All done! Now what?

They just sat on a shelf collecting dust for three years. I'm thinking of selling them and buying one new doll, since I obviously didn't need three and a head.

Edit: I feel it prudent to mention that I did all the modding, faceupping, and scaled props, etc I could hope for in the six years I've owned them. After a while, it just felt like I'd enjoyed them all that I could.

 

Well, once I get the few in that I want, I'd like to try my hand at photostories. But for me to do in scale props would take forever! Maybe walls wouldn't be so bad, but the little thing most people have around would be!

 

Sets! Once my dolls (Vampire Princess Miyu and Larva) are complete I want to make them a nice place for display, a slightly darkened shelf space that will look like Miyu's realm. I'm sure I'll play with them from time to time, but for the most part I want them for display.

I imagine at that point I'll start planning the next doll.

 

Sew more clothes (you can never have enough clothes...), redo face-ups, and lots of photography.

 

I'd try to learn proper photography. My dolls are so beautiful (IMHO) it's sad that they have to occupy my feeble attempts at composing neat photographs to share them with...

 

I've started to try to sew my own clothes and learn better photography skills.

 

When all of my dolls are finally complete, I'm looking forward to focusing on my photography and putting together some scale backgrounds and props!

 

I thought I was done at 20, 30, 35, 40, 50, and again at 55.

I just rescued another tiny from eBay. I probably need to work on the plan of changing some around and upgrading them eventually...but I also make clothes, jewelry, and take photographs. I don't think I'll ever be done.

 

I don't really know, I think I'll do the same thing that I do now; take tons of pictures, and try to make my dolls match my imagination in any way possible. Though, the backdrops and scale items sound like a really good idea!

 

I just like to sit there and look at 'em. That's what they're for.

And I never get tired of photographing them, either. If I ever have a free afternoon with enough daylight hours, I grab that tripod and pick a doll. Free time has been so rare lately-- when I DO get to finally pick up a doll for a photoshoot, I feel like we're old friends who haven't seen each other in years-- and when I start to photograph him, I'm overwhelmed by his beauty and how wonderful he is and what I originally loved about him.

If I have the time to change their clothes & mess around with a new look, that's even more fun... I get to discover/rediscover how great that doll looks in that outfit/eyes/hair/shoes/etc. (and it always precipitates a new photoshoot, too).

 

This is me right now. I did a lot buying and selling this past year and ending up with three (one of which is still on the way) dolls that I truly feel satisfied with. Of course there are ones that I like would purchase, but I can live without em.

I'm still building up a wardrobe and wig collection for them though as well as investing in doll stands.

 

I'm getting close to that place... I have one on layaway, and maaaaybe plans to add a boy doll to my all-girl collection, but generally I'm feeling pretty done after that. I think the next step is to narrow down my collection, and maybe rehome a couple of dolls I don't play with that much. I'm also working on a BIG doll project--a 1/3 scale Roma (Gypsy) wagon--which should keep me busy for a while. And I'd like to get a better cabinet to keep my dolls in--right now about half of them live in their boxes.

I also have an Etsy shop, which is a great motivator--I do a lot of sewing for that, and it lets me branch out and create things in styles that aren't always MY style, or my dolls' style. I originally got into BJDs because of the costuming aspect, so that's a nice way to keep that going.

 

For one thing, although I will reach a point (got it on paper in fact) where I'm done buying dolls cause my little list of characters is complete, I will NEVER reach a point where I won't be buying SOMETHING for them - anymore than I'll reach a point where my wardrobe is complete LOL I finish getting one cosplay shoot complete, there will be another beckoning... I will be sewing from now until I can't anymore

 

I can't imagine saying, 'All done! I'm satisfied with the dolls I have.' The truth is that when I look at the current crop of dolls that's available compared to the dolls of maybe six or seven years ago, I realize how far the companies have come in creating the 'perfect' BJD...which makes me wonder what the dolls will be like in another six or seven years. So I suppose that the only two possibilities are that either I'll get tired of the hobby and want to sell my collection or I'll still be interested and buying new dolls because they are so different and improved over the dolls of today.

 

I wonder if I will ever feel that I'm done with shopping dolls. I hope I will so I can concentrate on clothes, wigs, props and displays. I love taking pics of my dolls and I really need more props and a bigger light tent and dioramas for my dolls. If I ever get to the point that I need no more dolls I wanna buy me a DSLR so I will be able to take really good pics of my dolls. Maybe I would start doing face-ups or try sewing outfits myself, who knows. There is always so much to do beside buying dolls

 

I'm getting pretty close to it. Currently I'm saving for a couple of bodies but I have no real plans to add any more dolls to the collection. Clothing, shoes and wigs, yes. It seems that I never have enough of that. I'm not much of a photographer so I doubt I will be taking them out for photo shoots. No I guess I will just continue enjoying the way I do now, by displaying them, dressing them up and occasionally writing a short story about them.

 

No such thing as a complete collection, doesn't matter what you're interested in.

It's especially true in a hobby such as this that's relatively young and quickly evolving like Celga pointed out; the dolls we have today are miles ahead of what they were making even just several years back and it's exciting just to think how things will change in the future.

 

I really don't like the phrase "sitting on a shelf collecting dust" because it makes them seem pointless. Saying "being displayed" sounds so much nicer! But, however you phrase it, that's what mine will likely do. Unless they eventually look so yellow that I don't enjoy looking at them. I'd sell them to people who need mod practice if that happened. I'd like to learn to photograph them properly and make sets, but there's a chance I'll never take the time to do it. I buy dolls for the enjoyment of looking at them, so I'm content to leave them on display.

 

Part of the fun for me is making new clothes, so it's hard to imagine my collection ever being complete. I guess if I decided I had too much stuff, I'd sell some clothes but I don't think I'd sell my doll. And I love taking photos of her, so I'd probably work on designing a good indoor set-up for photography since I don't have one right now and the existing lighting in my house is terrible.