Many wonderful French doll artists have appeared in the international BJD market in the last few years. From beautiful to comical to alluringly strange, the French BJDs demand attention. Grace from Jpop Dolls has befriended many French doll artists and craftspeople, and several new artists from the country have been featured at Jpop. One recent addition is Dark Tales Dolls Mayfair by new artist Delfine. The company recently sent me the Sweet version of Mayfair in white resin.
When I slipped the doll out of her padded storage bag, I immediately appreciated how slender and delicate yet strong the resin doll felt. The white resin is opaque and almost the color of snow. My 42cm tall Sweet Mayfair BJD comes with human ears, a pale pink face-up and body blushing. Her tiny fingers and toes include a french manicure. In addition to the assembled doll, a pair of heel feet and a sleeping faceplate were included.
As the color of the doll was so pale, and the sleeping face was painted with pale lashes, I decided to remove the black lashes glued to the open-eyed face-plate so both faces were equally pale. Wigs of medium to light colors looked fine on Mayfair, but dark colors didn’t work as well with the face-ups. I took photos of Mayfair in blonde, pink and reddish 6/7 size wigs, both straight and curly. They stayed on her head quite well. Mayfair has a lovely symmetrical face with the suggestion of high cheekbones. The doll was sold blank as well as blushed and painted.
Mayfair is very pose-able and her unusual figure, designed for a tight corset, is graceful and elegant. She would look wonderful in period styles. As Mayfair has unusual proportions, I didn’t have anything for her to wear in a photo shoot on short notice, so I photographed her wearing nothing but wigs. The doll came with pale grey eyes, but since the face-ups were so pale, I opted for a pair of blue eyes with light colored (rather than black) pupils.
Mayfair has double jointed knees and elbows. They hold very poses well. As her hips and waist are exaggerated, the least tilt of her upper torso joint is more pronounced in posing. Mayfair illustrates why resin is such a wonderful material for dolls. While the individual parts to the doll look delicate, especially her hands and joints, when actually posing her, I could feel how sturdy she actually is. The face-plates are easy to change and stay in place very well. During photographing, the face-plates never fell off.
This doll has the potential to be a real fashionista, and I am looking forward to finding or creating items specially for her. For anyone who likes pretty and delicate looking BJDs in 1/4 scale, Mayfair has potential to become a favorite.
To read an interview with the creator of Mayfair, the artist Delfine, please go HERE.
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