Doll-A-Day 231: Review of Ai Hyacinth Ball Jointed Doll

  Today's doll is another Ai doll from Tuesday Morning. It's Hyacinth.
Tuesday Morning has had close outs from Jun Planning and Groove for the last year or so. I found my first Ai dolls there in February, so I was really surprised to find more there the week before last. I went back again last week and they still had some.
  Hyacinth, like all the dolls in this line, is named after a flower. Hyacinths actually looks like this:

The Ai dolls are approximately 5" tall. They are little ball jointed dolls, and they come in these really neat little book shaped boxes.

The front of the box...

...and the back.

 The box lid is held shut by really strong magnets, but if you hold the base down the lid pulls open fairly easily.

 The contents are under a plastic cover that just lifts up and  comes right out.

The items inside, other than the dolls, are only held in place by the snugness of the satiny covered foam insert.They come right out. Hyacinth's accessories include a starched doily bed,a pillow that matches her dress, a teddy bear, and a cute Bear hat.

They're in plastic that is sticky sealed and easy to open.

The pillow is stitched to the bed. It could be removed.

 The little bear, tiny as he is, has jointed limbs. You can't move them very much, because they are so tiny, but they can be positioned.

He can be made to sit up, for example.

The bear hat is lined and the front is also stuffed so that it's cushy like a stuffed toy.

Ars Gratis Artis: Art for art's sake. That was the old MGM studios motto.

Cute, but it doesn't stay on her head at all.

It sort of has to just sit there, supported by the wall behind her. The lining wouldn't stay tucked up inside either. Maybe if I could tuck it in and cram the hat on her head and leave it on for a long time, it would stay in.

To take the doll out you have to untie some very tightly tied ribbons.One is around the doll's neck and the other around the feet.

The ribbon around her neck decided to be stubborn. It started unraveling and the thread got caught in her neck. You'll see a few pictures where she still has a bit of thread sticking out of her neck. I kept pulling it out and it just kept reappearing.

Once she was out, she needed plastic removed from her arms and her curly ponytails.

Unfortunately the plastic on her arms was taped to the plastic on her ponytails, and when I pulled it her very loose wig popped off.

There is velcro on the wig and the head to hold it on, but it wasn't doing a very good job. I didn't have this problem with my other Ai dolls, so I don't think it's a common problem.

I was a little surprised to see that her head opens. My other Ai dolls are like that, but that's so you can change their eyes.Hyacinth, being a closed eye doll, wouldn't have any eyes. Would she?

As suspected, no. So why give her a head that opens? Her head mold wouldn't even really lend itself well to drilling eye holes.
But back to the wig. The plastic was taped tight around the top of the ponytail, where it meets the cap of the wig. It was hard to get the plastic off without ruining the hair in one way or another. If I slipped it down off the hair I'd ruin the curls. If I tried to cut it, well...

I almost snipped that piece of hair.

Once her hair is back on, she still has a slight problem with her bangs, which I suppose can be cured by keeping it pressed in place for a while.The wig doesn't seem quite big enough for her head. A big piece of scalp showed by her ear on her right side. I kept trying to pull the wig down a little, but just succeeded in sliding the rubber band down on her ponytail.

I guess she has 'bed head'.

The wig just wouldn't sit down closely on her head.

Here's a closer look at those curls.

Her collar is a separate piece that hooks with a thread loop and hook. It can be turned around the other way...

..or removed entirely.

Her dress closes in front with Velcro.Under her dress she's wearing light blue bloomers and white socks.

It would actually be better if the pillow weren't stitched down. It would give you more options. She could sort of sit up in bed. It would even be better if it were up higher so she could scootch up in bed a little. She's have more foot room. Maybe mine is stitched in too low. It seems to be.

She doesn't come with shoes, because she's in bed I guess. I feel a little cheated though. What if I want her to be out of bed?

Just trust me when I tell you that all of my Ai dolls have been anatomically correct females...even the ones I thought were going to be boys.

As with my other Ai dolls, her joints seem a little tight, making it hard to make her hold a pose where her limbs are moved all the way to her body, like to touch her face or ear.

Or curl very tightly around her bear.

Her legs work pretty well though. They are a little tight, like the others, but her knees hold a pose well.Her long dress makes it hard to see her legs, so you can't see her cute poses unless she holds her dress up.

As I mentioned, Hyacinth is the 'closed eye mold'.

My other Ai dolls include Leptospumum and Coreopsis, who have the 'open eye mold'...

Leptospurmum.

Coreopsis.

...Bee Balm, who has the 'sleepy eye mold'...

These are the same detailed feet Hyacinth has.

I thought those were the only 3 molds, but tomorrow we'll see my other new Ai doll, Phlox, who has a different open eye mold.

I really love the little Ai dolls. They are not only cute and poseable, they have beautiful detailed outfits. Hyacinth actually has probably the simplest outfit of all my Ai dolls.They also come with cute accessories. 

The Tuesday Morning price of $29.99 makes these little ball jointed dolls a lot more affordable than most others I have seen. They are made of plastic, not resin, but it's a super smooth plastic that feels so nice. With their good quality plastic, detailed clothing and accessories, and  nice box, they look like expensive dolls, and actually, they were originally much higher before they hit Tuesday Morning. Like the more expensive dolls they have removeable wigs and eyes, (except for the closed eye mold.), and many points of articulation. They're all so cute that it's tempting to want to collect them all. I've heard of people doing that, but I'm not that rich!