DollyKim wrote:Mine has shipped SAL and it's on it's way. With shipping my exchange came out about $42.
I have had the original Yoshida book, three other Japanese books, and three Korean books without reading a single character of each. Aside from one very thin small page count Korean book the others have enough step by step by step photographs for the average person to figure out what to do to make a doll. Many of the supplies have English names or enough writing to search on line and find out if it is an air dry clay, such as LaDoll or Premiere, or a resin clay. Tools are easily recognizable. I didn't have the Yoshida book translation until recently.
One of the books is listed as a "part two" or "step two" or "advanced" depending on the listing. It still shows how to make a doll from scratch, it just goes in to body joints, simple mold making, and casting with an air dry slip. More complicated things than a one piece doll body but you don't absolutely have to have the first book if you've had some crafting experience.
If anyone sees an Asian language ball joint doll making book and has questions feel free to ask me about it, I might have had a copy pass through my hands.
<----...Err...didn't I basically cover that in my last comment? I have dozens of Japanese (and some Chinese) crafting books, and I just wanted to point out that for people who
don't have the experience, grabbing the first book in most situations might be helpful as well. As for tools, basic tools are recognizable but many books are obviously going to have Asian brand-name supplies which can be confusing for some people, especially when it appears without enough context to figure out "Oh, this is something like Aves/Milliput/etc." I know many of the books I own show stuff that I still can't figure out what it is to this day, and I'm more than familiar with all the usual tools used in the various customization books I've picked up. Sometimes there is just a cultural barrier there or it is something unrecognizable.
I just wanted to encourage people to pick up the first book as well if they're not immediately comfortable with diving in to make a BJD (or whatever craft of choice they're buying a book for). I've seen books that go both ways, ones that basically repeat everything in the second book that came from the first and ones that delve right into what they promise, more "advanced" options. Unless you know exactly what is in the book before you get it, it can be a bit of a crapshoot for some people. In cases like that I advocate getting the first book as well. Master crafter? Skip to volume three, four, eight, whatever you feel your skill level is.