New to this hobby

Hello there. I'm just creating this thread because I am looking into this hobby a little bit and I wanted to know more about it before committing anything.

 

You can skip this paragraph if you really don't care to know my backstory. A little bit of my background and experience with dolls is that I have been into 1/6 figures for a long time and I probably started collecting them when I was around 16. As I'm sure I'm not alone here, I struggled to make actual human friends because I was rather shy and antisocial, so I turned to something else for friendship and company; Dolls. I have many different 1/6 figures from various different companies. Because of this I have dealt with a lot of different materials that some companies use to make their bodies out of, so I am at least a little acquainted with these things. The hobby has kind of died down to me for a while now, but back when I was really into the hobby I had come across the smart dolls. It peaked an interest in my mind and I began to look into them more and more. Eventually I found Dollfie as well. I never got a doll from either company mainly because of how expensive they were, it was hard to try and talk myself into it. At the time I didn't realize that they were also so big (I thought they were of the 1/6 scale variety). I always meant to get one someday and I kept telling myself I would, but never got around to it. I never really lost interest in the hobby because I stopped liking them or anything, but instead it was because I had met my wife and she actually finds it to be quite weird that a male has taken an interest in dolls... so, for her sake I kind of gave the hobby up. Anyway, recently I've been very interested in drawing and art. I created my own character that I really fell in love with, which is actually the reason I started my art journey in the first place. It got me thinking that I wanted to bring her to life for real. Immediately I thought of Dollfie and Smart Doll. She could be my art model and reference if I needed her to be. Now my interest in these dolls has once again peaked because I have been looking at them again. Me and my wife have been together for a couple years now and she's not as uncomfortable with the doll thing and the ones I still currently have like she used to be. Although the topic of me purchasing a smart doll about a year ago didn't really sit well with her, mainly because of the size difference between the 1/6 figures I currently possess and the larger Dollfie sizes. Even when I think about how large 2 feet is, it does seem like a lot of doll. More so than anything I've ever had in the past. Nonetheless, I'm still very interested in acquiring one of these dolls.

 

There's just a couple of questions I'd like to ask for those of you with the knowledge to share with me. How durable are these dolls? What is the maintenance like on them (i.e. do you need to be concerned with oily fingers, special way to wash or care for them, etc.)? I know that with my 1/6 figures you have to be wary of ink leaking from the clothing and staining the body; I'm assuming it can be said that this could happen to these dolls as well? What brand could be classified as the best (quality, pricing, customer support, etc.)? I got in contact with the company that produces the smart doll and they said they don't make custom dolls, but that doesn't mean I couldn't customize her myself correct? At this point in time I'm currently leaning towards DD more because it seems as though there is more customization. If there is any other basic information you can provide to me would be much appreciated! Also, if there's any advice on what type of body, head, clothing websites, etc. I would appreciate that very much also!

 

Here's my character. I couldn't figure out how to upload to the website, so here's the direct link to the pictures.

https://www.deviantart.com/gwandak/gallery

Edited May 29, 2020 by Gwandak

31 minutes ago, Gwandak said:

There's just a couple of questions I'd like to ask for those of you with the knowledge to share with me. How durable are these dolls? What is the maintenance like on them (i.e. do you need to be concerned with oily fingers, special way to wash or care for them, etc.)? I know that with my 1/6 figures you have to be wary of ink leaking from the clothing and staining the body; I'm assuming it can be said that this could happen to these dolls as well?

Yes, dye in clothing can stain the vinyl, though the stains can be removed in most cases. You should handle with clean hands. Some owners are anal about it (me) and use gloves.

33 minutes ago, Gwandak said:

What brand could be classified as the best (quality, pricing, customer support, etc.)?

Quality is similar between Volks Dollfie Dream and Smart Doll, probably. However, replacement parts are much easier to get for Dollfie Dream; there are more sources and Volks sells most body parts separately. With Smart Doll it's more a per-case thing, and lately there have been some issues with that, that I'll let someone else talk about.

Volks also sells blank heads which is probably what you want for your doll; Smart Doll does not.

34 minutes ago, Gwandak said:

Here's my character. I couldn't figure out how to upload to the website, so here's the direct link to the pictures.

https://www.deviantart.com/gwandak/gallery

That's cute, and I think the Volks standard DDH-07 or DDH-09 heads can make you a doll that looks just like her.

Hello Gwandak! Welcome! 

Vinyl dolls are very durable and idiot (me) proof. Save for staining (darker clothes & reds) and yellowing (only occurs on lighter tones when left in the sun) there really isn't a whole lot to worry about. I try to not touch the faceup a whole lot but even that's sealed and it's fine.

There's no 'best' clothing brand for dolls, it's definitely a matter of taste. Here's a few of my favorite places to get doll clothes (etsy)! I just realized these all start with 'M'... Hrm...

• Mobinjo - great quality and rreeaalllyyyy good prices. 
• MegamiLeo - neat clothes that are really unique!
• MommysewingKR - really, really high quality clothes like jeans and hoodies.

I haven't made a purchase from here yet, but just for fun I'll add it:

• 1PinFun - doll bags that are just crazy detailed.

Your character is super cute! I hope you have lots of fun with the hobby!

Thank you both for the quick replies! I really appreciate how helpful both of your responses were and it will definitely help me narrowing things down! I do like the sound of Dollfie having easily replaceable parts, so I'm probably going to go with Volks. 

I do have another question I had that I forgot to ask earlier. I'm sure you noticed her hairstyle in the pictures, so I meant to ask. Is there anything like that on the market? I tried looking through Volks Dollfie website but it doesn't seem like they have anything super similar in that really bright red color. I saw the short bob wolf style one they had and that looked pretty darn similar, but the only problem is that they didn't have it in her red hair color. Are there custom wigs people make on etsy for these dolls? I know I can do some more research on this subject myself, but I figured I would ask here anyway to see if there are any good reputable sellers that anyone here knows of off hand.

Again, thank you for your quick responses!

Edited May 29, 2020 by Gwandak

As I was trying to find a wig in a color like that about a year ago, failing, and of course have them show up after I gave up, I know where they are now:

I think this Leekeworld one is closest to the style you want, though perhaps a bit too long?

http://en.leekeworld.com/product/redshort/57/?cate_no=54&display_group=1

Here's a bob style, that might work if restyled to be fuller:

https://www.cotindoll.co/products/adw071s10

This one is probably a bit short, and the color is more orange (I've had one in this color):

https://crobidolls.com/shop/step1.php?number=3911&b_code=B20080525084138&c_code=C20080525084214

The 8-9" size is generally what you want for Dollfie Dream, but the Crobi wigs are an exception where you usually want the 9-10".

The Volks wigs are nice in that they have some styles you don't really find elsewhere like those shaggy styles. But they aren't always the best quality, and they don't use the heat-resistant fiber where you can use styling tools like most other wigs, and the fiber they use looks sometimes shiny (and imo kind of cheap sometimes, not always). I'll use their wigs if they have something I want that I probably can't find otherwise, and of course the limited character dolls tend to have wigs that you can't replicate elsewhere.

If I were making your character doll, I think I'd choose that Leekeworld wig, and to make it a bit more like the correct style, see if a nice local hairstylist would be willing to trim it to match that style. The DDH-07 or maybe DDH-09 standard heads look most like your character; see all the standard heads here:

https://www.dollfiedream.tokyo/dd_en/item/op_head/

Absolutely amazing. That first one is definitely the perfect match. I knew going into this that creating an EXACT look-a-like doll would be pretty impossible, but with the help that you and sunlightandtea provided to me it looks like she will turn out better than I ever thought she could. I really appreciate the help and I'm glad to see that this hobby seems to attract some of the nicest people! The only other question I can think of is what website should I be ordering from? When I googled dollfie the results came up with Volks.usa or something, but the other website I keep being directed to is the volks.ec.dollfie.co.jp. does it matter which website I go to? Is the usa one legit or is it a fake website? The reason being because I am actually located in the US and I would assume that they set up a site for other US customers, but I was just hoping for some verification of that.

They are indeed both Volks stores, and both legit.

You'll see both mentioned here for a few reasons. Volks USA only sells to the US and Canada, and this forum has a lot of non-US members. The Japan site also tends to sell or stock more things. It also varies a bit with the exchange rate and exactly what you are ordering due to shipping, but the Japan site is often still slightly cheaper to buy from. Temporarily for the time being due to the pandemic, Volks Japan is shipping via DHL; they normally use EMS. I mention that because while it works fine for most people, DHL was a disaster for me the one time I had to use it; if you live somewhere where they do not deliver direct to you it can be an issue for sure.

Volks USA does have some outfits that are long sold out on the Japan site, but other than that the Japan site tends to be better from just researching what exists since they tend to have a more complete selection.

The most general piece of advice I can give is just take your time looking at everything and figuring out what you want, and ask here about anything you aren't sure of. There are so many things to choose from, the different body types, different skin colors, etc.

For the skin tones, the main choices would be flesh (which Volks used to call normal skin or NS so you'll also see those terms) and semi-white. There is also a white color, but it is discontinued; you'll still see those parts on Volks USA but you don't want that as it would be hard to find everything to make a complete doll. The naming of the colors suggests what they are, but I'll add it's not quite just what they suggest. The semi-white is a bit lighter, but it's also a more pinkish color while the flesh has more of a bit of an orange/brown/tan tint to it. Here's a thread with some comparison pictures, which even if it doesn't show the colors completely accurately on your screen, is a good indication of the differences:

Volks tan is only available at one of their physical stores, and for now online there are parts at Volks Japan because that store is currently closed due to the whole virus mess.

There are 5 basic body types:

• Mini Dollfie Dream (MDD) - childlike doll, small
• Dollfie Dream (DD) - the normal body, supposed to represent a teenager
• Dollfie Dream Sister (DDS) - slightly shorter than DD, supposed to represent a slightly younger girl. Difference is mainly in leg and arm length, but all body dimensions are just slightly smaller, to such a small degree that clothing generally fits both DD and DDS
• Dollfie Dream Pretty (DDP) - smaller body overall; meant to represent a pre-teen
• Dollfie Dream Dynamite (DDdy) - approximately same height as DD, with much larger bust, hips, and thighs. ("Dynamite body" seems to be a Japanese colloquialism for what in the US we might call a bombshell...)

Looking at your art, I figure you want a DD or DDS, probably with the large bust option. You'll also see that there are three large bust types. The shapely one is meant to look like the girl is wearing a push-up bra; personally I find this one to only look good with very specific outfits. The other two are the same shape and size but the flat one is missing headlights; if you don't want those showing up very obviously with nearly any clothing, the flat version is the one to pick.

You will also see the unitorsos, which are one-piece torsos without the waist joint, intended for bare-midriff clothing. And that brings up the other thing to be aware of. Not quite two years ago Volks updated the bodies with a new frame, called f3. At this point, that's the version you want to buy, because the others are discontinued and the parts for them will become unavailable as they sell out; certain parts are already gone or hard to find. The unitorsos have not been made in an f3 version so they are pretty much obsoleted now.

There's so much information to be aware of, really, so just continue to ask questions as you come up with them.

Edited May 30, 2020 by cfx
cleaned up a bit

Wow, that was a lot of great information. When it comes to ordering her, I will definitely be referring to your postings. You've helped simplify this situation so much. Hopefully I can get to ordering her soon. I still have to talk to my wife about it, but if everything goes well and she says yes and we have the funds for it, then I will post pictures of her when she comes!

Actually... I do happen to have another question. So I've been looking around volks website to try and figure out pricing for everything together, but the problem I ran into is that when I was looking for the ddh-07 head it told me out of stock. Now I'm sure that they go in and out of stock every so often and then resupply once they make more, but then I also noticed that the heads themselves come unpainted. I know I said I was getting into art, but I didn't mean that I was good yet. :S Is there a place to get the heads pre-painted?

There are a lot of face-up artists all over the internets, you will need to commission someone

Another option is you can get a cute custom-painted head from eBay or Y!J listing ( like this , would need a middleman service if you're not in Japan)
Sometimes second-hand already painted heads show up on Mandarake as well. Volks have released special already face-up~ed heads a few times in the past (like so)

Edited May 30, 2020 by Chise

Volks does restock from time to time.

To add to what @Chise said, as a standard item Volks doesn't sell painted heads. You have mostly two options for that; to get a look closest to your art, you can send the head to a faceup artist to be painted for a fee. Alternately, Volks used to sell on a limited basis prepainted versions of some of the heads, and you can get these from Mandarake. I don't think there was ever a prepainted DDH-09 but there were two DDH-07s:

https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1042123887&categoryCode=020114&lang=en

https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1113165598&categoryCode=020114&lang=en

There are a lot of artists to choose from to have a head painted, most open and close their commissions from time to time and I'm not sure who is currently available. Forum member @Subaru does faceup work. I've used @x3Ashley who appears to be open currently; her website is http://www.lovelydollie.com. Here's a picture of a DDH-07 she painted for me:

Spoiler

 

Edited May 30, 2020 by cfx

Ahhh I see. A little drawback to getting into this hobby I suppose, but understandable. It seems that getting all the parts and pieces to complete a doll might require smaller purchases here and there rather than trying to buy everything all at once. It looks like it can get pretty spendy pretty fast. either that or I suppose I could order one of the pre-designed dolls and then buy the custom pieces over time. The DDS Standard Model "Karin" did catch my eye as a possible base for my character.

Edited May 30, 2020 by Gwandak

It's an expensive hobby which is one of the reasons I said to go slowly.

Karin is a pretty doll, and can look quite different than how she comes from Volks, with different eyes and wig. Here's an example:

If you do get her, notice there are two versions; one with the f3 body and one with the older type.

9 minutes ago, cfx said:

It's an expensive hobby which is one of the reasons I said to go slowly.

If you do get her, notice there are two versions; one with the f3 body and one with the older type.

Definitely one of the reasons I had to say no so many years ago. Being an adult now and knowing what I can afford (with my wife's permission), it's definitely easier to consider.

Yes, good call! I will make sure to get the newer one.