Bonding with your dolls

Ok, so I am still waiting on my official "grown up" type dolls to get here, but I do collect off-topic dolls that I have had this experience with. =] So I hope this counts/helps!


How do you bond with your doll? How do you figure out your doll's personality?

these two questions go hand in hand for me, as I see that most dolls have a personality anyway. For me, it's easy. I love dolls, always have and always will. I don't just buy a doll on a whim, and it really has to speak to me. I have to feel like it was meant to come to me or be in my home. So I guess I kinda have to have a bit of the personality of the doll speaking and peeking out at me, begging for me to capture her stories in photos and in writing. I already have three other dolls that I want to get, and they all have personalities that just are so individually unique!

 

How do you bond with your doll?

By spending time with them; customizing them to look like their characters, taking photos, and most importantly just sitting them on my knee whilst I do work or posing them together. I love my dolls in the way that someone can love their fictional characters. They're real to me, although I'm aware they're not sentient living beings.

How do you figure out your dolls personality?

It just happens over time. I can't really explain how I come up with OC's. Ideas pop into my head randomly.

 

I bond with my dolls primarily by sewing for them. A lot of times I'll talk to them while I sew about the things I plan to do for them. It helps me sound out the ideas, and visualize them better, and it gets/keeps me excited about my projects. When I'm making purchasing plans I'll talk to the potential newcomer's castmates about how and when I plan to get the money, and what my first project with them is going to be. Sometimes if I can't decide on a fabric for a garment I "discuss" it with the doll it's for. I guess all of that makes me feel a bit less obsessive because then it's like I'm not the only one all this is important to, that it matters to them too? (I mean, it's only on a pretend level, but still... I think subconsciously there might be something to that.)

It doesn't just help me bond with my dolls, it helps develop my dolls' connections to each other, and doing photostories builds on those connections. The stronger the connections are, the more ideas I have, and the more fun it is to play.

For personalities, I have character dolls mostly so they're pretty much prefabricated... but there are still levels of personalization I guess. I take their personalities and apply them to the reality of their being dolls to create an active story. Like, Ian's always been a doll. The Shanlings were themselves in the books before they came to me, so they've become dolls, but they've all adjusted quickly (they all have the personality where they'd just either roll with it or--in the case of Darren and Evra--find it cool and fun and not something to freak out over). Dean, on the other hand, is still extremely weirded out by being resin and having things like removable eyes and other body parts be a normal everyday thing (but he thinks wigs are hilarious and secretly loves switching them out). Cas... just kind of accepts things without asking too many questions. But that's him. Corey is kind of an avatar, being an incarnation of a roleplay character, so to her this is just what has to happen for her to take physical form. Andi's going to have something of a Bourne Identity moment when he arrives, and have to figure out who and what he is for himself since he doesn't have a prepared backstory or anything. It just... adds an element of playfulness, to me, for them to be self-aware, and since I get to relate to them as what they are--dolls--I bond with them better and faster.

 

I don't really do the 'bonding' thing. If I invest the money in them, I better like them. Eventually I may want to sell them for another doll when my taste change, not to say I have yet, but I don't concern myself with the 'Do I really like this doll I spent all this money on?' thing. I just like them. The reasons I've sold dolls to this point has been an ex boyfriend I was with for five years got them for me and I didn't want to look at them anymore. It didn't have anything to do with the actual dolls.

 

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Takingphotos of them, just hugging them when im watching tv...Just havingthem around kind of helps me bond.

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Howdo you figure out your dolls personality?[/FONT]


XD Well I tend to pick out a dollthat matches my OC's so they already have a personality I guess?

 

This is such an interesting thread!

How do you bond with your doll?

Time and attention. Whether it's dressing them, taking photos, buying them new things, posing them or just having them near me throughout the day. The activity matters less than the time spent with them. It's a continual process too. If I neglect my dolls for a while (it happens) when I come back to them I have to sort of re-kindle that sense of connection. I take turns with them too, so no one gets ignored or left out, although my first two dolls are easily the ones I feel closest to.

How do you figure out your dolls personality?

Initially when I got into BJD (10 years ago! :O ) I thought they would be shells for characters from my stories. The dolls, however, were having none of this. They are themselves. Part of their personality only comes through when they have their face-ups done, but also which wigs/eyes/clothes suit them often has a lot less to do with what *I* envision, and more to do with what actually suits them when they try it on. I now can't even imagine trying to fit dolls to pre-created characters, the closest I get is thinking 'I want one with a shy personality" or "I want a girl who looks good in dark colours." After that, it's all up to them.

Thoughts on Bonding and Volks

As I only collect one company (because I like my dolls to match) I think part of the way I think about my dolls is related to the way Volks talks about BJD. Volks have omukae ceremonies, they talk about dolls as 'angels' or 'children.' They're not treated as toys or products, but given a very romantic, emotive culture and that's part of what I love about them. I remember reading somewhere that the first SD were made to be about as heavy as a cat, so they feel comforting when sitting in your lap. This is so true!

 

I have dolls that I am really attached too and then other times I may buy a doll and there seems to be something missing something. I have dolls that I have had a hard time naming. I love making clothes for them and stories. I don't stick with one story but have many for the same doll and use wigs and costumes to change the character. Love reading the post.

 

I've had some problems bonding with my latest and first girl doll, Soulldoll Bernadette. I mean, she's VERY pretty, but I don't know... I hope the situation gets better after the wigs I ordered for her are here. It's just that she's supposed to be one of my oldest RP characters, which I've grown very fond of, and those are very big shoes to fill for any doll.

 

Good question! I bond with some and not with others but its a feeling I cant explain!

 

My dolls are my soul ... that says it all.

 

Howdo you bond with your doll?

we go outside and take pictures; whenever i watch tv, at some point i want him to stay beside me; mondays, fridays and sundays are our bond times

Howdo you figure out your dolls personality?

i'm not sure. i just figured out his personality... first, from his face up, second, would be from the time i spent with him... he is very calm, contented and sometimes stubborn

 

I just sit them on my lap while I do leisurely activities like watching TV or surfing online. Sometimes they'll sit at the table with me while I have my morning coffee or a snack.

I also like to do online shopping for them while they're hanging out with me. Sometimes it feels like they pick the clothing? And to me, clothing style says a lot about a personality.
I know it sounds weird, but one time I was window shopping with Shu and after a while I realized that every item I came across that caught my attention (as in, I actually opened up a second tab to check out the prices/more pictures/etc) were all bunny related! I don't really have any personal bias towards bunnies and I never planned for Shu to either, but it just sort of happened.

 

exactly.... that happens to me most of the times as well... they have their own minds and we're being controlled. LOL

 

How do you bond with your doll?

I just keep him nearby so I can see him. I also have him sit on my lap, change clothes, pose him, take pictures, etc. I also like to take him with me when I can.

Howdo you figure out your dolls personality?

My dolls are based off of OCs so they already have a personality planned out for them.

 

That's mostly the same for me! I don't know exactly how to explain it...I just have this motherly feeling when around my boy that I don't seem to possess with human children. I just always get tender around him, and we mostly just sit in each others presence or I cuddle him at night.

 

I heard about people bonding with their dolls, and I didn't quite understand it until I got mine. It is quite incredible how you feel attached to your doll and they are like a friend you have all to yourself. I love having Anneke with me to keep me company. Changing her wigs and clothing is definitely a way I like to bond with her. I also like making youtube video with her, and just having her around in general. She is almost always sitting next to me, unless I am eating or doing something else that is messy and could hurt her.

 

I bond with my dolls by doing all their faceups and body blushing myself. Then I sew full outfits for them. And finally I write about their characters and plan on doing photostories with them. basicly anything that gets me touching and handling my dolls helps me bond.

 

I don't quite understand bonding with dolls, but I'm on an insulin pump. It's on you nearly every second of every day as a literal lifeline, but once in awhile you trade one in for a newer model. Taking it off and putting it in a box to be sent away, it feels like I cut off my hand. As for a doll? I'd be upset if one got lost or stolen because of the monetary value and they can be a pain to get, but even from an artistic perspective I'm more interested in how to get to a good faceup/dress/drawing/whatever than the end result. I "bond" with my pump because it's with me forever and I bond with my dog because he makes me. Dolls are neat, but at the end of the day they're just really expensive toys that can be the center of a lot of smaller hobbies.

 

I bond with my Ayumi by letting her sit on my desk while I learn or do sth else, make pictures of her, caress her, talk to her, sew clothes for her... there is so much i do with her hihi

Her personality was quite easy to find out. While I was waiting for her I thought about her chara and her name. I love Japan so she had to be from there and sth magical... so she turned out to be a reincarnation of a goddess

 

For me, bonding is always a continuing process. I love my doll--I've loved him since the moment I saw him--but I get bored if he's not always changing and developing. He started out with no character and a default faceup and nothing much else, and it makes me happy and proud that he's come such a long way in my mind and in person. That's what I like best about this hobby, so that's what I try to continue. His story is always growing more intricate. I'm always tinkering with the doll itself, opening his eyes wider, trying out face-ups, trying new outfit and wig styles. He's my little companion in learning photography as well. I'm just always tinkering in any way I can.

I love him when I'm doing this, but if I just sat him on a shelf somewhere and did nothing then yeah he'd probably just be a doll and I wouldn't care as much. It's a funny thing. He'll probably never be "finished."