Kularien's Lyalya: Interview + References

Sometime ago I interviewed Lisa Babenko, aka Kularien, from KCDoll. She is a Russian BJD artist and she is known for making amazingly detailed 22~27cm fashion BJDs.

Currently, she made a 17cm tiny girl, named Lyalya, similar to the style of traditional tiny BJDs. So, this post has a small interview with Lisa about Lyalya, and there are a lot of reference photos! From posing, to blank photos, face-ups styles and customization, and a comparison with a Fairyland Pukipuki. I hope you will find this interesting!

Interview, Posing, Comparisons

The interview is in English and Spanish, translated by myself. All the photos and videos were provided by Lisa herself, and are used with her permission.

Thank you for doing this special Q/A! How did Lyalya came to be? What inspired you? Hello dear friends, my name is Lisa Babenko. I am an artist, sculptor and dolls creator. May be you heard my internet nickname Kularien. I create ball jointed dolls since 2010. To be honest, I started before, but in 2010 I opened my brand KCDoll (Kularien’s Custom Dolls). My first finished doll line was called Belle Petite, and it was a tiny and very detailed BJD lady with cute, but adult body. After a while, I created other lines such as Top Model and Femme Fatale, but all of them were really small and anatomically correct. Their size was 22-27cm, and I still take orders on some of them. The main point was to create tiny fashion ladies with different types of bodies, so every customer could choose one doll he/she loves more. You can call them fashion BJD and art objects also. They had hand painted eyes, fashion or natural make up, adult bodies and simple or couture outfits. But I wanted to sculpted something cute and childish, and begin to work on a baby-ish doll line. I dreamed about such a baby doll in my childhood and finally created it now that I’m an adult. I tried to combine all the сute features I love, such as chubby cheeks, pouty lips, pretty small body and lovely hands and feet. I used all my sculptors and craft skills in Lyalya. But she was created for adult collectors who miss their childhood, not for children games. She needs a careful handling as any artist collection doll.

¡Gracias por hacer estas Preguntas/Respuestas! ¿Cómo construiste a Lyalya? ¿Qué te inspiró? Hola queridos amigos, mi nombre es Lisa Babenko. Soy una artista, escultora y creadora de muñecas. Quizás han oído mi nombre de internet: Kularien. Creo BJDs desde 2010. Para ser honesta, comencé antes, pero en 2010 abrí mi marca KCDoll (Kularien’s Custom Dolls). Mi primera línea de muñecas se llamó Belle Petite, y era una señorita BJD pequeñita y detallada, con un cuerpo tierno pero adulto. Luego de un tiempo, creé otras líneas como Top Model y Femme Fatale, pero todas eran pequeñas y anatómicamente correctas. Su tamaño era entre 22-27cm, y todavía tomo pedidos para ellas. Mi punto principal era crear pequeñas modelos con diferentes tipos de cuerpo, para que cada cliente pudiera armar la muñeca que él o ella quisiera. Tenían ojos pintados, maquillaje natural o de moda, cuerpos adultos y ropa couture o simple. Pero quería esculpir algo más tierno e infantil, y comencé a trabajar en una línea más aniñada. Soñé en una muñeca aniñada como la de mi infancia, y finalmente la creé ahora que soy adulta. Intenté combinar todas las características que me gustan, como mejillas infladas, labios chicos, un cuerpo pequeño con manos y pies bonitos. Usé todas mis habilidades en Lyalya. Pero ella fue creada para coleccionistas adultos que extrañan su infancia, no para niños. Ella necesita que la traten con cuidado, como a cualquier muñeca de artista.

Lyalya has a really good pose-ability for such a tiny doll! What can you tell us about that? As a proud parent sculptor (forgive me this selfish weakness), I can say that Lyalya has very harmonic and balanced cute childish body. Because of that she can easily stand by her own with or without her shoes. She can do this despite of having cute feet with reliefs, and not a flat base. Her joints system it is very thoughtful, as I spent a lot of time trying to combine great movement ability and smooth, clear body lines without having joints sticking out. They all have bending angles rounded like humans’. All of her joints are good-looking single joints, not double, but I tried to keep very good mobility for all of them. For example her elbow and knee joints bent more than 90 degrees, her neck joint has good range of mobility. Because of a big ball in the chest, that joint works really well - she can slouch and her hips are good in bending too. But I’m really proud of the feet. Very cute looking and detailed with nice small toes and nails. I sculpted them in such way that Lyalya can pull them like a ballerina. She can do that but without changing a foot for a special one I sculpted for pointes :) I don't think that a lot of BJDs can boast with such mobility features :) I like to pay attention to details, so Lyalya has very nice sculpted hands, toes and fingers, heels, wrinkles, cute belly, ears and face of course. She also has a very nice ornament for her head that has a ribbon.

¡Lyalya posa realmente bien para ser tan pequeña! ¿Qué puedes contarnos al respecto? Como una madre escultora orgullosa (disculpas por ese pequeño egoísmo), puedo decir que Lyalya tiene un cuerpo infantil muy harmónico y balanceado. Por eso mismo, ella se puede parar muy bien en una sola pierna. Esto lo puede hacer a pesar de tener pies con relieve, y no con una base plana. Su sistema de articulaciones está muy pensado, dado que pasé mucho tiempo intentando combinar grandes movimientos y habilidades, con líneas limpias sin que las articulaciones sobresalieran al doblarse. Todas tienen ángulos suaves y redondos como en las personas. Todas son articulaciones simples, no dobles, pero intenté mantener la mejor movilidad para ellas.Por ejemplo, su codo y rodillas se doblan a más de 90 grados, su cuello tiene muy buena movilidad. Debido a la gran articulación del pecho, esa articulación funciona muy bien: ella se puede encorvar, y sus caderas también se doblan. Pero estoy muy orgullosa de los pies. Se ven muy bonitos y detallados, con pequeñas dedos y uñas. Los esculpí de tal forma que Lyalya puede ponerlos como una bailarina. Puede hacerlo incluso sin cambiarse al pie especial que esculpí para los pointes :) No creo que muchas BJDs puedan decir que tienen tales características de movilidad :) Me gusta prestarle atención a los detalles, así que Lyalya tiene manos detalladas, pies y deditos, talones, arrugas, una pancita adorable, orejas y rostro detallados. Ella también trae un ornamento para la cabeza que tiene un moño.

So, the preorder is coming soon/on the works right now! How does this work? Do you outsource the casting? What colors are available? What type of resin do you use? Yes, I’m announcing the pre-oder by the end of April, middle of May. Here is some technical information about her. She has 14 articulated joints and can be posed in variety of poses, all very easily. The joints are glued, and she is strung with elastic cord. Lyalya is fully designed, sculpted and casted by me. I can also paint her, make her wigs and dresses. This doll is made of high quality resin. She is heavy, because I don't cast hollow parts: I drill narrow passes for strings. The texture is very pleasant to hold on your hands. The resin is strong. However, please watch out for small parts that can break, such as fingers. This is not a toy for children, this is an art doll, so please be careful when handling her. I also recommend avoiding UV light and sun. For now, I have two skin colors: normal and pale normal. May be making a very limited tan edition in the future.

¡El pre-order/encargo está llegando muy pronto! ¿Cómo funcionará? ¿Tercerizas el casteo? ¿Qué colores estarán disponibles? ¿Qué resina usarás? Sí, estoy anunciando el period de encargo para finales de Abril, mediados de Mayo. Aquí hay información técnica sobre ella. Tiene 14 puntos de articulación, y puede posarse de varias formas. Las articulaciones están pegadas y ella está tensada con elástico. Lyalya está completamente diseñada, modelada y casteada por mí. También puedo pintarla, hacerle pelucas y vestidos. Esta muñeca tiene una resina de muy buena calidad. Es pesada porque no hago partes huecas: taladro canales muy pequeños en su interior para las cuerdas. La textura es muy placentera al tacto. La resina es fuerte. Sin embargo, les pido que cuiden partes pequeñas que puedan romperse, como los dedos. Este no es un juguete para niños, es una muñeca de arte, así que sean cuidadosos al manipularla. También recomiendo evitar la luz UV y el sol. Por ahora tengo dos colores: normal, y normal pálido. Quizás haga una tira limitada en un color tostado en el futuro.

Can Lyalya share clothing for other similar sized dolls, like Latidoll Yellow or FL Pukifee? Lyalya has a similar height with Fairyland Pukifee and Latidoll Yellow. But my doll is a little slender and her head is smaller. I usually make wigs by myself and they fit perfectly, but she also can wear some of 4-5 inch Monique wigs. Lyalya's measurements: Height: 15-16cm Eye size: 8mm Foot length: 2,2cm Wig size: 4-5 inch I think some of Pukifee clothes with be good for Lyalya, such as dresses or knit-wears. You can look at the comparison photos with Lyalya and Pukifee to understand the difference in body shape. May be some shoes will fit too, but Lyalya's feet are little more pudgy. Don't worry, I created very cute shoes especially for Lyalya and will make more soon.

¿Lyalya puede compartir ropa con otras muñecas del mismo tamaño, como las Latidoll Yellow o los Fairyland Pukifee? Lyalya tiene una altura similar a los Fairyland Pukifee y Latidoll Yellow. Pero mi muñeca es más delgada y su cabeza es pequeña. Generalmente hago las pelucas por mi cuenta, y le sirven perfectamente, pero también puede usar algunas Monique 4-5”.  Las medidas de Lyalya: Altura: 15-16cm Ojos: 8mm Pies: 2.2cm Pelucas: 4-5”  Creo que alguna ropa de Pukifee puede ser buena para ella, tales como vestidos o tejidos. Pueden mirar las fotos comparativas entre ambos para comprender la diferencia del cuerpo. Quizás algunos zapatos sirvan, pero sus pies son más gorditos. No se preocupen, he creado zapatos muy bonitos para Lyalya, y haré más pronto.

Thank you, and good luck with the pre-order! Is there anything else you want to share? Thank you very much for your kind wishes and this opportunity. I hope Lyalya will be able to find her own admirers all over the world. And after a while I'm going to make smile and sleeping faces for Lyalya and sculpt a friend for her.

Thank you, and good luck with the pre-order! Is there anything else you want to share? Thank you very much for your kind wishes and this opportunity. I hope Lyalya will be able to find her own admirers all over the world. And after a while I'm going to make smile and sleeping faces for Lyalya and sculpt a friend for her.

Custom Examples

Lyalya is a very versatile doll, so here it is a collage of customizations, as girl and boy, all made by Lisa herself. There is also a blank photo for those of us that may want to try to make a mock-up. I personally love her as a brunette!

Packaging Information

Lyalya comes in a very pretty packaging! I don't know you, but I love cute packaging with details and all. Here you have a photo and a video of Lisa packing a Lyalya. Of course, this is just the inner "main" box. There is an outer box as well!

Preorder Information

There are several ways to access the pre-order, so here you have a guide.

• Etsy: You can purchase Lyalya directly from Lisa's Etsy.
• Website: You can access the pre-order on her website.
• Email: You can contact Lisa's about pre-order inquiries to her email.

Also you can find her on the following social sites:

• Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/138790366309418
• Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kularien
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Kularien/videos
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisa_babenko/
• Tumblr: http://kularien.tumblr.com/
• Website: http://kcdoll.ru/
• Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/KularienCustomDoll

And this was all for today! I ask you to help me spread the word about the BJD artists that make this hobby possible, and share the link! I do hope all the info here will be useful and interesting to everybody :D Have a great day, everyone. I just added a new doll in my wishlist, so here is to hoping for a tan release!