QLY.island is a series by QLYwork, a Chinese-based studio ran by four women. QLYwork (QLY being short for Qingliang Oil Studio) originated as a clothes shop for Blythe on Etsy. Eventually they started to produce original dolls, and are probably best known for their smaller Little Lamb series. The first release of the QLY.island series is Mimie, of which only 50 were made. Pre-order opened Octomber 2023 and began shipping May 2024. Mimie could be be preordered with a $50 deposit + $139 final payment, with $33 China Post EUB or $59 DHL shipping to the United States. For Japanese customers, Mimie could be preordred for ¥5,000 + ¥21,400 final payment, or the full price of ¥26,400.
Construction
QLY.island is styled after soft body dolls, but is actually made of a hard plastic material with fur glued over the top. There are points of articulation at the neck, shoulders and thighs. The head and shoulder joints are spherical and the overall engineering is identical to PVC Little Lambs.
It is not recommended to disassemble the doll. No attempts to remove the fur should be made.
Measurements
| Height | 30.5cm |
| Head Circumfrenece | 31.5cm |
| Neck Circumference | 13.5cm |
| Shoulder Width | 7.5cm |
| Bust | 19.5cm |
| Hips | 26cm |
| Arm Length (exlucidng hands) | 9cm |
| Thigh Length | 8.8cm |
| Calf Length | 6cm |
Clothing
Mimie's default outfit includes a sleeveless one piece dress, an apron, and a bonnet. QLYwork posted a pattern for the one piece on Tw*tter. If the post ever disappears I will provide it here.
The size is allegedly comparable to Puyoodoll's Kumako (and similar dolls) and QLY.island should theoretically be able to wear the same clothes. I have not been able to verify myself. The head circumference is compatible with Blythe-sized hat and headwear.
Review
I preordered Mimie pretty much immediately, so I'm one of the very lucky 50! Unfortunately my Mimie had a pretty severely defective left arm, which I discussed a little in my diary when she arrived. Here I will go into more detail.
My Mimie arrived May 24, and came packaged in a box (inside of a shipping box). The doll box is a sturdy cardboard, not too different than the kind of box you'd expect of BJD. Inside the box was packing paper placed on top and around a drawstring bag with custom embroidery, and in this bag was Mimie another bag, plastic this time. She came already dressed, aside from her bonnet and apron. These two items, along with the COA and care guide, were at the bottom of the box underneath everything else. The stand was placed at one end of the box and padded with packing paper.
Mimie's clothes are all really well made and secured with snap clasps. The clothing is of an appropriate weight and fit as to not restrict movement. It was in attempting to dress her that her left arm fell off. The right arm was very stiff, and emitted a pleasant squeak as it was rotated, so you can imagine my surprise when a couple of rotations of the left arm detached it from her body. It could be popped back in, but it would just come out again. I sent an email to QLYwork pretty much immediately, asking what I should do about it.
Luckily, QLYwork handled the situation as professionally as they possibly could have. They were very repsonsive, helpful, and understanding, and didn't make any excuses. They responded to my email and said they'd discuss what to do and get back to me later. The second email arrived two days after that, with the following content:
Hello, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for so long.
Due to variations in the assembly parts of the arm during production, we suspect that the connector between Mimie's left arm and body is slightly larger than usual, causing the ball joint of the arm to not fit snugly.
We have a relatively simple solution, but it requires some tools:
- Hardened top coat for nail art.
- UV flashlight.
If you usually do nail art, you may have these items.
Here's how to use them:
- Apply a thin layer of hardened top coat to the connector of Mimie's left arm and body.
- Shine UV light on the area until the top coat is cured.
- If the arm still falls off after installation, you can continue to apply top coat to the connector and shine UV light on it.
The principle is to shrink the connector part to allow the ball joint of the arm to fit better.
If you don't have the tools mentioned above, you can try using BJD eye putty to fill the connector.
If none of these solutions work well, we will include an extra left arm for Mimie with your next purchase. We will apply nail art hardened top coat to the ball joint to enlarge it, which should make it fit more securely onto the body connector. At that time, you just need to replace the arm.
If you have any questions, please email us, and we will assist you.
This was followed by another email that said If you find Mimie's head is also loose, you can pull it off and add eye putty inside the hole in the head. This will make it easier to pose Mimie.
I tried the putty method and it worked ok, but it made a squishy sound and didn't feel good to turn the arm. I also tried epoxy putty. The arm had to be removed and reinserted several times to check for fit, which eventually started to pull the fur from the arm. It was highly upsetting! So I took their offer for a replacement arm.
About two weeks later, I made a very small purchase and asked if they could send the arm along with it. To my surprise, they responded:
To ensure Minie's arms do not fall off, we decided to send you a complete body for replacement. When you receive it, you can simply remove Minie's head and attach it to the new body. We will cover the shipping cost for the body.
They didn't even ask for the original body back! I was really shocked and certainly underpaid for shipping but I suppose it's really only fair. The replacement body did not come in another box, but was wrapped very securely with bubble wrap. The head was very easy to move over. I played with the new body for a few days to make sure it really was good to go, and it was. I sent QLYwork and email thanking them once more, and they were happy to hear it worked out well. And that's that!
The way that this situation concluded gives me a lot of confidence in their future products, but also some worry. It's difficult for small studios to recoup the losses of mishaps like this one. I would really like to see them continue to make QLY.island dolls, as it seems like they had big plans for the series, but it might be too risky for them at the moment. Mimie really comes across as a test run, and I'm certain I'm not the only one that was effected by a faulty product. Still, QLYwork has my full support so long as they can ensure good quality before shipping out any dolls.