Juana

It's really sad that there are a few Asian fashion dolls in the local market. I haven't seen Kira/Lea (Barbie's Asian friends) being sold in local toy stores. DollHead said that in one Latin American nation, dolls that are dark-skinned doesn't sell well. Store owners decided not to sell them. I don't know what's the scenario here in the Philippines but I have a feeling its the same. That is why when I saw my doll Vernie in the store shelf, I instantly picked her. She was the closest thing I could have for an Asian doll because of her black hair. Her blue eyes say otherwise.

If you really want something done, you have to do it yourself. I was lucky to find a doll head (yes only the doll head) with black hair for sale at Vente (where they sell everything for PhP20). I erased her wide blue eyes, made them smaller and painted them with brown (plus yellow to add depth). I changed her pink lip color. The pink reminded me of the 80's. I changed it to a more contemporary color.

I was able to find a body that matched her color. The body is tanned (although not as dark as I wanted) compared to a regular Caucasian doll. It looked good to me. I initially posted her for sale on eBay but I decided to keep her. Looking at these pictures, I'm glad I kept her. I may no longer have a chance for another Asian looking doll.

The doll body cost around P170
The doll head cost P20
The clothes cost around P100
It's more expensive than a basic Barbie doll but the joy of having a one of a kind doll like Juana - priceless!




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She doesn't really look like pure Asian but more of a mestiza. I wonder how I can make her look more Asian. I'm thinking of repainting her but I have a number of face repainting project I want to start. Plus I don't think any amount of repainting can keep her from looking like a mestiza. At best she could be a Chinese mestiza. And I still don't know if I want to include her in the comic strip.