Bonding with your dolls

I see bonding as part of an artistic process. I "bonded" with my doll the second I realized it's an artistic platform in and of itself. The doll is more than just an expensive toy, it's a piece of art I've left my mark on, and that's important to me. That's what makes me "bond" with my doll. If I can't customize something, it gets ignored very quickly.

NOTE: I know artists aren't supposed to be "married to their work," but I bet a great majority of artists have SOME level of emotional involvement with their pieces, even if it's only a sense of pride.

 

I am bonded to mine and they have very detailed personalities and backstories. For me, personally, if I just see it as an object or piece of art, I get very bored and feel like I've wasted a LOT of money.

That being said, my dolls are shelled versions of my roleplay characters and I usually bond by playing the characters or writing for them. Also, sewing for them, doing faceups, modding to get them just right and photoshoots help me bond. I really don't see anything wrong with bonding to "an object". For me, it's not just about being connected to resin, but also the bond to the character itself and loving what I created. I've also made a lot of friends through role play with other real people, so, weirdly enough, my doll "introduced" me to another doll's "human". (that sounds so weird but in a way, it's true!)

As far as a relationship....the best I can say mine is with my dolls is that I'm their god and creator. and they may or may not be aware of my existence. lol I am not a part of their story lines, I don't list them as my "friend".

 

I am one of those who have to give the doll time. When my dolls arrived I felt a little... not disappointed but more like "Is this all?". I didn't know what to do with them really!
But as I played with them (photographing, posing, dressing etc) and bought new hair eyes I felt myself quickly beginning to really love the dolls.
(My boy still hasn't got a face up, so he isn't all the way there yet, but at least he has clothes, eyes, hair and I am DELIGHTED with the way he poses. Oh and his hands).

This leads me in on the second question.
Well. I had them pretty much figured out before I got them. But once they were here I realised that they really have their own personality.
Example: Recently I discovered that my girl probably likes striped dresses. Why and how did I discover? I don't know, it just dawned on me.
My boy has one straight finger, while the others are curved. The I realised that he probably puts his finger to his chin when thinking. Why and how do I know? I don't know, that just came to me!

That's why I try to give my dolls time even if I don't feel that instant spark I was hoping to feel when I opened their boxes.
If it doesn't feel right, I try to make it better by trying on different wigs and eyes and clothes (If I have such things at home), perhaps it will dawn on me.
My next doll I haven't even figured out her hair colour yet. She will let me know when she arrives.

 

My favorite way to bond with them is painting them and photographing.

I love to bond with my doll through photographing~♥
I feel like their personality shine brighter in photography than just sitting there looking pretty. So, I'll grab a camera, phone or whatever, to take pictures of them in their new clothes or wig or just them doing something that their character would allow.

faceup is fun but it take a while, where as photo only a click away!

 

Painting, and of course sewing are wonderful ways to renew or strengthen the "bond" I have with my lovely ever-changing works of art. But the dolls I am most "bonded" with are the ones I've done the most work on. A few hours of cutting and carving, taking an otherwise adverage doll and transforming it into a perfectly engineered super-poser is always important to me for bonding time. I guess it's part of being a tinkerer... Nothing says "I love you" like busting out the sand paper. Strange, that isn't what I got into this hobby for.

 

@Brightfires I like what you said about being sentimental about some of your dolls. I have two that are like that. One was my very first doll and the other is one I was gifted. It's more the "importance" of the circumstances surrounding them that would make me hesitate to sell them. They're actually very replaceable.

 

Bonding with any inanimate object for me usually requires an emotional association to a person, place, or event that is significant to me. I've only bonded with one inanimate object that wasn't an emotional trinket and that was a stuffed lion I bought as a gift and ended up keeping. We bonded because of a movie I think. I really don't know, actually. I just know that when it came time to wrap him up, I went out and bought that friend something else for Christmas. Dolls are no different. I recently sold my first two dolls simply because I needed to raise funds really quickly. I loved those dolls but they are just dolls.

As far a personalities, I suppose that depends on whether or not you're shelling pre-existing characters. My first doll was an impulse buy and wasn't fulfilling any of my characters, so I created his personality gradually by just playing around with him, looking at his face at all kinds of angles and lighting and see what kind of atmosphere he had around him. He looked like a little trouble maker despite his huge smile, so that's how that came about. I definitely suggest just playing around with the doll, posing them, dressing them, changing eye and hair color. They'll tell you who they are eventually.

 

I'm really not sure whether I get this whole "bonding" thing. I mean - I really, really like my dolls and if they got damaged or one was stolen, I'd be really upset (they're not easily replaced cos most of them are either sold out forever or Minimees that I simply can't get anymore, that's why). But it certainly wouldn't be the end of the world. Yeah, most of them are representations of characters from stories I'm trying to write - kinda like 3D-pictures/drawings that I can give different outfits, hairstyles, eyes with little problems (i.e. not having to re-do the whole drawing). They're not the characters themselves, it's more like "this is what Luken would look like if he existed". Others, like my Dollzone faerie or Cassie, I just got because I wanted them. No character attached, no story, I just liked their look and had the money to spare, so I got them. I like those, too, and wouldn't sell them, either.

So, yeah, I can say I like my dolls very much and I wouldn't sell them EVER but I don't consider myself "bonded" with my dolls.

 

How do i bond with my dolls?

I talk to them as if they are people, dress them, take picture, make clothes or even once in awhile watch a movie with them! Also, when i look for a doll, it has to have... how do I word this. they have to have spirit! like, if by chance they would talk to me. i guess is another way for me to bond with them.


As for personality, the dolls have been character of mine in roleplays and games for years! But even as they grow there personality does as well. changing of even expanding on who they are!

 

My dolls are the shells for my RP characters, and I bond with them by playing them, writing for them... modding and painting to get them exactly right... dressing them, shopping for them... all that good stuff.

As to how I came about their personalities... weird as this may sound, I didn't. They came to me. And wouldn't shut up or get out of my head, pestering me day and night until I gave in and shelled them. The less persistent ones have no shells.

 

I bond with mine by taking them to conventions, sewing them clothing, watching tv with them, etc.

Their personalities are still forming, so far.

 

most of the dolls i make/buy/mod are based on already established characters. don't really have to bond with them since i;m making the doll out of character luv anyway.
it's rare to make an OC, thou i'm starting to get into it lately.
for the few OCs i do have, most dont have backstories. or it is 1 or 2 quick random lines. i do plan on starting to convert some old D&D characters to dolls for fun so that will change eventually.

 

I was a bit more romantic about the hobby when I started than I am now. I'm attached to most of my dolls to some degree, and I'm more attached to some over others, but I think the idea of bonding puts a bit of strange pressure on people. There's no one best way to participate in this hobby, so expecting everyone to regard their collection in the same way would be futile.

I don't have characters I shell. I don't have super-detailed back stories for them. But I still like to find that perfect look for them, dress them how I want to dress them, and photograph them.

 

It sounds kind of crazy in respect to dolls, I guess, but in my case, it was 'absence makes the heart grow fonder.'

I didn't like my LE Iple House Barahan, Byung Joon. There are things about him that can't be changed - like his skin color, which isn't what I thought I was buying. I just felt like, 'This is not my doll. This isn't the doll I bought. How did I end up with this guy, and what am I going to do???'

I started by swapping his default eyes for another pair. That was a slight improvement. My wife wiped some of his faceup off that I hated (random bright orange blush on his cheeks and chin), and that was a huge improvement! But he still didn't seem right. I gelled his wig, she ripped off his eyelashes.. Everything was a step closer to what I wanted, but still not right, not 'my' doll.

So now he's off with a faceup artist, and I'm literally chewing my nails over him. I miss him so much. I didn't even like that doll, and this was sort of a last resort before I decided whether or not I could justify keeping a doll I had never wanted. But now I miss him like CRAZY. I've got his body with me, while his head's away, and I keep thinking he has such beautiful skin, when that's the thing I had found most objectionable about him! It's funny how things work out. ^^

 

Since the choice of the doll, waiting for his arrival, the bond will increase, the personality is created and with it the purchase of a wig, eyes and clothes, always put them in a place of my room I can touch them. sometimes they do not want anything to me. Look at me and say leave me alone. Other days while the afternoon taking pictures and changing their clothes.


At home, Erick (Don Ringdoll), Hwang Lee (Luke # 1 Dream Of Doll) Hana Kiori (Cherie Iplehouse) Kalishi (head or Eris Doll / impldoll body) and head of Tae (souldoll)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lukca/

 

How do you bond with your doll?
My bonding moment i really think happened today, restringing my Jun It really made him feel like he's mine.
How do you figure out your dolls personality?
For me, i look at the face and simply let my imagination go wild. Once i decide on what his face looks like, the rest comes after.

 

How do you bond with your doll?
I don't really 'bond' with my dolls in the way that is generally meant by folks in this hobby. To me, bonding means liking the way the doll looks. That's pretty much it. If the doll is aesthetically pleasing to me out of the box, then I consider us bonded. There were a few times when I didn't like the doll as much when she arrived, but a new face-up fixed that. In other cases (thankfully, very few cases), I knew that I won't like the doll no matter how she's painted, so I sold those. I would equate my 'bonding' with dolls to 'bonding' with a purse, or a phone - any inanimate object that I enjoy greatly, really.


How do you figure out your dolls personality?
My dolls don't have extensive personalities. I'm not a writer, even though I do have a very vivid imagination. If the dolls do have personalities, they are very basic. I mostly see them as artistic toys - very beautiful, wonderful, interactive art toys.

 

How I bond with my doll is having her near me when I do my studies. I have up on the shelf looking over me or near the mouse holding onto a cracker for me to eat, stuff like that. Also, because I am becoming more of an avid reader, I read out loud to her before we both go to bed. I sleep with her (I'm not afraid of her breaking or falling off the bed) and I take great care in the clothes I buy her and do stuff her character might like to do. That is how I bond with my doll.

Oh one more then, dressing her up in her different type of clothes.