1. "Rua Doll" Subculture in Asia

1.1 The meaning of "rua"

In fact, "rua" has two meanings. One is from the two dimension culture, ACGN works commonly use this word to indicate the roar of monsters. The other meaning of "rua" is from the dialect of some places in China, like Sichuan, where "rua" means "touch, rub, pinch". Therefore, "rua" is a better way to express the comfortable feeling of touching and kneading a plush toy or pet. We can use the word "pet" to express the meaning of "rua" better. For example: "Can I rua/pet your cat? She's so adorable!"

1.2 What are Cotton Dolls?

Cotton dolls are dolls whose main body is made of "cotton."

It first originated in Korea where fan culture is prevalent. The management company cartooned the images of popular idols and made them into cotton dolls of about 10, 15, or 20 cm in height, and distributed them to the fan base as official merchandise. 

Cotton dolls with cute images and attributes of idols have become popular with fans as soon as they are launched. This kind of cotton doll is light and easy to carry. So many fans love to take their favorite idol image of the cotton doll to the idol event site, to support their oshi (member they support). The fandom is very focused on buying merch to support their idol. Due to its huge fan base in Asia, the cotton doll became rapidly popular.

Those cotton dolls with idol attributes are also known as "idol dolls". With the rapid development of cotton dolls, "attributeless dolls" with no idol attributes, "character dolls" that take images from characters from TV series, anime, and manga, and " doll clothes" also have rapid growth.

Get Attributeless Dolls dressed up with Doll Clothes and Accessories

2. Why do People Love Cotton Dolls?

2.1 What are the advantages of Cotton Dolls?

Cotton dolls are no longer just a fan subculture as they were in the beginning, as long as you are a doll lover can buy or even customize your own cotton dolls, and dress them up according to your preferences.

To sum up, "rua doll" will give you almost the same experience as having a cat or a dog, because the cotton doll is very healing to the touch. Not only that, like BJD dolls, you can also change it with cute mini clothes, mini accessories, and even matching mini furniture such as small tables, small chairs, etc. In China, some cotton doll lovers even jokingly claim they are "raising a baby."

2.2 Cotton Doll v.s BJD Doll

BJD, short for "Ball—jointed Doll", refers to any dolls that link up with ball and socket joints. It is because of this special structure that BJD can show more vivid, richer movements and postures. 

Most contemporary BJDs are taller than past dolls (ranging from 10cm to 70cm), which makes for a wider room for shaping dolls. BJD dolls can not only change clothes, but also modify makeup, switch hands and feet, hair, and even eyes. Therefore BJD to the player's charm is endless, it gives the player a space to show their personality without restraint.

Therefore BJD dolls are more vivid and much more expensive than cotton dolls.

Besides, BJD is made according to the reduced proportion of normal people, relatively thin, while the cotton doll is a cute cartoon version image, much fatter, so their clothes can not be interchangeable.

3. Five Common Knowlege of Cotton Doll

Here are five common knowledge you should know about cotton dolls: the process of making a cotton doll, three types of cotton dolls, the size and type of attributeless cotton dolls, doll clothes, and doll accessories. Make you check this article out if you are new to cotton dolls.

3.1 How to Make a Cotton Doll

① Paper Design

The designer will draw the paper design of the cotton doll according to the requirements. If customers want to customize, cotton dolls can also be customized according to the provided paper design or physical samples from customers.

② Get 2D Pattern Pieces 

The pattern maker will break the given paper design into 2D pattern pieces on the computer.

③ Make Pattern Pieces by Laser Cutting

Use the high-precision laser cutting machine to cut the pattern, with fast speed and less furring. Batch-produced pattern pieces have stable quality.

④ Computerized Embroidery

The doll's eyes, nose, mouth, and other body decorations are made according to the design using computerized embroidery techniques.

⑤ Pattern Pieces Sewing

Skilled tailors sew the pattern pieces that have been cut out and computer embroidered into a complete body. The sewing workers are very skilled, the alignment is fine, neat, and even, eliminating the phenomenon of open thread, jumping thread, walking thread, etc.

⑥ Cotton Filling

Use the high-pressure cotton filling machine to fill high elasticity cotton into the doll body, filling speed is fast and uniformity is good.

⑦ Adjustment

After the cotton filling is finished, use the tool to adjust the density of the cotton to make the doll's body shape full and lovely.

⑧ Stitching the Cotton-filled Slit

Sew up the cotton filling slit, then get a complete cotton doll!

⑨ Batch Production Line

The batch production line is also very professional, which ensures that every cotton doll has exquisite design, high restoration, and good quality.

3.2 Types of Cotton Doll

There are mainly three types of cotton dolls: idol dolls, character dolls, and attributeless dolls. Among them, attributeless cotton dolls are now the most trending doll type among ordinary doll lovers.

① Idol Doll

BTS Kpop Plush Doll

② Character Doll or "IP" Doll

Character Cotton Doll of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (鬼滅の刃)

Character Cotton Doll of Mo Dao Zu Shi(魔道祖师)

③ Attributeless Doll

Attributeless Cotton Dolls

3.3 Size and Type of Attributeless Cotton Doll

① Size

On our site, most of the attributeless cotton dolls are 20cm, there are also 23cm, 24cm, and 30cm. Here are some examples that can all find on our website.

20cm Cotton Doll

23cm Cotton Doll

24cm Cotton Doll

35cm Cotton Doll

② Type

Attributeless cotton dolls also have types, you can find girl cotton dolls, boy cotton dolls, cotton dolls with animal ears, and cotton dolls without decoration on our website.

Girl Cotton Dolls

Boy Cotton Dolls

Cotton Dolls with animal ears

Cotton Dolls without decoration

3.4 Doll Clothes

The doll clothes on our website are made in a loose fit suitable for different heights of fat body types and normal body types of cotton dolls.

① Lolita Dress for Cotton Doll

② Kawaii Top/Bottom Set for Cotton Doll

 ③ Suits for Cotton Doll

 ④ T-shirts/Hoodies for Cotton Doll

 ⑤ JK Uniforms for Cotton Doll

 ⑥ Kawaii Sleepwear for Cotton Doll

 ⑦ Mermaid Set for Cotton Doll

⑧ Plush Cloak for Cotton Doll

3.5 Doll Accessories

Accessories for 20cm cotton dolls, such as shoes, KC, hairbands, animal ear/tail set, neck accessories, etc. are available on our website.

If you don't know how to wear doll accessories for cotton dolls please check the image below.

How to wear an animal ear/tail set for a cotton doll

How to wear Doll Shoes

The following are 6 kinds of doll accessories from our website, which you can check before you buy any to match your cotton doll's clothes.

① Bowknot Hairband for Cotton Doll

② Neck Accessories for Cotton Doll

③ Shoes for Cotton Doll

④ Animal Ear/Tail Set for Cotton Doll

Wolf Ear/Tail

Fox Ear/Tail

Cat Ear/Tail

⑤ Plush Ear KC for Cotton Dolls

Lace Ruffles Kitty Ears KC for Cotton Doll

Plush Kitty Ears Hairband for Cotton Doll

Plush Bunny Ears Hairband for Cotton Doll

Lace Ruffles Bunny Ears KC for Cotton Doll

Plush Bunny Ears Hairclip for Cotton Doll

⑥ Shaggy Ear KC for Cotton Dolls

Some shaggy ear KC has magnet version and normal version, the difference is shown as below.

Bunny Ear KC for Cotton Doll 

Dog Ear KC for Cotton Doll

Wolf Ear KC for Cotton Doll

*Please Click Dolls and Doll Clothes to find cotton dolls with different eye colors, hair, and height; doll clothes in different styles, and various doll accessories.