It’s been a busy few weeks at Project Doll House. I’ve had a serious amount of visitors passing through on their way home, a few commissions (that you might have seen on my instagram!) and also the arrival of this new girl – a Minifee Chloe. Although I have a Lati Yellow, this Minifee feels like my introduction to a whole new dolly world.
This may be because my minifee came completely blank like a canvas so to speak. My Lati, being smaller than a Middie, and with her stock outfit was kind of like – no big deal, but with this girl, she would need a lot of work before she became… dolly-presentable, so to say.
I honestly can say I have not been so excited about a dolly in so long. I fell in love suddenly, with a minifee that I had seen painted by Raquel Clemente, and it lead me down a spiral of understanding BJD’s. I think I have only scraped the surface. After a lot of umming and ahing, I finally ordered a Minifee girl from Fairyland via the a-la-carte option. The expected waiting time from the company was 2 months. I could have bought a girl on the second-hand market, but I felt slightly under-prepared and un-initiated, and was worried I would buy a recast. Best straight fro the company, they say.
I started ordering clothes for her, I didn’t want her to be naked. I discovered the gorgeous Unoa-sized (minifee-fitting) clothes by Wimukt as well as a pair of shoes from Nine9Style. The shoes were the first to arrive. I was completely shocked. They were sooo big compared to Blythe shoes! I also found her a wig, that would come in a few weeks.
And then, unbelievably, she arrived only 30 days after my order. Mild panic, mostly excitement. Most of her things hadn’t arrived yet! Oh dear!
She came in a nondescript cardboard box, covered in Korean newspapers.
Her box was covered in bubble wrap, and she came contained in a satiny black box with glossed details. Inside, was a minifee guide, and her certificate of authenticity.
Here she is inside the box! Apologies for the blurry picture (and the dolly nudity) I was overly excited haha!
I ordered a Moe body, which is slightly smaller than the normal A-line minifee body. She came with her moe feet (pictured left) which are much smaller than the A-line feet (on the right). They are magnetic, so they can be interchanged easily.
I also ordered her a whole bunch of other goodies, including “Premium Eyes no.4” which turned out to be eyes from Oscar Doll, some high-heeled feet, and some extra hands (also magnetic).
Here are the oscar doll eyes! They have little crystals and glitter inside and catch the light beautifully.
The back of her head is magnetic, and pops open so you can access her eyes. She came with acrylic brown eyes (which I did not like at all, they seemed so flat) and when you pop open the back of her head you can see them attached with eye putty, as well as her name carved into it. Her neck mechanism is great, with an easy twist key, that will come in handy later on when I give her a face-up.
The most amazing thing though? Is that she stands like a champ. She poses so easily! I am so used to having my dolls do the backwards flopping things with their legs in the air due to their oversized heads (Blythe and Pullip ha!). I was almost shocked at how easy she was to manoeuvre.
Random pictures of her posing. The Moe body doesn’t sit awesomely though, she struggles to bring her knees together.
Here is a comparison that I wish I had when I was first looking for her – how she sized up compared to a Blythe and a Pullip. These two fancy ladies volunteered as models.
My first task after getting her was giving her a face. Her face was an interesting exercise to paint, that I thoroughly enjoyed! I have half a mind to wipe her and start again, I did learn so much in the process.
(some WIP Pullip girls in the background). I couldn’t stand my poor girl bald, so afterwards, I learnt how to make her a wig from alpaca. That was an experience. I still think I am inhaling alpaca, and I have much to learn in terms of dye, neatness, parting, and well, making wigs in general.
She turned out okay though. Unfortunately this outfit was a little too soft on her I thought!
Because I put so much work into her to get her… looking like a completed doll, I do feel like I have bonded with her quite well! I am starting to mind less my mistakes on my first BJD face-up, and the funny at places wig.
Theres so much room for improvement (I tried a new technique with the face-up, using tiny brushes as I previously preferred pencils) and learn’t a lot during the process. But amongst all her imperfections, I am enjoying having my minifee. She will most likely do a few iterations before she’s perfect, and as always, I am still trying to find her name to fit her character.
I also needle felted a doll-sized plushie, and I think it’s hers 😉
So that’s my first introduction to BJD’s! I have some new and exciting arrivals coming (my Callie Pullip arrived today, will do a review soon!) and some customisations. This year I’m really working on consolidating my collection, so a few more girls will be leaving soon (and replaced with others ha!)
What type of dolls do you collect? Or do you collect other things as well? I feel like I am learning more every day in this hobby.
Project Doll House 