Silly Newbie Questions

Well, I'm planning on getting a Mini Dollfie Dream eventually. I'm a little nervous about it, since. . . well, I'm still really nervous handling my Parabox boy. So, I guess getting some of these questions out of the way will ease my mind a bit.

 

1. Is the vinyl on the Dollfie Dream body really soft? I know vinyl dolls in general are prone to staining, but I know softer vinyl is more prone to stains. I just want to know how cautious I should be (I'm down right paranoid when it comes to dressing my Parabox boy).

 

2. Can Dollfie Dream heads use eye lashes? I just really haven't seen many pictures with actual eye lashes in a DD head. I'm worried it might look a little strange, but I never have any luck painting eye lashes.

 

3. Eyes. . . I like the look of anime-style eyes in Dollfie Dream heads, but how do they look with other style of eyes? I just haven't really found anime-style eyes that suit the character I'd like to create.

 

4. Anyone have a size comparison picture between an MDD and Parabox 45cm boy? Or the Hujoo Action body compared to the MDD body?

 

Sorry for all of the stupid questions. I'm just afraid of getting in over my head. I'm still learning when it comes to all of this.

It's not overly firm, but not exactly super-soft either. I'd say that for DDII and DDDy-generation at least, it's kind of like a pencil eraser. The DDIII/DDDyIII bodies are a bit softer, but not drastically so.

 

When it comes to staining, it's usually not the horror many newbies expect. You can get rid of many stains by applying benzoyl-peroxide zit cream (yes really), and just because a fabric is dark doesn't mean it stains. If I'm worried about a particular outfit/fabric sample, I usually stick a spare hand in the folds of the fabric for a few days to a couple weeks; a hand is less expensive to replace than pretty much any other part, as well as being easy to treat for stains due to the small size, so if something does stain it's no crisis at all. So far this test has proven pretty effective, and it should work with both your boy and your future MDD.

 

I have seen some DDs with physical eyelashes installed. Often it's in addition to painted lashes, which can look odd, but I know I've seen photos of one or two where the painted lashes are either subtle or non-existent. The effect in the latter case kind of makes me think of Disney/Pixar/Dreamworks characters, as opposed to the more strictly anime look the painted lashes give. It's not bad at all, just different.

 

Again, I have seen some DDs with glass/acrylic eyes (photos really). They can either work decently or look *really* weird, due to the huge eyeholes DDs have. Eyes with more texture to the iris seem to work better than ones with flat color in my opinion, and the eye placement is far more important when you're sticking regular eyes in a DD than if you were putting them in a more realistic sculpt.

 

However, just because you haven't found the right anime eyes so far doesn't mean that there aren't still ways you could get the right ones. One option would be to put them together using Pupa Paradise's D.Eye.Y bases, which are acrylic and allow you to either paint a custom eye design or to make prints with the custom design. I did this for both my girls, and I know there's at least two or three people here who've done it as well, and I'll say that I at least find making eyes really fun. You could also commission eyes from Ersa Flora, though they use those same bases. (Also, out of premade options, just in case, I'll ask: have you checked Twin Snow, Leeke World, Cool Cat, and SQ Labs? Even if they don't have exactly what you're looking for they could prove nice for an inspiration source.)

 

Unfortunately I can't answer your last question; I don't have an MDD, Parabox 45cm, or Hujoo body to compare for you. Hope someone else can pick up the slack on that one!

I know it isn't like the end of the world, since I've had some items stain my harder vinyl dolls (both of them were Delilah Noir), but for some reason, I'm afraid that with the softer vinyl, it may get more set in and become harder to remove. It's a stupid, illogical dolly-fear, I know, but I've heard a lot of people make a big deal about it. Thank you, Poofiemus for pointing out it's not really. I should probably try zit cream next time (since the Mister Clean Magic Eraser method proved to be extremely time consuming).

 

That's a really good idea. I was kind of looking for an excuse to buy some extra hands anyway.

 

Hm. . . reading over your reply actually kind of made me hesitate about the character I thought I wanted to make with her. I originally thought I wanted kind of a minimalistic look with muted colors and wardrobe (inspired by Baroque, but not necessarily any one character), but. . . after reading your response and looking over some pictures, I'm thinking that would be incredibly difficult without making her look creepy or wrong in the bad kind of way (at least with the anime/cartoon styled sculpts from the Dollfie Dream line). I might just buy a head a "listen" to what she "wants." I know I still have a while to think about it, since everything's out of stock through Volks.

 

Anyway, thank you, very much Poofiemus. You've eased my mind and given me some new inspiration.

You're welcome! Always glad to help. The zit cream doesn't exactly work quickly either (sometimes taking several days for moderate stains), but at least it's passive--put on cream, stick part in warm place, let sit--as opposed to actively scrubbing. There's the stronger Remove-Zit too, if you happen to stumble on a badly stained "rescue" or find out something stains the hard way. Also, sometimes stains that only seemed to fade partially from zit cream treatments continue to fade. None of us are quite sure if the zit cream seeps into the pores and keeps working, or if maybe the dark pigments break down over time, but as a result I at least sometimes will do a treatment aiming for "not noticeable in photos" and just let the remainder gradually fade away.

 

While you're thinking about which head and what kind of character to make, there's always owner photos to oggle. Not just here, but on Flikr, some on Den of Angels, and of course Figure.fm too. I also found looking at Momo-irou Manbou's custom DD heads good inspiration: http://momo-man.net/head-eye/index.html I'm always fascinated at how many looks he's managed to get out of the standard five heads, and several of his 03 head treatments were a big influence on how I decided to paint my custom girl Agatha. He also gets a hold of limited heads once in a while, which can also be really cool.

1. Is the vinyl on the Dollfie Dream body really soft? I know vinyl dolls in general are prone to staining, but I know softer vinyl is more prone to stains. I just want to know how cautious I should be (I'm down right paranoid when it comes to dressing my Parabox boy).

 

I was totally frightened about how much everyone talked about the staining issue with the DDs before I got Tamayuki (my MDD boy).

 

The Little Prince and his Rose by Sister Kyoya, on Flickr

 

Almost 6 months to the day he has been here and I have not had a single stain on him. He is not one to sit on a shelf either, he hangs around with me all over the house, has been outside barefoot in the damp spring dirt, helped me with a skirt tutorial I've been working on and still need to get posted to my blog, woops!, and came with me for a photo shoot at my college last quarter. He's surely is one active little guy! He wears muted colors for his clothes because that's just the colors he likes, but it definitely is a good idea to keep them in lighter colored clothes, lined clothes, or have some light colored pajamas (or something like that) for them to wear the majority of the time. Personally I think the body stockings look horrible... Tamayuki even has his own bed where the pillow and mattress are red and white striped, but he has a fuzzy white blanket that he lays on because in my sewing experience, black and red are notorious for bleeding even in normal clothes.

 

3. Eyes. . . I like the look of anime-style eyes in Dollfie Dream heads, but how do they look with other style of eyes? I just haven't really found anime-style eyes that suit the character I'd like to create.

 

Tamayuki has glass eyes (from Volks) and I wouldn't change them for the world, even though they can be hard to photograph if there is too much light.

 

HYSMP010 by Sister Kyoya, on Flickr

 

It makes him look either kinda freaked out or hugely surprised.

 

Wake up Yuki 002 by Sister Kyoya, on Flickr

 

On the other hand when done right, it is highly effective. In more of an everyday view of him, his eyes tend to stay on the darker end but often still look blue, but a lot of this has to do with the particular color I chose and how the light interacts with the glass. I agree that the eyes that have some sort of texture in the eye color part are a lot better than the ones without. If it isn't there to me it makes them look more lifeless and sneaks towards the "creepy doll" feeling. It really comes down to personal preference in the end, but these are just my observations.

 

Sorry for all of the stupid questions. I'm just afraid of getting in over my head. I'm still learning when it comes to all of this.

 

I'm still a noob too and it can be really daunting not knowing if the DD seem to be more trouble than they are worth. I had a lot of these same reservations, and I'm happy to say that I don't regret for a moment that I get to spend time with Tama-chan almost every day. I love him to pieces.

 

~Sister Kyoya

sorry to steal your post, but this seemed like a good place to post my questions.

 

1. Are WS DD bodies harder to come by than NS ones?

 

2. How hard is it to turn a closed eye head into an open one?

 

The only 06 head available right now is a WS closed eye version. Just saw today about the coming price increase and was debating about buying it now to avoid the extra cost. But seems like most of the dolls I see are NS and since it's called normal skin, I would assume that's the more common one. I'm just afraid to buy a WS head and not be able to find a WS body to go with it. And if the eye opening is too difficult then this is all null and void anyway lol.

I don't think WS bodies are hard to come by when Volks has bodies in stock period. You just see WS less often in user photos because relatively few of the character dolls that get made happen to be WS.

 

Never tried modding a closed-eye DD head, but I imagine that cutting and shaping the vinyl would be pretty easy with an xacto knife and sandpaper (and/or a dremel).

No worries, Blueboy. With my experience with regular Dollfie heads, it's not hard at all to cut open the eyes on a closed eyed model, though I'm not sure precisely how much harder/softer the Dollfie Dream's vinyl would be. It takes a pretty steady hand and some sanding to even it out, but the process itself is pretty painless. I actually use a Cutco parring knife, but I wouldn't recommend it for precision.

 

To Sister Kyoya: I've been trying to figure out how to reply since my last day off, since I need a better way to describe the aesthetic I'm trying to achieve. In "Typical Elle Fashion," as my friends say, I got deeply side-tracked then ended up with no word for the aesthetic after all this time. >.< I work overnights, so I'm trying to keep my posting habits to just days off/first day back, if that makes sense, but it also makes my posts some what disjointed.

 

Anyway, Tamayuki is so cute! I never would have noticed that he had glass eyes until you pointed them out (not so good at color-perception), but they look so cute and expressive! He looks very nice in the softer colors. Silly question, but is his shirt also AG (or at least meant for 18 inch dolls)?

 

So, now, I'm kind of back to wanting to do the Baroque inspired doll. . . I think. I don't know. I'll post more in the Character Concept board to lay out specifics. If it doesn't pan out, I'm just going to go with my plan B.

To Sister Kyoya: I've been trying to figure out how to reply since my last day off, since I need a better way to describe the aesthetic I'm trying to achieve. In "Typical Elle Fashion," as my friends say, I got deeply side-tracked then ended up with no word for the aesthetic after all this time. >.< I work overnights, so I'm trying to keep my posting habits to just days off/first day back, if that makes sense, but it also makes my posts some what disjointed.

 

No worries about the delayed reply, I have the tendancy to get sidetracked as well. Says the woman who has had the reply window open for the last three days trying to get around to keeping her focus long enough to write. I have been tempted to put it in my signature that if I forgot to reply to a thread, just send me a PM as a gentle kick in the head to remind me...

 

Anyway, Tamayuki is so cute! I never would have noticed that he had glass eyes until you pointed them out (not so good at color-perception), but they look so cute and expressive! He looks very nice in the softer colors. Silly question, but is his shirt also AG (or at least meant for 18 inch dolls)?

 

Even though Tamayuki hasn't said anything so far, he loves being called cute and he blushes every time someone does. No worries about color issues, my husband (Ravendruid) is colorblind so we frequently have lengthy 'discussions' on the true color of things. Over the years I've learned how different his world is because of it as well, so I have found it an interesting personal study.

 

Tamayuki's shirt is actually from Volks and was technically his first birthday present. I got it for him because I didn't trust myself trying to sew him a shirt before he was here, and when I saw it on the site, I knew it was perfectly him. (His favorite color is dove gray.) I find it a bit curious that so far for our own DD and similar dolls I really like the anime eyes on the girls, but for Tamayuki and some other boys I'm planning I automatically went looking for more realistic eyes. The glass eyes I do find highly expressive, buy that's not to say that the anime eyes aren't because they are especially with the right faceup, but there are differences.

 

And here is a pic of Tama-chan with his new faceup (in case you hadn't seen him yet)

 

~Sister Kyoya

thank u

they re not silly questions lol

it answered some of my

quesstions too thank u