Silly Idea-Has anyone tried to take apart one of the "Geisha" Dolls"?

I have a vintage model (and yeah, I know you weren't suggesting taking something like that apart ^_^) and just from looking at her, I would have to say that some of what she's wearing might fit, say... one of the mature msd sculpts (Narae, MiniFee, etc) but given that most everything is sewn into place, you'd have to be VERY careful about getting things apart. Also, from what I can tell, the clothes are made to fit over the specific frame, not necessarily miniature versions of real clothes... and the hair is, for the most part, glued down (and not all hair-- there's support structure under the fiber. Nevermind that the clothing is often glued to the base of what they're standing on so that it has the proper drape.

in other words, if you REALLY wanted to be very careful, you might be able to get something to work, but I'm not sure that I'd bank on it.

 

I have one of the vintage dolls...found it an estate sale...and she was brand new in box and needing to be built. my mother and i had to piece together her kimono, 1 strip of fabric at a time. So NO there was no complete kimono...it was more like wrapping ribbons to give the appearence of a Kimono. I'd say you could use the hair pins and any other "accesories" she may come with. For insistance my dolls is Yageki-Hime and comes with a book that tells her tale and a legendary samurai helmet which she holds daintly in her little white hands.

I dont think it would be worth it to buy one to take apart. But they are definatly beautiful on their own. Another thing to note, her "clothes" are pinned down to her cloth body and only her tabi feet, hands and face are actually porcelin...or was she vinal? i dont remember now. :P and the wig is glued on as well.

 

I would LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE to make a Geisha BJD. It's like, my dream! O__o

 

I have to confess that I have one that I bought that was not in great shape and I took it apart. It's pretty small; the wig fits my Uyoo (1/6 size) but the kimono was glued together and fell apart when I removed it. I will probably use it to make clothes for my Elfdoll tinies. It's funny; I look at almost everything as a possible doll costume or prop. So silly. (lol)

 

I had a lot better luck buying souvenier keychains in Narato airport on my way through. the items on them are 1/6 to 1/3 scale and you can actually use them.

 

They won't work. I've already looked at mine enough to know. Her arms are like... Glued to her clothes. ^w^;;;;;;

 

The are more made for looks than play or durability.
when I was a kid I got one of the bigger ones from the 50s at a junk sale, it was destroyed, and I couldn't fix it so eventually I took it apart.
The wig was held with straight pins, when removed it fell apart.
The clothes were not finished, only the edges visible were, like the sleeve edges and bottom, top parts were folded over and pinned to the body.

The Obi was brocade wrapped and glued over a strip of newspaper.

 

Yeah, the clothing, accessories, and hair are usually just pieces glued in place...I have gotten a few to steal their hair ornaments and fabric.

 

I've got maybe a dozen vintage-to-antique gofun and cloth Japanese dolls--and some new ones. I'd agree with the others--the clothing is just glued or pinned on--and are posed in a certain position for that dolls only--and highly starched or glued to paper or cardboard pieces to keep their shape and wouldn't work if you took them off the dolls. The hair is usually glued on (although there are some dolls that come with wigs you can interchange), but they are usually pretty small in size and very stiff and probably wouldn't work unless you had a doll that was a perfect fit.

My SD sized dolls are way to big to fit the clothes and items, even if they could come off and be used. There's lots of paper and cardboard backing that make the items look a bit cheesy when taken off the original dolls.

There are so many people who make or sell kimono and hakama and miniature swords --even a few who sell fans and accessories-- that are for BJDs that I've had no problem dressing up my dolls that way.

I HAVE been tempted to want to take stuff like fans--but they are too small for my dolls.

 

A little bit (okay, maybe a lot) of surfing will probably lead you to pics of how most dolls are made. I'm amazed by how willing to share doll people can be, and actually costumers, special effects guys, hec - creative people in general! There is a wealth of info out there, it just takes a little time to find it.

 

Lots of people have already said about the the clothes, but the hair pins aren't usually whole ornaments either. They're literally only the part that's visible glued onto the support of the hairstyle. I guess you could extend them or add pins to hold them in place on your doll, but honestly - there's easier ways of getting nice hair ornaments.

 

I know theres a girl on the colorado bjd board who does stunning hair ornaments , she brings them to most of the meets. I'm not sure if she sells them here though.

 

I looked into doing hair ornaments, and they are not terribly difficult. For Chopstick style ones, use a toothpick as your base. For the ones with a fancy end, use a ball-ended dressmaker's pin or a fancy ended jewelry headpin. Seriously, with a box of beads scavenged from garage sale necklaces and earrings, some glue, some silk flowers and a few toothpicks you can have a box full of hair ornaments in an hour. For reference photos just google.

 

I have a geisha doll and her (rotted)hair and clothes are sewed on and can't be taken of without ruining the doll.