Most of you are aware of the new scandal which runs all over internet since a couple of days : A collector bought an artist bjd, and intends to give it to a chinese recaster for him to sell this artist doll
cheaper; and some people on the page of this collector are extremely enthusiastic and beg her to send it for a recast.
I am not here to talk about the artist involved, as she is not a friend of mine and doesn’t like me much; I am writing this post not to gain her friendship or whatever; I am here tonight to do what is FAIR, even though some haven’t been fair with me last year, no need to remind what has been unfairly done to me.
First of all : what a recast exactly is? As I received some innocent messages from dear collectors not aware of such principles.
A recast is a (most of time Chinese) caster, whom buys a doll from company or directly from an artist, once he has the doll, he makes molds of it, and re-cast her in resin to sell the very same doll (though she is a bit a smaller as she is recasted) for a cheaper price.
It is simply stealing a doll and a pure act of counterfeiting.
What exactly is recasting an artist doll and its consequences?
I like to call my dolls Circuskane’s dolls. It sounds nice… ^^ BUT, I am NOT a company.
A company has a sculpting TEAM : I sculpt all alone.
A company has employees to answer the emails, ship the dolls, paint them : I answer my emails all alone, I ship my dolls one by one all alone, I paint them all alone.
A company casts its dolls : I don’t. I have a chinese very honest manufacturer ( the same one than Jpop dolls) whom casts my dolls in korean resin for me; therefore I PAY every casted doll, even my sample dolls, and I have a minimum order to respect : 30 for a colored doll, 50 for a fair skin doll. Which means that if a preorder doesn’t go well, I have to pay many unsold dolls on my benefits and I can even loose money on a doll which doesn’t meet her public.
Therefore, for a doll I pay about 150$ to my manufacturer, I have to add the glass eyes, the boxes to ship them to my collectors and the packing material, the shipment of my dolls from my manufacturer to my place… and I sell this doll about 350$. I don’t think I am too expensive. I also propose very easy layaways to allow everyone to get one of my dolls whatever their budget is.
The recaster will NOT pay 150$ every doll, recasting a doll will be the same price for him than it is for my manufacturer to make it; and my manufacturer ( bless her she is fantastic) makes a living on casting dolls of course!
Also, the resin used for recast are LOWER quality. therefore, it’s even cheaper for a recaster to recast a doll than it is to my manufacturer to cast it.
Companies run several dolls preorders at the same time : I do not because I cannot due to my minimum order number of dolls. I cannot say to my manufacturer ” this month, two like that, Nine of this one, and seven of that other please!”
Companies don’t only sell dolls, but wigs, outfits, eyes, shoes and accessories. Artists don’t. We don’t have time to design such things because we all do it all alone as mentioned above and also : we would have a minimum order for each item that we simply cannot afford and that would make us broke if we fail in the sales.
WE ARE NOT COMPANIES. WE ARE PRODUCING ARTISTS.
THAT makes a WORLD of difference.
If an artist doll is recasted and ONLY 30 are sold, not more, 30 is enough; we can say goodbye to our living for about 3 months. Because our living is based ONE DOLL for several months as we open one ( or two at most) preorder at the same time, as we have to sculpt the doll, present the prototype to the public, send it to our manufacturer in china, wait for the sample dolls, open a preorder for a month, then wait for the dolls to be there and to be shipped.
if we fail our preorders, we simply DO NOT EAT. and believe me, a recasted doll sells for WAY MORE than 30… Ordinary they sell them for 70 AT LEAST.
Recasting companies is disgusting. But recasting a producing artist is a crime because you are killing someone and FORCE him/her to give up on making dolls to earn a living and feed his/her children quickly because they cannot starve.
What I mean is that making a new cola will not kill Coca~Cola. even if they copy the design of the bottle and so on… and Coca~Cola would NEVER let someone make the very same packaging and drink for they have the means to hire the best international lawyers to make it STOP.
If someone comes on a small village and steals the hand made lemonade of aunt Lucy that she sells to make a living : you can’t tell her “make another one.” cause she can’t afford more lemons and sugar nor glasses and ice cubes. and she will ot have dinner this very day because nobody will buy a glass of HER lemonade because everyone is busy buying CHEAPER the lemonade which have been stolen from her.
and you know what? as she probably won’t have dinner this day, I doubt aunt Lucy will hire any lawyer, even a cheap one; to put the theft in jail, especially if he ran faraway with her bottles.
Buying a recasted artist doll is being accomplice of killing SOMEONE. Not a company, but an individual person who’s not rich into the bargain.
So, I want to tell to those collectors giving their artists dolls to recasters for getting a gift or free recasted dolls; that they must think of the PERSON who is behind : the artist, whom is all alone and tries to make a living. And at the moment, it could be fun to get a cheaper artist stolen doll. But what then when there will be no artist left?
What when all of us will have left to earn another living, somewhere else, to not let our children starving?
I won’t mention how hurtful it can be to see your own work stolen. Because, I STRONGLY believe that the sculptor working for a company and member of a sculpting team suffers as much as any artist does when he sees his work stolen to be recasted by theft.
Therefore, and even if my fellow artists may want to throw stones at my face because I say so; in MY opinion the emotional prejudice is the same for every sculptor in the world.
But the LIVING consequence is absolutely not the same.
I will now talk just for myself, and do not intend to discuss about the price of other producing artists : I do MY UTMOST to keep my dolls the cheapest I can. And for a doll as suzy, I can tell you that my benefit on each doll has been VERY small. I try to be completely honest with my collectors and I NEVER refuse a special plan with many installments to get one of my dolls. I am renown for that. I also am very blessed to have an amazing collectors gang whom always supports me, even when they don’t purchase a doll, they promote my work, they encourage me, they share my work and links with their friends; and I want to thank you deep from my heart for this my friends; and they WARN me when there is something wrong.
I know I am on the list to be recasted among a few other artists.
I may then have to stop making bjd to earn a living to feed my children, as I am a single mother of two boys, the youngest is autistic and autism is VERY expensive, I also try to support my parents the best I can for they ended up broke after supporting me for years when I was starving; BUT, even though one day I may have to stop to make bjd because of recasters and those “peculiar so called collectors”; I can tell you that I will spend till my last cent to SUE them internationally and will never give up for recasting is ILLEGAL and giving an artist doll to a recaster is ALSO ILLEGAL.
If I ever have to give up on the only thing that makes me happy in this world : making dolls; I swear God I will make those people responsible of the withdrawn of my entire life, regretting to be born. Because it’s ILLEGAL, UNFAIR, and I do NOT deserve that. Because I starved, and it’s not so to speak; not so long ago, and I will not let someone make it happen again.
I hope to remain a bjd maker for decades. I hope that people will understand how criminal it is to do this to an artist. I hope that our loving community will back our artists, ALL OF THEM, and I talk even of those whom dislike me. I hope that the people buying recast will remain healthy anyway.
Because if you ever wonder why recasted dolls are never the same color exactly than the original ones : It’s because the resin is lower quality as I mentioned above. Lower quality in resin, therefore not the same color, almost all recasted dolls smell kind of acid, and they discolor very fast; why?
Because PU Resin of poor quality is HIGHLY toxic. The smell from the doll is a toxic emanation due to that poor resin quality. they discolor faster because the resin is more porous than high quality resin therefore it absorbs what’s around but also DISCHARGES chemicals particles of resin. and yes, it’s very toxic and unhealthy to have recasted dolls.
To those thinking that resin is resin : then just check comparison photos between an original doll from a company or an artist and a recasted doll. You can recognize only on a picture which is the recast and which is the original, and that, even if the dolls are both blank.
On a lighter note, Iracebeth’s preorder is still open for a week HERE. After that, will start Maheya’s one.
And before presenting my new prototypes in a few days, Me and My dolls want to thank you tonight for your loyalty and for making me and mines, eating everyday.
Here we are, the people behind the CK Dolls and we are very grateful of your support which makes us live. That simple.
circuskane 
Very well said. I hope you have a long career. Keep up the wonderful work.
Jeff
Thank you so very much Jeff!!! I too hope… It’s horrible what’s going on and when I saw my name on a list… I simply didn’t sleep at all!!!
Bug hugs my friend!!
i did not know collectors were selling their artist dolls to recasters for mass production. this is horrible. it has to be illegal. how do i, as a collector, insure that i am not buying a recasted doll?
Nefer, I hope no one recasts your babies because I know you’re a lone artist making these. They are already very affordable and you even offer layaway plans… I can’t say much about a Volks recast…but as for artist recasts, I totally understand where you all are coming from!
Some, very rare thank god, do it Joan darling…
You can be sure by buying directly from the company or the artist. Otherwise, for the second hand market, you can ask for the bill to the artist or company, the original box,
but not the company’s mark on the head back : some recasters even copy them!
Also, ask for a picture of the head INSIDE : most of time recast are very badly done inside… bubbles, bumps, irregular resin…
And the color of the doll may also help you!!!
HUGE HUGS MY DEAR ❤
I don’t think that recasting company is fair. It is illegal too. and most of all, UNHEALTHY to keep these dolls.
But I truly thank you Erica for your understanding and supportive words ❤
No one should be selling any recast as an original, but there are things you can look for! One, price differences, odd custom colors that weren’t offered at the time of ordering, and the packaging. Most recast dolls come wrapped in plastic and cardboard and that’s it, while artist dolls usually have the whole box and sometimes even a personal note from the artist. Most people in the recast community are very against artist recasting; it might seem hypocritical, but like Nefer pointed out, a lot of small artists rely on their sales to put food on the table and are very different from the bigger companies like Fairyland and Volks.
Very well said, and you’re also a lady by not mentioning who this collector is. I can’t afford but I fully support your wonderful dolls, they make me think of renaissance venice
Renaissance (lol yes my name)
I REALLY don’t think that mentioning names can help AT ALL. it only means to the collectors community that if one day you have just a DOUBT : then their names can be published even by mistake!!
It’s not helping at all and anyway, it’s not courteous. I dislike what is not courteous. And if recasters and collectors giving our dolls to them are very rude people, it doesn’t give the right to us to be as rude as they are. We must show we are DIFFERENT from them!
You are so very kind Renaissance… I am truly honored by your words!!! and one day… I’ll make a tiny very cheap one 🙂 if all goes well, it’ll be around Xmas 🙂
Ohhhh that would be wonderful! I will keep an eye out for that! And you are very right, but often people lose their cool when things like this happen and forget what they would normally not do.
As a designer of clothes I know exactly how you feel, I shall never forget when I saw my design in the stores, and had no one to blame because whoever copied must have seen me walk in the outfit and just copied it, pleat by pleat, seam by seam. I was so furious!!
But I placed my trust in karma 🙂
hugs
Renaissance
Courtesy is what saves us from an dog eat dog world my dear….
Though it is INDEED intolerable such behaviour… I am on the list… But no need to be rude, and anyway, citing their names wouldn’t change a thing except that innocent collectors might be worried of the little care I have for their Privacy!
BIG HUGS !!
i am appalled dear Nefer! I suppose it never occurred to me that this type of activity exists, Yet of course, nothing seems off limits or sacred anymore, as this would overlap in a million different directions, cooperate greed, putrid bastards. It breaks my heart that you feel you may stop creating as a result of this type of activity. People need to wake up and realize that with every penny they spend, they are making a vote, and supporting what they pay for. They are actually creating and feeding it, and as a result, are completely responsible for it. Mindless cattle, (please excuse my rudeness) but there simply is no other way to say it) its obscene.
Well said, Nefer and Simone. I had no idea there was a list! As a tiny bright spot in this: consider it a compliment to be on it, only the best are copied! I personally am looking forward to more dolls from YOU. 🙂
This makes me sooo sosososo made. I am so sorry Nefer. If anyone needs a break from stress, it’s you 😦 My heart goes out to you. ❤
Yo disfruto viendo las cosas que tu haces, tus muñecas me llenan mucho y aprecio la pasión que pones para realizarlas, ojalá pronto pueda comprarte una muñeca. Por el momento comparto contigo la rabia de que exista personas que se aprovechan de tu trabajo, te mando un fuerte abrazo y ánimo arriba Nefer
Muchas gracias, seré honrada para que tengas una de mis munecas. La rabia al corazon pero hay que continuar trabajando y no teniendo miedo de estos lastimosos ladrones que no saben hacer lo que hacen los escultores.
un fuerte abrazo mi amigo y un beso por ti cumplimiento!! MUCHAS GRACIAS!!!
“What distinguishes a great artist from a weak one is first their sensibility and tenderness; second, their imagination, and third, their industry.” – John Ruskin
in your case, his brilliance too beloved Emily… ❤
FONDEST LOVE!
xoxoxoxo
BLESS YOU ELIZABETH DARLING!!!! You see? I have so many awesome people surrounding me : mean people can’t win :))))
BLESS. YOU.
XOXOXOXO
ABSOLUTELY!! every penny you spend is a choice you make!!! of gosh that is so brilliantly said Simone darling!!!
make the right choice and the world will be better. Cause ( I speak for myself here) the more dolls I’ll sell, the cheaper they will be!! that simple!
obscene. indecent. APPALLING.
but there are also awesome people like you my dearest ❤
This is, you understood it so well my sweet Jo, UTTERLY stressful!! Feeling in danger like that is good for no one and in my opinion, there should be an interpol office for such crimes. International office that anyone can contact in such case.
You are the sweetest… THANK YOU ❤
Well said ma chere Nefer, I am horrified, I did not know this process exited, how very sad!!
I am so very sorry for all the stress you must be felling but as said previously, you are sweet Nefer a true artist, keep up the wonderful work!
Lots of hugs
Somehow in my naïveté I managed to know nothing of recasts. I had no idea that it was something a true collector should worry about. To me it is something that belongs with the people of no style and no appreciation for quality, like fake purses and Chinese replica cell phones… In my mind, such people would have no interest in fine dolls! It is scary to see I was wrong. I’m terrified you are their target! It is a very real threat. Maybe it is not too early to inform the police? If you know the real names of people involved?
Hi dear,
I just reported a woman to the Flickr admins that she is selling recasted, in fact stolen, dolls after I had a short discussion with her about it. So I am sure that she and her followers are busy in this criminal business. She knows very well they are illigal!.
I hope more people will do this at Flickr or in any other sites where they are advertizing their goods.
Murjani
I had never heard about recasts until yesterday as there was a post on Resin cafe – I am disgusted!
Just to save some money why would someone recast! If you can not afford an original don’t buy the fake – if you can save up and then the original is soo much more worth it!
It is a shame copyrights is soo expensive because if it wasn’t you’d have more protection by taking a global patent out!
At the moment my finances mean I can not buy a lovely beautiful Nefer BJD, but I am saving hard and can’t wait until the day comes I have enough to buy one.
I love your work and wish I had millions as I’d buy every single one you produce as I know they are made with love and respect and are utterly beautiful, Please do not ever give up as I really hope to be able to buy an original 1 day soon.
I absolutely love your work Nefer! You are amazing talented and resourceful too. One way you could combat the counterfeiters is to really advertise widely of HOW limited your editions are and perhaps their exact numbers even after the editions are closed-so that people will think twice when they start seeing ,(But hopefully never will) , hundreds of copies of your work. Who would have thought that a dolly world could be so bad?? I myself am bitterly disappointed that there are so many out there,(Both collectors and manufacturers) without any scruples!
To survive in the dolly world you have to keep re-inventing yourself and grow a VERY thick skin! -You know all about re-inventing-now you have to work on the very thick skin hunny! xxx
Hi Nefer, I to didn’t imagine that this could happen, I think it is disgusting. I found out yesterday on the Resin Cafe forum. I am new to BJD I don’t have any dolls so far just one on order. I first saw your Aleah a couple of days ago on the above forum, she is absolutely beautiful, Heliantas had done there makeups and body blushing. I am so sorry I missed her but I wouldnt buy a copy I would only purchase your dolls from you that is why I joined your blog. Please don’t give up, your dolls are unique and very disirable. I hope one day you will do a similar Aleah doll as I would love one of your originals. My thoughts are with you, please don’t be stressed.
Je viens de lire ton plaidoyer Neferkane et je suis scandalisée par cette pratique. C’est ni plus ni moins que de la contrefaçon et le vol d’une propriété intellectuelle et artistique.
Je suis d’autant plus sensible à la contrefaçon que je travaille dans l’industrie pharmaceutique et que les conséquences de cette dernière pour le patient peuvent être fatales.
Le seul moyen de lutter pour moi et d’arrêter l’achat de poupée sur le marché secondaire et boycoter les spéculations des pseudo collectionneurs.
Pour en revenir à tes crétions, je suis triste d’apprendre que la gracile Ettie n’a pas rencontré son public , mais je suis fière de l’avoir adopter avec les facilités que tu nous octroies.
Very interesting information in your message! I find it hard to believe that someone would do such a thing,but do know these kinds of people do exist. Sad, so sad!
Nanc
Sent from my iPad Nancie
Nancie21@nycap.rr.com http://www.nankatts.etsy.com http://www.flickr.com/photos/nans photos
Awesomely Well Said Nefer – and BTW you are Adorable Too!!!
C’est très beau et si juste ce que tu as écrit.
Je ne suis qu’une humble collectionneuse qui aime et soutiens le travail des artistes et parce que j’ai trouvé cela révoltant, ma maigre contribution à cette lutte contre le recast a été un petit article sur mon blog.
Nous devons tous informer les potentiels acheteurs de refonte quelles sont les conséquences de leurs actes pour les créateurs.
Nefer, I can imagine how much sleep you must have lost over this. This is just heartbreaking. But unfortunately, not surprising. There are always those out there who take advantage of others talents, who have no original thoughts of their own, who have no conscience, who have no respect for others, and who will take any opportunity to cash in on what someone else has put their heart and soul into creating. They are the bottom-feeders of society.
I am sure I speak for ALL true and loyal fans/collectors when I say if there are dolls we have missed out on, we would rather admire them from afar than have a recast in our homes!! For someone else to take liberties with your works of art and create recasts is illegal, unethical – it just makes me sick that people get away with this…..and that people are willing to support the practice.
To Nefer and to all other artists out there who are potential victims of these human leeches, know that your true and loyal fans will do whatever we can to help prevent the spread of this crime. Because it is exactly that – a crime.
Hugs, dear Nefer.
Well said. I certainly hope you ever have to give up your passion because of selfish, self-proclaimed “collectors”, and I applaud you for being willing to fight against the clear injustice.
Best of luck to you.
*never (sorry ^^;;;;)
Amen its true 100% our dolls are very expensive to make and so time consuming, I sweat my minimum each time ending up putting profits back into the minimum purchase so the first orderer’s wont have to wait so long….what we go through for each doll to get in someones hands.
boxes, eyes, packing, cards, reams of paperwork when doing layaways and answering questions, advertising, hours trying to take professional photographs that depict what you see in person. many times i thought to change my name to what i do, “for the love of dolls” but its those collectors that keep you going and say when is something new comming out that make me say o.k. one more ….
I do believe the doll community will be up in arms against recasts and oust ones who do it or promote it !!
Jakzjewelz
patent them and sue recastors …
amen !
In a perfect world, yes, to sue would be logical and work. That is not the case in reality. To sue is more expensive than the damage possibly done monetarily to the creator. And with foreign companies, it is very difficult to pin any one individual down to the actual crime.
Nefer, you’ve spoken so eloquently, I can’t imagine adding anything to it. I’ve never bought a recast and never will. That’s my pledge to you.
Bless you my Charlie. and thank you for your indulgence towards my english that I’d wish more fluent… 🙂
How are you? Better I hope!!!
tons of hugs my dearest ❤
Exactly. Recasting is a supply-and-demand problem. If no one bought recasts, the bootleggers wouldn’t make them. They only make them because there is a market for them, so if selfish, immoral people stopped buying recasts there would no longer be a recast problem.
Nefer,
You are so right about all of this — I am a jewelry artist and it pains me every time a post a picture of my work, because I know that the knock-off “artists” will do whatever they want, regardless of what’s right.
I love the fact that my dolls are works of art, and I would never knowingly contribute to the theft of anyone’s design. Thank you for speaking up for all of us!
Thank you so much for speaking out – and for the maturity of your words. I have said it before and I say it again. Recasting is stealing. Stealing is wrong. Don’t steal! I have been appalled to see pro-recasting statements such as ‘it’s OK as long as they don’t try to sell it as authentic. That’s just tacky.’
There have been several dolls I really, really wanted but were sold out limiteds – in both cases they were from different doll ‘companies’ that were run by a single artist. I persevered and searched until I was able to get each one LEGALLY.
Wow, I just found out about this! I had never heard of recasting before, it’s so disgusting! Shame on these people who want to call themselves ‘collectors’!
Ooooh did i hear the word tiny? (or was it cheap!) Nefer, I am a huge fan of your dolls and so hope to have one some day soon, keep up the good work, so many people love your dolls.
Sadly, ive found several recasters websites selling certain artists dolls and reported them to the companies/artists who’s doll they were selling, its the best I can do!
Thanks for your whole hard work on this blog. My niece enjoys getting into investigation and it’s obvious why. Most of us hear all regarding the compelling manner you create precious thoughts on your website and as well as encourage participation from other individuals on this topic and our favorite child is truly discovering a lot of things. Have fun with the remaining portion of the year. You’re conducting a stunning job.
Pingback: 2015 – The Year That Was in Dolls | tommydoll