Nelly19 wrote:Ok, I wanted to throw this out there since it came up in one of my own posts. I am afraid of resin bjds. I am currently a bigger obitsu lover, and dollfie dream admirer however, I AM TERRIFIED of the thought of owning a resin because of the potential fragilness of the sculpt and my own clusiness. I love to look at pictures of them though, they seem so person like and beautiful. So can any resin bjd owners recommend:
1. A good starter brand (inexpensive or not, height is a plus)
2. Care and maintence
3. potential prouducts i need to start hoarding for proper face ups
4. stringing.....what is that about
5. posibility
thanks for all responses guys!
Firstly, I have to say that even though I don't own an obitsu yet, they are wonderful dolls, and can pose circles around resin dolls. If posing is the most important aspect of a doll to you, then stick with them. You can always pop a resin head on an obitsu body.
That being said, as I'm the one that mentioned resin being sturdier than expected...
1. ResinSoul are really great starter dolls. They're one of the least expensive dolls out there, and they come in all kinds of fantasy colors. They aren't the greatest of posers out there, and it's almost a guarantee that one of the first things you'll have to do is to restring it. Sueding and wiring help too, and there are plenty of tutorials floating around for all of the above. They have dolls all the way up to 70cm. I highly recommend looking at owner pictures first, though, because the pictures on ResinSoul's website do NOT do their beautiful sculpts any justice. RS is also really great about replacing ANY part of their dolls, so no matter what you manage to break, you can buy a replacement.
2. Mr Clean Magic Erasers are a must for any resin owner. They can remove minor scuffs and dirt, and even some light staining caused by dark clothes or wigs. Use a wig-cap to protect the doll's head from said staining, but all told, resin stains less readily than vinyl, so if you take the same precautions with your resins that you do with vinyls, you won't have any problems. As for care, do not leave your dolls in direct sunlight. Resin yellows over time, no matter what you do, but sunlight significantly accelerates the process. Smoke is also a bad idea. My poor ResinSoul Ai has awful patterns wherever her skin was exposed because my fiance used to smoke in the living room where I had her on display. A good scrub with the aforementioned magic erasers will probably remove most of it, but an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
3. Face-up supplies should never contain any kind of oils. Use a good sealant (Mr Super Clear or ZM spray are some of the go-to and preferred sprays. Testors is ok, but it yellows quickly, and collects dust. Good for practice, not good for finished products) Acrylic paints and soft[chalk] pastels should be artist grade, not craft paint, but some student grade supplies can be used for practice if you're not sure you want to invest big bucks into supplies for something you may not want to keep doing. Many good artists are available to commission for face-ups if you decide it's not for you. That's what I did; started with student-grade supplies, and now that I'm sure I want to pursue face-ups, I'm upgrading my stuff to higher qualities.
4. Stringing is, very simply, the stuff that holds a doll together. Usually it's 2 pieces, one for the length of the body, including the legs, and one for the arms. The tension and thickness of the string effects how well the doll poses. Luckily, stringing is one of those things that is virtually impossible to permanently do damage with. I think every doll owner out there has, at some point, strung limbs on the wrong side (fixed, obviously, by restringing again) tried using a string that was too tight (get more string, or loosen the knot) or strung too loose (tighten the strings). Again, lots of great tutorials for restringing.
5. Posing ability depends on too many factors to give a general statement, other than the fact that vinyl poses better than resin. Different companies have different abilities. So do different joint structures. String tension. Number of articulation points: 3 torso pieces, or 2, or just 1. Double jointed or single jointed. You get the idea.