Scammer Warning and a Note on Scams

So this message has been circling around, and seemingly only to European collectors. There may have been some non-Europeans that have gotten the message, but so far this is all I've seen.

Screen shot from Etsy, via Issy BJD

This is a good opportunity to discuss warning signs of scammers, especially because some of them are far less obvious than this. I've discussed Safe Buying and Selling practices many times on this blog, so I won't go into that, but you can read the posts relevant to this topic here.

Name Dropping: The scammer tries to associate themselves with someone with high popularity, followers, or fame. This could be a company (such as claiming to be a representative or employee) or a person (claiming to be a famous collector or in collaboration with a famous collector). This is to ease you into comfort with a name fo someone you "know" or are familiar with. It gives the scammer an air of legitimacy.

Monetary Reward: Offers an unrealistic amount of money for the object they're desiring. In this case, they're asking to "rent" a bjd for $100 plus more if you send extra things. They can purchase their own BJD for around $100, to be frank, so they've no business renting yours. They may offer a deposit of a ridiculous sum of money, but be unwilling to send it "Friends and Family" or only want to send you money after you send your portion.

Method of Contact: If they've contacted you on an account not openly related to BJDs, like your personal facebook or Etsy, find out how they got the information. Never give out your real life name or address to these people. If they are claiming to be from a company or a specific person, forward their message onto that company or person and see what they have to say.

Google them. Google any names or information they've used in their message. See if anything pops up. the vlogger mentioned in this message is demonstrably mentally troubled (no offense is meant by this, and I wasn't sure of a more delicate way to address this. My mother is mentally unsound as well, so I have nothing but empathy and compassion for this person), but may not even be aware this person is using her name.

This person will prey upon the desperate and the new, and hopefully no one actually thinks this is legit. Pass this information around. Protect your community! Safe collecting everyone. 

iDyepoly Review

Having now dyed a doll with both iDye and RIT I can confidently say I prefer iDye for most BJD applications.

The colors are less accurate, but deeper and richer than you'd think. I was not able to make blue actually come out blue, which seems to be a common problem based on my internet research.

I've never tried to get blue from RIT, but I know it can be done.

RIT dye is easier to work with. It's less temperamental, takes more dunks to get a deep rich color so you can more easily control the shade you're going to end up with, and while warm you can kind of blend the color together before the piece dries and the color sets.

However, RIT dye rubs off pretty easily. I've gotten the majority of RIT off a resin piece with little more than a Magic Eraser sponge with some acetone.

Pink RIT powder dye on Recast Aileen Doll Ashes (Minion)

Updates: I'm Back!

It's been about 6  months since my brother died. I can't say I'm really much better, but I'm coping better. I haven't written anything really since he died, and it feels good to be getting my spark back.

There for awhile, I'd gotten a bit soured by the BJD community and started feeling burnt out and overwhelmed again.

While I still feel a little bored and overwhelmed, I think that is starting to abate.

I'm going to resume posting doll-related stuff here, some of which is likely to ruffle some feathers/offend people. I like writing so it's good for me to keep at it, and dolls provide lots of inspiration.

I'm going to start with a 2 times per month schedule, posting on Mondays. This week's post is an Artist head review on KKeRRin dolls. Please check her out and give the artist some love!

Some upcoming post ideas I have:

• EID Woman Review and Posing Pics
• Zaoll Review and Posing Pics
• Modding a Single Joint Elbow to a Double
• Some clothing and Prop Reviews
• The Decline of the Second Hand Market (and what that might mean for the future of the hobby)
• Confession Blogs and Why They Suck
• Why You Should Go Outside (With your dolls!)
• Dolls and the Grief Process
• What fits a Zaoll
• What fits an EID Woman
• And possibly a guest post on different types of fibers for wig making

I've updated a bunch of the pages to link to more posts. There's a still a bunch of unclassified posts, but I''ll get to them eventually. I'm trying to do a few at a time and make sure everything worthwhile is easily referenced.

As usual, I hope this blog continues to be a good source of information. Chances are I've written about your question before, so feel free to search the blog. If I haven't answered it yet in the past, I'm always interested in new topics and ideas. No matter how dumb you think a question is, feel free to ask away. I always answer the best I can. Check out the archive- I've written probably a hundred posts since this blog's been active.

I'm considering changing to a website instead of the blog, though I'm not yet sure about that. Anyone have any thoughts? Would that be better for you than a blog? I know websites are a bit easier to search for info, but my HTML is limited.

Regarding Emails: Please, if I haven't responded to an email know I'm just really lazy and hate checking email. It's best to comment directly on a post, especially one like this. XD