I hate hearing people call a sculpt or company cheap, trashy, or downright ugly. Though I will admit that sometimes the less expensive sculpts have their own issues to deal with, the saying “a bad carpenter blames his tools” comes to mind. We heard it a lot in photography classes, because you’d always have that one guy who was convinced that because his camera wasn’t top of the line, neither were his photos. It’s not what you have in your hands that makes the difference, it’s what you do with it.

Piyoko has always been my labor of love. She was a gift, and as such I always wanted to do my best with her. Yes, her body is somewhat difficult to work with, and her eye sockets fight with domed eyes. These issues were remedied by a hot glue sueding and finding some flat eyes that fit perfectly. I’m very proud of her, because I think the end product was worth it all. It’s easy to take something lovely and compliment it, but when you find the beauty in that which is rough around the edges, it’s the most rewarding. I wouldn’t say buy a doll you don’t like for those purposes, but never scoff at a person’s decision to repair or mod a doll you consider unsatisfactory.