Why are BJDs so expensive?

The cost of ball jointed dolls comes down to a few notable factors. The raw components required to create them (resins for the dolls themselves, rubbers for the moulds) are not exactly inexpensive. Resin, even with professional casting equipment, is a sensitive substance and has a wide array of potential mishaps that can befall it in the mould. Along with that, something as complicated and polished looking as a BJD requires quite a bit of "post-production" examination and labor to create a good-looking and sturdy finished product, even if the resin decides to behave and not marble, foam, or airpocket terribly in the mould.

In the case of a tiny doll like Hana, we're talking a multitude of wee parts (all those articulation points involve separate bits!) to mould, inspect, assemble, string, and buff, plus in the case of the "special" versions, paint on the make up and then include clothes and additional faceplates. Sometimes tiny dolls like Hana take just as much or more work than MSD (@ 44 cm) sized dolls and are appropriately more expensive. Kind of like how doll house furniture can cost more than people-sized objects from IKEA. :)

There are quite a variety of "tiny" sized dolls (roughly 14 cm or so). Elfdoll produces several of these, but there are several other companies who make wee little BJDs, such as Orient Doll and Custom House.

The differences are mainly in the sculpts; some dolls have a slightly more "mature" appearance than others, some have more detail. Special editions will come with more extras - clothes, extra heads/faceplates, accessories, and so on. For example, Winter Fantasy Kathlen is a special edition designed just for Dolls and Friends!

We suggest looking around at as many sites with doll photographs as you can before committing to purchasing any given doll, especially if you don't have the luxury of walking into a brick and mortar store like our own and examining dolls yourself. Perhaps check the Den of Angels web forum and see if there is a meet up any time soon in your area, and ask if anyone has one of the dolls you'd like to look at.