Category: Ball Joint Dolls


Ha-Yarn Cho

I have basically been in love with Dollmore’s gorgeous Ha-Yarn Cho since the moment I saw her. The Dollmore website offers the following description of her:

There is a slender and beautiful Model doll Ha-Yarn with oriental eyes.

Her name “Ha-Yarn” in Korean stems from her look that is as white as snow.

15-year-old Korean Model girl Ha-Yarn without double eyelid

makes a good impression like the soft sunlight

besides, Her smile flickers in her face with white teeth~

She is so attractive to have a perfect slender body lines and Model poses as well.^^

Is it sad that part of the reason I love this hobby is the Engrish?

I waffled over buying her for a long time…I wasn’t sure that I was actually into Ball Joint Dolls as a hobby, because Lawds, I thought yarn was expensive! And even if I was certain that I was willing to make this sort ofcommitment, I still balked at spending $500-odd on a doll. I had decided that I was going to wait until Christmas to order her, for a few reasons.

The first of which was to be sure that I wanted her. The second, to see if they would have any holiday-related deals. And lastly, being a waitress, I make a decent amount more money during the summer and again during the holidays, so I could be certain to have a surplus of funds. All in all, it was a tremendously wise decision, with lots of sensible reason backing it.

her default eyes

I, uh, bought Ha-Yarn on 4-27-10. The fact that I could afford her eventually overrode all of my common sense, and I bought her and a small fortune worth of items to go with her. I must admit, though. It was quite the bargain. Dollmore has a deal wherein you spend $700 and get free shipping. Considering that shipping is $90, it seemed more than reasonable to just splurge on some accessories for her.

Ha-Yarn Cho is the name of her sculpt, but my girl is named Fawn. Her name came to me while I was chatting with some friends over AIM, and to be completely honest, was the deciding moment for me. As soon as she had a name, I knew she was right for me. She doesn’t have a surname yet, if she ever does, and I’m reserving judgment on her personality.

I admit that I don’t seem to be able to think of Fawn as a real person, which doesn’t seem to be an issue for many people in this hobby. It’s possibly because I don’t have her, yet, but I don’t have a story for her, or an age, or a personality. I might not ever have a great epic tale behind her – the most “fantastic” idea I’ve had for her is that she uses a wheelchair – but not everyone can have a fire elemental lost on the material plane without their powers, I suppose.

Speaking of wheelchairs, that might have to wait some time, in any case. The only one I can find that looks like it would fit her 26″ frame is for the MyTwinn doll, which is discontinued until at least Christmastime. I suppose Icould make my own, but I’m not quite that ambitious, yet. I suppose we’ll see!

Anyway, on to the accessories I bought for her. I paid a grand total of $706 for all of this:

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credit: resinsoul.com

Bobobie Mei

This is Mei, the first ball-jointed doll I purchased. I bought her from a more affordable online doll shop – Bobobie Doll Mall on the 14th of April, 2010. She hasn’t been shipped yet, so I’m currently in the waiting stage. According to a doll site that will remain anonymous due to my poor memory, the waiting is an important part of the “doll bonding process.” I think that is, frankly, bollocks. Look, you have to cast the resin, seal it, and paint the face for me. I understand it’ll take a long time. You don’t have to try to make me feel better about it on a moral level.

But I digress.  The Mei I’ve bought will have green eyes, and come with “Normal” skin colour. I’m expecting her to look like the second picture in this post. I’d originally purchased just the doll, with no faceup or extras, but eventually decided that I couldn’t be arsed to buy brushes small enough to do faceup details just now, and changed my order to include not just her faceup, but also a spare head (with closed eyes) to match. After all my addons, a $150 doll ended up costing an

credit: sfprostudio @ flickr

additional $70. Nevertheless, for the ABJD hobby, this is still quite the bargain.

Because of her price (and, I suspect, her elf ears), the Bobobie/Resinsoul Mei is a very popular doll. Besides, she’s so darn cute!

My Mei doesn’t have a personal name just yet. I hesitate to keep the name Mei for two reasons: the first one being that since it’s the name of her sculpt, it seems less personal and loving. The second one is that I have a friend named Mei, and it would be confusing at best to have a doll who shares the name. I’ve thought about Odette, or Odelia, but I suspect I’ll have to wait until she arrives to make a permanent decision.

Mei is due to be shipped to me by May 10th! I’m not sure how long shipping from China will take, but I’m very excited. I recommend Bobobie/Resinsoul as sellers, because they are very communicative, and obviously the dolls are quite affordable. They’re an excellent “gateway,” as my original bjd enabler, the amazing Nett calls it, into the hobby.

Not that I’m suggesting you get into the hobby! Actually, I highly recommend avoiding ALL of my hobbies, unless you have significantly more funds than I do. I’m totally serious.