A Small Collection or a Big One?

Right now, my "collection" doesn't seem to exceed more than two complete dolls at a time (I have a few of rolling heads because I can't resist the urge to buy them). I've owned a number of full dolls in the past - about a dozen in total I think - but I always end up selling one whenever I bring in a new one home. I'm a poor student, I just really don't have the money to pamper more than one doll at a time, and frequently I don't have the time for my doll hobby either - so it just feels overwhelming and wasteful to keep more than one doll around in its box. I also don't have a whole lot of space in the bedroom that I rent, so one big doll box and some smaller boxes to store the smaller dolls and accessories is all I can really fit.

So, for now, I have a micro-collection of just 1-2 dolls and their belongings. They're generally dolls that represent the main character in the story I'm working on, and that's it. I'm content with that for now. Hopefully once I'm not longer a student and have a larger stable income, I'll be able to increase the collection size to 5-15 dolls (15 is really pushing it though, I'm thinking closer to 5-10 would be ideal) so I can have multiple characters represented for group photoshoots and more than one doll project to work on at a time.

As far as how big of a collection I think that is... I think that 1-5 dolls is small, 6-20 is medium and anything over that is a large collection. Of course, it also depends on the size of the dolls too - 5 70 cm dolls constitute a considerable financial and spatial investment, but I can fit 5 tinies in my purse. So if someone has a large collection of tinies it's still smaller than a collection of larger dolls of the same quantity.

In any case, I don't think I could ever go over 10-15 dolls. I just don't have the attention span for all of them. However, I LOOOOOVE seeing photos of other people's giant collections - they look really wicked. It's probably an amazing experience to be able to stroll past all of those dolls.

 

Small, definitely. It makes several things easier, like packing, storage, moving, justifying prices, care and attention, display space, wasting less money etc. I consider under 10 small, 5 ideal.

 

I do not really have a limit as to how many dolls I want to own. All i know is that I would like to have every size in my collection one day haha. However, as far as space goes, that could definately change just how many i'll have. Overall, I'm quite comfortable with a bug or small collection.

I would consider a small collection 5 or less. I would consider a big collection to be 15 and up.

 

i prefer to have an smaller collection as of now. so i can appreciate them more. I'm not saying ppl with bigger collections don't, but that's just me

 

If I had, a lot of money, I would get a big collection, but right now the collection, I have is very good and average.

 

Well, I own three dolls at present, and I have three dolls on my wishlist so (allowing for a couple of impulse buys) I'll probably end up with about eight dollies within the next year or so. And I feel that would be a really nice number for a collection.
Actually I can't see myself owning over 10 dolls at any one time, but you never know.

 

I dunno what people consider small and big but I set my mark ages ago when I first got into the hobby -- my collection would never go over ten. If I wanted something over that number, someone else would have to go. As it turned out, I am not an impulse shopper at all anymore, and it takes a LOT for a sculpt to ring my bell. I have six. There are three on my wishlist. That leaves one wild card slot if something really amazing crops up (like...idk, I get into a new fandom and want a doll from that series, since my dolls kind of reflect my fandom history although I sold the Bleach one). Works out pretty well for me.

 

Of course I didn't enter this hobby thinking 'I want to keep my collection small, so I will never have more than five dolls' but that is where I'm at now, mentally. I currently have three, and never want to have more than 6-7 (floating heads not included, hehe.) to ensure I'll always be able to care for and appreciate them all. To me, a collection of five or less is pretty small, ten is a lot and around fifteen I start thinking of it as a very large collection of dolls. The scale of the dolls themselves might have some influence on this, though--a 'large' collection of 70cm guys is always going to seem larger than a group of the same number of tinies...

 

I like having a large collection! My living-room is like a showroom for my own enjoyment, and a museum of curiosities for visitors. I have a great many shelving units from Ikea, each of which has several adjustable shelves, so my dolls have a sort of high-rise-condo residence, with a different decor/mood in each room (and also enough room to store my books & music & doll-clothing-bins & everything else that needs shelving). It's nice to watch them just hanging out in each little 'dorm', as though they were in mid-conversation or mid-party.

I started out just wanting a collection of all the Volks Tokyo Boys, for their charm and stylistic harmony, but very quickly I realized I wanted more types & styles & shapes & colors & sizes than just that. Now that my apartment is full of a huge variety of dolls, and I am between jobs at the moment, I like having this fulfilling collection to sit back & enjoy. I love to just look at them en masse and say "You guys are so cool!"

 

I think I'd prefer a smaller collection, maybe 5 or 6 dolls. Knowing how I am, though, I could very well end up with a rather large collection if I acquire more space and funding after I finish my schooling. Definitely not going to impose any limits on myself, as the idea of selling dolls I really love to make room for dolls I think I will potentially love more saddens me.

 

As long as I can take care of all of them properly.

 

I'm working my way toward a large collection. ^_^

 

I think about 5 or 6 would be a small collection, up towards 15-20 would be a mid sized collection, and 30-50 would be a large collectiong. 50+ would be huge!
But I also think the size of the dolls really matters. 20 tinys would be easier to manage than 20 MSDs or 15 SDs.

I plan on keeping mine very small. I have 3 SDs and 4-5 MSDs that I want and maybe one or two Pukifees. I think that would make a perfect sized collection for me and don't rightly know what I would really do with many more than that. I started wanting the dolls to care for them and make clothing for them; I don't know what I'd do if I had too many to rightly 'spoil'.

 

More doll you've got - less time you can spend with every single one of them. I think it will be difficult to love your doll equally with the large collection.

 

Not always true Limpe, I have a collection that borders on the larger end of the spectrum (but it doesn't really feel like it, as most of mine are tinies!), and I love every one of my dolls as much as the other. Admittedly I have my favourites, and I there are some that get a bit more shelf-time due to fragile parts (or are just darn fiddly to pose) but it doesn't mean I enjoy them any less, and they all get their turn at pampering. XD
I never really wanted limit myself to a specific number, and I don't like selling dolls (I find it a hassle). Most of my dolls start out as a concept or idea, "Patchwork doll", "Unicorn Prince" "Forest Warrior", "Angelic Knight", "Time Traveller" and so on, and then I work from that; you can't really do all those things all at once with a single doll.
I like having my dolls interact with each other and seeing them all together along my shelf, with all the hard work and dedication I've put into to them never ceases to make me smile~ (except when the nagging little voice pipes up saying "she wants more shoes, and she needs a new dress, and she would like different eyes, and he'd look better in another wig..."xD) But my plan is to have them all looking as awesome in real life as they do in my head, and then take photos of everyone~

And as for what I think is small and big? I would consider less than 10 a very small collection, 10-15 a small collection 16-20 as medium sized, and 21-40 would be a bigger sized collection, and 40-50+ is amazing!

 

I like having a small collection because I spend far too much time obsessing over the dolls I do have However, if I could have all the dolls I like, I'd probably jump on that chance too

 

I really cant say for now. I know that I would eventually want five dolls in total but, even then - that's not considering all the future sculpts that would come. It isnt so much the idea of whether or not you want a small or big collection but rather the amount of dolls youre comfortable with.

 

I planned on having a very small "collection" of two dolls. I suddenly fell in love with these strange things and just had to have them and was only planning on two.

And then suddenly, after I had them, I just... had to have another! ...and then another! I started to write stories about my dolls as characters, and then there were more characters that needed to have dolls to represent them. It started to get a little crazy. Where did my money go? Why am I not a rich woman?? *CRIES*!

Anyway, I currently have 6 dolls, and at this rate, who knows how large my collection will ultimately be. My character base keeps growing as my story keeps growing. I want to limit myself at... 15? but I can't say for sure.

To answer your question as to what is a large collection, I would say anything over 20. That's a ton of BJDs considering how expensive they are compared to most other dolls.

 

Personally, I like the idea of a small collection so I can spoil my dolls. It kind-of irks me when I see an incredibly large collection of dolls and some of them don't have proper clothing--such as no shirts or shoes, and sometimes a missing wig--or proper care, like they're sitting in a bizarre pose implying they were dropped and not fixed.

 

i don't think the size of your collection (not just with dolls, but with any collectible object) is the issue at stake. i think that how much you truly appreciate what you have is the most important thing of all, whether you have 1 doll or 100.