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Aversion to customization?

Nov 4, 2005

    1. I love to customize!! a few of my dolls came with faceups either by the company or by another owner, but I have done the majority of the faceups of the others, opened and closed eyes, tats, piercings.. I am currently finishing a guy that has one bum eye, scars, a butt load of piercing, tats..
      its alot of fun!!
       
    2. I really love customizing my doll, even though I do worry that I'll hurt her while I'm doing things that require a knife. However, the results from sanding and cutting really make her look how I imagined she should, and improve the bond between us. Also, it helps me to better understand what I like in a doll's face, and allows me to choose future dolls that will need less modifications, hopefully.

      It's hard for me to imagine hating to change eyes, except on the really tiny dolls. I love positioning eyes, and playing with them to give expression, but I hate positioning eyelashes. It drives me nuts.
       
    3. I adore customizing. I recently bought a flawed CP Dreaming el mod with eyes opened partially by someone and I can't *wait* to get my hands and sandpaper on him, OMG! My fingers are twitching. I don't think anything's given me this excitement in months. Now I know our perfect resin babies take patience and care, and I love a lot of default faces myself. But gimme my own, and the artist in me demands customization. Why? Because the results, after all the sweat and tears and cursing and sighing and working for days on my precious ones are SO satisfying.

      Yes, an artist is their own worst critic and will often never be perfectly happy, but it's the fun of creating for me that draws me in.
       
    4. I'm not big on things like sanding or mods but I love enhancing face-ups & messing with eyes. I don't mind stringing or piercing ears but that's about as far as I want to go.

      I know many people have specific ideas about how their characters should look so they get into extensive modding to get that look. But as for myself I don't have any preconceived ideas so I buy dolls because I like the way they already look.

      As for bodiless heads, well that's another thing I'm not truly fond of. I like whole dolls & none of my gang are willing to share bodies, selfish little crew that they are.
       
    5. I'm lazey and I haven't restrung a single doll. I've tightened one but it was easy.
       
    6. I think the fact is that for most of us customisation is hard. When you're new to the hobby it takes a lot of time, effort, learning new skills etc to customise a doll. I get VERY frustrated when I have to redo a face up for the 5th time coz I ruined it or if I'm restringing and the body just refuses to co-opperate. Sometime I leave unstrung dolls lying in boxes for months until I feel I have the time/energy to dedicate to them. Especially if you're a perfectionist and your skills in this area aren't what they could be. It can get too much. It's great when it works out though.
       
    7. I have an aversion to customization.

      I guess it's the whole thing, rather than just taking apart bodies. I do my make-up every day before going out, but I plan on getting a doll that has a nice face-up because I don't plan on doing anything to it. I don't want a beautiful doll to end up looking like a total disaster! I'm also worried about restringing, though that seems like it's easier (compared to any artistic skills), though I hear it's still a pain. I'd rather face the qualms of restringing a BJD (where no one can visually see any real error) rather than create a "Franken-doll."

      I suppose one day, (if I get my doll) that I start purchasing heads and bodies all alone, then I'll start doing one. I just worry because my hands aren't as steady as I think they need to be for this.
       
    8. I want to customize, but I'm terrified to do face-ups.

      Saif needs darker manlier eyebrows and I've had him since last June... I really want to try face-ups, but I'm scared I'm going to mess it up and make it uglier than the default.

      I love restringing though. I restring for no apparent reason. xD

      I hate the idea of floating heads though. >_> I don't know what I'd do if I ever fell in love with a head made by a company that only does heads.
       
    9. I actually just bought my friend a doll for her birthday which came last Monday and by Wednesday I was taking off his head and putting an xacto knife to him, modding his ears to be human instead of elf xD That was the first fully together doll that's ever been in my house, and I don't even have one myself yet xD It was a little scary making the first cut, but after the initial shock, I just got to work, knowing I would have to do what I had to do since she wanted human ears on her doll.

      And they turned out really well! So I'm not really afraid to do something like that. It helps that I'm an artist in all other aspects of my life I suppose, but I must say I wouldn't like feeling bound because of fear of hurting or changing the doll. Doing that mod was great for me because I learned that they are a lot tougher than newbies think, and even their faceups are too (I did that mod while he had a faceup, and by the end it still looked just fine). Everyone acts as if the faceup will disintegrate if you so much as brush the face with your finger, but that is just not true.

      Now I haven't actually done a faceup yet and I am intimidated but I'm going to do it either way since I have a blank head soooo yep.

      I love the customization aspect of this hobby.
       
    10. Urgh, I have an aversion to the mere idea of NOT customizing. To me, thats the point of these dolls. It's not necessarily to others but to me, if I couldn't customize them, there'd be no point to having one. I faceup, I sand and I'm willing to give it all a go. I'm an artist and whilst drawing is my speciality (albeit I'm far from brilliant yet), I'll do just about anything creative.
       
    11. I think for me, I feel nervous about the doll changing into something that doesn't resonate with the character I imagined. I am about to send one of my longest owned doll's face off for new make-up and I am so nervous. What if she isn't like how I imagined? It's so stressful, but it is something that I feel I need to overcome. Customization is very artistic and gives people room to develop more character in their dolls.
       
    12. I'm a long time modeler, and most of my experience is with kit-bashing and modification(as in extracting parts from details I like and mixing them with other parts to get the results I desire), in that sense, I can totally understand the need to customize a doll to specific images you've created in your mind. As of this point in my hobby life with BJDs though, I'm uncomfortable with the idea of actually cutting them up, or mixing parts... A) dolls are too expensive to buy for that purpose, B) I haven't developed enough experience in playing with my dolls to be confident enough to try. Of course, eventually, if my collection expands far enough, I may begin sculpting(I also sculpt for fun) my own parts or start to unifying the different aspects of my various hobbies, at least as far as getting a doll the way I want goes.

      Now, I can't bear to even consider doing anything of the sort to my girls, but I could consider the idea of getting dolls/dollparts for the purpose of getting something I'd be happy with.

      Keep in mind, one of the first purchases I made about a week into this hobby was a blank head to try out the concepts and techniques surrounding faceups, so to a certain extent, I always knew I would be customizing my dolls... But I don't see why anyone should fear the idea of restringing a doll, or sanding/sueding them, as much of this is done in an effort to flesh out your doll as you imagine them. I could understand the hesitation in doing so if it will radically alter the personality of your doll, but learning how to do these things adds to your ability to interact with your dolls.

      If the aversion to committing to the work was due to fear of messing it up, I can more or less understand why. But the simple truth is that you don't go anywhere if you fear to make the first step. Just remember to take those steps in manageable stride and don't bite off too much if you're not comfortable with it, you should never fear the idea of trying.
       
    13. I'm the opposite- one of those people who adores customizing- I have little fear taking a dremel to resin and carving away at it!

      That said I went about it carefully. I had a practice head for face-ups before I did one on any of my dolls and I bought a 'cheap' doll for the sole purpose of modding him to pieces. Just taking that first step- as E.Hadrian found out really takes the fear out of it! I love customizing and more than anything the heavy customizing that involves the actual carving. I have one boy with a carved arm and another with a third eye.

      But I can also completely understand that there people who don't want to or are afraid to and never want to try. That's why this community is so wonderful. If there is something you want done and you're too afraid to do it- there is always someone out there who can!
       
    14. I like customizing a lot, but the re-stringing and other little things can be very frustrating! Especially when it doesn't go the way I'd like it to. -__-
       
    15. I love customized dolls. I think it really sets them apart. I used to hate changing eyes when I was new to the hobby but now I do chage eyes if they are what I want. I've done it to two out of four dolls. I have never re strung a doll in 3 years.
       
    16. I don't like the stringing process - at least not on the older dolls. I don't like it because I often get injured and the process puts a lot of pressure on the doll's joints and stretches the elastic.

      However - the dolls I really seem to love are the ones I have bought second hand and often with damage. They are fun to repair, to turn into someone new. On the other hand, when I finally had a brand new doll strait from the factory I was nervous and put off giving her a face-up until finally I lost interest in her completely.

      I don't think is it wrong or right to like or dislike customisation. It's just preference!
       
    17. I'm not big on customization, personally.

      I've done faceups and slight mods, but in many cases I fall in love with default faceups and prefer having those, even if they aren't as unique as customized faceups.

      I've been around BJDs since '04 and have never taken a doll apart or restrung one! (I could if I had to, but as I said, it's not my thing!) *_*
       
    18. I like customizing them, particularly giving them new face-ups. i do, however, have an aversion to restringing them. Pieces fly across the room, fingers get pinched, not fun at all.
       

    19. I agree completely. I wish it were different, but the customizing
      process makes them seem a little... Less authentic? I don't mean
      that negatively [or directed at anyone as an insult, by all means!],
      but the process of doing something intricate seems like it should be
      left alone. Like something very special, I feel better not knowing the
      method or it seems less special and more ordinary (I kind of compare the
      feeling to finally cooking something you've always loved as a child though
      feel less amazed once you realize how it's done).

      Or maybe I'm just too scared to try. They ARE very expensive after all! D*:​
       
    20. It freaks me out to think of taking my dolls apart! Unless I actually have to (like because they need restringing so bad that they no longer sit up or something), I refuse to do it. I've only changed one of my doll's eyes, because I really didn't like the ones she came with at all. But it was creepy seeing her without eyes... And one of my dolls came with one eye popped out, which was totally freaky looking! So I was forced to fix it. But on the whole, I don't like doing things like that with my dolls. I just like making them clothes, changing/styling their wigs, and posing them and taking pics or drawing them.

      As far as faceups, I can't do them myself because I have asthma and chemical sensitivities, and while there are a lot of good artists out there, most of them really don't suit my style. Generally, if I don't like a doll's default faceup, I arrange to have the company do a custom one for me. When I explain my situation, most of them are very nice and willing to do what I ask, and they have all turned out beautifully ^-^