experience with Silicone dolls?

I've been wondering the same thing! I've never owned one, or even seen one in person, but I saw a little elephant doll on Etsy that looked so real I was tempted to get it. I did a little research and learned that you have to put powder on them once a week or they get sticky, and that they can get tears in the silicone. That put me off! Perhaps I was reading an old article, and perhaps they have improved the silicone quality as of late! It will be interesting to see what others have to say about silicone dolls - someone who has actually owned one!

 

I'm intrigued by them as well, but am really turned off by the level of upkeep. Which frankly doesn't have to be that much to turn me off. My resin dolls can sit around untouched for 5 years (and they have) and as long as they're not left in the sun or someplace damp, they're just fine. AFAIK silicone deteriorates over time, though to be fair I don't know how long it takes. But I had also read that you have to powder them or else they get sticky. That's.......... too much work.

 

The only ones I've ever seen have been, shall we say, for a demographic and interest niche that I'm really not into, but I know they exist. They do have a translucence that is very appealing visually. They're nearly impossible to customize without like, ReBorn-ing supplies meant for silicone.

 

I wish Guide was still around... I know he has one. A 1/3 scale fairy.

I don't remember how often he mentioned her here, though, since she's OT. It might be worth looking up his old posts.

 

Seamless silicon has basically two issues: staining and tearing.
Okay, maybe three depending on how well the skeleton has been made.

It stains crazily fast, just like vinyl does, because of how porous it is. And since the seamless bodies are pulled over a frame, bending them regularly at a specific spot usually makes them tear there at some point. You can try your best with regular upkeep and keeping the doll in a neutral position, but it's something one has to accept will happen at some point. You might have to powder the surface to prevent it from going sticky, harsh cleaning is also a no-go. You can easily dent or otherwise damage the surface.
The third issue I mentioned earlier is that a frame can technically break, when the material used isn't sturdy enough or you roughly posed the doll/forced a limb into an unnatural position. When that happens, there is no fix. The frame is engulfed by the silicon, so the damage is inside of the doll.

While the seamless look is really cool (even if bunched up areas like elbows or knees can look kind of weird), the upkeep is a nightmare.
If at all, I'd probably only have such a body as an extra for rare undressed photos. Outside of that, I'd just store it in a neutral position while the head is still on its regular resin body.

 

First, I have to say I loathe squishy toys of any sort, I hate soft plastics (unless they are Japanese fashion doll head sculpts). They all age terribly, no matter how high the grade is supposed to be, or how much their respective companies suggest the plastic will last. I have been avoiding the 1:6 action figure silicone bodies for as long as I've been a 1:6 collector and that's probably been longer than a BJD "occasional" collector. However, silicone bodies are not that old, but they are still never going to be worth it to me (I'm a weirdo, I don't like the squishy, soft nature of soft plastics of any sort!). They do stain like crazy; they do tear at the seams if you look at them funny and they do need to be powered if you'll handle them a lot or just undress/redress them constantly. If you leave them for a long period of time in an open display case, you might have to do that as well as bathe the body first, because they are lint magnets. I haven't experienced tearing on mine yet, because I don't touch the figure I got the body for, but I have been a lurker on 1:6 forums from the beginning of the human race -- I have seen a lot of tearing, even on supposed surgical "grade" silicone bodies.

I gave in and purchased one quite a few years ago, for my Super Duck Cyborg (NieR Automata 2B) kit, because it needed a squishy body to even fit in the dress. Otherwise, I would have never purchased one and I don't ever intend on purchasing one ever again. My favorite plastics are hard plastics, like ABS and PVC. I know that PVC can be cooled/formed to be a squishy and semi-squishy plastic all the way to hard/rubbery plastic, because that's what most fashion doll heads are made out of (and what most toys companies call "vinyl" despite, PVC not being vinyl. Although it does have vinyl in the name -- vinyl is what bath toys are made out of, like "rubber" duckies, which are not made out of rubber. Pretty darn confusing, I know!).

I wouldn't recommend the silicone bodies, but a lot of 1:6 collectors favor the female ones (not only for the obvious reasons for that targe demographic), because they tend to look good in certain types of wardrobes and don't show joint seams. Similarly, the male ones are also favored for that reason, but to a much lesser extent.

Here's my semi-customized, partially repainted Super Duck Cyborg/2B set on the Phicen's silicone body, in case anyone is curious -- the head in these set was supposed to match the pale TBLeague body. I purchased three heads (including one with the full set, because I suck), only one actually matched the pale body. I got the S16A pale body for mine, because I am not a fan of huge busts, but the suggested body is the much larger busts, which I can't imagine going well with how tight the dress fits on this "smaller" chested body.




My silicone body stained for having this top on for a few minutes, less than thirty if I recall correctly. Just for the threads on that top's seamline not having proper dye setting, not the whole entire black top as one would guess, but for just the seamline's thread. It was a painful but learning experience, I don't wish upon anyone. DX I was able to get all the stains out with UV pen light and (human) acne cream, although there's a specific product that sounds like zits, but it is meant to remove stains from plastic and not actual human acne. It was more convenient for me to just go to the local pharmacy and get the human-acne stuff.. ^__^;;

 

I have no experience with silicone dolls or parts but I noticed a good portion of people get silicone parts for their Dollfie Dreams! I don't plan on getting any because the upkeep sounds exhausting (plus I prefer the look of vinyl & resin) but its interesting to see.

I've mainly seen silicone bust parts. I heard the upsides to the material are that they are more "realistic" in appearance in clothing and can fit more clothes because they are squishy. I've also seen silicone torsos (most exclude the shins) for Dollfie Dreams and silicone hand parts (as an alternative to jointed poseable hands).

This has been brought up earlier but the issue with silicone parts is that they may tear and there's no way to fix broken skeletons/armature. I know Adyka doll makes custom silicone bodies (for Dollfie Dream & Smartdoll) with this in mind, so the frame is meant to be very sturdy. However I'm not really sure if other companies and artists/dealers keep this in mind,

 

Soft silicone is very soft, like, wiggly soft. I know a 1/1 doll dealer with a bunch of non-sexual videos demonstrating the squishiness but I don't really want to post it because I'm not sure if that link is too uncouth.

ADYKA makes silicone 1/3 bodies meant for Dollfie Dream though!

 

I like mine. I've had them for years and they've mostly been in storage due to lack of space (though that's recently changed so I've been displaying a few more now) and I haven't run into too many issues. I use cornstarch to powder mine, and I haven't had to do it too often. So I think everyone's experience will vary just like other soft vinyl/pvc dolls with staining or breakage.

Ironically I broke the hip while I was changing my Azone Picco Neemo shortly after getting her... Just like a silicone figure, the only solution is to get a new body (since it's the hip and not a limb).

 

I have two kinds!

One is the adyka flex body which I really love because it has a metal skeleton inside that's really sturdy. It can do all kinds of realistic poses.

The other is a 60cm TokyoDoll Tiara. She's really pretty but the silicone is stiffer and I'm scared to pose her much because her skeleton is just a wire frame and it can break easily. She has wires all the way down to her fingers so she can even pose her hands.

But as other people have said... The DUST. They don't just collect dust, that actively attract it via static electricity. You have to constantly wipe them off with a damp cloth and then apply powder to keep them looking nice.

Another downside is that it's more difficult to dress the doll because silicone is very grippy.

 

I bought a rather cheap second-hand silicon Evoke doll a couple of years back from Mandarake out of curiosity, but haven't really played with it much. Took her out a couple of times then just ended up putting her back in her box as though her body is beautiful, I don't think silicon dolls are for me...

She arrived in good condition, nothing broken, just really sticky from age. But she's so so heavy! Much heavier than even a resin doll, perhaps due to the wire frame inside her. I've read that you can wash the body with a bit of gentle dish soap then powder it with baby powder to get rid of the stickiness but I've yet to get round to doing so.

In the brief time I've handled her, I've found her a bit difficult to pose but that may be because I'm not used to her and am afraid of snapping the wires inside...

She came with an original Evoke doll head with faceup. The head is basically a solid lump of silicon with eye holes. You can switch out her eyes but have to do so by squeezing the old eyes out then pushing the new eyes into the eye holes from the front as there's no way to open up her head to fix the eyes as you would a resin doll or a Dollfie Dream. Her default eyes were in a wonky position when I got her and in trying to adjust them, I accidentally tore the silicon around her eyes... it's just a tiny tear but still...

I might switch the head out with a Dollfie Dream head later, but I just haven't felt like dealing with this body.