Doll Clothing

My newest doll is going to be here shortly, and I wanted to have something suitable for her to wear. Since I am pretty good with crocheting, and I have all this yarn, I thought what the heck, I can make some.

My first attempt, not so good. I made a black vest, and tried it on one of my daughter's Barbie dolls. (Heard they are around the same size as a Hujoo.) The yarn was just too bulky to believe it was made for her size. It also came out too tight on the doll.

Second attempt at crocheting doll clothes, much more success. I crocheted a black skirt out of a finer yarn. I think it came out very nicely. See pic.

Third attempt, I think I overdid myself. I made a jacket for my Hujoo. It is two toned. The main yarn used was a funky light blue, with little threads that came out when you crocheted, and the accent is the same black yarn I used for the skirt. I also added a silver ribbon to tie it together. Don't forget the hair flower, love them.

Overall, I really like the results of my crazy day of doll-clothes-making. I also made a shirt for the doll out of an old shirt I cut up, but have yet to add the velcro, and trimmings. I hope this is a good style for Amelie, my much anticipated Hujoo. I wanted her to be kind of bad @ss. Might be hard to look tough when your outfit is so cute, but I might like the contradiction.

Forums on BJDs

I already said that I was thinking of joining den of angels. It's one of the biggest forums in the United States on BJDs. There are two problems though. One, it costs five dollars to join. Now, I know five dollars isn't much, but this is an expensive hobby and that's five dollars that can go to shoes, or hair, or any of those things that I have yet to buy for this doll. The second problem is that den of angels doesn't consider the Hujoo doll a BJD.

Here's the criteria for a BJD according to them. My Hujoo doll does not fall into this category, since it is made from ABS plastic. So any post I would make about my doll would be deleted. I know this because I joined another forum and saw a few people writing that they had their posts deleted on den of angels whenever they brought up Hujoos.

So, I found a different forum, one that did not cost anything to sign up for. It is Chicago Dolls, and they have a lot of really good information. Granted, I'm not from the Chicago area, still they have good advice and are a lot more relaxed on the definition of BJDs.

I already got some advice, after signing up yesterday, to join another forum, that I had heard about somewhere but just barely remembered. I was told to check out Dairyland BJD. It's a forum for BJD lovers from the midwest. Once again not my region, but still a place I hope to get good advice, and interaction with people with a similar hobby.

I am still waiting on my registration to activate with Dairyland, but hopefully by the time my doll gets here, I'll be ready to tackle the face up. :)

The only real downside to these forums is the fact that they are physically so far from where I am located, so I miss out on things like meetups and group orders. Oh well, for now. For the time being I am enjoying having other people to talk to about these awesome dolls.

Welcome to the journey!

I recently ordered my first bjd. For those of you who don't know what a bjd is, let me explain. A bjd is an asian ball-jointed doll. There are a lot of diferent doll makers out there. Most of the manufacturers are from China, Japan, or Korea, though there are others around the world, even in the U.S. There are some dolls that are more popular than others.

I didn't even know these dolls existed until a few days ago, and now I am completely sucked in. I know the Blythe dolls are real big here. I would see a lot of stuff for them on etsy, but other than that I didn't think about it much. I always thought they were cute though. It sucks, because you really have to go searching to find these dolls, they aren't going to be at Toys R Us or Walmart.

I ordered myself a bjd the other day from Hong Kong. I got mine from the website www.mimiwoo.com, but there are some U.S. dealers too. Obviously there is ebay, but there's also Denver Dolls, and Junky Spot.

The doll I ordered is from a Korean doll maker. It's called a Hujoo. I love the style of this doll. It will be a custom doll. I will have to do the face up myself. In other words, it's completely raw. No paint, no eyes, no hair, no clothes. Completely up to me to complete it. I love it. I am artistically inclined and this is right up my alley. There are a few differences with a Hujoo and a normal bjd. One being it is made out of ABS plastic. Most bjd dolls are made from resin. As I am lacking monetarily, but completely in love with these little dolls, I found one in my price range. Enter the Hujoo.

Hujoo has three different dolls in this group. A boy called Wings, a Hujoo girl, and a Hujoo Berry. All have a sleepy eyed version, and three choices for skin tones. I ordered the apricot Hujoo girl with the opened eyes. I think my doll will be here in about two weeks, looking forward to that. Until then I am hoping I can learn some more on the internet about doing face ups. There's a lot of information out there on doing face ups on resin dolls, but not so much on the plastic or vinyl.

As for the doll I am creating, she is going to be loosely based on the one that you see. I love the white hair, and pink accents. I have always been a fan of gray. My doll already has a name too. She will be named Amelie. When I ordered her, I also ordered her some purple glass eyes. Ohh, she will be adorable!

Another reason why I ordered this doll as opposed to a Blythe, is the fact that she has already been used in a movie. There was a Korean horror movie made using these dolls. I love that fact, since I am an animation student. There is just something about there styling. It's on the verge of cute and creepy and I just love it!

I think I may eventually pay the five dollars to sign up for den of angels. It's the biggest forum on bjd's in the United States and I think it would be useful. I'll wait a bit on that though. Well, that's all. We'll see how this girl comes out. I'm crossing my fingers.