What's Your Opinion on Etsy BJD Makers?

I’ve seen a few sculpts on etsy, like @BillyIsASilly said. I only go there for doll clothes and accessories.

 

For me, it all comes down to legitimacy and quality. Individual artists deserve our support just as much as the more established companies, and if I find a sculpt I like, I'll definitely look into it!

My biggest concerns with Etsy dolls are quality and legitimacy. I have to know for sure the the dolls are legit and not bootleg or altered recasts, which can sometimes be difficult since many sites like ebay, etsy, amazon, etc aren't knowledgeable about BJDs enough to keep the fakes out. The mods here can help with that, as well as let you know if the doll is on topic here or not. Quality is big too, because while I do fully support artists, sometimes I think some people might get a too little eager to sell their products, and they don't seem fully finished to me. I'm talking about rough 3D prints, awkward proportions, poor posing, rough home casting, and such. I would never want to discourage someone from making their own doll, I just feel like they should take the time to perfect it before selling it and they'd likely have many more customers.

The only Etsy bjd I've bought was from Elleodolls, but unfortunately, she's off topic here. However, I was very pleased with her!

 

I’m pretty sure BlackCherry Dolls is legit. I have a XiaoYu head and it’s beautiful. There’s a thread here on DOA about them.

 

I've seen a few AncientTales and BlackCherry dolls floating around. Don't know the others, sorry. Those Russian dolls don't look like recasts to me, but they might be off topic. You might want to check if you want to talk about them outside of Brigadoon if you get one.

 

I have purchased a msd bjd on etsy from an artist and Was very impressed with everything. I'm not sure she still has a shop as she really didn't do too many things and was thinking of changing her scale.

But I have seen a few of her things for resale I believe both on here and on the resin cafe. I was really impressed because she listened to what I wanted and did what I wanted and sent so many extra things along the way with the doll when I received her. I asked her to make some modifications to the face up and also to her fingernails and she did do that as well as change out eyes. When I received the doll she was very well packaged and came in a beautiful black crocodile carrying case lined with beautiful turquoise pillows. She also had sent along a wig and a set of lingerie which she asked what color I wanted. She also included a beautiful corset and skirt outfit along with shoes. She had beautiful note cards that actually had a 3-D image on them that she sent along along with a beautifully illustrated booklet about her dolls. She went under the name of somnia dolls.

 

Here is a photo of the somnia dolls bjd, although not a good one


I loved her because she was smiling and you could see her teeth. Her eyes are very beautiful, although its hard to see in this photo.

 

I think it's hard to browse for dolls on Etsy. Every time I have tried I get page after page of not what I'm looking for. I also worry about accidentally buying a recast off of Etsy. But I know there are reputable makers who sell on there. But I don't 100% know who they are.

 

The doll I'm currently waiting for I found originally through the dollmaker's Etsy store. She is also Russian -- Ksenia Sepikhanova.
I liked what I saw on her Etsy shop, but I then also googled her name and shop and looked at other doll pictures and buyer reviews on Livemaster.ru, Babiki.ru, and bjdclub.ru before I made my decision to buy from her. I was very nosy about wanting to make a good background check! =P

I think as long as you do your research into the seller, it doesn't really matter where you buy from; shop sites are simply tools for making transactions.

 

I bought my MaskCat head off of Etsy and a few other off topic dolls, so far I have not had any issues. I have seen a wide variety of bjd artists and the majority of the ones I have come across look legit, however at least one one artist I was interested in is on the Banned list here.

 

I bought the doll in my avatar from the artist on Etsy(which I know legitimately belongs to the artist) and he's my most beautiful and detailed doll

 

Black Cherry makes some absolutely stunning dolls. Xiao Yu is one of my favorite sculpts of all time. Based on that alone, I can say that genuine quality exists among Etsy's bjd offerings. However, it's a large and varied marketplace website, and there are a lot of people on there with less desirable products. Ultimately, it's hard to judge any bjd maker on the sole basis of the site that they sell through, and consequently impossible to make a sweeping judgement of Etsy regarding their bjd makers.

Research as much as you can, ask the seller questions, and be prepared to walk away if things don't seem right.

 

I think as long as you read around a bit and do some research (reviews, other sites such as here or the sellers own website, contacting the seller), buying dolls from etsy shouldn't be a worry. I have seen a few recasts on the etsy market, but those have been from face-up artists, not sculpt sellers. So in regards to buying heads, I think you should be very careful if buying heads with face-ups, especially from company heads that have known recasts. I would be very careful and probably outright avoid buying heads with face-ups that are fairyland or Soom heads, for example. However, I think it is safe to buy artist cast heads and also from some doll companies who run etsy stores (Maskcatdolls and PhoenixDollsBJD, for example). I have brought a few heads from etsy, and have my eye on some others when budget allows ! I have brought from DragonShellDoll (legit, also posts as DS Doll and on topic) and tiffiebjdcrafts so far. I like looking at the market on etsy, there is a large variety!

The heads from Dragonshelldoll are beautiful and fantastic quality. Highly recommend! From tiffiebjdcrafts, I got two of their Battolomew heads, because I fell in love with how unique they are. They required a bit of work in the eyewells which I'm still working on, for eyes to fit and sit right, but otherwise are very good quality. The colours of resin are lovely. They were exactly as advertised and shown, so I'm a very happy customer!

I really want some of the Black Cherry Dolls heads, especially on the lookout for a second hand Kaorin. From what I've seen of them, they look beautiful and good quality.

I have not brought from the artist you specifically asked about, but if you really like the doll, look for some reviews and feedback on the artist, and then contact them politely. If you're worried about recasts, I think it's best to send a picture to a moderator here and ask.

 

Black Cherry doll heads are amazing! I have four Aishat heads (sleeping/awake in NS and sleeping/awake in WS) and they are all equally stunning and beautifully cast.

The Black Cherry artist has always been very kind and helpful in my communications with her, too.

I've also purchased through Ancient Tales, and again, the artist was very easy to work with and the doll is beautiful.

 

I just placed an order for a 42cm girl from AncientTales a few days ago and I really can't wait to pay off the layaway to get her home to me! I have heard so many positive things about her dolls and I really look forward to hold my own in my hands :3

The body sculpt is so exquisite and the posing looks so fantastic! Not to speak of all those little details... amazing! I am so excited! I had plans on odering for almost half a year and I am glad I have waited because she added another head option I really adore!
Communication is really easy and the artist was very helpful when it came to paypal refusing to finish my payment to russia!

 

Yay! I like indepandant doll artists, the have so unusual sculpts. I usually don't like girl sculpts too much, but these I do like are all by indepandant artists.
A lot of dolls from Etsy are unusual, so it's easy to recognize they are legit. Less popular dolls don't tend to get copied.

 

This!
Artist dolls are often unique sculpts and so far I have never heard of any copies. I always tended to like the lesser popular and unusual sculpts out there and I also love to support the artists creating them.

 

I also didn't hear about any. That's a good news.
Exactly! There's such a variety! Chubby dolls, older dolls, interesting expressions, adults with large eyes, or cute dolls with small eyes - that's quite unusual.

Yes! So much effort goes into making a doll! It's nothing easy. This is one of things I like about bjd comunity. People here appreciate hand-made items and art and are usually avare these things can't be sold for price of material used. I'm designer, so I must deal with people who aren't avare of that pretty much all the time