Magical girls are unapologetically true to themselves all the while being selfless, helpful, and slay. No matter who or what stands in their way, it is the belief that love always prevails that pushes them forward—this is the the driving force behind anything and everything I create!
Dream it
💖
Create it
✨
Make it Real
⭐
Dream it 💖 Create it ✨ Make it Real ⭐
Although I’ve had BJDs since 2004 and Pullips in 2008, I didn’t start painting and customizing dolls until 2015. Back then, Pullips were more accessible to me, so that’s where I started. Here, I customized Pullips into sweets themes and sourced clothing and wigs to match. I developed a recognizable style from painting and customizing over 250 Pullips! You can still find many of them from the button link below.
Sometime in 2018, I got the crazy idea in my head that I should sculpt a full BJD from scratch, so Ume and her sister Anzu were born! I worked on her for 2-3 years, never really being able to test her posing ability since I could not string the paper clay pieces tight enough to simulate cast resin stringing. But I was okay with that at the time—it was a fantastic first BJD project, and I’m glad I made her. The support from the community for her was overwhelming and kept me going on my doll-making journey!
Although I loved sculpting in paper clay and getting my hands dirty, the lack of precision and ability to test posing properly was difficult for me. When 3D printing became more accessible, I picked up 3D sculpting and never looked back! Now I print about 7-10 full prototypes before finishing out a project, and the ability to balance aesthetics with poseability has been a wonderfully fun challenge. The ability to also sculpt as fast as I can think has been a huge advantage in 3D sculpting over traditional sculpting and has led me to creating dolls that lean into my natural aesthetic—the magical girl aesthetic!
I love to draw, and every magical girl doll starts out as a sketch. Drawing the doll from multiple angles and in different ways helps me figure out the vibe that I want for the doll. Drawing is the single best problem-solving tool in this entire process.
Then comes sculpting, which involves a heavy balance of aesthetic and vibes with joint engineering. I love every part of this process as it mixes concepting and prototyping both.
After every major sculpting iteration of a doll, I will print out a full prototype to test its joints and poseability. I will go back and forth between sculpting, concept sketching, and prototyping and keep going until the doll is finished!
I live in the USA on the East Coast with my baby boy, husband, dog, and two kitties! I graduated from Virginia Tech with a BS in Industrial Design and am a self-taught artist and doll sculptor.
Ever since I could hold a pencil, I’ve been drawing. Ever since I could write, I’ve been writing stories. I have never stopped creating and loving art since I was born, and characters lie within the love of this foundation! Creating art tickles my brain in a way that nothing else can, so I will chase it forever—and I wouldn’t have it any other way. 💖
During the day, I work as a full-time Senior Design Strategist as a product designer. I have worked within the design industry for over 14 years, bringing my design expertise into doll-making to improve upon vision and execution.
If you have any questions for me, please feel free to email me at yummysweetsdolls@gmail.com or send me a DM on Instagram @YummySweetsDolls!
