Hi folks,

When I first saw such cute little dolls being sold @ the pasar malam for as low a price as $5, I didn't even realise that these were Ddung-inspired dolls.

Ddung dolls originated from a popular cartoon character in Korea known as Ddung. Although the Ddung cartoon character & its authentic dolls had been found in the market for quite sometime, it didn't take off with me until a couple of weeks ago.

I'm not sure how long my fascination with these imitations would last as I was never a doll collector. Storage space & space for displaying would be an issue since I stay in a flat that's unblocked with very strong sunlight. I would want these poor little ones to be baking in the sun!

This is the first Ddung doll that I acquired @ a Pasar Malam stall set up in Tampines Central.

The purpose of acquiring this doll was for my 3 year old niece whose a bubbly, adorable toddler fast blooming into a pretty little rose!

The little girl loved it as the doll looked absolutely appealing to the eyes of even adults like myself & the rest of the family members.

Edited January 11, 201214 yr by edenstrauss

Prior to passing the doll to her, I've decided that the doll looked too plain for a fashion-conscious & vain pot like myself.

As such, I've stitched on tiny white pearls on the doll's dress & even added a multi-string of pearls with the help of my hubby as it was quite a challenge for us to swirl it around the neck of the doll such that there's a multi-layering effect. Without it becoming an entangled mess...

Isn't this Ddung-inspired doll cute?

Edited January 11, 201214 yr by edenstrauss

Pulling off the chain that was attached to the doll's head

The Ddung-inspired dolls came with a chain embedded at the top of their heads as you would realise if you have seen any of them being sold @ the local Pasar Malam here in Singapore.

Chances are these dolls were manufactured & shipped from China. And as we all would have realised by now, the manufacturers for fashionable stuff in China are fond of duplicating what's popular among the reputable designers but adding "extras" to differentiate their versions from the originals.

These dolls were no exception. They too weren't spared of being embellished with "extras" such as keychains or a string for attaching them to mobile phones. Well, I didn't think that iPhone had such a function for hanging objects...

Anyways, that string of chain which was attached to the crown of the doll's head was redundant for us so my hubby had decided to take the risk of removing the chain with 2 pliers.

However, we didn't try it out straight on the doll that we were going to give to our niece.

We went back to the stall the following day & selected 2 other dollies. The first doll that he tried on was quite a disaster: He twisted the catch the wrong way & by the time the chain came off with the arrow-shaped "plug", the doll's hair at the crown area came loose! The doll is spotting a bald patch across her crown from ear to ear.

(PHOTO on balding patch on top of doll's head)

To improvise it, I have decided to paste a strip of pink velvet ribbon to that crown area when I've got the time & I'm sure that little doll would still look pretty!

Edited January 11, 201214 yr by edenstrauss

As for my niece's doll & the other newbie, he had done such a terrific & neat job of extracting the chain from the crown of their head.

I was relieved that they had emerged unscath from the minor "surgery".

More photographs of my niece's Ddung-inspired dolls:

This is a photograph of the doll being taken under white lighting.

This other photograph is taken in my storeroom under warm light during the night. The doll would look alot better if the photography was taken during the day as there would be a combination of both natural light & the warm light @ the same location.

Although I've not seen the original Ddung dolls in person yet, they were supposedly made in Korea & are definitely more well-made & unlike these Ddung-inspired dolls from the Pasar Malam, the accessories of the authentic versions could be taken down & allows a a change of clothes, shoes, pins, hats, etc.

I even came across a version online whereby the collection came with a snood & netting for bunning up the Ddung doll's hair! She looks absolutely beautiful & exquisite in her finery.

Edited January 11, 201214 yr by edenstrauss

I would like to refer to these Ddung-inspired dolls as the D-I dolls in this thread as it's quite a handful of letters to type on the keyboard ...

In view of time constraints, I have uploaded a portrait of the D-I dolls that I have bought recently.

Here comes ... The D-I dolls

Edited January 13, 201214 yr by edenstrauss

Another portrait of the D-I dolls

Edited January 13, 201214 yr by edenstrauss

More photographs of Ddung dolls - PENDING

More photographs of Ddung dolls - PENDING