Bonding with your dolls

I think it's when one gets a doll and see him/her in person that one bonds with a doll. I've owned dolls that I was ecstatic about at first, but once the excitement wore off, I wasn't really attached. For those I truly bond with, I eventually come up with a name for a doll once he/she is finished, and the doll's personality may arise just from handling or changing outfits... or my imagination. I've also replaced one doll's character with another doll before as well, since I wasn't attached to the doll but wished for the character to remain.

 

I think bonding with doll means how that doll really attract you and attached with you. So while doing faceup or make clothes or just changing the eye and wig, we're trying to make that doll special for us, with the look that we to make something wr really like.
But I think people who don't care too much about bonding will be better since I have seen some people who sell their doll just because they can't bond with them which makes me wonder how can this happening. Are they just buying it with impulse? Well, it's their doll so they can do what they want.
I think that as long as you like a doll and feel that the doll is special to you, you're already bonding with it.

 

Like many people here my dolls are shells of RP characters that I have. The bond for me comes from the search for just the right doll to use as a shell and the anticipation of getting them and the trepidation that they may not work. Then when they arrive and I work with their face up a bit and their clothing and wigs it all starts to piece together so that the doll because more of a representation of a beloved character and not just an object.

 

I bonded with my doll really quickly after she got home, if not right after the moment I saw her. I just take her out of her box everyday and put her next to me when I'm using the computer, she right here now too. I pick her up and put her in front of me sometimes, especially when watching an episode or something I don't use my keyboard for. It doesn't feel right when she isn't there. Also I sewed some clothes and I just bought a few wigs today.

I do still have to figure out her backstory and personality, I have an idea of what I want, I'll just wait till the new wigs come in I think it will make her look more like the character I'm trying to create for her

 

I'm writing this before I read the thread so I can give you a true answer.

How do you bond with your doll?
When a new doll first comes home, I often sleep with them. Since I don't move around much when I sleep, and I tend to get 60cm dolls or larger, its easy to cuddle with them, just take off their wig, maybe put on their PJs if I made them a pair and snooze.

I play with them by changing their clothes, taking pics of them and giving them props and posing them so that I get used to how they stand, sit and are jointed.

Since I have a tendency to take a resinoyd with me everywhere, that also helps me bond. One is chosen to go with me to grocery shopping, Japanese class, and to visit family, among other places. My family thinks its weird, but when I told them that "they make me happy," the just shrugged and accepted them for the most part. I seatbelt them into the passenger's seat and we go!

I suppose you can say "interacting with them" is the best way to bond. I probably interact WAY too much than most, but its still fun, and that's the important part, I think. However you choose to do it is what works for you.

How do you figure out your dolls personality?
Since many of my dolls are fandolls, their personalities are more or less already partially established. Since I RP (roleplay) as Ryuichi, he has the most developed personality. I've fleshed him out and made him "real" via RPing. The same with his OC (Original Character) twin Ryuma.

My original characters came to me in dreams, and then telling friends about their background helped me flesh out their characters even more. It doesn't hurt that I'm a writer to truly flesh out the characters of all of my Crew.

Now, off to read and see what everyone else said!

Ryu

 

To bond with my dolls, I just do my best to make them my own. Play around with their look until I feel like it is just right, spend time taking photos or making clothes for them, and even thinking about their story...what kind of personality they have, etc. All of these things help me to bond with my dolls.

 

The bonding process for me is more about spending time with them than customizing - if I don't take them places with me, have them out when I'm just doing random things, or doing things with them specifically like taking pictures, the bonding process never really happens for me. Their personalities pretty much just evolve as I play with them - if I try to preplan anything, it never works out.

 

For me, it's about making them fit my vision for them, instead of just being the blank/company vision. I buy almost all my dolls with characters in mind--before I've even found the sculpt, I have a name, style, personality, everything worked out. As I put in the work on each doll that brings it closer to the vision I have for it, the work with the doll creates the "bond" I have with it, and secures its place in my collection. This isn't just faceup, but body blushing, restringing, wig styling, finding the right wig and eyes, working on clothes (...I need to get busier on that), and any mods the sculpt might need.

 

How do you bond with your doll?

For me My love of bjd mainly revolves around sewing. I usually see a spark of quirkyness in a doll and make things for them that center around that. My doll's are canvases for my more artistic sewing projects,and a great outlet for photo ruts.

How do you figure out your dolls personality?
I don't really have individual backstories for my dolls. (yet?) To me they are more like normal people that I became friends with. I guess this goes back to bonding because I see a sculpt I like and its kinda like when I see a cool person and think "I'd really like to be friends with them" then when I spend more time with them I bond and we become friends.

As long as you are having fun with a doll and using it to play or be creative I'd say that's bonding.

 

I bond with my dolls when I dress them up, give them their wig, and their eyes . When I decide to get a doll, I generally have a colour scheme set for them, which would determine what wig, eyes clothing style etc I would give the girl, so I guess the bonding starts there. The once they are here and they are dressed up and not bald and eyeless, I come up with a story for their background. Sometimes the sculpt helps me with their personality too (e.g. if they have a smirk, they are more confident, but if they have a pout, they may be more quiet/reserved).

It also helps when I make them my own by customizing out of their look that's been determined by the company. And it's also a lot of fun, so to me fun times also equals bonding time

 

.:How I bond with my dolls:.
I usually play with them a little, test their pose-ability and mess around with wigs. Trying new clothes and trying to sew new outfits help me bond with them as well. Usually if an idea sits as well as I hoped then its a sign that I will love the doll. I give it a while before deciding whether or not I'm going to keep trying or not if something isn't going right for me. I found myself getting distant with my MSD dolls and after some time has passed I have decided they weren't working out for me :/ It's sad but I guess it does happen.

.:How I determine their personalities:.
Finding out what makes them tick is so much fun, I can usually see what their personalities are once I get them in a group with some friends' dolls. We'll take pictures and see if the dolls pose nicely together or not. Seeing how the light catches their eyes can make a whole lot of difference in their moods as well its its always fun to mess around them. Usually I'll have a name in mind for a particular character and I'll develop a back story in my mind before buying a doll and that of course helps a lot with their personality.

 

I find buying them outfits and admiring them is enough for me to really bond to a doll. I do not like to be too touchy with them for fear of ruining their faceups/getting them dirty so I take a hands off approach. Also my first doll was based off a character I have had for a long time so I had bonded with her long before I owned the doll.

 

With Pete, I found doing his faceup REALLY made a difference.

A little backstory, though some of this I've said before-- all my dolls so far have come to me without faceups, and all of them spend a long time sitting around without them as well. With Vince, I loved him right away, thought he was absolutely beautiful even unpainted... I just poured love right into him. When Pete and Billy came, Billy was easier to 'bond' with. Pete seemed to sort of absorb this negative financial guilt, I guess, because I couldn't seem to feel right with him, even though I knew he was the right sculpt, the right resin color, and I couldn't get rid of him because he and Billy needed each other. Cuddling him didn't help, wardrobe didn't help...

Turns out all I needed to do was paint him, because now I just can't get enough of the little guy. (it had to be put off because of space, weather, time, and energy-- four things that never seemed to come together for me)

 

My BJD isn't here yet (soon *-*), but I've definitely bonded with my other ones too, especially the little customs. (I modify nendoroid petits to make cute chibi versions my favorite characters.)

It's not even when I'm sculpting parts or doing their faces and blushing etc., though that helps too. For me, usually when moment after which I feel closest to them is when I start doing little photoshoots and posing them doing things together or interacting etc.
After that I grow so much more attached to them, maybe because it feels more lively and endearing than when it's just at the stage of pieces being sculpted etc.

 

How do you bond with your doll?
I have found that I bond the most with a doll if I get it a custom faceup versus a company faceup. It's one thing that makes the doll mine, something that I had a say in that expresses its personality and for me it's the most important part of the doll. I do still get compnay faceups once and awhile, and I find it easy to bond when I find the right combination of wig and eyes. I also bond with my dolls when I take photos of them and write stories about them

How do you figure out your doll's personality?
I usually have a rough idea of what their personality will be like before they arrive, but am also open to changing it as dolls can sometimes surprise us with who they choose to be. Once they have a faceup, it's easy for me to start creating a story, background and personality traits.

 

*stands up* Hi, I'm Emby, and I'm a bonder. I know how ridiculous some doll owners/collectors think it is to get emotionally attached to hunks of plastic shaped like little people, and yes, I know my dolls aren't alive, aren't able to feel or think or love me back, yadda yadda...and not a bit of it makes a whit of difference as to how I feel about them. So there.

Now that I've got that out of the way...I bond differently with each of my dolls because they each represent a different character. The only one I cart around with me, all over the house, and even when I'm out on occasion, is Chaeri. I've taken each of my dolls around with me and I used to take turns with them, but the bond I share with Chaeri surpasses any I've ever had with any other doll, ever. I've had her for almost five years and I can honestly say that's the longest I've been closer to any one doll of mine than any of the others I own. (I've always been a multiple-doll owner even before I got into Asian dolls.) I still love Megumi, Miyae, Ashe and Belle, and I wouldn't want anything to happen to any of them...but Riri is my baby, and I don't see any sign of it slowing down anytime soon.

I don't know what "makes" the bond happen. I've made clothes for all my dolls, given them all faceups and special props, all of that. I've spent time with each of them too. As for figuring out their personalities, some of the dolls I got to "fit" a particular character I made up, and at least one (Meg) is a completely original character without any connection to any previous character I created. Even the ones based on previously-created characters "know" they're dolls, and their personalities are subtly different from the characters on which they're based.

 

Well most important part of being bonded with your doll must be good start with your dolls. When I first got into this hobby, I was in middle school so I could not afford my grail doll with my budget, so I just got first doll which was pretty reasonable price. But my satisfication with the doll bought for the reason the price is reasonable never could last more than a week...it made me so sad. Even though I got my very first doll in my hands, I never could feel fully satisfied with him keep looking at my grail doll....And after few years later I became old enough to earn some money for my dollism and I finally got her . At that point, you do not need to try something to be boned with them. Everytime looking at her face, it jsut remind me how much I have wanted this doll and made me fell in love with her again and again. ^^to add, getting a really beatiful face up from faceup commisioner or do by yourself helps to get boned with doll. And try to picture of their character. making a what if senario for doll...for example, if they fall down, how they would react according to the character you created, my Verna(my grail doll) would try to hold her tears but going to cry eventually XD so cute. Like in that way...I think for enjoying this hobby, you need creativity, ability of vivid imagination.

 

i know i bonded and setted a personality for my doll when i do something that's supposedly out of character for them and it feels wrong

 

I've often wondered what this "bonding" thing is. Reading these posts makes me wonder if it semantics. Seems like some people do get emotionally invested in their dolls, while others don't. I like my dolls, but I don't love them the way I love friends and family, so I guess I am not 'bonded' to my dolls.

 

For me, bonding is when you "find" a sculpt that you are pleased with and that you feel like you would never be able to let go again, that when you see clothes or stuff and you know it's just the right fit for that certain doll. That's when you've bonded, at least imo. I've bonded well with all my three dolls, probably because I've had very distinguished ideas for their concepts. Sure, now neither of them are as I first planned, but it has been a steady process of development, where I bit by bit find the things that fit both the doll and my personal taste. Sometimes I can even wish that I wasn't bonding so well with my dolls, just to be able to wash their face to give them a complete make over, with a new face and style. But now I can't because I love them too much as they are :'3