Ball-jointed doll

A ball-jointed doll is any doll that is articulated with ball and socket joints. In contemporary usage when referring to modern dolls, and particularly when using the acronyms BJD or ABJD it usually refers to modern Asian ball-jointed dolls. [ [http://collectdolls.about.com/od/dollcollectingglossary/g/balljointed.htm?rd=1 Glossary of Doll Collecting Terms - Ball Jointed ] ] These are cast in polyurethane resin, a hard, dense plastic, and the parts strung together with a thick elastic. They are predominantly manufactured in Japan and South Korea, and in 2006 Chinese manufacturers entered the market. BJD design is both realistic and influenced by anime with proportionally large heads and big eyes. They range in size from about 60 cm (2 feet) for the larger dolls, 40 cm (16 in) for the mini dolls, and all the way down to 10 cm (4 in) or so for the tiniest of the tiny BJDs. BJDs are made to be easy to customize, by painting, changing the eyes and wig, and so forth.

The modern BJD market began with Volks line of Super Dollfie in 1999. "Super Dollfie", or just "Dollfie", are sometimes erroneously used as generic blanket terms to refer to all Asian BJDs regardless of manufacturer. But Super Dollfie is a registered trademark for Volks line of BJD, and Dollfie is the trademarked name of their line of Barbie sized 1/6 scale vinyl dolls, which are not proper ball-jointed dolls at all.

History

European and Egyptian articulated dolls made of wood and other materials date back hundreds of years. The modern era ball-jointed doll history began in Western Europe, particularly France and Germany, in the late 1800s. From the late 1800s and to the early 1900s French and German manufacturers made ball-jointed dolls with bisque heads and strung bodies made of composition, a mix of pulp, sawdust, glue and similar materials. [ [http://collectdolls.about.com/od/dollcollectingglossary/g/composition.htm?rd=1 Glossary of Doll Collecting Terms - Composition ] ] These dolls were sized between about 20 and 40 inches. [ [http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/ah_antique_appraisals/article/0,,hgtv_3081_2233326,00.html At Home : Appraisals : Pricing a Doll : Home & Garden Television ] ] [ [http://www.civilization.ca/cpm/catalog/cat2101e.html Civilization.ca - Before e-commerce - The Eaton Beauty Doll ] ] , and they are now collectible antiques.

During the 1930s the German artist Hans Bellmer created dolls with ball-joints and used them in photography and other surrealistic artwork. Bellmer introduced the idea of artful doll photography, which continues today with Japanese doll artists, as well as the BJD fandom.

Influenced by Bellmer and the rich Japanese doll tradition, Japanese artists began creating strung ball-jointed dolls. These are commonly made entirely of bisque and often very tall, sometimes as tall as four feet. These dolls are art, and not intended for play or even the hobby level of collecting usually associated with dolls. They cost several thousand dollars, up to several hundred thousand dollars for older collectible dolls from famous artists. The art doll community is still very active in Japan, and doll artists regularly release artbooks with photographs of their dolls. [http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25418 not the best source, but has pointers to others] [http://www.japattack.com/main/node/140 Figure+Doll=U-noa (Unoa Doll) | JAPATTACK ] ]

The history of commercially produced Asian resin BJD began in 1999 when the Japanese company Volks created the Super Dollfie line of dolls. The first Super Dollfie were 57 cm tall, strung with elastic, ball-jointed, and made of polyurethane resin, similar to garage kits, which were Volks main product at the time. Super Dollfie were made to be highly customizable, and to create a female market for garage kits.Around 2003, South Korean companies started creating and producing BJDs. Customhouse and Cerberus Project were among the first Korean BJDs to be marketed internationally. In 2005-2006, beginning with Dollzone, Chinese BJD companies started creating BJDs and selling them on the international market.

BJDs have a strong influence from the anime esthetic. Prominent BJD companies, Volks with Super Dollfie, Cerberus Project [http://www.cerberusproject.com/ Happy New Year from Cerberusproject ] ] with the Delf line, as well as the Japanese artist Gentaro Araki with the U-noa line, all have backgrounds in anime style resin figure kits.

Modern Asian BJDs

Modern Asian BJDs are fully articulated and highly poseable. Most have ball and socket joints in the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, and ankles. Some are double jointed, with two joints at elbows and knees for example, and some also have one or two joints in the torso, and more rarely even in individual fingers. Body elements are held together with one or more thick elastic cords that attach to hands, feet and head, creating tension and friction between the parts.

BJDs have comparatively large feet, contrasted with fashion dolls like Barbie, and a lot of BJDs are capable of standing on their own, without a stand or other support. While BJDs follow a distinctly Asian view in their aesthetics, the designs are diverse and range from highly anime-inspired to hyper-realistic.

Ball-jointed dolls are initially modeled in a substance such as clay. When the sculptor is satisfied with the result, the hardened clay body parts are used to form molds for multiple parts to be cast in synthetic polyurethane resin. Cured resin has a hard, smooth, porcelain-like feel, but is much more durable. Unlike porcelain however, polyurethane tends to turn yellow and decay over time depending on exposure to UV light and heat.

BJDs have more or less prominent "seams" along the body parts and sometimes other traces from the casting process. Some choose to sand the seams down, and some companies do this for the customer.

BJDs are readily customizable. Wigs and eyes are easy to remove and replace, as well as heads, hands, and feet. A doll may even be a hybrid of parts from different companies. Some BJD owners or customizers even re-shape existing parts by sanding them or applying epoxy putty to them.

The resin material is easier to paint than the softer and more slick vinyl often used for other types of dolls. BJD face paint is usually referred to as a "faceup", to note that it's not just make-up, but all the facial features that are painted and customized, including eyebrows, lips and blushing to enhance features. Some BJDs are delivered without a faceup, leaving it entirely up to the owner or a customizer to paint the doll.

Faceups and body blushing are usually done with with acrylic paint (applied with a regular brush or an airbrush) or soft pastels, which are coated with a sprayed-on layer of clear matte sealant to protect it from smudges or ultraviolet damage. BJD faceups, even from large companies, are always painted by hand, and it takes considerable skill to do professional level faceups.

BJDs are sold as anything from complete full sets to kits. Most Korean companies sell BJDs assembled but it is up to the buyer if they want the company to apply a faceup before delivery.

Full set BJDs are often, but not always, limited and come fully assembled, painted and with clothes. Unlike many other collectible dolls though, the wig and clothes are usually included separately. Owners of even limited full set BJDs often use a different wig than the default, and different clothes than those included.

A few companies sell BJDs as kits, which are just the bare parts, similar to a garage kit. Sometimes a wig or eyes are included, but neither is attached to the doll, which have to be strung together, painted and dressed to complete it.

BJDs can also be bought in parts. Some companies sell heads and bodies or other parts separately, and separate heads and bodies are often available on the second hand market. A few BJD creators sell just heads, in size and skin color to fit with doll bodies from other companies.

BJD Culture

Some BJDs are collectible, and limited editions, or skillfully customized dolls can fetch prices much higher than the original in the second hand market, sometimes as much as US $5000.ShojoBeat June 2007]

While some BJDs are collectible, the customization and personalization aspects are usually more emphasized in the BJD world. Even collectible limited-edition BJDs are played with and used as props in photoshoots, and even dolls that are no longer in mint condition can command high prices in the second hand market.

BJDs are usually named by their owner, and sometimes assigned individual characteristics and personality traits. The dolls are often used as subjects of artistic work, such as photography or drawing. Some use their dolls and characters for roleplaying.

There is a sizeable international fandom community dedicated to BJDs. The largest English BJD forum has over 17,000 members as of June 2008. [ [http://www.denofangels.com/forums/index.php Den of Angels ] ] Drawings, photos and photo stories are shared in the online fandom forums. Fans also organize offline BJD meetups and conventions, like BJDC [ [http://bjdctexas.com/ BJDC Ball Jointed Doll Convention ] ] in Austin, Texas and Dollectable [ [http://www.bjdcon.com/ Northern California ABJD Convention ] ] in San Francisco.

There is also a considerable overlap with other fandoms, like anime, cosplay and Gothic lolita.

Doll manufacturers sometimes base BJD on popular characters in anime or manga. Owners can achieve a similar effect through customization, creating one-off representations of these characters, or those from books or movies.

The Delf line, and some other BJDs have elf ears and there's some overlap with the fantasy and elf fandom.

There are also some BJDs with visible vampire fangs.

Many BJD owners use their male dolls to stage yaoi style photoshoots.

BJD are often dressed in contemporary and casual youth fashions. Dolls styled in punk, goth, emo or scene fashion are commonly seen.

Doll Master is a Korean horror movie that sets dolls as theme.

The main characters in the manga and anime Rozen Maiden are all BJD-like living dolls.

The virtual band Mistula is composed of customized BJDs, Super Dollfie and Delf dolls.

BJD Types and Sizes

BJDs have been produced in many different types and sizes as the market has expanded. There are roughly three main size categories for BJDs, full "SD" size, mini and tiny. Compare with Super Dollfie Models.

Full size

Large full size dolls, sometimes referred to as "SD" size from the Super Dollfie size range, are around 55cm or taller. Roughly 1/3 scale, they usually represent fully grown teenagers or adult body types. Full size dolls from Korean companies are often closer to the 60cm range of Volks SD13 dolls, even for girl versions.

Fullsize BJD generally begin at US $500 but can easily reach more than US $1,000 for limited-edition dolls.

Typical full size BJD examples:
* Super Dollfie, from Volks
* Delf, designed by resin kit designers Cerberus Project, made and distributed by the Korean company Luts. [ [http://www.eluts.com/ Welcome to LUTS ] ] Often referred to by the acronym "CP", or as "Luts dolls", after the distributor.
*Souldoll [http://www.souldoll.com/] , Korean
*Iplehouse [ [http://www.iplehouse.com/ ♡구체관절인형 쇼핑몰 :::이플하우스::에 오신걸 환영합니다.(^ㅗ^) ♡ ] ] , Korean
*The 1/3 doll line from Chinese company Dollzone [http://www.doll-zone.com/ ::www.doll-zone.com:: ] ]
*D.O.T. (Dream of Teen) from Korean company D.O.D. (Dream of Doll) [http://www.dreamofdoll.com/ Dream Of Doll ] ]

There is also a range of slightly larger full size BJD, from 68-80cm tall.
*Dollshe [ [http://tensiya.com/ ▒ TensiYa.com Angel shop ▒ ] ] introduced a line of tall, slim, double jointed mature boy dolls in 2003 [ [http://www.abjds.com/forum/showthread.php?t=181 Dollshe - the company - Resinality ] ]

Mini

Mini size dolls, sometimes referred to as "MSD" size from to Mini Super Dollfie size range, are about 40cm tall. Minis are often around US $400-500.

Minis are sometimes referred to as 1/4 scale, but accurately there are two major categories of minis, those that are roughly in the same 1/3 scale as full size dolls and are meant to look like children in scale to larger dolls, and the "mature minis" which are meant to represent fully grown adults and are closer to the 1/4 scale.

Typical examples of child-like minis:
*Mini Super Dollfie from Volks
*D.O.C. (Dream of Children) from Korean company D.O.D. (Dream of Doll)

Typical examples of mature minis:
*U-noa Quluts, from Alchemic Labo [ [http://www.alchemiclabo.com/ 錬金術工房 ] ] , the company of Japanese artist Gentaro Araki
*Narae and Narin from Narindoll [ [http://www.narindoll.com/ narindoll - Only the best for me ] ] , sculpted by Korean artist Bimong
*Soulkid, from Souldoll
*Minifee, mini sized version of the Delf dolls, distributed by Korean company Fairyland. [http://dollfairyland.com/ FairyLand Ball Joint Doll Shopping Mall ] ]
*Super Dollfie Cute, the mature version of the Mini Super Dollfie, from Volks.

Tiny

Any BJD under roughly 30cm tall is referred to as a tiny. These are available in many different types and scales. [http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pf3nXpzqLiCvmEs9VYmfvEw tiny size reference sheet] Tinies are usually in the area between US $100-300.

Some tiny BJD are made look like toddlers or babies next to full size dolls, these are about 25 cm (10 in) tall.
*YoSD from Volks [ [http://www.angelden.net/volks/yosd/index.php Where Angels Lie - A Super Dollfie Database - YoSD ] ]
*DollLeeke-D from Korean company Leeke [ [http://www.leekeworld.us/ Leekeworld ] ]
*Petite AI from Korean company Custom House [ [http://www.ainai.com/en/ aiNai.com ] ]
*Ciao Bella from Korean company Bambicrony [ [http://www.bambicrony.net/ ¢ÆBambi Crony-for you & dolls¢Æ ] ] [ [http://www.abjds.com/forum/showthread.php?t=127 BambiCrony - Resinality ] ]
*Tuesday's Child from Korean company Rosen Lied [ [http://rosenlied.com/eng/ Rosen Lied ] ]

There are also even smaller childlike dolls, tiny tinies, these are usually not made to be in scale with any larger BJDs. These tinies are more often than other BJDs housed in a dollhouse, and some are in scale to the standard dollhouse sizes.

*Nari-pon from Korean NotDoll Lab [ [http://notdolllab.com/ Notdoll Lab Creation - For the most delicate one, Pure blood & Beautiful heart ] ]
*Lati White and Lati Yellow from Korean company Lati [ [http://latidoll.com/ Welcome to LaTi ] ] [ [http://www.abjds.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1295 LatiDoll - Resinality ] ]
*Pocket Fairy from Korean company Bluefairy [ [http://www.bluefairyint.com/ Bluefairy International-I'll alway be here for you ] ] [ [http://www.abjds.com/forum/showthread.php?t=811 Blue Fairy - Resinality ] ]
*Pukipuki, distributed by Korean company Fairyland

There are also tiny BJDs with mature bodies, which are in the same 1/6 scale as Barbie and other fashion dolls, about 21-30 cm tall. They can share clothes and accessories with fashion dolls.

*Mini Gem from Korean company Soom [ [http://www.dollsoom.com/ SOOM ] ]

Anthro

Humanoid anthro animal BJDs are usually in the tiny size scale.

* Elfdoll [http://www.elfdoll.com/] , a Korean company, have released many types of anthro BJDs, starting with Catsy.
* Pipos [ [http://www.piposdoll.com/ 이 페이지를 보려면, 프레임을 볼 수 있는 브라우저가 필요합니다 ] ] , another Korean company, has released several types of anthro dolls. Baha is a popular type of anthro cat from Pipos.

There are also some ball-jointed animal dolls that are not humanoid, but stand on all four, and in scale as pets for larger sized dolls.
*PetDoll [ [http://www.gigglegeek.dk/dollpetdoll.htm Ny side 1 ] ]

Chinese BJD

The earliest Chinese-made BJDs were knockoffs, direct recasts or only slight modifications of Super Dollfie or original Korean BJDs. Made of plaster, low quality resin or polystone (a mix of resin and a filler material, like sand) they were very cheap but not very durable.

Dollzone was the first Chinese company to release their own original sculpts in high quality polyurethane resin, in late 2005/early 2006. [ [http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47000 Dollzone returns? - Den of Angels ] ]

Chinese BJD are cheaper than their Japanese and Korean counterparts, with mini size dolls prices starting at around US $200 [ [http://www.doll-zone.com/showcatalogue.asp?ps=35 Catalogue-1/4doll ] ] [ [http://happyhouse4u.com/shopex/index.php?gOo=goods_search_list.dwt&gcat=3 1/4 DOLLS - Happyhouse-bjd Stuff,AOD doll ] ] and fullsize dolls starting at around US $300-$400. [ [http://www.abjds.com/forum/showthread.php?t=784 Dollzone - Resinality ] ] [ [http://happyhouse4u.com/shopex/index.php?gOo=goods_search_list.dwt&gcat=2 1/3 DOLLS - Happyhouse-bjd Stuff,AOD doll ] ] [ [http://www.doll-zone.com/showcatalogue.asp?ps=34 Catalogue-1/3doll ] ]

Related dolls

There are resin ball-jointed fashion dolls like the Sybarite. They differ from the typical Asian BJD in several ways. Their main influence is from the collectible American 16 inch vinyl fashion dolls, like Gene Marshall by Ashton-Drake Galleries and Tyler Wentworth by Tonner. Ball-jointed fashion dolls are usually around 16 inches tall, closer to 1/4 scale than the typical 1/3 scale of Asian BJDs. They have more realistic proportions, smaller heads and eyes, and less child-like, more distinctive facial features.

There are several types of larger 60cm vinyl dolls in Japan. These are in the same scale as fullsize BJD and with similar proportions. Their facial features tend to be more highly stylized after anime and less realistic than the typical resin BJDs.

The two most common types are Dollfie Dream () (from Volks) and Obitsu (). Some of these dollls are occasionally loosely classified as BJD. The first Dollfie Dream body type was strung and had classic ball and socket joints, but the current body has an internal skeleton of hard plastic, [ [http://www.volks.co.jp/en/dollfiedream/basebodys/01/index_01.aspx DD Basic Body/Dollfie Dream ] ] [ [http://www.volks.co.jp/en/dollfiedream/basebodys/02/index_02.aspx DD Base Body2/Dollfie Dream/VOLKS INC ] ] as does the Obitsu dolls.

Vinyl dolls are easier to manufacture, machine-made and injection-molded in soft vinyl, and thus lighter and often less expensive than their hand-cast resin counterparts. [http://www.hlj.com/product/OBT03602 Obitsu body for US $200] These vinyl bodies can, sometimes with some modifications, be combined with a resin BJD head.

Paper Moon dolls [ [https://www.pmoon.co.jp/TOUSHINDAI/index.html ペーパームーン等身大フィギュアホームページ ] ] are five feet tall life-size dolls cast in resin. They have pronounced anime features, and have specially constructed joints that are superficially similar in appearance to ball and socket joints. But due to the inherent difficultiy in stringing such a large doll with elastic, internally the joints are hinged. Unlike many other lifesize dolls, Paper Moon dolls are not sex dolls.

ee also

*Asian fashion doll
*Super Dollfie

References

External links

* [http://www.gigglegeek.dk/bjd.htm SD-like Ball Jointed Dolls] A database of Modern Ball Jointed Dolls
* [http://www.denofangels.com/ Den of Angels] the largest English BJD forum
* [http://bjd_wtf.livejournal.com BJD_WTF] Tutorials, photos & more