10 Minute Fur Arm and Leg Warmers

I have a guest post this week from Scarlet Study. She wanted to do a sewing tutorial for the first of my Tutorial Tuesdays (hey, it's still Tuesday!). This tutorial uses swatches of faux fur like those from Distinctive Fabrics online or from your local fabric shop. These arm and leg warmers are great for your ravers or scene kids. This tutorial is easily adjusted to work with other types of fabric or styles. 

Thanks Scarlet Study, and I hope you all enjoy. Now, on to the tutorial!

SDgr Girl Posing

A gal on Castaways asked for some pics of Lorina posing. Here are a few quickies I snapped the other day. I plan to do more and take better ones soon. Enjoy for now!

I hadn't originally planned on  blogging these, but I thought it might be useful. I had to crop myself and a couple Pepsi cans out of the photos. XD 


Tomorrow we will begin our Tutorial Tuesdays, and I hope to have one up at least every other week. It will be a sewing tutorial from a guest writer, Scarlet Study (her Munin was featured last Friday). And remember, if you'd like your doll to be a Friday Feature or you've got a tutorial you want to share, drop me a line! I'm also looking for people willing to assist with some recast legit comparisons. 

Enough blabbing and onto the photos!

Friday Feature: Munin

Welcome to our first Friday Feature! Today's featured doll is Munin, a legitimate Minifee Woosoo girl. Her owner, Scarlet Study, has written up some info about her girl and shared some pictures. Read about her character and enjoy!

Iplehouse JID legit vs recast comparison

I wanted to do a comparison between recast and legitimate JID girls from Iplehouse. For those who don't know, JID are the 42cm-sized range from Iplehouse. The sculpts currently available as recast in the JID line that I am aware of are: Asa, Tatiana, Benny, Daniel, Jerome. (Don't contact me about buying them, and I don't own recast JIDs.)

Since I don't own my own recast JID, a friend over at AtticFlowers has graciously taken some photos of her recast girl, Kourin, a JID Asa.

Our Guests:


(legit)

And Kourin:


(recast)

Here are some pictures of the recast girl. Where applicable I will provide pics of the legitimate girl or give my commentary.


AtticFlowers says her recast girl has a tendency to fall out of joint a lot. This does happen with my legitimate girl, but only when she is strung loosely. Once she's strung super tight (which is hard to by yourself) and with thicker elastic (I use a thickness best suited for SDs because she is so heavy), my legitimate girl doesn't have this issue.



Here the body overview of both dolls. The recast is on the left of the screen, the legitimate on the right. As you can see, both dolls' joints are very flush.


(recast)


(legit)

AtticFlowers says she, "sanded out most of her [the recast girl's] seam lines. They were BAD, and the sanding done by the recaster was sub par. You can see where the aggressive sanding by the recaster left a gap in the shoulder, the drill hole was also partly to blame."




(both pics are of the recast girl)

The legitimate girl does have some obvious seam lines, mostly on the back of her legs, but nothing too major.


The head cap seems to fit very well on the recast. Note that it does not have an Iplehouse plate in the back, where the legitimate does. Note the sticker on the Legit girl's head. It is thick, blue, and slightly domed rather than a flat, matte sticker.


(recast)


(legit)

Here is the inside of the headcaps. Both headcaps have the JID mark inside, but where the legit girl has a serial number (I assume this is for the sculpt, not the specific doll), the recast just has the doll name.




(legit, placeholder pic until I can get a better one)

Important note: If someone knows if other legit JID sculpts contain names rather than serial numbers, please let me know. I could not find any information on this. It is possible that some legits just have names as well, rather than serial numbers like the Tania sculpt has.


(recast)

In this recast, the string channels are actually drilled really well.




(both pics recast)

Yet, the insides of the recast remain messy. Legit insides generally do not like look this, and do not look like this in my legitimate girl.


(recast)

AtticFlowers says, "The C shaped pieces on the wrists are very fragile. This one was miscast slightly and broke when I tried to fix it. It's actually in two pieces, but stays in place well. Gluing didn't help, as its a high stress area."




(both pics recast)


(legit)

The legit girl lost her wrist pieces long ago. >.<

Well I hope this helps!  As always, don't judge a second hand doll as a recast too quickly, do your homework and shop safe!

Oh and be sure to check out my friend's tumblr, Flowers in the Attic, here!

Happy collecting!

Recast vs Legit: Alter-Egos

[A fluff piece because I've had a pretty crappy week and don't really want to think but still want to gripe about stuff.]

I'm no honey badger. I keep my recast and legit alter-egos completely separate, well, as separate as I can.

For those of you who aren't the type to post carefree across the interwebs your recast and legit resin munckins, this is for you:

1. Don't post links on DoA to flikrs or sites that contain/promote recasts. If you get caught with a flikr link (including pictures that link) with a recast on that account, you'll get banned from DoA.

            a. Recasts are like Fight Club.

            b. You don't talk about Fight Club (on DoA)

Recast BJD FAQ

I think there is some misinformation spreading around regarding recasters, recasts, and the people who own recasts. I feel that correcting this misinformation can go a long way. I am working on a post about cyberbullying and delving into research regarding the legalities of recast ownership, but for now this should help.

What is a recaster?

A recaster is a person or business that buys legitimate dolls and uses those dolls to make molds. From these molds they cast a new doll, called a recast.

When a doll is cast from a mold, it is smaller than the original version used to make the mold. So in the case of legitimate dolls, a mold is made from a clay version of the doll that is slightly larger than the finished product. Since a recast mold is made from a finished doll, the resulting doll is smaller than the finished doll. This is referred to as shrinkage.

I refer to recasts in generations. What this means is that the first mold to made from a recast is the first generation. First generations usually have minimal shrinkage. A second generation recast would be made from a mold made of a recast, resulting in greater shrinkage when compared to the original, legitimate doll.

Recasters are usually located in China, and the country has very different laws regarding copyrights and bootlegging than a lot of other countries, including the United States. One goes about purchasing a recast through direct communication with a recast or through various places on the Chinese marketplace, Taobao.

Cyberbullying in the Doll Community: A Wordy Discussion

Bullying has become quite a problem lately, or at least become more of a recognized one, particularly here in the United States. Many children have been committing suicide or attempting to do so because of bullying. I am going to ask that you humor me and read this entire post. It's very wordy, and I apologize. Please, please bear with me until the end. I promise it's worth it. There's also some swearing, and I apologize for that too.

The doll hobby has become rife with cyberbullying that transcends age demographics. Due to the anonymity of the internet, adults can bully adults or even children. The reverse is also true. Without the face to face filter that encourages polite social interaction, people feel free to say and do as they please.