a bjd's lifespan

He's by no means the oldest doll on DoA, not by a long shot, but my Hypermaniac Omiclon was made at the very end of 2003 or the very beginning of 2004. I'm at least his second owner. His faceup is still intact, he's only been restrung once, and if he has yellowed, the change is so subtle I can't detect it. My much younger Dollstown Mui is also much yellower than Omiclon, just because his resin started out that way.

So there's one doll who's a good four years old and isn't melting into goo, or whatever people mean by "disintegrating." I would love to hear from some of the earliest members of DoA--I'm sure people still have at least a few of the dolls they bought in 1999 and 2000.

 

My oldest are my Elf Shiwoos, who are... a bit more than four years old now, I think? They're fine. They haven't turned weird colors or gotten brittle or anything like that.

My friend Minoko has two Volks girls from 2001, and while they're yellower than her more recent additions they seem to have held up pretty well, too. She hasn't mentioned any problems with them. So... That's at least seven years they'll last.

 

I remember seeing someone not too long ago that had an original four sisters head with it's original faceup still intact.

 

Well, the first Dollfies were the 1999 Volks Four Sisters, right? I've painted a few of these and they usually look great! The more opaque resins will age better, because light can't penetrate as far...

I've heard that all resin ends up fluorescent olive green. I can't remember where I read that, haha. I hope it's not true... but at least I collect mostly non-humans anyhow!

Raven

 

I do not know how old my Volks MSD Maggie is. She is oldskin and has no head plate. She's never had one, there's no "space" for it or evidence it was ever there.

I have been told 2004 by some people, but I was recently told no way, she's definitely older. *shrug* She was secondhand. I'll probably never know for sure...I'm coming up on a year of owning her myself, though.

 

I also have a old volks girl on an old Delf body. The head has no place for a plate either. (it's and F-13 head.) And the Delf body has some parts glued instead of one whole piece. Dose anyone have any idea on how old that would be? Just curious!

 

I'm sure if that happens, people will just develop a way to redye dolls to fix it afterwards.

 

i think resin is like many plastics
it ages, just as everybody says, but i think the yellowing is way exaggerated. unless you let your dolls eat rays of sunshine all day, they should last you a good long time without yellowing, however it will happen.
but as far as warping resin, and disintegrating, i think its just like plastic. it will last a long time, as long as it is taken care of.
i have barbies that i've had fr a good 12 years that are perfectly fine, (aside from the frizzy hair) and while that isn't resin i don't think it's much different.

=]

 

I have a DoD Bee-a, from probably within 6 months of when they were released(Completely forgot what year that was ^^; ) And as far as I can tell she's hardly yellowed. Still has the same face-up too. She's from the era when DoD painted them so a nuclear blast wouldn't budge them She's never stayed in a box and she's still in great condition, still has the original elastic, and seems set to go for many more years.

 

My friend has a 1999 Volks four sisters girl...and she still looks fine, even compared to his relatively newer 2002 four sisters girl. It's all in how you look at it, anyway...most yellowing, except in rare extreme cases, is so subtle that you don't even notice it unless you have a newer doll to compare with. Over time it will probably get worse...but I'm more interested in enjoying my dolls NOW instead of worrying about the future ^^

 

Huh... well I plan on having MOST of my dolls as long as I can manage (my family does tend to shift, these days). But I am not one to keep them in a box. I don't understand that, and it may be that I just don't have that "collector" gene. They're to enjoy, and hold, and fuss over.

Yep, they yellow. Oh well. I get age spots too!

 

Exactly! We can grow old together.

 

OpheliaB has does the head cap attach to the skull on your Maggie?

I have a Volks MSD Sakura from November 2002, and while not the oldest doll she's definitely on the older side. I'll try to get some pictures of her today. She does look yellower compared the to the newer Volks UV protect resins which to me always have a white with a hint of rose tinge.

As for face-ups... I think the longest non-default face-up I've had is from March 2006. Other than the attached eyelashes getting mucked up I don't think it's shown any signs of wear?

 

Thats just stupid. Just because the resin changes color a bit doesn't mean you need to get rid of your doll or that its no good anymore. It means the resale value may drop a tad, but its not going to dissolve or anything. Of course you can pass it on. Hell, you could pass it on with broken fingers and a terrible faceup. Just don't expect any one doll to be worth $500 forever, that's unrealistic. The market changes constantly.

She's definately much older. They started putting number plates late 2001/early 2002.

 

Hm. I have to think - Jenna is my oldest bjd (not the one I have had the longest, as I'm her second owner, but I know Cindy had her for a couple years before she had her come live with me.

She got her Feb 27th, 2004. So Jenna is a 4 year old bjd and she is still as perfectly beautiful as the day I got her!

I have seen some pretty yellow bjds but it's all up to you, whether it bothers you or not, etc.

 

Nothing last forever--people just have to reconcile themselves to that. However... the rate of aging is important. If color-change keeps happening until resin is green, if it happens hundreds of years from now, no big deal. But if resin will turn green after 10 or 20 years, that's going to be more of a factor, since by 5 years it'll be half-way to fluorescent olive, which won't be so good, either...! Does anyone know when resin will turn this serious green color???

Fading or slight color change is no big deal.

Will resin change over time in other respects? Will it get brittle? Will it crack or flake? Will it shrink? Get soft?

The dolls have only been around briefly. Is there another way to check out how polyurethane resin ages?

 

Look in the construction industry testing, where furniture and flooring have been finished with polyurethane for at least 30 years, iirc. I haven't heard of any olive green floors that didn't involve dyestuffs.

Ann in CT

 

I've always thought of yellowing as a highly exaggerated thing till I visited a sumika in osaka last year I was pretty shocked to see how some of the dolls on display had yellowed.. I think fluorescent lights are much deadlier than sunlight. My 3 year old SwD Mika has yellowed very slightly compared to her counterpart who was on display.

However, my 4 year old DoC boy doesn't seem to have yellowed at all.. its really strange *0*

 

I'm not so sure that its a huge issue--there are doll that have been around for more than five years that are definitely not halfway to radioactive green color. A lot of how they age is going to depend on what they're exposed to and how they're cared for (are they displayed away from sunlight, exposed to cigarrette smoke, are they kept somewhere that tends to get hot, etc.) If doll owners use some basic precautions, I wouldn't think they would get drastic color change very quickly.

 

In January of 2005, shortly after joining here, I received my Anais 2 in the mail, fresh from the scalper's ebay! Realizing I'd just spent about 1100 on a doll that was made of a substance I knew little about, I emailed Nick Hill, a Doll Reader columnist and owner of Twin Pines of Maine who makes cleaning and restoration products for collectible toys.

I asked him about resin, its possible downsides and was it anything remotely archival?

He answered that resins had been around since the 1930s, and correctly formulated are chemically inert. They don't decompose or degrade. They can be cleaned with acetone, painted on with oils even...

Of course he did say "Properly Formulated". I think that's the fly in the ointment. There are a great many "resin" formulations. Some are undoubtedly more fallible than others, and will age differently.

If I still have his letter, I'll re-post it here...


My oldest doll is my MSD Shinshiya, whom I bought "brand new" in kit form just this last fall (Sept 2007). Her resin was as new as can be... fresh and beautiful.
Of course since 2003 (the year on her headplate) she has been sealed in baggies in her box. It think "sealed" is quite the hint here. She hadn't been exposed to light or oxygen during those years, and it undoubtedly made a difference.

Raven