Makie Doll with 3-D Printed Body

Honestly, when the Makie dolls were first debuted, they were ugly to me. I also had no desire for an alien, elf, or troll doll, which is what Makies looked like to me. Since then, the doll has gotten a new face mold, and I've seen a lot of pictures who looked more like Blythe or Pullip dolls: big heads, big eyes, a stylized look for certain, but also cute and human. Since each Makie doll is custom made on a 3-D printer, based on the look you design online, my doll didn't have to have pointy elf ears that stuck out, or an over-sized mouth. I could get something more aesthetically pleasing to me.

At the same time, recently I've been looking for a travel doll, one who would pose nicely on trips and outdoors, not too large, and also one who wouldn't demand a lot of furniture and clothes and room for herself indoors. (Do you know how demanding some dolls can be?) A Makie doll was on the possibilities list, but it was a post from Ghouliette at Dollsville, USA, that made me decide. Makie doll bodies are no longer 3-D printed, but instead are injection-molded plastic, which is sturdier and less expensive. So they were selling out the 3-D bodies, within the space of a couple of weeks. Even better, if I ordered in time, I could try a 3-D printed body for the new, lower price. I can always order a Makie on the new body, but I decided to give the 3-D body a try before they were gone. I designed my doll on the Makie website, and placed my order. I haven't been as excited to get a package in a while as when I got the FedEx envelope and realized that it was holding a tube, and that my Makie doll must be inside. So now, meet Meg.

She came packaged in a sturdy tube.

Hi! I have the feeling I'm not in England anymore.

Just hangin' around...

A mane of soft red hair

More pictures, include nekkid dolly ones, below the fold.

Fresh out of the tube. Hairclip is just as useful for holding my hair back as holding my hairnet on.

I'm about 9.5 inches, or 24.13 cm tall.

It wasn't until I had her downstairs yesterday that I noticed she has a slight white spot on the tip of her nose. I'm not certain if she came that way, or if she dinged her nose once when falling over. Yes, no matter how well a doll stands on her own, I'm perfectly capable of knocking into the table and making her fall over. She seems to have the white spot in the picture above, but I can't be quite certain. Also, the hair plugs on her wig cap show if I try to pull both sides of her hair back at the same time, just enough to get it out of her eyes. You can ask to have the wig arrive loose, but I forgot to ask for that. Maybe a headband will hold her hair back, and cover the roots of her wig cap.

I forget what I found funny here.

Her profile. I was also experimenting with one of my own earrings in her pierced ear.

You can change things about her nose, including the arch, width, nostrils and length. If I get another doll, I'm going to try a less curved arch.

In this picture, you can see a problem with the leggings. They get creased on the knee joint.

My elbow and wrist joints

Having her body 3-D printed creates what looks like wood grain on the limbs. I'm not the first person to notice this means she could be EAH Cedar Wood's cousin.

 

 Her hands and feet are not overly realistic, but I knew that.

Her top half. For a doll that's supposed to be a girl, she has developed breasts.

More wood grain, and knee joints.

She can do only partial splits if you want her legs to touch the ground.

Her tunic is a heavy woven, possibly some sort of poly. The neckline is finished with a thin interfacing. The seams are able to unravel; hopefully they won't very far. One problem with her tunic top is that it's not stretchy, so it inhibits her leg movement. The bottom hem fold also slipped a little when being sewn, which resulted in a bit of unevenness which you can see in the shot of her lower half and her leggings above. I recognize this, because I've done it. On adult size clothes, even.

The knit fabric of her leggings does not need to be finished. As I noted above, though, the fabric is thin enough it does get creased at the knee joint. I also couldn't easily tell a front and back. Plus, there doesn't seem to be any sort of elastic in the waistband of the leggings. Thus, it was a little baggy when I put the leggings back on.

The shoes are pretty plain loafers. Since the Makie doll is getting a new body, new shoes produced will not fit the old Makie doll. Fortunately, flat-footed dolls are easier to make shoes for than high-heeled ones, even if I'm not an expert at either.

I nearly forgot to show one of her unique features, which is a back opening. No, she doesn't need batteries. Seems this opening is to allow further customization, using wires in her limbs? I don't know if the new bodies will have this.

This was my doll as she appeared on the website when I ordered her. Each doll is given a unique name to differentiate her from the many other looks you can design. She was given the name CrushMixy.

I tried to get a picture of my doll in front of a screen of her digital self, but it didn't work out well. I suspect the distance between the screen and the doll was too far for the camera to focus on both. I could of course put her digital picture and a real life picture side by side. Her biggest difference is the lack of coloring in her face. Many Makie owners give their doll a face-up.  Using watercolor pencils, I could probably attempt to darken the color of her lips, plus color in the liner at the top of her eyes.

Meg seems friendly and inquisitive, wonderful attributes for a travel doll. Apparently, she can wear some Barbie clothes, so there are already things here that she can wear. Plus, she seems more interested in exploring the house than settling down for display. I think she will like going outside with me.

Have you been considering a new doll line? If you were interested in Makies, will the new body make you more or less likely to think about getting one?