Create a Doll with Your Own Face

Are you a 3D image fan, ready to splurge some more money on your hobby? Got a 3D printed avatar, a self-portrait, some other stuff, but you crave for something out of the way that would really satisfy you and make a gem of your collection? Or maybe you want to make your daughter happy?

Here’s an offer – make up your mind whether it’s a bit macabre or just unbelievably cute – from the Japanese 3D printing specialists Clone Factory. Once you’ve paid them $1,300, which is not exorbitant for such a toy, they will make a doll with your face – or the face of anyone you fancy.

This doll-cloning is not a very complicated affair, as reports Danny Choo of Culture Japan. The customer is placed on a chair around which are set digital SLR cameras that take pictures in a sequence. Then a technician creates a digital map of the photographed head and has it printed in plaster. As ink layers are put on the plaster, it hardens and acquires the likeness of the original.

TechHandle informs that Japanese women have taken to cloning themselves in an attempt to capture in this fashion their weddings and other special occasions, the clones complete with hair, makeup and the clothes they were wearing on the memorable day.

Still, there are some dissentient voices hinting that, unlike other 3D prints, such dolls can affect the owner’s reputation adversely. “Whatever you do, don’t make eye contact,” is the opinion of fashion blog Messy Nessy Chic.

Is it just outbursts of initial reluctance from the squeamish or has Clone Factory really gone overboard with it?