| Body
types |
| *Bisque
dolls
They were popular in France In the 19th century, They are made of ceramic.
They are also called antique dolls. Very expensive. The structure of this kind
of doll uses tension rubber, the same as cast made ball joint dolls. |
| *
Cast made ball joint dolls
Cast
(resin) is a kind of plastic. Garage kid figures (wonder festival by Kaiyodo is
well known) made this kind of material popular for dolls. It makes it easy to
make copies using the cast. Originally, cast was only used for figures with no
moving parts, but after Volks released Super Dollfie, some companies started using
casts for their joint ball dolls, which is less expensive than bisque dolls. There
are some Korean made dolls available, too.
The
disadvantage of the cast doll is that it feels hard and cold. Also, it turns yellowish
over time, and it is easy to crack when it falls down. No internal structure of
this kind of doll, and uses tension rubber. It cannot stand by itself, because
joints are not fixed. Acrylic paints should be used for painting the doll. |
| * Soft
vinyl (PVC) dolls
Currently, most dolls and figures are made of PVC.
To remove the joints of custom dolls, the joints require intensity. So the Obitsu
body uses ABS resin for internal structure, and soft vinyl for outer parts. Finished
figures are normally made by only PVC (harder type).
The Obitsu body
is getting popular because of the soft feel, strong structure, mobility, and inexpensive
price. Materials
for dolls
PVC is a mixture of PolyVinyl
Chloride and plasticizer. Depending on how much the plasticizer is used, you can
change the figures softness. The soft version of this material is called soft
vinyl. PVC can be softened with heat, so it is softer in the summer, and harder
in the winter. You can warm it up with a hair dryer or hot water when you disassemble
or connect parts.
ABS resin is
the most common plastic resin. It is hard, heat-resistant, and chemical
resistant. You will see this kind of material used for many different electric
appliances.,
POM is even harder than ABS.
It's good for doll parts that need hardness. It is a great resin with abrasion
proof. The disadvantage
for soft vinyl
Softening that occurs from heat is not always good. Also, color
transfer creates stains that go deep in the material. |
* Dolls made
by new materials such as silicon and urethane
Silicon dolls, and urethane dolls, which have an interesting feel are available.
| *
Other types of dolls
You
will see many kinds of the dolls on the market, like wooden, cloth, and clay dolls. |
|
| Customizing
finished dolls | | It
is a lot of fun to make your own dolls by just changing bodies, wigs, and eyes
on the finished dolls. | Customizing
Pullip (Little Pullip)
Currently in Japan, customizing
pullip dolls is very hot. You can change wigs, eyes, bodies, clothing as well
as Little Pullip.
How
to customize Pullip
How to customize Little
Pullip | Customizing
Blythe
Until several years ago, you could easily customize
wigs and eyes, however, they have changed the design so that you cannot customize
them easily any more. However, you are still able to customize wigs, pupils, the
shape of the face and make-up with some modifications. |
Customizing Rika-chan and Jenny
The dolls that Takara sells (including Blythe) have a similar
body size as Obitsu dolls. So you can be creative by exchanging bodies, clothing,
wigs and shoes. | Customizing
other dolls
If you have old dolls that you used to play
with when you were young, you can have fun exchanging heads or clothes, or whatever.
You may end up surprised to see the results that unmatched combinations can make
a cute doll. Be creative! |
| Soft vinyl
(PVC) dolls |
| PVC is easy to
mass produce, so it is used for many kinds of dolls and figures. Obitsu dolls
uses PVC for the outer skin. Soft vinyl is the softer kind of PVC. Let's talk
about characteristics of soft vinyl. Stains
on soft vinyl
You can wipe it off with fingernail polish remover for the oily stains. However,
you should be careful not to take off the paint job with acrylic paints.
Color transfer from
clothing
It is impossible to get stains
from color transfer out of the soft vinyl. It goes in deep on the material because
of the resin's chemical action, so it won't come out even if you shave the surface.
You have to forget about removing the stain.
To avoid this, put white clothing (like underwear) under the darker color clothing.
Or spray Mr. High carting, or Mr. Super Clear delustering agent (liquid spray)
to coat your doll surface, however this is not a perfect solution.
Glue soft vinyl
You can use a glue for vinyl chloride to glue soft vinyl. If you need to glue
it stronger, the glue with primer will help. Softer
in the summer, harder in the winter
The hardness of soft vinyl changes due to the temperature. You can make it softer
by using warm water or light hair dryer heat. The structure of the Obitsu body,
which is made of ABS will soften a little bit when you warm it by a hair dryer.
It might be easier to change the doll clothing when it is softer. |
|
| Making
custom dolls using Obitsu body | |
Currently it is
most popular to use the Obitsu body for customizing dolls. We will show you some
examples later. More
finished figures use the Obitsu body lately because the body has movable parts.
The secret of the popularity is the well designed body with wide mobility. It's
not easy to break. Even if it breaks, you can replace just the broken part to
fix it. | *
Choose your favorite size of Obitsu body first.
Currently, there are
four body sizes of Obitsu body.
1/3 scale (60cm), 1/6 scale (27cm, 21cm, and
23cm) bodies. There are different skin tones available for each size.
| 
Detailed
info about Obitsu body |
The kinds of Obitsu
body and size comparison |
Comparing the size
of Obitsu with other brand dolls  |
| The
details of the Obitsu body |
How to attach a head
Creating
a pose
Assemble the body and exchange parts
Foot size
How
to create a 48cm body by using a 60cm Obitsu body |
How to attach a head
Assemble
the body and exchange parts
Foot size
Enjoy the combination of parts from
different dolls | How to attach a head
Assemble
the body and exchange parts
Foot size
Enjoy the combination of parts from
different dolls | How to attach a head
Assemble the body and exchange parts
Foot size |
| The
heads for Obitsu body | | 1.
The heads for the 60cm body | | 2. The
heads for the 27cm body | | 3. The heads
for 21&23cm body |  |
| Painting
on Soft vinyl |
|
Normally, acrylic paint
is used to paint both soft vinyl dolls and cast made dolls because both are kinds
of plastic. You can find many kinds of acrylic paints in hobby stores or art stores.
Also you may want to use the base coating, or painting medium, or gloss additionally.
The Acrylic paints tend to go with other materials good, including color pencils,
pastel colors, and cosmetics, so you can enjoy different combinations. The
below is a detailed example of painting the 1/6 scale head, instructed by the
Japanese artist Hanakago, known by 'Neko no shippo' doll series. |
 <The
products used>
acrylic paints/extra thin paint brush/base coating (Tamara X-20A)/finish coating
(Tamiya X-22A)/Gloss Varnish
1.
Dilute the acrylic paint, and draw base lines. If you need to redo it, wipe it
off with paint thinner or fingernail polish remover. |
2. Choose the color of the eyes, and draw it on the
eyes. The acrylic paints dry soon, so layer with thin layers to make it a darker
color. Don't forget to push her hair back and hold it back in place. |
3. Add some accent using white and darker colors to
the base color. Start adding the similar color to the base color and use gradually
darker or weaker colors. (Don't start with the white!) Using the different darkness
of the color make the eyes sophisticated. |
Let's
finish it up with adding iris using a thin pen brush.
Before doing it, you
may want to practice drawing thin lines on a Kleenex.
To make it complete,
add highlight with the white color on the eye. The position of high light is up
to you. The picture above has tears added, too.
Add some colors on the eye brows and lips. Draw them up without any hesitation
to make clear lines. Add makeup on her cheek with a make-up brush.
To
protect paints, use the gloss. You will find many kinds of gloss in art stores. |
|
Tutorials
for putting make-up on eye opening heads |
|
|
| |
| Foot
size and the compatibility with other manufacturer's dolls
|
| 1/3
dolls - foot size
13BOY 75mm
LUTS(BOY)
73mm
SD 65mm
DD
63mm
OBITSU60 62mm
MSD
56mm
The doll listed at the top has the
biggest feet, and the bottom is the smallest. | 1/6
scale dolls - foot size
MOMOKO 23mm
OBITSU27&23&21 22mm
RICA 22mm
PULLIP (except the early version of PULLIP) 22mm
BETSY 22mm
BLYTH 20mm
| Doll shoe size
Each manufacturer creates feet
with different shapes, including the height and width. So even if the foot length
is the same from different brand dolls, they cannot exchange shoes. |
| Doll
wigs |
| Wigs are basically
made out of wig caps and wefting.
The wig size is measured by the wig line(the
red line on the below picture).
Good wig caps have stretchy openings to allow
them to fit on easily. To put a wig on a head, reverse the wig cap completely,
and make it touch the crown of the head and then reverse it back slowly to cover
the head. If you have mechanical fasteners, put them on the center of head and
wig, it will stay firmly. |
| |
Heads
have a line, called wig line. (the red line in the picture)
This line is measured
for the wig size. | |
| |
You will
notice which area of the head the wig covers. Reverse the wig and make it touch
the crown of the head and reverse it back over the head. | The
wig caps have stretchy opening. If your wig is too big for your head, put a wig
cap underneath. It will help the wig stay, and protect the head from color transfer
from the wig. | | |
Mechanical
fasteners that work, like Velcro, help the wig stay on, too.
|
|
| | You
need to consider head size, hair style, and color for choosing the right wig.
Toyokalon is one of the most commonly used materials for wig hair, and has
60 color variations. To create wavy hair, use the 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees
Celsius).
Obitsu doll hair is made of SARAN, the same as Barbie and
Takara(Rika,Blythe) use. This kinds uses boiling water to make a curry hair. (handle
with care)
<wig size>
Each kind
of doll head has a different head size. The manufacturers don't make wigs specifically
for each kind of doll head.
The wigs that PARABOX sells are so stretchy
that you can use them for a variety of sizes. There are 7 different sizes from
4 inches to 10 inches to cover any kind of head size. (The bigger wigs are more
stretchy, so they cover a wider range of head sizes.)
* Please note that PARABOX
WIG sizes are different from other manufacturer's. Wig
size chart
|
| Doll
eyes |
Doll eyes
come in three different kinds: Glass eyes, Acrylic eyes (made by plastic), Silicon
eyes. Glass and silicon eyes are more expensive, and acrylic eyes are reasonable.
(Please note that some manufacturers name their product misleadingly.)
 |  |
|
Circle
shape eyes - circle shaped white eyes.
Oval shape eyes (the right picture)
- the shape close to human eyes.
Eye size represents the size from the
left to the right of the white eye part. (The size A on the below picture)
*Iris (the colored part of the eye)
Some people believe that doll eye
size represents this part, but that's not true.
Most doll eye producers
design doll eyes with the same ratio of the whole eye size and iris size, but
not all of them.
Look at the H on the below picture. This length is very
important to change light reflection. There are high mountain types and a low
mountain type. The high mountain type might look like it is sticking out when
the eyes go into the head. However, the eyes that have no mountain area don't
shine, and look less realistic. This part of the eyes are very important.
| | |
JETON
doll eyes that PARABOX sells are acrylic eyes. They come in a variety of sizes:
the smallest one is 6mm and the largest one is 30mm. (Parabox carries only up
to 24mm.)
There
are sizes in 2mm increments. 8color choices, 2 different iris types, and both
circle shape and oval shape.
Silicon eyes have beautiful coloration,
even in slight darkness. They come in a variety of color selection.
Parabox
supplies glass eyes from one company irregularly at this moment. They are all
hand made, so each eye is slightly different. Because it is made of glass, the
iris shines beautifully. | <How
to attach eyes>
For attaching eyes to the head firmly, use glue gun or putty. If you have caulk
at home, it is very convenient. It stays soft like a kneading eraser, so it won't
dry around the eyes.
|
| |
|
|
| glue
gun | caulk |
eyelash |
It
will dry like this. So you can use it for keeping eyes permanently. |
It will stay soft
like a kneading eraser. |
Attach eyelash before inserting eyes. | |
| |
| |
| |
We recommend
caulk for attaching eyes, because it is convenient, inexpensive, won't dry up,
and makes no mess. | | |
| | | |
