Redressed 30 cm BJDs

A cute dress made for 30 cm or 12-inch dolls

I purchased two dresses like the one shown in the leading picture to redress two of my 12-inch BJD dolls. 

Elan and Elin arrived in October 2015.

Elan and Elin have worn coordinated navy-blue and white fashions since their arrival in October 2015. They are now redressed in matching dresses and photographed with two different cameras as illustrated below.

Camera 1

With camera 1, I took two full-length photos of the girls. They were far apart in the first picture, so I moved them closer and took the second photo with camera 1.

Camera 2, Full-Length Photo

In the above full-length photo taken with camera 2 without the flash, their skin tones appear muted when compared to the color output with camera 1, including the color of Elin's honey blonde wig. This camera also captured some background shadows. When I used the flash with camera 2, the flash bounced off their complexions with visible flash areas. I deleted the flash photos taken with camera 2, but I can probably make some camera adjustments to eliminate the flash interference.

Camera 1, Close-up Photo

This close-up photo with camera 1 illustrates the color correctness of their complexions, hair colors, and clothing colors. There are no shadows in the background.

Camera 2, Close-up Photo

In the close-up photo taken with camera 2 without the flash, their complexions are again muted and there are visible background shadows, but the picture is sharp.

Camera 1, Two More Full-Length Photos

In this photo, Elin's chin juts out. 

Here, both girls have a more natural pose.

Camera 1 is a Canon PowerShot GLPH1090IS that is approximately 5 years old. It takes great inside photos with the flash on. Photos taken with the flash off are usually blurry. I had wanted to upgrade this camera for at least two years because of a lens malfunction that sometimes adds a shadow to a lower right corner photos unless I use the Zoom to zoom in a bit. 
In June 2024, I purchased a 4K vlogging digital camera. The resolution in most photos always seemed off with grainy-looking faded out photos. Last week, I decided to give it another try by making some adjustments to the preprogrammed features in the portrait mode. I'm not completely satisfied with the output using the current settings, but it's much better than the first photos taken last year. I will make additional adjustments to improve the resolution, clarity, colors, and eliminate background shading.
Related Posts 

She was Supposed to be Color E

Elan and Elin, New Name, New Wigs

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©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.

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Trenton's New Wig

Trenton, a Ucanaan BJD, wears his original wig in this photo.

My plan (and this might still happen) had been to make a wig for my Ucanaan BJD boy by creating a wig cap and applying some of my saved hair to create an Afro. Time or my initiative to follow this plan through has not availed itself for this to happen. 

The wig that prompted a wig change/swap.

Recently, after deciding to re-wig a 1950s head-turning walker, and going through my stored doll wigs to find a wig for that doll, I found a small spiral curled wig that I had removed from a smaller doll years ago. I tried the spiral curled wig on my Ucanaan girl, Tina, and let Trenton wear the wig that Tina had been wearing. The wig change/swap is shown below.

Tina wears the rediscovered spiral curled wig. The wig she had been wearing is now worn by Trenton as illustrated next.

Initially, I thought this wig was too long for a boy because he's dressed in his school uniform, and perhaps the length of the wig would be against any school's policy. However, the rebel in me would go against any unreasonable policy that prevented a child from expressing themselves by wearing their hair in a way that allows self-expression and does not impose on anyone else. This hairstyle should not be an imposition to anyone. So he's wearing it.

Trenton and Tina pose together for this final picture.

The way Tina's hands are positioned, makes me think she wants something to hold. I wonder if that something needs to be a doll. We shall see. 

dbg


There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.
__________
Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published, so don't waste your time. To contact me directly regarding dolls or any of my posts, please use the contact form on the right of the home page, which is visible in "web view." A link to web viewing should be visible at the bottom of this page.

Check out what I am selling here. 
Check out my eBay listings here.
Please follow my sister blog Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black.
*New*Visit/Follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum
Donate here to support this blog. Thank you!

How I Know I Am Getting Over

Internet-captured photo (this one and those that follow) of Tillie, a coffee complexioned BJD by Kaye Wiggs

I have wanted a BJD (ball-jointed doll) by Kaye Wiggs for quite some time.  JpopDolls introduced preorders for Tillie several weeks ago with a deadline to order of February 26, 2016.  I decided to give myself until the deadline to make a decision to order (this was before I gave serious thought to curtailing my doll spending).

How adorable is this big brown-eyed cutie?

With plans to use Paypal Credit in order to spread Tillie's cost over six months and having recently discovered an Etsy seamstress who makes clothing for Wiggs' dolls, things looked promising toward my eventual ownership of a Wiggs BJD.  At only 28 cm (roughly 11 inches), Tillie is the perfect size for my collection.  The price, although still steep, is a little less than the cost of larger BJDs by this artist.  So price-wise and size-wise Tillie is perfect for me.

After receiving the deadline-to-order reminder, it did not take long to fight the urge to do so.  Would I love to own Tillie?  Absolutely, but I can wait.  There will be other 28 cm dark skinned Kaye Wiggs offerings at a time when I am more comfortable that this doll buying frenzy is really under control.

How can anyone refuse those big brown eyes (even though they may or may not be that color when she arrives nude with random eye color, in need of a wig, clothing and shoes to new homes other than mine)?  My answer at this time:  I can.

But isn't she adorable?


dbg
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Forever Friendz Jada Can Sit or Stand

Jada is a multiarticulated, 11-inch resin-like vinyl doll designed by Michele R. Severino for Dolls by Consolidated.  A blog post by Dolls Like Me (now 4KidsLikeme) indicates Jada and her Asian counterpart, Lianne, have been on the market since at least 2005.  A redhead, Kylie, was also available.  There may have been other Forever Friendsz as well.

Jada wears a funky midi-length skirt with flower appliques, pink turtleneck, gray vest, pink tights, and brown boots.  Her tightly coiled black hair extends below her shoulders.  It is held in place with a pink ribbon.

Jada has gray eyes and a very sweet face.  

BJD-type multiple points of strung articulation, according to her website description, "allow her to sit and stand."  The articulation is underneath the breasts, at elbows and knees.  The stringing is rather tight, which hinders the ease of desired posing.  I could never get her to stand with a straight posture.  My husband saw the following picture and asked, "What's wrong with that doll?  She's all hunched over."  

Her tightly strung joints are the cause of her stooped posture.  Poor Jada.

After closely inspecting her vinyl, I noticed discoloration on her arms and it appears that a piece of vinyl is missing from the back of one knee joint.  Jada definitely has issues.

Light colored areas are speckled along the inside of her right arm.

There is a brown spot on Jada's left arm.

Openings at back of knees are asymmetrical.  Is there a piece missing on the right?

Jada was ordered several months ago as a gift.  Unfortunately, returning her is not an option now.  I think the soon-to-be 9-year-old she was intended for might become frustrated with her unstable joints.  So she must stay here.

It has been my experience with string-jointed dolls with multiple points of articulation that when the stringing is too tight, becomes twisted, or loose, the joints usually rest in undesired or awkward positions.  When their joints work properly, the ability for  BJDs and similar dolls to sit or stand is a wonderful feature.  If, on the other hand, desired posing cannot be done as a result of issues similar to Jada's, their articulation is rather pointless.

Back in her carrying case, "hunched over," is where Jada remains for now.

dbg

I Don't Know Her Artist-Given Name

11-inch BJD by Bo Bergemann

Purchased from the estate of Michelle Fontenot, this 11-inch, all-resin ball-jointed doll was created by Hawaiian artist and sculptor, Bo Bergemann.  I was introduced to Bergemann's BJDs approximately four years ago through my late friend, Ruth Manning.  Ruth met Bergemann during one of her many doll convention trips.  After that convention, during a phone conversation with me, Ruth shared her experience of riding the shuttle van from the hotel to the airport with the free-spirited Bergemann.  She described Bergemann as a delightful person and thereafter purchased one of her BJDs.

Several years before the above mentioned convention, Ruth and Michelle met in person at another doll convention.  Both women were members of my WeLoveBlackDolls (WLBD) Yahoo! group (now closed).

In a WLBD group message to another member who needed cheering up about something, Michelle wrote:

Keep a positive spirit about you and you will keep, keeping on.
God Bless
I miss you.
~Michelle~

BJDs are generally priced outside my doll-buying comfort zone, but when I saw this spunky little girl with the multicolored dread locks being offered for sale, I asked the cost, which was affordable.  Having been part of Michelle's collection, I am delighted to now have her in mine.



I have not yet discovered her artist-given name.  Until then and perhaps even afterward, I will call her Michelle in honor of her previous owner, who is probably now still playing dolls with our shared doll-friend, Ruth Manning.

Michelle has been welcomed by several other members of the doll family.  I love her!

Addendum: This doll's artist-given name is Little Miss Sunshine. 

dbg

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Ultra Limited Edition OOAK Fashion BJDs

Mogamu Fado, OOAK BJD
Photograph courtesy of T.U.E.D.

Produced in an ultra limited edition of 15, in various complexions from light to dark, the doll to the left is one doll currently offered by The Urban Eclectic Dolls (T.U.E.D.).  These 10-1/2-inch (26.67 cm) ball-jointed dolls are made of resin and are fashion divas.  Each doll is a one of a kind with individual face ups and body painting, hand made wigs, unique fashions, and accessories. 

The T.U.E.D. web site currently includes three sales pages and a size/proportion comparison page. 

Here's the link to the first sales page:
http://www.theeclecticurbandoll.net/sales1.html -- link to the other two sales pages and to the comparison page using the tabs at the top of each page. 

dbg

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Don't Make My Brown Eyes Blue... or Green

Part of the fantasy of owning a BJD, aside from the articulation and pose-ability, is the ability to rewig and change the eye color.  I've mastered rewigging with Goodreau's Mirror, a.k.a. "Cocoa."  The doll's most recent eye changes have convinced me, however, that some things are better as is.  See for yourself.

Cocoa with blue-gray eyes; these are scary but not as spooky as the next color.

Here's Cocoa with demonic-looking green eyes.  These are the ones that convinced me and Cocoa that her beautiful, original brown eyes are the best color for her complexion and her overall appeal.

Cocoa's original brown eyes (shown above) will be left in her eye sockets indefinitely (unless a more appealing brown pair surfaces.)

What do you think?


dbg
Please adhere to copyright notice.

Which Wig?

Cocoa (a.k.a. Mirror, the first dark-skinned American BJD by Goodreau) is wearing "Denim Blues,"  designed by "Squarepeg" for a doll like Cocoa, who is "unafraid and unapologetic [for expressing her] individuality." 

After the fashion arrived, Cocoa tried on several wigs (10 to be exact!).  She is having difficulty deciding which one works best with her new outfit.  To help her decide, I created a poll.  Please view the slide show images and use the poll on the top right of the blog to help Cocoa determine which wig looks best with her new outfit.. 

Thanks!
dbg