Ken no Kokoro Dolls are created by the Spanish artist Beatriz Campos. The artist previously sculpted doll heads only, but recently she released her first full doll named Cosita.
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Q: Did you have any interest in art or sculpting before trying to make your first doll?
A: Truth is that I’ve always loved creating things. Since I was a kid I’ve drawn and I’ve built models and model figurines with different materials like clay or Papier-mâché, but I had never done anything similar to sculpting BJDs. When I started in the hobby I started doing some face-ups, then some modifications, and I thought, why don’t I try to make one with my own hands?
Q: What was your first doll? Can you tell me a little about each of the dolls you have made?
A: The first doll I created for selling was Amparita. I had done several proofs before, but with her, I finally managed to do what I had in mind. Amparita is really special for me, in the first circulation there were only a few dolls home cast, but being my first one and with a home casting, I never thought anyone would want to adopt her. I love all my dolls, but Amparita will always be special. Later I did a sleeping version, I think Amparita is my pampered girl.
The second one was Miguelito, I wanted to do a boy with sharp facial features as an opposition to the round face of Amparita. There are very few Miguelitos, I only made 2 circulations of 10 heads each and now it is discontinued. I find him very handsome but he didn’t have much success.
Later I made Rosita, my other 1/3 girl. I was so sure of what I wanted for her: a turned-up nose, almond shaped eyes, and half-opened mouth, I had something really specific for her that I couldn’t do in my other sculpts. I’m very happy with the result, I think that her nose is my favorite one of all my sculpts.
After 3 big heads, I wanted to do something different so Patatita arrives. She is my first and only head in 1/4. Some people wanted to see the whole process from the beginning, so the first photo that I showed was only a ball without any features, the base for my work. A friend said that it looked like a potato, and as all my sculpts have diminutive names, she started to call her Patatita (little potato). It sounded funny to me so she kept the name.
Last, Cosita is my first complete doll and the smallest of all of them. I really wanted to make a whole doll, but I didn’t want to start with something very big, so I did Cosita. Making a whole body is very different from making only a head. Working on the joints is very difficult, and it took me a lot of time to finish her, but seeing her cast in resin and customized is an indescribable feeling. I am so happy to have made a whole doll, and I hope to make bodies for the rest of my dolls in the future.
Q: Do you cast your own dolls?
A: No, I send her to a company so that I can offer a professional touch that I cannot do due to the lack of appropriate tools. Truth is though, that before sending them the original, I always make a couple of copies for two reasons: first because it scares me to death that the original gets lost, and secondly because I can make them up and take photos for the pre-order. Only with Cosita, I was unable to make home-cast because of some health problems.
Q. So you make a resin cast for backup?
A: What I do is to make silicon molds and a couple of resin copies before sending the original one to the casting company. Even though they have little bubbles and faults, I wouldn’t lose all the work if the original one got lost, and I also use it to allow people to see different customs before I open a pre-order.
Q: What was your concept behind Cosita?
A: What I don’t like about most 1/6 dolls is that they are too straight, I know that they represent kids and kids are not curvy, but aesthetically I don’t really like how they look, and I thought that you can do something with curves and that looked like a kid, that was the basic idea when I started Cosita. Her face is similar to the rest of my molds, I don’t like realistic molds, so my faces usually have big eyes and small noses. For Cosita I also wanted big cheeks that you’d love to pinch, but I don’t know if I managed to do it!
Q: Will you eventually make more heads for the Cosita body?
A: There are some other projects that I’d like to do first, but in the future, I want to do more heads for the Cosita body and that will look fine together.
Q: Do you have other dolls in progress or planned for the future?
A: Of course! I really like sculpting BJDs and I will keep on doing it while I can. Right now I’m doing a personal project that won’t be sold, but I’m already thinking about my next doll which will be slightly different from what I usually do (but right now and until I can see how it develops, I’ll keep it a secret). Then I want to design bodies for the big heads AND more heads, of course! I have so many plans and projects that I want to do!
Q: One last question, why did you choose the name Ken no Kokoro for your company?
A: I really like Japanese culture and martial arts and I’ve always thought that katanas and swords have a special aura. Ken no Kokoro means “sword soul”, and it is a concept that I like. I have a tattoo in Japanese which says so, so even though it has nothing to do with dolls, it is something I am identified with and I decided to use it.
Photos above (from top): Amparita, Rosita and Cosita.
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