2019 doll plans!

At the start of 2019 I had a long list of different dolls I wanted to buy, but now?... My plan is to just focus on getting bodies for my three floating heads: Dollzone Devon, LR Kaylar, and Minifee Honoka. But damn the urge to buy a Minifee Lucywen or Ante is sooooo strong.
And gods damn it I need to make clothes for my dolls! They have gorgeous artist face ups and wigs but their clothes have been cut out and in pieces on my desk for months. I really need to force myself to just put them together, it won’t even take me that long...

 

I'm getting back into the BJD hobby after a nearly ten year hiatus. I'll be spending the remainder of 2019 carefully figuring out what sculpt I want and would match the personality/character ideas I have for them. Then it will just be a matter of saving my money and planning outfits and accessories.

 

Welcome back! I came back after a hiatus this year too. Happy hunting for the perfect scuplt!

 

My plans are still saving up cause I don't know what first doll I should get

 

The year is almost over! I thought I should give a second update on my progress.

New

• Put Loong Soul Yun Zhong Jun on layaway.
  I will be doing this around November~December. I really like their 80cm body so I'd like to see him tower over all of the other guys who are at most 75cm. I will think about the clothes later.
  
  
• Order (more) Dokkebijudan outfits for my dolls.
  This one is new and underway. I recently got an outfit for my Soom Ender and I felt like I found exactly what I was looking for! I have already ordered an outfit for my female grail and I will be ordering an outfit for my Shoshon once that one is complete. Consider me a repeat customer!
  
  
• Learn beading and work on needle felting.
  I want to create a hair accessory for my Shoshon and I'd like to do it myself. I think it will be a nice craft to know. I have needle felting supplies, so I'd like to practice on that skill as well.

Complete

• Order Ringdoll S.
  I have already finished paying for him but I have yet to receive him. I hope he can arrive by the end of the year but he keeps seeing delays. I ordered him in December 2018 so it has been a rather long wait. I'm still looking forward to seeing his handsome face in person! I think I might need to get him a new wig, but I won't be able to decide until I try on the wig that is waiting for him. I also need to get him eyes but I want to make sure I have the perfect size for him.
  
  
• Start watching Soom like a hawk.
  My Ender is complete and I actually ordered a romantic Shoshon after that. I'm super excited for him as I have already finished planning for him. Soom guys are definitely my favorite and I will be sure to add more to my collection. Watching Soom is a big priority for me.
  
  
• Revisit each sculpt I want and determine whether I really want it and look over concepts for each one that does pass.
  I actually ended up adding more sculpts to my wish list, but I will revisit them all after I give it some thought. Making character sketches has really helped the process.

Underway

• Finalize my SWITCH Waseon and get the Dollstown body I want for him.
  I have a lot of inspiration for Waseon right now. He's one of my grails so I really want to see him completed. His body is high on my priorities but it will still need to wait until next year (unless something changes and I can get it sooner)! I have found suitable eyes, so I just need to give him a face-up. I will be doing that this month.
  
  
• Order doll stands.
  I found the doll stands I would like to buy. I will be purchasing one to try it out and will be purchasing more if it works well for what I need.
  
  
• Upgrade my face-up skills.
  I've been working with my upgraded supplies and the process is much faster. I am still practicing. Can I even cross this one off the list? There is always room for improvement.

Delayed

• Order the Little Monica Sophia head and put the Luts body for her on layaway!
  I still have this plan for next year. The timing is not right but I do want to order a Little Monica doll soon. I have already have her wig, so it gives me some incentive to purchase the doll so it can be used.
  
  
• Look into wig making.
  No progress here. I will think about it later when I have more free time.
  
  
• Finish my SWITCH Doha.
  I gave his body to a different doll who had a body sculpt I did not like. Doha will have to wait. I'm not sure when he'll be finished. He's not a high priority right now.
  
  
• Get Souris Etoile Chei.
  Orders for him have not opened from what I've seen, so I am still waiting on this.

Dropped

• Move my female grail to a different body.
  I decided to keep her on her original body as I'm going to buy her head sculpt in a different resin color. Her sculpt is too good to just have one!
  
  
• Possibly get Iplehouse's Claude or Little Monica's Luke.
  I don't want Iplehouse's Claude anymore and Luke is going to sit on my wish list for a while.

Thinking forward to 2020, I want completion to be my goal for the year! I was finally able to complete a proper doll and it was very satisfying. I'd like to complete even more dolls. I feel like I have a lot more inspiration and that is a great thing!

 

My plan this year was to not get anymore dolls, merely waiting for my Volks doll I ordered at the end of 2018. Which I have been anxiously awaiting all year to find out if he will even be ready this year or if I will have to wait till 2020 before he gets to come home :O

Then I won a doll contest at a con in Spring and was able to purchase a new doll body, totally unexpected.
Then Fall gets here and I unexpectedly have a change to buy another doll that I couldn't pass up.

I had somewhat hoped to be able to get my floating head his body but that didn't happen, will have to become a goal for 2020.

 

So for the 2019 year I plan to:
Update 2019-03-30, 2019-10-22
1. Buy a cheap 1/3 girl body, preferably a sd13. I am thinking of sculpting one instead. Anyway, I will not be able to do anything until the end of the year.
2. Get/Make a head for the body, which I already own. I plan to get Ringdoll Jason/Messenger head. Ordered it through taobao. In transit to me.
3. Make a taobao order in process. DONE new doll clothes and shoes.
4. Learn to make shoes in process. I have bought some pieces I have been missing, made patterns and tape forms.
5.Sew some clothes in process, Got the textiles. I need to decide on style and what patterns to use.
6. Maybe get another 1/3 doll/body? I want DF-A Su Yan I do not know, which year I will get him, but I am definitely getting him. I am moving this point to 202? plans. I am no longer sure I could handle such a big doll, too.
7. Make more jewelry and accesories I have bought some rhinestones and other components for jewelry making. I still need to buy chains, cords and one more thing.
8. Give my Harucasting Adori a new faceup
9. Acquire bodies for my Unoa faceplates Moved to 202? plans
10. Make wigs for Messenger. Made a wig stand. Will start making wigs in May Nope. May do it in November, December
11. Sculpt new and finish old dolls! Did not sculpt at all this year. Drafted some plans, sanded some parts
12.I need to buy new glasses and new computer. New glasses.

 

Since the 2020 thread is up now and I don’t really have any plans for the remainder of the year, it’s update time!

original post:

Spoiler

My mid-year move has been delayed indefinitely so it didn’t have the financial impact on my collection goals I was anticipating. This year I successfully attended Dolpa, sold everything I wanted to sell besides one pair of eyes and one pair of shoes, & didn’t need to make the Enchanted Doll eyes order since they were a dealer at Dolpa and I was able to get some there.
I still haven’t made the Crobidoll wig order, for no real reason, but my boys did get a couple new wigs. I did buy some new boys clothes, too, though I would still like to add more to their wig and clothes collections.
I pared down my wishlist for older outfits/wigs but still did not manage to come across any of the pieces I was searching. So, a few things will roll over into next year. I did successfully manage to focus on the dolls I have and did not get any new dolls.
On to next year planning!

 

I love year-end updates. It's nice to see how everybody progressed in the hobby.

Here are the goals I accomplished (at least in part):

• Bring home at least one of the following bodies: Switch 65 boy, Switch 57cm girl, SD16, SDGR Girl, or Sadol63. I brought home two Sadol girl bodies and the Switch 57 girl body!
• Face-ups for Oasisdoll Natalie, Migidoll Jina, Edelweiss Gideon, and Rosettadoll Zio. Migidoll Jina and Rosettadoll Agave got faceups!
• Taobao order for clothes - I did this a few times. ^^;
• Enchanted doll eyes order - I did an order with Vings instead because they reopened. But I'm still planning on ED in the future.

And we've still got a couple of months left, so I still have some time for these:

• Doll profiles!!
• Practice sewing and face-ups
• Attempt wig-making

 

Here we are at the end of the year, and I’m taking a final stock of my year’s accomplishments in this amazing hobby. I’m already working on my new 2020 list of course, but I wanted to revisit 2019 and report on how it went. Here’s what I did:

1. First things first, pay off my final remaining layaway from 2018 (Volks SD13 F-15 Syo...Done!) Make her a new wardrobe of tie-dyed goodness (by joining in on the Sewing Project threads every month until it's done.) (15 outfits made...this retro fashionista is beyond done!) And build her a fun collection of colorful wigs and eyes to suit her retro 60s flower-child theme. (3 pairs of eyes and 8 wigs...so I can count this as done!)
2. And once again Luts has snagged me during their winter event.So I’ll be taking the majority of 2019 to pay off a nice big extended layaway with FF&D for the new Luts sculpt (Senior Delf Kathy) as well as additional Luts items like wigs, eyes, and outfits I’ve been wanting for a long time. (Done!) Then I’ll need to find the perfect name and character for her (Done!)
3. Pay off the layaways for my Dollzone Tarot the Star head (Done!) and her Doll Chateau K-05 body. (Done!) Then work on her face-up while refining my ideas about her name, character, style and display. (Done!) Make her a wig (Done...I actually wound up making her 3!)
4. Now that I’ve purchased my account upgrade, continue updating my Doll Profiles until ALL my crew are properly represented. (I really hope to have this completed by the end of the year.) (Done!)
5. Re-do the face-up on my Volks MSD F-04 Mire. (Done!)
6. Happy days! I was just able to snag a crucial member of my crew after a hunt that has lasted 7 years! My little personal fairy companion, Grannybelle, is finally being reshelled as a Fairyland Realfee June! So now she will need a face-up on all 3 of her face-plates, (Done!) a wig (I wound up making 3, but my new puppy ate one, so I made her a couple more!...so yep, done!) special eyes (Bought her 3 pairs of Oscar jewelled eyes in different colors...so definitely done!) and a display area (Done!)
7. And because I’ve finally found this very important and pivotal character for my collection...NO MORE DOLLS this year!!! (I really mean it this time!!!) Yeah, right! This one didn’t last long...like only one week! Darn that Doll Chateau for suddenly discontinuing so many of their lovely dolls at once, forcing me to jump on the layaway bandwagon once again in order to get their spider girl Elizabeth before she’s gone forever! I’m so weak...EPIC FAIL ON THIS ONE!....Yeah, even more than I initially thought. Layaways really killed me this year (too many cute, unplanned tinies suddenly jumping on board)...Yikes!
8. Rework my extensive collection of Lego Elves as a special display for my 3 BJDs who rule that world (Lady Shalimar, Georgie, and Lady Shandre.) This is a huge undertaking because it entails redoing an entire room, building shelves, etc. Done!
9. Work on a special hat collection for my larger girls. (10 hats collected...and 2 more made.)
10. Continue taking part in the sewing workshop threads here on DoA, making outfits for any other dolls who need them. (1 dark mori outfit made for Bellamorte, 3 fairytale skirts with matching head-bows made for Candy Pop, 2 carnival outfits made for Aubergine, 5 Bohemian shabby chic outfits made for Birdie, 1 mori/dolly kei outfit made for Bellamorte, ...)
11. Create a very special display space for Chinoiserie (Luts Senior Delf Kathy) and refinish my grandmother’s old asian-inspired jewelry box as a sentimental and integral prop for her character. Done!
12. Continue working on my Chic Sparrow doll journal. (This simply wasn’t working for me...but in the end I found out there was such a thing as digital journals...an epiphany! I chose Penzu, which is free and lets me add both photos and text. I was able to easily download all my info from my DoA doll profiles, plus insert my doll photos without having to physically print them out. This is easy, time-saving, very fluid for any changes I wish to make (editing is a snap) and entirely private...the perfect way to document a good sized collection. So yay, I can finally count this one as done!)
13. Face-up and body blushing for Candy Pop. Done!
14. Come up with a name and character for my Soom Glati/Alk. Give her a new face-up and body blushing. Done!

 

Well,,, NONE of that happened. What instead happened was me reshuffling my entire collection.

current goals for 2019:
1) mod Dollstown 18 to take wings, for Zariel. Figure out if you're sculpting wings or using a set that is marginally too small. also make her the extra ankle bits to make her a little taller.

2) figure out if Vidania is getting that Resinsoul body, and finish the scars/tattoo mod that you got really carried away at.
2a) if she is instead taking the dc body, please get started on painting her.

3) begin the lengthy mayhem that is your Acyra mod project. Start with the MtF mod, and finding hands and feet you like for that body, as well as somehow making it just a little taller, because 75 cm is not tall enough for your mayhem. also, at risk of sounding repetitive, she also needs wings.

4) wig(s) for Zilvriia, becasue she's changed her hair just so many times.

5)mask for Moriah, which I actually think is her name this time. Maybe.

6)Figure out who you're keeping and list everyone else. It's time for a change. Almost all the characters listed in all the other points from November are not accurate anymore. at risk of sounding melodramatic, figure out who feels like they're yours.

 

@PoeticSoul congratulations on accomplishing almost everything you'd planned for this year!

as for me, I did a lot of the things I'd planned, but nowhere close to everything...

as usual, here's the original list of stuff I had planned, with updates:

-get my Souldoll Robb painted and make him a decent outfit to replace the placeholder junk he's been wearing
...and he's STILL waiting on his clothes. this is probably gonna get rolled over to next year, chances of me finishing it in the next 3 weeks are slim to none.

-finish modding my Granado Nightmare Boyd head, get him colormatched to the body I have for him and get his face painted, buy him eyes and new hands, make him a wig and something to wear
well, he's fully modded, painted, I made him his own clothes and got him a pair of his own boots, his eyes FINALLY arrived after a 5-month wait, and his wig is in progress...so I came fairly close to completing this one. not 100%, but close.

-finish the leg replacement mod on my Elfdoll Rita hybrid that I've been dragging out for absolutely ever because it takes a LOT of sanding and dremeling; restring her and buy her a new pair of eyes.
this was completely done as of last time except for the eyes. I'm seriously considering trying again with making my own eyes because I'm so sick of the crazy wait times on eyes, but I don't want to tackle that project till I have more of the rest of my list completed...so that's probably a next year thing.

-replace my Supia Muriel hybrid's super wonky Doll Family hands and do some body blushing on her
decided to buy her a new body, which won't happen till 2020 at the earliest.

-redo the tattoos on my Islanddoll Noah hybrid
completely done! also I love how they came out!

-learn to make shoes; I've been wanting to do this anyway and now I have the perfect motivation in the form of an Iple girl with huge feet who can't wear any of the shoes in my kind of large shoe collection
yup this one is gonna have to be a next year thing too...didn't get to it at all.

I'd also like to continue improving my photography and my pattern-making skills, and to make some headway on the torn-apart travesty that is my art/sewing/doll room. It's in mid-renovation and it feels pretty chaotic and isn't the most user-friendly work space or a particularly nice setting in which to photograph my dolls and doll projects right now.
calling all of these done! I successfully did several projects that stretched my pattern making skills and made me feel like I'd leveled up, I like the doll photos I took this year, and I took my art room from a completed gutted room that was torn down to the studs to a room that, while still needing some trim and cabinets, is finished enough to be totally useable and comfortable.

And then there's also the head I want to at least start on trying to sculpt....! I've made quite a number of very blobby, very ugly practice heads in the last year and a half, and I wanted to hopefully get at least the beginnings of a decent one made in this coming year..
continued working on this, got to the point where I was ready to cut the headcap off, and...the whole head cracked and broke. Sculpey is so hard to cook just right...I was using the gray Sculpey extra firm. in the coming year I'm definitely going to try again, this time going back to LaDoll paperclay.

-get my new, completely blank Angel of Dream Yuki painted, buy her eyes, make her a wig, and make her something to wear
still working on my third attempt at her wig, hoping to complete that this month...but I won't get her outfit sewn until next year.

I think getting my art space sorted was the biggest thing I had planned this year, and now that it's a useable space again, I should have much better success in 2020 with actually doing all the crafting, sewing and photos I want to do with my dolls. But overall, I'm pretty happy with how my doll hobby went in 2019!

 

Well, lets see how I did...

1) I found a sculpt to fit that one character... I do not have him complete, but his head has arrived and I did his face up before it got too cold. I intend to order his body before the end of December.

2) I'm down to two floating heads, including the guy mentioned in point 1, so that's REALLY good, especially since both heads are new from this year. The heads I had at the start of the year all got bodies.

3) I wound up getting two full dolls that I hadn't actually planned for at the beginning of the year, but they're fairly complete. One of them could use some clothes.

4) The company stopped selling the head! There wasn't even any warning. It was out of stock for a while, and now the page isn't even there anymore. I guess I could write to them and ask. I did see it come up in the marketplace once, but they were charging more than the original cost due to the face-up which I didn't want and would have wiped as soon as it arrived, so I didn't get it.

5) I didn't do as much sewing, etc as I wanted to, but I did get a considerable amount of doll-related crafting done. I made two wigs (one of them is a ventilated wig and took FOREVER). I've cast some eyes, but I haven't painted any lately. I did eight or nine face-ups. I dyed a few dolls, and restrung a few too. I feel like my collection is getting closer to where I want it to be in terms of how the dolls look so overall, I'd say the year went well!

 

Hoo boy looking back at my goals is a bit surreal. I've achieved quite a bit, but plans have changed. I feel like 2020 is going to be the year of reversing some of these decisions.

I techincally achieved by goal of bringing Portobello home, but I never color matched her head. I've found myself very frustrated over shelling pre-designed characters. If I had finished Portobello, I would have needed to bring in the rest of her entourage, which... no. I'm tired of the anxiety brought by not finding the right sculpt. Portobello is still a beloved character of mine, but I don't think I'll keep her as a doll.

Whoo! I'm so glad this one was achieved @_@

I'll have my Brioche for sale and I may sell by other Zuzu Delf. Colette, by Dearmine Lily, is staying though. I have no plans of selling her now or ever.

I litterally have no memory of wanting to make a room box for my tinies... Although, I do have a little space for them on my nightstand. And they do have flowers and a carpet so I guess this was semi achieved.

Never modded the GEM of Doll. Instead, I reshelled Magnolia as a Super Dollfie F_73. This was before I decided to stop shelling my pre-established characters.

I have one of the Honey Delf sized briefcases from LUTS and I love it! I'd like to get one for SD size.

Lol I over spent.

Onto 2020!

 

Great plan! That's exactly what I need to be doing! Were you able to stick to it? I don't know if I'll have the willpower! lol