It’s 2014—Tumblr edition. As you scroll through the endless escapades of cat memes and teen girls wearing the latest “pastel goth” clothing, you may stumble across some interesting pair of stockings. On them are printed the faint outlines of what appear to be ball joints—the legs posed, poised, and positioned in such a way that is eerily reminiscent of a fragile doll. Of course, they’re not just any ordinary ball joints. The outlines themselves are modeled, interestingly enough, after ball-jointed-dolls.
If you’ve frequented the cutesy, Asian-inspired side of the internet, perhaps you’ve might have stumbled upon these types of dolls. Ball-jointed-dolls—often shortened as BJD—is a category of doll that is coupled with ball and socket joints. These joints allow for a wide array of movement and posing, which isn’t typically seen with other kinds of dolls. BJDs are usually made from resin but can also be made with other materials such as vinyl, porcelain, or cheaper plastics such as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS).
The joints of a BJD are usually a spherical “ball”, which goes into a concave socket and is then attached to the limbs and torso of the doll. However, other dolls may have a “peanut-shaped” joint, which functions much like a typical ball-in-socket joint. However, peanut-shaped joints are used to give dolls the capability of being double-jointed—meaning, you can bend the doll’s arms or legs at a greater angle than a standard BJD.
The majority of popular sculpts of ball-jointed dolls come from Asian countries—they’re typically known as ABJDs (Asian ball-jointed dolls). Still, there are BJD creators from all over the world. For example, twin sisters, Ekaterina and Elena Popovy are Russian-based doll artists who’ve been making dolls since 2004. Their store, Popovy Sisters, has been featured in fashion magazines such as “Vogue” and is highly sought after in the BJD community.
BJDs can be customized easily unlike other dolls on the market and are usually sold as a blank canvas. Owners can choose the doll’s clothing, wig, faceup (makeup), and accessories to create unique and personalized looks. Unfortunately, the more uniquely customized a BJD is, the more expensive it is also.
Nevertheless, there still are some things to consider before getting into the BJD hobby:
1. Consider the price. Dolls can range anywhere from $150 USD to $3,000 USD.
2. Be aware of where your dolls are purchased from and the legitimacy of the doll(s) you’re purchasing. We’ve discussed recasts here on our podcast and what they are.
3. Not every company will ship to your country. Always ask the company or doll artist where they ship and how they will be shipping.
In our next post, we will discuss a variety of BJD companies, where to purchase them, and find dolls priced under $300 USD.