Bonding with your dolls

God, this is the response I think I needed to hear... A big worry of mine is not actually wanting him, but liking the idea of him

Hey! So in regards to the vampire question: I've been playing around with the idea of having his vampiric features (ie fangs, pointy ears) be some kind of birth defect? Maybe?

 

That's something you could certainly work off of. Could it be a result of some weird mixture of DNA that somehow occurred when he was conceived perhaps? Or you could also go the traditional birth defect route as well. Maybe he got picked on for these differences? Maybe something resulting from a confrontation with a bully/bullies could cause him to have mental lapses of some sort? Or maybe he's insecure because he gets teased for these differences?

Do you want him to live in a world similar to our reality, or maybe some fantastical/futuristic world? The way others react to these differences can be altered depending on the circumstances of his surroundings, real-world or something more fictional. Real-world prejudices could have him be an outcast, somebody who's insecure with himself and trying to find a place to fit in (the same could work for a fictional setting as well). In a fictional setting, maybe these differences aren't so much defects but traits of some hybrid DNA (One parent is human, a possibly estranged parent some other species).

I say let your mind wander through the various different possibilities. Or if it would help, maybe looking at some of your favorite media (books, anime, movies, TV, etc.) and finding a storyline you like in particular that you can relate to your boy in some regard. Sometimes I feel like being able to relate my OCs to something that's endearing/interesting to me helps me flesh out and connect with their bjd forms more. It might help you discover the bond you're trying to get with him by finding the kind of character that gels with you the best.

 

I bond with my dolls very well and well being trans female to male I can’t have kids so I see these as my kids and my own little family I like t spoiled them buying them stuff or making them anything

 

I bond with my dolls by taking them out with me on outings. This way I start associating my dolls with some happy experiences in life. I also take lots of photos of them while I am out if possible. I have to remember there is a reason in the first place that made me fall in love with them so I try to keep that spirit alive.

 

I spend time with them! My 4 girls follow me around wherever I go around the house or travel wise! We have a lot of fun!!

they tell me their personality. I at first kinda think I know what they will be like, but it never turns out that way. I wanted my Yumi to be a kid genius but she turned our picky and heavily whiny. I can hear horrid whiny kid sounds in my head when I go near her when she is displeased. Nezuko was supposed to be chunky and brain dead but turned out to be who I aspire to be someday. She is so very intelligent and collected at all times. And not to mention level headed.

 

How do you bond with your doll?
For me when I open the box and see the doll that is when the initial bonding begins. Then it grows as I get them dressed and put on the wig. It's also fun to play around with different wigs, eye colors, outfits and pose them and take pictures. So far I have been lucky to bond with all of my dolls.



How do you figure out your dolls personality?
It just sort of comes out when I get them. It's hard to explain. My Resinsoul Mei was supposed to be a chipper fun loving steampunk ice fairy but instead she is sweet, super geeky, shy and has an obsession with mouse plushies. lol! It's actually a lot of fun discovering who they are.

 

fortunately, I can bond with all my boys. I don't know exactly how, I usually start with the normal things, changing their styles, taking pictures, playing with them, hugging them, all helped. For some of my boys, I was not sure at the beginning how to bond or even if they are meant for me, I still try them. If I can't find any ideas for them, I will wait.
I personally find it is quite magical that they kinda have their own personalities. I just need to wait until they show.

 

For me, it’s all about character. I’ll see a doll and a character will come to me...and the dimensions of that character will start to grow in my mind. Once that happens, I’ll purchase the doll, choose a clothing style, wigs and eyes, etc. And by the time the doll finally arrives, I’m usually quite bonded with them already. Their unboxing is a lot like meeting with an old friend. I will put them on display in my home, where I can see and enjoy them as I go about my daily routine, and that bond will grow even stronger. That being said however, there is also the possibility that the bond can be broken along the way if their character ceases to grow and develop for me. I‘ve had gorgeous dolls I really loved (as amazing sculpts) whose characters just petered out for me over time. In the end I had to sell them because the connection was just irreparably gone, although fortunately this has happened very, very seldom.

 

Being able to customise them to my liking allows me to bond with them even more. Many dolls have come and gone through my hands and those ones are usually the ones I get stuck with when it came to styling them.

The ones I currently have are still around because giving them faceups and styling them to suit the characters I have in mind for them go a long way to helping me develop deeper bonds. Sometimes being able to bring them around with me really helps as well. I've brought my Venitu on 2 overseas trips recently to meet other doll owners and that experience really helped me bond with him.

 

The moment I've bought them is the first sign that I've already started to "bond" with my dolls. I take a very, very long time to hem and haw over my purchases -- so if I've taken that leap to buy such an expensive commodity, it's because I know for a fact that I've set my heart on loving it utterly.

Customizing my dolls allows me to bond to them strongest! I've crocheted clothing, bought eyes, styled wigs, and touched up faceups. Something about having a personal hand in what the dolls "become" really helps me grow fonder of them! I'm not very interested in shelling my dolls as OCs, nor have I found any sculpts right for pre-existing characters. So instead, my dolls develop organically as their own "living doll" characters, with the props and style preferences I pick becoming incorporated into their characters too. (For example, my DS Pepper looked really sweet in bunny-ear headbands....so now her favorite animal is a rabbit! )

My dolls' "personalities" are derived just from the vibe I get looking at their sculpt/faceup. My DS Pepper had a strangely fierce expression, so she became a grumpy-but-well-meaning girl. Meanwhile my 2D Lo-chew had such a withdrawn, hesitant face that he couldn't be anything else but a very gentle if shy and quiet man. Once I've decided on their personality, I then customize them to further bring that out. Which of course only makes me bond more to my little dolls!

 

For me it really does come down to handling them and customizing them. I go from head to toe, starting at the wig and faceup, move onto any piercings, then I blush the body and design any tattoos if the character is going to have any. I'll sketch out an idea for an outfit and mostly try to sew it. All of this requires lots of hands on my dolls, focusing on different parts pretty intently at times. When I pour that much of myself into something it's hard not to bond. Countless revisions as my designs change or something didn't come out quite right make the bond deeper. And that's not even considering personalities or stories.
Usually when I'm looking for a doll I already have a character design and personality in mind, and I'm looking for something to shell that into. For me, the act of searching out that perfect sculpt and spending so much money, coupled with this thing now becoming the physical representation of a character I love so much, is what jump starts bonding. I have a couple of dolls on my wish list that don't match my OCs at all but I ended up loving them. As I save up money for them and try to locate the limiteds I've started to kind of rough out an idea for a character that can match the sculpt before I even have it. I don't think I'd pick up a doll with out an OC to turn it into if it didn't inspire me like that.
Lastly, I play around with them. I pose them, change their clothes, walk around with them, set them up near me either on my desk or on my couch and hang out with them while I'm doing what I'm doing. Even if the doll is still blank or half done. If anything, hanging out with an unfinished doll makes me want to start working on them all the more and I can't help but get more ideas. The whole thing kind of feeds into itself haha.

 

I feel a real joy when I see my doll for the first time. This happens most of the time. I had one doll with whom I couldn't connect. Every time I looked at her, I felt sad. That made her feel sad too. I sent her out for a face-up. She looks adorable. Now we are both happy.

 

I don't know if I would call it bonding but...I bought a head off the local marketplace to practise faceups, was a great price but I didn't love the sculpt or anything. However now that I've started painting her, considered her features, treated and cleaned her...I've started to consider the best body for her and how I want her to look. I guess she really grew on me despite no prior interest.

So, evidently I'm someone who "bonds" via customising- Good thing I bought my first full doll blank, then.

 

How do you bond with your doll?

I like to mess with their wig, eyes, clothes. Kinda fuss over them I guess and make everything perfect.

How do you figure out your dolls personality?

I already have ocs that I shell into dolls! So the personality is already there!

 

I know I answered about three dolls ago... but so far the bonding processes with each doll have been pretty individual!

With Marigold, I bonded with her pretty quickly just by playing around with her posing, getting her to stand and taking pictures around the house.

I bonded with Party Martian basically IMMEDIATELY, at the convention where I bought him, and spent an entire day hoping no one else would buy him before I got the chance. Like, I picked him up and suddenly birds were singing and flowers were blooming, there was no process of getting to know him. The moment I handled him I just knew.

And Jack... Jack there was the most pre-bonding in terms of character, because he's my D&D character. I've even got a custom mini of him, he's got his own set of dice in my dice hoard, I've commissioned art of him in addition to all the art I've done myself... Plus, once I found the perfect doll, I felt the default faceup actually looked as much like Jack as anything I could do, so there was no big project I had to do to bond with him. But, when he arrived and I unboxed him, I did spend much of the evening just holding him while watching TV, getting used to his physical weight, admiring little details.

 

This is such an interesting question I never really thought about before, but now that you mention it I do feel a lot warmer towards the dolls I've personally done the faceups for!! I think when you personally customize a doll, you're kind of combining your own taste and style with it so that makes it a lot more ~ for you ~ if you know what I mean. I think if a doll doesn't feel good to me even after I've painted them, they're probably not going to last in my collection sadly...

Their personalities really come out when they have their faceups and clothes for sure. Sometimes the clothes I buy won't work for them and I kind of figure out their characters that way.

 

Hello,
Is it common to get a doll and not feel an attachment with her / him? I fell in love with her when I saw her online, had to have her, she was so cute. I've had her for 3 months and I don't feel for her the way I do for my other dolls. She is a tiny doll, all my other ones are large dolls, I think maybe that's why. It's funny because I feel guilty! I'm going to sell her because I feel she should be with someone who will love her more than I do. I feel guilty about selling too! Argghh :-(

 

It happens to the best of us. I've had dolls that just didn't look how I imagined them to be. Sometimes they just need a new look, and sometimes they just aren't fit for your collection. I'm the opposite, most of my dolls are small. I tried having a SD girl and I ended up selling her. She didn't click with me, and that's okay! Cuz she's moving on to a collection she'll fit into better!

 

I also try not to sell and to love whoever come to me but: there is no shame in selling. Dolls are not sentient objects: there are no moral judgement here.

See things that way: you are giving someone else the chance to get a doll they will love and you are giving the chance to the doll to go to a home in which she will be better appreciated.

You tried a new size, it didn't work out: now you know. All is not lost.

All the best.

 

I don't feel attachment to any of my dolls yet they are all very well cared.

I don't know why you guys have the urge to feel something for a piece of resin and can't just enjoy the doll for what it is: an object you can have fun with or a canvas where your artistic ideas take form.