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.
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  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.
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Things you thought would be easy but actually WERE NOT, and vice versa.

Jul 13, 2012

    1. Cleaning your doll. Scrub scrub scrub the magic eraser and some marks still never, ever come off.
      Maintaining wigs. You spend 20 minutes combing it one day, and the next day it's even more tangled!
       
    2. Cleaning the doll is definitely the one I was most surprised by. I thought removing a faceup was simple but oh did I realize the harsh reality when I tried. Getting all the small leftover msc to vanish was simply impossible or it took an eternity for every single doll.
       
    3. Clean face ups it's not easy as I thought. Draw eyelashes and eyebrows too, while training in a paper it's everything ok, but do it on a doll it's totally different.
       
    4. Selling. Seriously. I rejoined with the sole purpose of rehoming my boys but like. Here I am. All sucked in to the forum and he's over on my shelf looking at me like, 'Six years of my life has been spent in a box, and you are just going to sell me. I see how it is. I feel the love.' I see people who are flipping dolls constantly, but I'm all over here with this one guy I'm not even all attached to and I just can't seem to part with him. I mean, rent is not important right? Righttt?
       
    5. I thought it would be easy to pose my doll in different positions, but his knees give me so much trouble! I end up having to prop up his legs for poses, but it turns out okay in the end. I'll have to suede his knees later but for now I'll try my best to get good angles instead.

      I also thought it would be hard to make clothes, due to the scale, but it was quite easy to draft the patterns for my doll, so I'm quite happy about that.
       
    6. I haven't had my girl long, and am yet to test my faceup/ wig making/ restringing skills, but I already have a little to add...
      Putting on clothes! Took me so much longer than I'd ever thought, especially the shoes! Darn things must have taken me 20 minutes to shove onto her feet! And then tying the laces, oh my...
      Getting her to stand also gave me trouble. Her legs seem to want to do anything but most of the time...
       
    7. Easier than expected: restringing! I thought it would be super difficult and I was so pleasantly surprised at how smoothly it went for me. Sewing their clothes wasn't necessarily something I thought I wouldn't be able to do--- it's one of the biggest things I wanted bjds for in the first place--- but I was a little intimidated by how much curvier my SD girls are than the play dolls I'd sewn for before bjd. So I was super happy at how easily I was able to adapt to it.
      Doing an elf ear mod was also way easier than I expected... I added them to my human Iplehouse Lisa head and I expected to struggle to get them looking decent but the apoxie sculpt wasn't nearly the pain I thought it would be.

      Harder than expected: eyelashes... I detest gluing in eyelashes. It seems like it should be so simple but they want to wiggle all over and stick firmly only when they're not aligned correctly. I'm also for some reason not fantastic at changing doll hands or feet? Which is wierd because restringing a whole doll body doesn't bother me at all.
      And: wig shopping. Hence why I have given up on it and started making my own. Which is also a bit challenging.
      And eye shopping. Why does it take so much trial and error to find a pair that actually looks like I want them to when I get them in the doll? Probably because I am way too picky. I went thru 4 pairs of eyes for my first bjd before I was finally happy with them. I knew from the beginning she was going to have light blue eyes, but finding exactly the right shade was an ordeal.
       
      #67 thedarkeststar13, Sep 9, 2016
      Last edited: Sep 9, 2016
    8. I actually got eyebrows by accident on a practice head don't think it will happen again. I feel your pain. I am afraid to tackle restringing. Glued eyelashes, why do the have to be so small!
       
    9. Like for many here, restringing was so much easier than I expected it to be. But honestly, getting/keeping resin clean is a nightmare, especially trying to remove faceup from between lips, inside ears, in the nose....wow. That sealant is really something!