

      Finishing quality is really good. My MSD has only one seam, and it's in a spot where you can't see it unless you are restringing her. My YoSD doesn't have any that I have noticed.

      Quality of resin might be the only think that I would complain about, as my dolls are a bit yellowed. However, since I bought them from an American vendor, I don't know how long they were in storage beforehand, that may just be normal aging.

      Also, I didn't know what I was doing when I bought my MSD and accidentally exposed her to direct sunlight in July because I took her back and forth between the con and my hotel. So her yellowing may be my fault.

      My dolls pose really well and their resin is incredibly smooth. They were strung too tightly when I got them, but that is one of the biggest problems with new dolls in general.
       
      #4 Pinkrose064, Jan 25, 2017
      Last edited by a moderator: Jan 25, 2017
    5. All resin dolls yellow with age - keeping them out of sunlight just slows the process. So I'd guess that your yellowing is just normal aging. And exposing the doll briefly to direct sunlight doesn't make doll yellow instantly. If you keep your doll on display somewhere where sun hits them daily, that will speed up aging. But one trip from hotel to con is not that harmful.
       
    6. The stringing may also be personal tastes, since mine was too loose lol.
       
    7. Oh okay. It probably is normal aging then. Right now, my dolls mostly stay in their boxes, and even when I take them out, I have light-blocking curtains. I do eventually hope to display them, but it will be in a room that doesn't have any windows at all.

      I wonder why some dolls age faster than others? I have seen some that are several years old and haven't yellowed at all and others that are fairly new and have visible yellowing.

      Not as much. The basic rule of stringing is that the doll should not flop over or kick randomly, and should be able to hold a pose.
       
      #7 Pinkrose064, Jan 25, 2017
      Last edited by a moderator: Jan 25, 2017
      • x 1
    8. It's difference in resin. Some companies use French resin, which yellows fast, some companies have UV resistant resin (like Withdoll) - the UV resin yellows still, but slower, and some resin just yellows more quickly than others.

      My Resin Soul Yao in White Skin yellowed really fast, and my Resin Soul Ju in Pink Skin (purchased two months apart from Yao) has no visible yellowing at all - both dolls are three years of age. I guess that the color of resin makes it yellowing more slowly in that case, as the resin should be same as the dolls are from same company.
       
      • x 1
    9. My dolls are technically in pink skin, but Doll Legend's pink skin is very light. I would really call it white skin, but their actual white skin is more like paper white.
       
    10. I have a Doll Legend You Shang and had no problems with the eye wells, the eyes popped in perfectly first try. The eye wells are quite shallow at the top compared to my Migidoll Ell head which has quite deep, very defined eye wells. However the lat Ell head I can't get any eyes in my collection to fit so more pronounced eye wells doesn't always mean better fitting XD
      But I find eye wells/ fitting can vary greatly from sculpt to sculpt so can't say in regards to other DL dolls ^^

      Not to go too off topic but you have any photos of the Doll Legend white skin? I'm think of getting some DL jointed hands but not sure if the white would match either of the dolls i'd like them for (Myou ws & Loong Soul ws) and struggling to find any pics of DL white! (My You Shang is imported white so not sure how much it differs from the regular white...)
       
      #10 Epicari, Jan 25, 2017
      Last edited by a moderator: Jan 25, 2017
    11. It could be a couple of different things, actually -- it could just be that the WS doll is showing yellowing more obviously than the pink doll is (which is really, really common -- it's so much easier to see yellowing on a WS doll than it is on a NS doll). It could be that RS changed resin batches in those two months (sometimes different resin batches can yellow differently even within the same company -- I have two WS Delfs from Luts and they yellowed very differently). My guess is that it's just because it's WS and yellowing is more obvious on a WS doll. My WS dolls are much more obviously yellowed than my NS dolls, although they're not butter-colored or anything.

      Re: eyewells -- these can differ vastly from company to company, and it really depends on what you mean by "lackluster". Of all the dolls I've ever owned the only one I ever had issues with was my DoC Kirill -- he had seriously deep eyewells so I had some problems finding eyes that fit him properly without gapping. (The solution? Silicone. They squish.)
       
    12. I think You Shang is what I have as well, but I'm not 100% sure. I bought her at a con and since I was a complete newbie, I did not ask the seller what sculpt she was. ^^; And of course, her CoA is in Chinese, so I have no idea what it says.

      Mujin, 42cm Doll Legend Girl - BJD Dolls, Accessories - Alice's Collections

      If you scroll all the way to the bottom, there is a photo showing the skin colors. As far as I can tell, there is not a huge difference between imported and normal.

      I feel like Doll Legend and I have a different opinion on what qualifies as "normal" skin. I'm the whitest person I know, and even I'm not that pale!
       
      #12 Pinkrose064, Jan 25, 2017
      Last edited by a moderator: Jan 25, 2017
    13. If it's any help here's what my COA says-
      [​IMG]

      Cool, good to know I can use the imported white as a guide for the normal white. *LOL* As someone who's also very pale due to health reasons I find it reassuring to have dolls that are whiter than me XD

      As I had the camera out here's a pic of the eye wells on the Migi Ell head and the Doll Legend You Shang head-
      [​IMG]
      The problem with the Ell head is the narrow eyes means it needs low dome but even with those there is gaping at the edges, But because if the defined round eye wells I can't get oval eyes to fit either. While the You Shang eyes are really big and open so easy to use a variety of eyes.

      However if you compare the faces-
      [​IMG]
      the You Shang sculpt and faceup looks more 'amateur' in comparison due to being less detailed (I've also added a bit more colour & detail to the You Shang faceup). So if you're considering 'quality' then I think the level of detail in the sculpt is a factor along with the overall look, poseability engineering and resin.
       
    14. Thanks! My doll's face up was done by a more local artist, so hers is quite different.
       
    15. Another thing that can really help with odd-ball eye wells is to bevel them a bit... You use a tool like this in the size you need, and it can deepen shallow ones, even out uneven ones and widen narrow ones with a little work.
       
    16. Ah! The names are the same! Thanks!