dolls!

To put you in my shoes, these were the photos that introduced me to this doll, In the form of a Facebook marketplace listing of course.

My first thought was wow, that wig was a choice.

My second thought was that whoever wrote this listing was using some kind of AI assistance, as it claimed that this doll was a Japanese resin bjd from the 90s.

I'm familiar enough with both resin and porcelain that I could tell that this is a porcelain doll. The supposed sculptor name included in the listing also returned no search results, and on top of that, the listing was $500.

Still, I was drawn to the sculpting. It's such a unique style that is reminiscent of so many fine arts dollmakers I admire. I returned to the listing a number of times and as nobody else seemed interested, the price steadily dropped.

At $100 I almost felt obligated to buy this doll. It was at this final price drop that I realised the sculptor's name engraved on the doll's head was misspelled in the listing text. No wonder it wasn't searchable.

With the sculptor's actual name, I found some information about this sculpt.

This is Mito, by Japanese sculptor Byakuya Muneyasu. Mito was released as a greenware kit in 2012 in collaboration with New York Doll Products.

These images and information on Mito were sourced from Porcelain Dolls by Me , who still sell Mito kits today.

I'm such a fan of the painting on the stock image model Mito, those big Margaret Keane eyes and that body blushing is to die for.

Also noteworthy is this art installation by Zoe Jackson that uses a Mito kit. I really wish I had known about this piece when I was writing for my own installation piece last year! It's incredible.

With this information on Mito, including the knowledge that the unpainted greenware kit is just under $200, I purchased the $100 marketplace Mito. And because she was being shipped from within Australia, she arrived within a week!

I still don't have an outfit that fits her properly, but I want to give her something transparent so that her incredible sculpt and painting aren't obscured too much. I'll sew her something when I find the appropriate fabrics second hand.

That periwinkle twintail wig really didn't suit her in my opinion, so I found a brunette wig in my stash and it fit her head perfectly.

I really liked the curls, but the wig was in a terrible state and it was easier to clean it straightened.

I'll give her new curls eventually, I'm sure.