Comments for Face Value: Are you ready to face the truth about doll bigotry? at http://dollsmagazine.com , comment 1 to 8 out of 8 comments http://dollsmagazine.com Fri, 24 May 2013 11:45:08 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://dollsmagazine.com/articles/in-the-spotlight/498-face-value-are-you-ready-to-face-the-truth-about-doll-bigotry.html#comment-1934 I am so knocked out by the lively conversation and debate that this column prompted. You all have made such compelling points, and it really shows how difficult it is for an artist to create a doll that can have BOTH aesthetic and educational/historically relevant appeal. Such great viewpoints and insights from everyone! - Stephanie Wed, 16 Mar 2011 01:26:45 +0100 http://dollsmagazine.com/articles/in-the-spotlight/498-face-value-are-you-ready-to-face-the-truth-about-doll-bigotry.html#comment-1693 From the beginning of my sculpting career I have noticed that pretty dolls do seem to sell. I first discovered OOAK Dolls (from polymer clay) on eBay. The first thing I noticed about the category was that everyone was trying to depict beautiful model-like fantasy woman, fairies or elves. Even the male dolls were an image of perfection with their rippling pectorals. It seemed to me, that the artists who sculpted these images the best, earnt all the money. Unfortunately the beginner sculptors, who couldn't sculpt something to look accurately pretty, simply lost out. For a while I found myself trying to follow the trend, and it did earn me a fair whack of money. However, the competition for pretty dolls was fierce, and if I hadn't met the challenge perfectly, my dolls would take forever to sell. I personally decided to go a different route. Instead of sculpting what I thought was high in demand, I put my imagination to the test and sculpted what I felt like. Inevitabley that was ugly fat creatures. My first ugly piece was a huge fat sea ogre with big gawky teeth, a big gut and man-boobs. He was holding a net with a captured mermaid in it, and a bucket with an ugly...and terrified...sea creature for bait. Never having made something that ugly before, I wasn't sure how well it was going to do. Especially after the downturn in the economy, I thought I was really risking something. However, I thought maybe there was a chance that someone could see my imagination and originality in the piece, and it would set me apart from the competition. I posted him up on eBay and to my surprise he was snapped up for nearly $400! This was the 2nd highest price I had ever recieved for a doll! The buyer expressed to me how she thought it was cute and had immediately fallen in love. Wow! O_o Lately, I sculpted some grossly overweight elves, bare naked in all their flabby glory, and again, they were snapped up for healthy prices. You have to wonder then, if perhaps, yes, the "pretty" industry is booming but there is an entire market out there that has been left untouched? There are many people out there who are horrified at how the world has become so focused on beauty. But maybe they need something that touches them personally to trigger that sale. Perhaps with these character dolls, it's not so much the lack of beauty that is the problem, but the lack of connection with it. With my recent dolls, I have been told they love the humour in it, or they struggle with obecity themselves, or it looks like their uncle (I hope they don't tell their uncle that) etc. Everyone who has emailed me about my fat dolls have drawn some sort of connection to it. Maybe this is the real deciding factor in selling dolls. - Amanda DeVirgilio Tue, 01 Mar 2011 17:43:25 +0100 http://dollsmagazine.com/articles/in-the-spotlight/498-face-value-are-you-ready-to-face-the-truth-about-doll-bigotry.html#comment-1551 I think the thing we're missing here is that the point and purpose of dolls and doll making is perfection.we buy dolls so that we can gaze apon it. we make dolls in an attempt to describe it.That's why plain dolls strike an odd note but we can seldom put a finger on what it is.In an imperfect world why would we want an imperfect doll too? In an imperfect world we want to be able to tell ourselves the story of a character who is virtuous(or not), strong(or yeilding), smart, loving,adventurous, innocent,the damsel and the heroine,physically strong but delicately beautiful, cunning and alluring too: Perfect. - monine Sat, 12 Feb 2011 10:10:34 +0100 http://dollsmagazine.com/articles/in-the-spotlight/498-face-value-are-you-ready-to-face-the-truth-about-doll-bigotry.html#comment-1520 Is it bigotry, or is it just those particular dolls? The Babe Didrickson doll looks like a younger Robin Williams and Mary Cassatt looks like my mother-in-law! True to life or no, those particular dolls are just not appealing. The accessories are blah and I'm not impressed by the costuming especially, and these promotional pictures are just awful. I showed them to a friend's 7 year old daughter, and she didn't declare them ugly, she declared them boring: "They can't be anybody else, so I couldn't pretend they are. They don't have clothes for when they're not doing the golfing or the plane." The play value is sorely lacking. For collectors-- well, really, no play value there, either, except as nrfb oddities in a box in a closet. - Charlie Riley Fri, 04 Feb 2011 15:48:25 +0100 http://dollsmagazine.com/articles/in-the-spotlight/498-face-value-are-you-ready-to-face-the-truth-about-doll-bigotry.html#comment-1518 I think judging people and judging dolls are two separate issues. Dolls ONLY have "outsides" to be judged by. History's heros (human beings) have their own personalities, temperament, history, beliefs, accomplishments, etc. It's still interesting to think about, though, because yes, doll collectors want dolls that are appealing to them. Fortunately, people's tastes vary enough that one collector's "ugly duckling" may be another collector's "cutie." We all still manage to shop, shop, shop, and add dolls to our collections! :) :) - Diana Thu, 03 Feb 2011 14:56:22 +0100 http://dollsmagazine.com/articles/in-the-spotlight/498-face-value-are-you-ready-to-face-the-truth-about-doll-bigotry.html#comment-1517 Cute sells. Pretty sells. Dolls are a sort of i wannabe like that, i think. Action figures now thats a bit different LOL and guys dont have to be pretty to sell. Rather than an Amelia Earhart replica, makes more sense to me to do what American Girl and Barbie do, which is tell the story but have a doll that dresses like the heroine but not have to BE the heroine. How many girls are going to want to play with a female golfer doll? BUt they might want their doll to play golf... - frankie Wed, 02 Feb 2011 23:01:09 +0100 http://dollsmagazine.com/articles/in-the-spotlight/498-face-value-are-you-ready-to-face-the-truth-about-doll-bigotry.html#comment-1515 You're right. It's the ugly truth of buying anything in this world. If something is pretty, it's more appealing. I guess these dolls are fighting an uphill battle. Maybe the books and autobiography are more important than the doll appearances? They've all been discounted at the website. - Jeannie Pierrete Wed, 02 Feb 2011 18:19:12 +0100 http://dollsmagazine.com/articles/in-the-spotlight/498-face-value-are-you-ready-to-face-the-truth-about-doll-bigotry.html#comment-1514 Cute sells better than ugly. If I have to look at something I want it to be pretty, or at least cool.. or intriguing in some way to me. Something or someone I would like to look like. Think about the old dolls even. Some of the rarest dolls are the ugly ones. Peter bears, were "too scary" for kids... now they are one of the most sought after bears by certain collectors.... myself included. Pretty sells... look at the magazines. They are not full of average people. They are full of beautiful or unusual looking people. I think with dolls it's the same thing. Melanie - Melanie Clark Wed, 02 Feb 2011 16:12:55 +0100