BJDs and unskilled modifications

I like the tattoo analogy and have to agree... and just like a bad tat can be improved in time (just find someone with the right skills) a bad mod can always be sanded back or otherwise removed and altered if and as desired either when the mod-er's skill improves or they can have a skilled other do it for them.
I'd have to agree that it's the customising that's the fun part, though. As gorgeous as a made-up shop doll can be you learn something new with each new face-up...much as with any creative craft or art form.
Just as with tattooing, the art of the doll is one of those craft forms with a long history that it is easy to judge from a personal point of view and it is really easy to love a job really well done but in the end it is very personal work and if the owner of that work is proud of it, then so be it!...as long as they are not somehow deluded into believing that it's the best thing in the world and try to convince others the same then so be it.
I do have to admit, tho, I do cringe when you see a really shocking mod on a high priced quality doll, tho...it does want to make you cry.

 

I think it would be in pretty bad taste for a company to distance themselves from a customer who modded one of their dolls.

I remember seeing a photo of a Volks manager holding a doll made by a Japanese owner famous for doing radical mods to her dolls. She used the head of her beautifully angsty modded Old F-28 SD13 and put it on a YoSD body. The thing was a monstrosity, as the owner knew since the head is normally on an appropriately sized body, and the Volks manager still was beeming away in the photo and looked thrilled about the whole thing. Who knows if he knew the owner was talented and not insane. That's how every company should act.

 

I don't care what people do to their dolls. I think the fun of collecting these dolls rather than other types of high end collectible dolls, is that they can be customized to the individual taste of the owner. I consider them to be interactive adult toys, not necessarily "art", although I have seen many dolls that qualify as art in my opinion. Not everyone who owns bjd's has the skill to produce artistic faceups and modifications, but that's no reason for them not to try. I personally would not entrust my doll to anyone without a great deal of experience if I wanted an extreme modification. As for the doll companies, once they have my money and I have received my doll, our association has ended and I am free to do as I please with my doll.

 

Oh! hee hee... *raises hand* Also guilty of the "What was she THINKING?" school of faceup. Some of them have been... well... FUUUUUG-LEEEE.

But! The nice thing about bad faceups? They come OFF. (assuming they got coated first...)

And that's how we learn, yes?

 

Haji's shiny Groucho Marx eyebrows or Tamas' mustard colored abs?

 

When I was five, I decided that my My Little Ponies needed more "fancy make-up" and proceeded to color their lips red, their cheeks carnation pink, and their eyelids blue with Crayola crayons. The result was a My Little Hooker Pony (tm) and they looked awful. Years later, I found my old ponies and wondered, in shock!, how I ever thought that would be a good idea.

Personally, I will not mod a doll I own because I know in my heart of hearts that I don't have the talent for it. Face-ups come with practice, but again, I have little artistic skill unless is happens to be freckles.

I might have an opinion on whether a modification is good or not, but I will never ever say that modifications shouldn't be done unless you have great artistic skill. And should anyone ask my opinion, I'll give it honestly, but I won't ever say to that person, "You shouldn't work on any more dolls until you improve..." How else will they improve?

 

I think a doll can be considered art, but most dolls are not one of a kind, limited editions or otherwise true art, in the sense of an artist creating a work of art and then moving on to their next work of art.

That said, they are also property, bought and paid for, and the owner has the right to do what they want with it. I am hoping to learn to mod dolls and have bought and will probably buy more damaged heads and possibly bodies. It's the wise property or art owner who only changes something valuable when he or she is reasonably sure they can make it better!

And, I totally agree that when you publicly display or post pictures of your doll, or you put it up for trade or sale, that you need to publish it's modifications.

 

I can't imagine doing anything major myself, though I've made a couple of BJDs out of LaDoll. I can see possibly sanding down a pointy nose or opening some eyes at some point in the future when I'm feeling more confident. And it is painful to see badly done mods and a ruined doll. But it's unlikely that someone is going to get it right the first time and in the end the doll is their property, to do with what they will.

 

I didn't buy my dolls as art. I bought them as toys. Expensive toys, but toys. (Maybe that's why I don't freak out if they get a little stain or some yellowing. Toys start to show a bit of wear after a while, after all.) I think the culture of the BJD hobby puts a lot of emphasis on personalization and customization, so comparing dolls to fine art is a fundamentally flawed assumption for several reasons:

- A piece of artwork is original and individual. BJDs are to some degree mass-produced. Ruining a doll is not like ruining the Mona Lisa. It's a lot more like ruining a high-quality print of the Mona Lisa. You have not forever destroyed the possibility of anyone else enjoying this item, you've just messed up one of many copies.

- The idea with art is not that you buy it and then alter it to make it your own, but that is very much the point with BJDs. If they weren't intended to be customized the eyes and wigs wouldn't be removable and they'd all ship with default faceups and outfits.

It does bother me a little when someone does a hack job of modifying a VERY VERY LIMITED doll -- I've seen someone buy an LE2 where the only thing limited was the paintjob and then modify it very badly, destroying the lovely paintjob. In that case I personally think it makes more sense to sell the LE, buy the nonlimited version, and do the mods. But honestly I also believe that once someone buys a doll it's theirs to do with as they please, so while that made me a bit sad I didn't find it objectionable. Just a bit disappointing.

 

I wouldn't really prescribe to someone what they should do with their own items. If they're getting enjoyment out of the process, then I think it's a good thing.

 

Usagi665 - I think this is a fantastic example!


BJDs were made to be customizable. There are even tools that some doll companies sell so we may customize our dolls. Even if the person modding the doll is new to the hobby and has NO idea what they are doing. It does not matter. The doll companies see this (i.e. Usagi655's exampe). The doll companies MADE these dolls for us to do with as we please. They know once that doll is paid for and in the hands of the new owner, that its the NEW OWNERS doll. Yes they put a lot of work into that doll and the sculpt. But almost every doll companies motto is that is your doll. I remember seeing it somewhere as Volks saying "Your SD is born from your heart and subconscious mind. It is your dearest partner, growing with you day by day and sharing endless time with you. She is an understanding partner, in touch with those who are aware of her magic. The times you will spend with her will be wonderful, because she can reach the real you!" I've seen another motto from them saying "We Seek Creativity". The doll is yours, "born" from you.The doll is yours once you buy it. It is yours to do with as you wish. The companies that sell these dolls supports this, by selling us the doll and the tools to change them with.

Whether a person is bad at modding or not is a moot point. It's THEIR doll. Are some badly modded dolls not appealing to me? Yes... but it's the owners doll, if they are happy so be it.

Yes newbies to the hobby of modding might need to search out broken, destroyed, etc dolls on the marketplace and ALOT do. If they feel they want to start on a newer more expensive head/body, that's on them and we can not judge them or look down on them for that. period.

 

This is sort of a subjective issue. Personally, I think skill will come in time and bad mod jobs are the product of what good mod jobs that will be learned with time. None of us start off doing anything well. I do find it to be a little inconsiderate for a beginning modder to take on the project of say, a limited doll. It seems a tad selfish and brazen.

Also, some bad mod jobs can be restored ~ another skill to the doll community. It provides experience for restorers. Also, not all poorly modded dolls are beyond hope.

That's just my take on the situation.

 

I cringe whenever I see someone post photos and type '...something went wrong during modding...' or something.

I agree that bjds are made to be customisable to us and that it means all forms of customisation.

My mum thinks it's bad to do major customisations. She liken them to humans. I mentioned once that somebody felt that she wanted a male head on a female body. My mum actually said, 'let's imagine we take your head and put on a guy's body...' or that someone sanded her dolls boobs away to create a tenshi body, she said 'let's imagine me sanding your boobs...'

I sometimes agree with that 'painful' modifications...but not everyone believes that a doll has a soul...

I like to see modifications. Be it major or minor. Else it'd be boring...let's use an example. Let's take a super famous and common doll. Like Ducan from DOD. If everyone has at least a Ducan. But just different face0ups. It's gonna be boring. But if they modified them to be long-eared elves, sirens, demons, angels...now that is a new thing to see. And it spices up everyone's boring lives once in a while.

Unskilled modifications...hmm... Sometimes I do wish to say 'if you can't confirm that you can mod properly, don't mod them' ...but they aren't my dolls...But everyone starts somewhere. I just wish the 'unskilled' people practise on hardened clay or something first. Or be very very careful. Or had planned and plotted everything. I wince whenever I see some badly modified dolls being restored by others. (I stalk Buff's website...)



But other than that, I do believe everyone have the right to customise and mod their dolls as they deem fit. They'll win the final argument with 'it's my doll and money'.

 

I think it ultimately comes down to its their doll their money and the can do with as they please, its not my place to say of you shouldnt have done that...

I work with ceramics, and have been to, and in many art shows but I did not view my first doll (a DOD Shall) as art, being new to the hobby when I got her, I just wanted her for no other reasion. Now that I have been in the hobby for some time, i have seen many modded dolls, some I do absolutely love, and a few I do not.. I consider the one off dolls art but the companies that mass marker their dollls no, they make their dolls to be customised and changed, take DOD for instance, they even ask if you want anything changed in the faceup. or you can send them a picture of what your going for and they will try to do it. I think everyone who wants to Modify their doll has to start somewhere and if they decide they want to start on their doll its there choice they paid for it.

like the others are saying, Ive seen some dolls that have been modded that i didnt like, but it was exactly what the owner wanted. and other dolls "from the company" (toadstool) that I absolutely do not like, but some do. to each their own.

 

I'm not a fan of bad or severe mods, but you got to start somewhere (I know I've wiped some pretty bad faceups I've done myself, but more practice the better you get)

Now I would understand the faceup artists concern, if you mod a faceup and feel you need to mention the artists name in photos you should say you modded the faceup, instead of just saying "face up by" because is misleading and people sometimes look at a photo and go look up the artist because they like their work.

 

I completely disagree with BJDs automatically being viewed as art pieces. To me, with the exception of OOAK/limited edition dolls, BJDs sold commercially are the equivalent of well-made blank canvases. The doll doesn't become a work of art until someone molds it into a work of art by giving it a face-up, dressing it, and/or making other modifications to it.

Also, BJDs are sold as commercial products. Multiple COPIES of sculpts are made and sold the world over. Yes, they're made by the company, but they aren't individually sculpted all over again - as it would be impossible to create the exact same sculpt. In this way, just about all of the BJDs currently on the market are - at least to me - expensive, good quality replications of an original work of art. It's the difference between the original "Starry Night" painting and high quality poster prints, the difference between the Eiffel Tower and a mini replica of it. While it probably wouldn't be the end of the world if the dog drooled on your poster or a toddler accidentally snapped your Tower replica in half, it's NOTHING like messing up the real thing. That's what really bad BJD modifications are to me; they make the copy look bad, but they don't ever compromise the integrity of the actual original sculpt. (As I mentioned, some exceptions would exist here - such as modifying a OOAK/limited edition doll significantly.)

I think people should ultimately do what they want with the things they pay for, especially when those things ARE commercial products and not strictly one-of-a-kind items. If doll companies have a problem with someone modifying their own doll, then they're going to need to hire legal support and create a contract customers must agree to when buying these dolls, setting out the terms and conditions of use, just like computer software does. Of course, in a hobby that's largely based on customization, most "users" would probably consider that to be excessively restricting and absolutely ridiculous.

 

This is one of those cases where I have to say, people can do whatever they want, cause its their property. If they mess it up, then its cause they wanted to give it a shot and they'll have to deal with the consequences. If you weren't allowed to mod, they wouldn't sell blanks.

And art is all in the eye of the beholder. Maybe the company thinks their product is flawless, but someone might like it except for the pointy chin, or chubby cheeks, or closed eyes, so they change it. All of these tweeks make the "art" more personal/meaningful, and truely a work of art for them. Once you buy something, the company/original owner has no right to tell you you can't change it. How are they going to stop you? They can't. Also, changes don't mean you're ruining something, its just a change. It may not appeal to everyone, but isn't that true of just about everything?

I'm not talented enough to mod, so I have to make sure I like everything about the doll. Thats my problem and what I have to deal with. If someone can take on the challenge of modding, then more power to them for not being a chicken like me.

 

Ok, other types of plastics are not necessarily going to have the same feel or react the same as the resin used for bjds. At some point a person who wants to do mods will have to do it on a bjd for the first time, and it will be a different experience that could potentially trip a person up.

Second...you are missing something very very extremely important when it comes to understanding the hobby, bjd companies, and the dolls themselves--Abjds are made to be customized by their owners. That is their main function. They are essentially big expensive figure kits--that's why most standards are sold bald naked and blank (and usually with seam lines still intact). While you may not enjoy looking at inexpertly done mods (though what fits into that category is hardly black and white), I don't know how people can come into a hobby that's made to be very hands on and complain that people mod their dolls. If it were all left up to the professionals, then the hobby would lose something very big and it would be a sad day in abjd land. Yes, this means that there will be mods of varying skill out there, but it's worth it so that the average hobbyist can hone their skills and have fun doing something creative and have an actual hand in the completion of their doll. It is a very special thing that we get to make our dolls truly our own by helping to shape the end result.

 

As an artist, I have to completely disagree with this. That is like saying that if you aren't good at something the first time you attempt, you should never try again. Do you know how people get good at things? They PRACTICE, over and over until they are good. I would never purchase a poorly-modded doll or anything, but it has to be done in order for people to get good at their craft. Do you think Michelangelo came out of the womb, paintbrushes in hand, and promptly began to paint the Sistine Chapel? No, he practiced and practiced and became good at his art. That is what is so wonderful about art... it is like a seed that is planted and grows with love and care.