Are you a doll perfectionist?

I definitely obsess about keeping my dolls in pristine condition. Sadly, I really do get mad at myself when I find even the slightest scuff of MSC. I try not to let it get to my nerves but then something else happens, whether it's a joint that seems more loose than the other or a little dirt gets on their feet, and I end up feeling like I shouldn't be playing with my dolls. This itself bothers me since I really love posing, playing and taking my dolls around to take pictures. It sometimes makes me think if I'm truly bonding with them. To get over it I just try my best to clean up my dolls after playing :]

 

You're not the only one. I thinkit's natural to want to see/keep a beautiful and expensive doll at its best. Settling for just ok doesnt sit well with this kind of hobby.
I have to keep my girl pristine and she'll be a work in progress in my mind until she looks exactly right. She's costing me a fortune finding exactly the right eyes for her. And when I sit her down, even if it's just for a minute I have to make sure she's posed somewhat naturally or I feel uncomfortable until she is.

 

Well, I don't spend hours restringing my dolls as I'm amazingly good at it. But they do have to be just right though or I am not satisfied. It normally takes me about 15 minutes to string a BJD perfectly. I am a perfectionist in other ways. For example, I spend a good half an hour brushing my girls wigs until they are settled just right for the photoshoot. I may take off their clothes and iron them before hand too if the wrinkles from a sitting position bother me and I just nit-pick at all these little things.

 

Yes. I'm paranoid about keeping my doll in perfect condition. My doll lives in his box, on a high shelf, in a dry dark closet, covered with a piece of white muslin, with no clothing and no wig. I wash my hands every time before I handle him. I use a bit of scotch tape to remove lint. I don't leave wigs/clothes on him for more than two hours, for fear of staining. I've redone his faceup twice and will probably redo it again in the future. I fuss with wigs for ages. Stray-away hairs annoy me to no end. I try to arrange the way clothes drape/where the folds of cloth fall so that it looks more naturalistic. I can't live with gappy or mispositioned eyes.

Then there's the eternal quest for the perfect wig. I thought when I started out with bjds, hey, one doll only needs one wig and one pair of eyes and then I'm all set right? Not so. This doll has gone through four wigs and I'm not completely happy with the fifth try so I've ordered a sixth - and I'm stalking two sites hoping for restock in black, so that's seven and eight right there. How did this happen... orz

I'm less picky about the eyes; I've accumulated too many eyes, but it's not because I'm looking for the perfect pair, just that I have an odd attachment to eyes. Like a crow, I have no resistance to shiny things.

 

hm I've been told I'm a dollie perfectionist in a different sort of way. I don't care about scratches or marks on my doll as I know thats just bound to happen unless I keep them in a plastic case. I don't really care about face up imperfection either....but I am obsessed with things like the right clothes and wigs for my dolls. All my dolls are based on chars of mine I've had for a few years now so even if I could find something like a black pair of strappy heels that match the style my girl wears I wouldn't be happy unless they were white like the ones I've drawn her in.

Its one reason why I'm constantly hunting for wigs for my harang. His char changed his hair color a lot with stripes and weird colorations, but he doesn't change his actual hair style much, so I totally refuse to buy some wigs if they aren't styled good enough.

 

Wow you guys are impressive ! And I don't mean that in a negative way at all, I mean it in a good way because I wish I was so perfectionist. Seriously, I don't know how you guys do it, I could not spend an hour fixing an eyebrow. For me, all the little imperfections make them beautiful.

Also, I keep my dolls out in the open air, they are not really protected or anything. I see them more as "characters" so they have their own personality and as my characters are all children, they are not very clean, they don't really take care of themselves, so I don't (well I do my best)^^. But I like them to be there when I wanna play. I don't want to have to wash my hands or anything. My little brother actually put one of my doll's hand in his mouth and chew it a bit but fortunately, he is ok xD (well both my brother and the doll are). Still, I accept people touching them but not too much.

My first doll was actually the one that I experimented on, so he is kindda stained on the butt and also he has a mark on the chest, I don't know where it actually came from XD.

The only thing I'm picky about is when I do faceups. I like them to be symmetrical and clean. But I won't go ahead and redo everything if there is a defect. I will just add a birthmark in the spot or something haha ^^.

 

Yes definately. I am a doll perfectionist. Little faceup faults, asymmetricality, body proportion will always bother me XD
I'm really paranoid of sunlight and always keep my dolls in their boxes. Even before I touch my doll, I wash my hands first to clear off moistures from them. If I don't get the chance to wash my hands and need to hold/move my doll, I touch their clothes never on any uncovered body parts.

People will say I'm such a fussy person, but I don't friggin care. I really want to keep my dolls in top pristine condition.

 

It depends for me really. Sometimes I go insane cause it looks like he has a stain on his leg (he has a couple I haven't been able to clean sadly due to lack of good supplies), other times I don't care. His nose tip bugs me when I remember it (he fell on his face outside one day and smushed his nose in a little) I want it fixed but I don't have the skills, time, or money to have it done or do it myself. He needs more clothes to, something white I can put him in as a good outfit. I lined his pants best I could (not a seamstress) and it seems to be holding up well but still, he needs more clothes. And his hair! Omg I cannot tell you the stress his lovely wig brings upon me.

When I get his darling other half I know I will be crazy perfectionist. He'll have to have the perfect dresses, which will all be commissioned cause I cannot find ANY store that sells the style I have in mind (not sure time period it would be, I can visualize it but thats it) and his wig will be impossible to find! But yeah. XP

Overall, I am not to "OMG Must Fix, must be perfect" but if the mood strikes...yeah XD

>.> I mean I do all the "bad" stuff like touch his face and wig without making my hands all perfect. And he's been on my bed the past week all day. So yeah, it depends on what it is and what mood i'm in.

 

There's actually a similar topic on (at my posting) page 3 (click here) about whether flaws, scratches, or marks on your doll change how you feel about it - in reference to the first bit of your post about scratches and stains.

As for the second part: I sometimes fiddle with the eyes' positioning. I've spent a bit of time resticking eyelashes and sometimes finally just taking them out entirely simply because it's easier than fiddling with them to 'perfection ... but not obsessing, really. I get easily frustrated so I've learned to accept imperfections, but not glaring ones. If it was glaring I'd not leave it - unless it was on purpose to bother friends ;D

 

In some ways and not in others. I'm not much of a perfectionist when it comes to msc scuffs etc unless they are literally in the middle of the face (besides the tip of the nose), because that's easily fixed whenever I get around to respraying... But when it comes to something I spend a lot of time on, it has to be perfect. When I sanded my boy, it took me soooo long because I was trying to do the best possible job. And I know that if I put in eyelashes, I would do it until it was just right. The eyes are where you look, so if something is off there, everything is off. I'm also about to buy another body cause this one doesn't have quite the right color (yes all that sanding for nothing!). Once I get the perfect tone, I'll probably start modding the body more to be exactly what I want, but for now I'm not bothering since this body isn't his permanent one.

I play with my doll. He sits on my desk. I never wash my hands before touching him, and he rode in my arms across the ocean and through several airports.... but he isn't damaged in the slightest. I'm going to have fun with my doll, and if that means a few imperfections, it's a small price to pay, even if it gets on my nerves sometimes xP

Actually this reminds me of me and my room. My room can be a major sty for weeks, but when I clean it, I take forever because it has to be just so (including organizing books and clothes etcetc...). So same for my doll. He might have some imperfections that come along with "living" but as soon as I go to fix those, they have to be perfect xP Even if I know they'll just be messed up again the next day.

 

I do tend to be a pretty obsessive doll owner. If he gets a scuff or a mark from his clothes on his body, I furiously strip him down and Magic Sponge him till he's perfect again.And, about a wekk ago I got completely fed up with his eyelashes because they were glued to the eye as well as his head (he came like that DX) so I ripped them out, got all the glue gunk off his eyes, and then spent thirty minutes placing his eyes perfectly back inside his head.
So, yes, I can be a perfectionist, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy him. I take him places, carry him around the house with me. I play with my doll, make him clothes, and a lot of times the little things don't bug me so much. It's just when I'm sitting there staring at him that I notice "Oh, he's got a little stain right there.." or, "Aww, there's dust on his face.." and then enter OCD mode

 

Kind of... I freak out when I see scratches or anything on my doll, and the tiniest little smudge always calls for a Magic Eraser XDD
I took my boy out to a meet once and had him barefoot on some rocks... resulting in little tiny scratches on his heels. Everyone said it was no problem but I was freaking out ;_;

 

I'm having my MSD girls get new face-ups next month because I don't like the eyelashes on one and the face-up on the other. I feel it's kind of amateurish because of the way the eyelashes are painted. I don't 'love' (term used loosely here) the dolls any less but it bugs me. At heart, I'm a total perfectionist but I try hard to tame that with a good dose of common sense or big picture thinking. It kind of ruins the enjoyment otherwise to focus only on the faults.

I try to ignore that nagging voice in the back of my mind "look at her crappy eyelashes!" or "her nose shine is blinding!". And, sometimes it works. I try to focus on the things I do like until I can send them away for new face-ups. Ultimately, a good headmold is all I need to fall for a doll, but I do like it to be perfect and am much too detail-oriented for my own good.

So, I'm trying to change... As I get older it does get easier. But, I was the child at five years old who had to line her Barbies up in their storage case and make sure their hair was all styled and combed nicely and that they were all perfectly dressed. So, it doesn't come naturally for me to be laid back about my doll collection.

 

Glad to find another wig perfectionist. I think my quest for the perfect wigs will never end. But I'm picky about eyes too. I think I probably spend the most time on finding the "perfect" eyes and wigs for my dolls but I also am really concerned about keeping them free of stains, nicks, scratches, etc.

 

@Santinian - I like to read the doll care/customization subforums and especially the EMERGENCY! subforum, thus the birth of many of my caution measures. But as I said, I'm absolutely doll-paranoid. Many people keep their dolls dressed for display all the time and don't have problems with staining, or are able to remove stains.

@Landlocked Mermaid - Yes, it's amazing how much change even a subtle variation in style or color can bring to a doll! I'm hoping my quest ends in victory in a month or two. Or three. >_<;;


A question for all you doll perfectionists: would you consider yourselves perfectionists in other parts of your life (and/or other hobbies), or is it just dolls?

I remember I was practically obsessive-compulsive as a child. I would rewrite my homework three or four times just to get the handwriting perfect, I once threw a tantrum because my well-meaning aunt folded the corner of one of the pages of a book I owned to hold the place. I grew out of this over time. As an adult, I'm actually pretty messy - my workspace is always a disaster with paint, supplies, in-progress work everywhere in an order that only I can navigate.

But with my hobbies, and especially the bjd hobby, I let my inner control freak hold the reins once again. It gives me immense satisfaction to safeguard all my precious little baubles with nearly neurotic zeal. I can't be this fussy in other areas of my life, because I'd stress out and never get anything done. But with hobbies, there's no deadline and no practical benefit/necessity attached, so it's ok to go all out.

 

Nope, definitely not a perfectionist! That doesn't mean I'm not careful with my dolls, but I'm not paranoid about staining or anything - my dolls just sit about in their clothes and wigs. I do sometimes notice a tiny bit of a stain on the headcap, when I'm changing a wig, but a quick scrub with a magic eraser takes care of that.

But then I don't really consider myself a collector; I'm not too fussed if my dolls yellow a little in the future, for example. I'd much rather have them out so I can admire them and play with them, than have them naked in the darkness for the sake of their resin Perhaps it sounds a little silly, but I'd feel a bit mean if I did that!

 

Ha, not really, not about staining or keeping my dolls pristine. But "stray" hairs on wigs bother me a lot and i'm always fussing with head-positions and wrestling with flyaway wig hairs so they look nice and natural. I guess i'm the same with eyes, i've changed one dolls eyes/position FOUR DAYS IN A ROW each day something different because it just isn't right and my husband is making fun of me for that

i guess minor "flaws" don't bother me so much but if i can fix it i'd rather fix it. i'm not obsessively careful w/ my dolls because i enjoy the playing aspect more than the collecting and they don't need to be "perfect" for me to enjoy them

 

Yes, I am a perfectionist when it comes to my dolls. I won't even photograph them unless everything is perfect. Every hair has to be in place and the outfit has to be just right. I am super careful of how hey are stored and how the clothing is stored...but I was also like this as a child. I guess since I spend a fortune on my hobby I want to take care of my investment the best I can. If i order a doll and something is bothering me about the doll, the profile, or lip shape or what not...I won't keep it. I only have 4 dolls curently, but these four I simply adore!!!