A quick look at Granado's Vinyl VINDOLL Udell

Granado's Udell

It's been a while since my last post: we've moved house, gone on a family holiday to the UK and Ireland, and I'm off to another family event in Belgium next week. And in between I've been organizing and selling off some of my doll collection.

But in between all of that there was one new arrival: Granado's Udell, the first doll in their new vinyl VINDOLL line. Granado has been putting out lovely large resin dolls for a number of years now, and this new line is an vinyl interpretation of one of their existing resin lines (the 70cm line).  Being vinyl, they're a third of the weight and half the price, which is nice.

I'll be attempting to do a more thorough look at the posing of the line (once I have some extra free time - and once I figure out where the best light is in this new house), but until I get to that I thought I'd share the unboxing of this guy.

Not for the sensitive: there's one photo of an unclothed anatomically correct doll beneath the cut.

Out of the Box: West (Iplehouse EID Arvid)

I've talked about Iplehouse's massive (70+cm, 2.5kg) EID line when I unpacked my Chase, Murad, but there are a few differences between that doll and this one.  Unlike my Chase, I ordered my EID Arvid direct from Iplehouse when he was first released, so any damage to this doll is 100% my fault.

He was also ordered in a different colour (Lt Brown) and has the default faceup that was offered with that particular Limited release (from their 2011 cowboy themed series, although I didn't purchase any of the outfit or accessories that made up the rest of his listing).  Like most of my other Iplehouse dolls, his colour is solid and even, and unlike my older Lt tan Cocori, his colour has stayed even and not greened.  In fact, I would say that it hasn't even mellowed - I purchased a back-up pair of hands with him, and also removed his left leg when I originally restrung him (for character reasons), and when I packed him up for the move I compared him to those pieces (which were hidden away inside the box in the dark) and everything was still a perfect match nearly 3 years later.

With my Limhwa tan half-elf, Laura

With an older wig

  In fact, the only issue I've ever had with this doll is from my recent move: his faceup started to flake a bit.  Given the changes in humidity and temperature that were involved in a long-distance truck-based move that's not necessarily unexpected, but he's also the only doll out the 20+ that made the move that had the issue, and I know that the original owner of my Chase removed his original faceup after it flaked during a seasonal shift (although to be fair, my other three - older and more recent - Iple dolls are fine after going through the same temperature shifts).

As an amusing side story, I have a couple of friends who are generally not doll people who have called this guy the exception to their doll-hating rule.  One of them even calls him "the hot one"! ;)

With EID Chase

New Arrival: Lumedoll Atik

I've been admiring Lumedoll's line for years - they are a single artist operation out of Florida and offer some really distinct sculpts.  For a long time they only had three resin colour options, but last year that number doubled.  And they added a new set of 43cm dolls and sculpts.  And then there was a brief sale over New Year's and I found I couldn't resist any longer, and I placed my order for the Atik sculpt on the male body, in ebony resin.  And then just in time for my birthday, he arrived!

My first impressions were twofold - he's gorgeous, and he's tiny!  I knew that at 43cm he'd be at the shorter end of the mini range, but he's also extremely slender, so in a lot of ways he has the body of a large fashion doll.  He also has the smallest head of any of my dolls (including the tinies!), so he's going to have to stay bald for a while - luckily it suits him!

The packaging was interesting; Instead of a box, he game in a bag.

You can see the Lumedoll logo on the bag.

 I was a little concerned for his safety when I saw the bag inside the shipper box, but there was enough padding on both sides (foam bits inside the shipper and bubble wrap inside the bag) that he appears to have been 100% secure.

The bag itself is a nice heavy material, and is approximately the size and style of a wine bag.  I'd assumed this style of packing would make him easy to unwrap, but that knot at the top was actually tight enough to be a challenge!

As for the doll himself, his face sculpt is delightfully detailed with plenty of character.  I ordered him with a faceup, and they (I should probably say "she", since we are talking a one-woman operation, shouldn't I?) did a fantastic job on his eyebrows and lips.  The body is also delightfully detailed - his torso reminds me of the bodies of marathon runners.

Look how modest he is!

The joint engineering is functional, and he can stand on his own, although I wouldn't want to have him standing and then walk away from him.  He's definitely one to display on a stand.  His resin is also lovely, with a good weight to it and solid, even colouring.  He does have noticeable seam lines (in particular on his hands), but that's to be expected on a non-sanded doll.

In character terms, I think he works with a variety of options:  I have a couple of ideas, but am still on the fence. My original plan was to call him Xolani, but now that he's here I'm thinking he might be more of a Geoffrey.  But we'll see how I feel once he has hair (if he even needs hair - I'm on the fence about that now as well!).

Finally, let me share a shot of him with my other mini-range dolls (with apologies for the lighting).  The 50cm guys tower over him, and while the standard minis are clearer of different proportions with their heads being easily 3x the size.  The Iplehouse JID is probably closest in size, but still has a head that's a good size larger and a body that's a good 50% broader.

L-R: Soom ID51 London, Iplehouse JID Boris, Lumedoll Atik, Illusion Spirit ZhuQing, Volks SDC Miko, Souldoll Vito Rouse

Out of the Box: Omar (Island Doll Kevin)

Day one: these eyes proved to be a little small.

This little guy was my first standard Yo-sized doll, and was a bit of an impulse buy:  a dealer happened to have the tan version in-stock, and the temptation was just too great (it was 2011, which was my Year of Too Many Dolls.  I like to think I've gained some self-control since then ;).


Being an impulse buy, I hadn't done any research into Island Doll's quality before he arrived, so I was a little worried - but I needn't have been, because he's a lovely doll.  The Island Doll resin has a slight translucence to it, which gives it a nice warm tone in certain lighting - there's a slight redness to the tan that only appears in direct light.  In indirect light the colour is a nice light brown (when the red is disguised by shadow, he's quite close in colour to Iplehouse's Lt Brown).

Current wig and eyes

As is common with Chinese BJD companies, he came with sanded seams, and his resin has a nice even smoothness.  But unlike my dolls from Illusion Spirit, Dollzone and Bobobie, the sanding lines are virtually invisible - they really did a wonderful job of it, at least on this specific doll.  The only area with noticeable colour variation is along his headcap, which is always hidden under a wig.

I was also delighted by the engineering.  He has double-jointed elbows and knees but the joints aren't slippery, so he can hold a variety of poses without issue.  He's also able to stand without support on display, which is a fantastic bonus feature.

His face sculpt has a nice youthful quality that could work for a variety of ages.  Painted differently (and depending on eye size), he could work for any age from toddler right up to an eight-ten year old).  The features are a bit stylized, but not so strikingly so that he's out of place with more realistic dolls.

Overall, I would give this doll top marks for pose-ability, resin quality and overall appeal.

Kneeling (he can actually go deeper than this)

Cross-Company Comparison: Tan Resins

One of the big challenges that I hear about from people who want to hybrid tan dolls is the near-impossibility of finding matching colours without having to resort to custom batches or blushing an entire body to match a head.  With that in mind, here are a couple of references based on my own collection:

1. Illusion Spirit tan (ZhuQing, 2011)
2. Secretdoll tan (Binu, 2008)
3. Dollmore Suntan (Mettaa, 2010)
4. Iplehouse Ebony (Chase, 2009)
5. Iplehouse old Dark tan (Aaron, 2007)
6. Soom Dark Brown (London, 2011)
7. Iplehouse Light Brown (Arvid, 2011)
8. Limhwa tan (Half-Elf, 2011)
9. Dollzone tan (Alpha, 2011)
10. Volks ebony (Irvin, 2008)
11. Island Doll tan (Kevin, 2011)
12. Iplehouse old light tan (Cocori, 2008)
13. ResinSoul coffee/light tan (2010)

Clockwise, starting with the feet:

1. FantasyDoll Dark tan (Charlotte, 2013)
2. Iplehouse ebony (Boris, 2013)
3. Soom dark brown (London, 2011)
4. Dollmore suntan (Mettaa ),
5. Island doll tan (Kevin, 2011)
6. Illusion Spirit tan (ZhuQing, 2011)
7. Souldoll tan (Rouse, 2010), 
8. Iplehouse light brown (Arvid, 2011)
9. Limhwa tan (Half-eld, 2011)
10. Dollzone tan (Alpha, 2011)

Personally, I thought the biggest find was the similarity between Iplehouse's light brown and Island
Doll's tan (although the IS tan does have slightly more red to it).

That's EID Arvid in light brown holding Island doll Kevin in tan on the left.