Do you sometimes feel like you don’t know how to speak BJD? After being in the hobby of collecting ball-jointed dolls for a number of years, we forget just how much BJD terminology we use when talking about our dolls. To someone outside the BJD world, or new to collecting, our BJD terminology may cause confusion.
In my post last month, The Dolls of Our Lives, I talked about how I first discovered and fell in love with BJD’s over 10 years ago. Even now, some of the acronyms still confuse me.
If you are new to the hobby, and even if you’re not, below is a guide to get you up to speed and speaking BJD like a native. I defined as many of these terms here as I could think of, and learned some things myself in researching this article.
These are some of the questions or phrases you commonly hear on a BJD forum like Den of Angels: “How’s he strung?” “I love how you did her faceup!”, “Do you want to do a split?”, “Is that a recast?”
Here is My Own Little WIKI of BJD Terminology
- Artist cast – A doll sculpted, molded and cast by the artist
- Artist doll – Sculpted by an individual artist, not a company. They may be cast by a casting company.
- BJD – ball jointed doll
- Body blushing – painting done anywhere except the face
- Ball jointed – refers to the round joints that give the dolls their mobility
- Body Sculpt – if someone asks “What is the body sculpt?” they want to know the name of the company who created the body. You hear this more about hybrid dolls.
- Commission –You hire someone to do work on your doll.
- Customization – Any modification done to a BJD.
- Dollfie – the term the first company to start making dolls called BJD’s, Volks, used for their dolls
- Dolpa – Doll Party. Volks originated the term and they hold several Dolpas a year, the largest being in Tokyo.
- Faceplate – the front of a BJD head that is removable
- Faceup – the painting of the face. Usually either pastels or an airbrush are used, then the face is sealed
- Full Set – when a doll company like Volks or Iplehouse sells a doll that comes with faceup, clothing, shoes, wig, and other accessories
- Grail doll – a doll that is unattainable or you will probably never own because of cost, availability, or other reason
- Headcap – Often the top of the head can be removed. It is either held on with magnets or a hook and elastic
- Hybrid – a doll that is made up of parts from multiple companies
- Legit – any legitimate doll cast by the company or artist who created it, and with legal rights to it
- Limited – There are dolls truly limited in number, but may refer to a doll sold as a full set, but the nude sculpt might be sold again later.
- MSC – a spray sealant used on faceup or body blushing to preserve the work. Full name is Mr. Super Clear. It is made in Japan. A popular alternative to MSC is Testers.
- Moding – the original sculpt has been changed in some way
- Pro-Artist – someone who is against recast (counterfeit) dolls
- Recast – a counterfeit copy made without the artists permission
- Recast Friendly – someone who may not own recasts themselves, but doesn’t mind if others do
- Sculpt – refers to the faceplate – the name of the company, and the doll name
- Split – you might want the body of a doll, but not the faceplate, or want only part of an outfit. So you ask is anyone is interested in a split.
- Strung – refers to the elastic cording that runs through most dolls. A few are jointed with springs, but they are usually made of porcelain
- Sueding – when you put something into the joints to get your doll to pose or hold a pose better. Popular methods of sueding are hot glue or real suede glued into the joint
- Wiring – in order to increase pose-ability, a coated wire is placed into the joint. To do this gently pull the joint apart and insert the wire. This often help stop ‘kicking’ that happens in some dolls where the joint springs back. Warning – the wire coating can stain the resin, so to try to use a similar color.
BJD Terminology That Refers to the Size of the Doll
(I have double checked on the Den of Angels forum to make sure my size categories are in agreement with theirs):
- Tiny Dolls – 39 cm and smaller. The most common size is around 35 cm
- Mature Tiny Dolls – same size as tiny BJD’s, but these are teen or adult sculpts, not child sculpts.
- MSD or Mini Dolls , also Mature MSD– 40 cm to 49 cm
- SD or Large Dolls are 50 cm and larger. There is now a separate category of even larger dolls 70 cm to 90 cm.
* Note – the terms MSD and SD are originated by Volks. They stand for Mini Super Dolfi, and Super Dolfi. They have made their way into the community though, and you will often hear people referring to a doll in the size range with that term no matter who the creator of the doll is.
Terms You Might See in the Market Place or on eBay
- OOAK – usually used for other types of dolls like fashion or Monster High. It means the doll has been modified to be one of a kind
- MIB – Mint in box, the doll has been removed from box, but is still in like new condition
- NRFB – Never removed from box
- WTB – Want to buy
- WTS – Want to sell
- WTT – Want to trade
I hope this guide to BJD terminology helps those of you who are new to the hobby. Sometimes those of us who have been around longer forget that newer collectors don’t know what we are talking about. Sometimes I don’t know what people are talking about still, and have to look a term up.
If you have any suggestions for any BJD terminology that I’ve forgotten or notice something you think I got totally wrong, post below, and I will try to update my list in a few months.