Oh No, Fakes!?

Recast. Faux-doll. Recast "friendly". Fakes.

Just what is a recast doll in the hobby? What the heck does that even mean? Well, I've had the unfortunate adventure of buying not one but three dolls that are suspected of being a recast or re-make of a different company. I admit it. These dolls, I won't sell. They are dolls I am going to use to make clothing with, to practice modding with, to generally use until they fall apart. It really won't take long. I will not put these things back on the market, my mistake will remain my mistake.

But, back on topic.

Recast dolls are fakes. They are dolls that a person has bought from a legitimate company. The legit company (known as LC now for shortening sake) then creates the doll by pouring resin in the requested color into molds that are created from an original sculpt.

The original sculpture of a doll often doesn't look too great. They are generally made from air drying clay or sculpey clays, sometimes even normal earthen clay(though that tends to be more finicky to work with or so I'm told). The sculpting process of this Original Doll can take anywhere from weeks to months of consistent work, especially if the doll is larger or has more complex looks. The doll is LITERALLY a work of art.

But how is it a work of art? It's just playing with clay!

Really?

Here's a test. Try to make a 3D star shape out of air drying clay, before it dries completely and without a shaper or mold. It's not super easy yeah? Now, make an exact copy of it with the same method. That's not nearly as easy as the first step. That's how it is to create a set of feet or hands on a doll, nevermind a mirrored image of the body and especially a FACE on a doll. It's not easy, and it takes TIME and SKILL.

This is the skill it takes for a creator to make a doll. A great eye for details, fine-tuning(sanding, shaving off bits here and there, buffing, etc.) This is time that the creator isn't actually paid for nine times out of ten, meaning they are doing this on their own time. Some work with a company, who can help provide them with a wage or supplies, but it's not so common.

Oh, and what about the molding? That's a whole other set of extra time to create! A foundation, boxing, pouring the molding liquid(either plaster or silicone, more often plaster I believe), degassing if it's silicone, curing time for both types, de-molding CAREFULLY, and only THEN can you begin pouring resin to start creating a doll that's sell-able, but only AFTER you have skin pigment mixed properly, the seam lines sanded and make sure that the resin is degassed so no air pockets are caught in the crevices or, gods forbid the face (outer surface that's visible to the eye) of the mold.

Of course, that's just a small portion of a legitimate business in selling the dolls. There's also: Sewing the clothing, making accessories, creating eyes (if you don't buy them, and that's an extra cost to your business), making/buying hair, doing faceups if there's one for the specific sculpt.

Oh, and the packaging often NEEDS to be customized to make sure of minimal to no damages to the doll occurs during transit because if that happens then you have to make another of whatever part got damaged to send out free of charge or risk a bad review on one or more of the many sites specializing in this hobby.

Wow.

Just think, this is a veryveryvery basic overview of what it takes to make and sell a doll. Granted, a lot of companies go through a casting service, who do the casting of the dolls for you once an order is placed, but even so, the original sculpt is a gorgeous, adorable, terrifying(intentionally) or handsome design made by an ARTIST.

Stealing a painting is a crime, so is re-making the painting and passing it off as an original. The same goes for pottery, ceramics, all of those things in an artistic environment that are worth something, even if it's just a $10 plate. Artists stake their reputation on their products, it builds them up or can tear them down, especially if someone mistakenly buys from a counterfeiter and gives the entire LC a bad review because the re-caster used shoddy resin to remake the doll.

What Counterfeiters Do

In order to make a copy of a good doll from a legitimate company, the recaster will buy a legitimate doll or from someone who has bought a legitimate one, then take it apart.

From there, they will make a mold of that dolls parts and literally 'Re-Cast' the doll in a cheaper version of resin. It often does not have enough UV protectant (or any at all) or a decent mix of color pigments in it, and they won't often wait the allotted time for the doll parts to cure properly before removing them from the mold, which can often result in warping of the doll.

Oh, and that cheaper material they use to cast the doll? It can cause something called Asbestos Lung. It's not literally asbestos, but a similar reaction can occur in your lungs (scarring, and cancerous formations) if you get the dust from doing sanding, modding, etc. to the doll going into your lungs in the SLIGHTEST amount. This can HURT YOU. It can hurt the person who does you custom FACEUP, it can hurt the person you want to blush the BODY or do the MODS on. Not to say that resin is in an of itself a safe chemical, but the crap these guys use is more dangerous, unstable and just downright crap and shouldn't be used for ANYTHING hobby related.

They're quite often just lazy enough to do some sanding, but their efforts tend to be minimal, just enough to make it LOOK like the real deal at first. Remember, they want to sell the product for the cheaper price so they can make money, they don't want to put in the effort and care it takes to make such a work of art themselves, they just want to profit off of it. Rinse and repeat.

Ouch, harsh much?

Maybe, and heck, maybe I'm wrong in some (or many, I don't know, I'm still mad about my last purchase of a re-designed copy) of those areas, but in one way I'm not, and I know it.

Recasters are art thieves. They may buy something legitimately, but re-making an item in an identical way in order to sell it for a discounted price or any price at all is still immoral. Unethical. And, technically, illegal. The tricks are to prove it. Heck, there's even certain people out there who are trying to put their own name on the more famous companies like FairyLand! That person is in trouble legally now.

But what are the legalities behind this, why aren't counterfeiters being stopped??

Here's a sort-of-tricky question. I've included links below to various USA, Canadian, and other websites including China regarding laws on counterfeit items.

USA:

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/what-counterfeiting.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterfeit_consumer_goods

Canada:

https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/security-securite/ipr-dpi/menu-eng.html

http://www.crimes-of-persuasion.com/laws/canada/criminal_laws.htm

China (what I could personally find):

http://lehmanlaw.com/resource-centre/faqs/intellectual-property/protection-of-trademarks-against-counterfeiting-in-china.html

http://www.mondaq.com/china/x/552044/Trademark/Anti+Counterfeiting+China

http://jurisdiction.com/lovells.pdf

What brought this topic about anyways?

Well, if you must know, and you should if you enjoy the hobby, there's a certain humanoid who has attempted something rather crude. You can read more about that here:

https://denofangels.com/threads/bjd-makers-threatened-by-chinese-counterfeiter.773786/#post-12431203

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Phew. That was a ridiculously long post, sorry about that guys, gals and critters. I don't care to buy from known recasters, and my purchase of 3 dolls at once that have turned out to be 2 of them being re-made versions of another company's dolls (the sculptor was new apparently, I'll include the link below for the extra information on THAT) and I can promise that I will never buy from that company again, just because my trust was completely broken.

Just remember: If it seems too good to be true in this hobby? It generally is, especially when it comes to buying a doll. Follow the trusted sites on good forums like Den of Angels, they have a HUGE list of companies that are great, and even have a listing for dolls under $300! It's pretty great!

Chat with y'all next week! Let me know below if you've ever made the mistake of buying a recast doll before, or what you do to prevent yourself from making that mistake!