#doll customization

The hair has been boilwashed and I trimmed off the uneven ends.

The hair is a little bulky at the top because I got sloppy towards the end and used plugs of hair that were too large. Thats what led to the scalp split.

I think she turned out well in the end though.

Hey there anon! Truth be told, that's a tough question, but not for the reason you may think. There are so many amazing doll customizers out there from all around the world! And I feel we're so lucky to have all of them as a part of our lovely art community, from every culture. They all bring something special to our space.

Here's the thing: we can all see the color of someone's skin on camera (when they're not wearing appropriate protective gear like gloves, and when workspace lighting behaves), but I can't say I know how every doll customizer I watch identifies in terms of race and ethnicity. I hesitate to go and assume another doll artist's race, that seems rather rude, you know? The best I can give you are people that I know are artists of color. I hope that's okay.

When I posed this question to some fellow customizer friends, I got some great answers! Some of these suggestions come from them, and some of them are people I personally watch.

Bohopunkz is an amazing black creator with tons of colorful dolls! We actually were part of a collaboration this year for dolls of videogame characters. Highly recommend taking a peak at her beautiful doll of Kimberly from Street Fighter 6.

Toya from MyFroggyStuff is a black creator that has been dedicated to sharing a love of crafting for dolls for years! Her specialties lie in creating doll clothing, sets, and set pieces.

Your_little_kya is a black doll artist that hasn't been active for a while, but I will still recommend watching her videos. I remember really enjoying them. It looks like her Instagram is a little more active, but it seems to be more illustration based these days.

Dollicrafter is an artist of color that hasn't been active for a few years, but I will still highly recommend her videos. Goodness knows her tutorial for dreadlock hair is really helpful. I personally love her first video and her nutcracker doll too.

2BeeSweet is a doll artist of color that's currently active! She has done a number of doll customs in the past that are on the typical Monster High bases we know and love. Most of what she does nowadays involves a lot more 3D modelling and resin printing, and it's absolutely beautiful work that deserves to be celebrated.

Dollmaker is an artist of color that's got a lot of colorful dolls! I quite enjoy their style. Their videos don't usually have voiceover, but if you just want to watch the process, there's some valuable stuff here.

A huge thank you to my friends DollyAnna and AuroraDreycon for chatting with me about this question! One last note from our conversation that I think is very important: doll artists come from everywhere, in many shapes and sizes. There's so many amazingly skilled customizers from all around the globe. People of many different races, cultures, gender identities, sexualities, disabilities, etc. There's lots of diversity to be found in our community, even when you don't see it on the surface. I'd like to encourage you to read the bios of the artists whose work you enjoy, watch their videos, and take a moment to hear their stories. You may find that there's more to them than meets the eye.

I hope this helped! Thank you for bearing with me as I tried my best to answer this one. The askbox is always open for questions! My goal is to make doll customizing more accessible and fun for as many artists as I can. I appreciate getting to hear about the things that leave you wondering, it's special. ^^

aight Doll WIP update before I’m forced to step away from it for a couple weeks:

I’m like 90% done in the dress. I basically had to restart it three times yesterday because I kept fucking up, so the fact that I made it this far is astounding. I just need to manage some seams and raw edges, figuring out the neckline, maybe make a few more fabric roses to cover up the ugly bits

I gotta make the eye socket look more socket-y (I think just a dash of red and maybe a lil pink/white highlight will do it?);

I gotta actually commit to the hands (I sculpted a passable one that I just need to attach, and I’m going to be completely honest I am being lazy when it comes to the other. Part of me wants to go “oh that hand fell off Because Half-Zombie, it’s just gone now”)

The hair’s a mess but I think that’s just how it will be. I tried curling the hair but it did not stick (I think Neighthan comes with kanekalon hair, which does not want to hold a curl. Whatever, they want straight hair, they can have straight hair)