Breaks from the Hobby

I’ve been ebbing and flowing in and out of the hobby since I started in April, but I hope there’s something that makes me stay for a while longer. I think now that I’ve found out that I can dress my doll up in cosplay I’ve found a whole new outlet!

 

Never really left the hobby; however, I have boxed away my dolls for three or four years for some reasons. I still keep eyes on them although they are kept in the boxes for years

 

Yes, once, about 9/10 years ago. Sold my dude and I still regret it. I'll have an Iple Louis again someday, but for my reintroduction I'm starting with a girl (April Story Diana) :>

 

I took a long hiatus of maybe 5 or so years? I got my first doll around the same time I started cosplaying with my friends... Since I was still in school at the time & couldn't afford two expensive hobbies, I put bjds on the back burner and just enjoyed cosplaying & going to conventions. I never sold my first doll though, he just sat in my room with my plushies and figures. I would give him the occasional pat on the head but I didn't have the drive to do anything with him.

I started getting back into the bjd hobby when I started losing the energy to keep cosplaying with my friends. Currently I've been going back and forth between focusing on bjds and DDs.

 

I took a hiatus of almost 3 years, medical issues and life just kinda came at me. Funds and my attention and priorities got redirected and my dolls got set aside for a good bit.

Earlier this year I felt better about coming back and re-engaged in the bjd community, slowly easing back in and just kinda skirting along the sides lines to see what's gone on in my absence. It's been fun. I'm still kinda shocked the hobby is growing at the rate it is, I see soooo many more young people engaging in it and it's so nice to see so many people take a chance and dive into such crafts as sewing, painting, and sculpting. It's wonderful!

I still kind of just lightly lurk, engaging every now and again but I've really enjoyed coming back and looking at everything with fresh perspective.

 

Well, i thought of leaving the hobby once, cause few years ago i lost my interest in bjd-hobby a bit. But after overthinking it i decided to not sell any of my dolls, cause i still love them. So i had a break and after that my interest came back and most of my dolls are still with me. Don't know if I can tell that i had "left the hobby" for sure, but if so, i came back again anyway, in a year or so.

 

Pretty much been on "a break" for the last year or so. I have a lot of toy related hobbies so my dolls are just one of them in the mix. I'm still happy with my collection but I haven't been focusing on it as much. Most of the things I want to do next involve bigger more extensive/expensive projects. For now, I'm happy to back burner all of those ideas until I'm motivated and solidify my concept. Also - there aren't any grail dolls I want, nothing is really "missing" from my collection. I would be fine if I never bought another doll. Now however I want to shore up the way they are displayed (but this also includes all of my toys). So for now...I'm on a dolly break (sorta).

 

I've pretty much been on a break since my second boy arrived, which makes it... 8 years? I just never could find a way to really get into the community, which led to my enthusiasm waning a lot. But even through all those years, my boys sitting around in my room made me feel happier having their company. Now I want to start making things for them and participate more actively, so I hope even if I take a break again it won't be THAT long.

 

I took a year and a half break when I moved to Japan and couldnt take my dolls with me.
"But Bones!" you might say, "it's Japan!! Couldn't you have just gone to the actual store and bought one?"
And I would answer "Yes, my sweet summer child, such a thing would be possible if they hadn't stuck me on a tropical island of a thousand people over 2,000km south of Tokyo."

Luckily, I went back to Canada to visit this summer and could bring back one of my dolls. I dont ever want to take a break from them again. Just having one sit in my room makes me feel so much less homesick.

 

Thanks for everyone sharing their stories. It makes me feel better I'm not the only one.

I first discovered BJD dolls back in 2008. I tried to buy one in 2010 but was scammed... and that left a nasty taste in my mouth for the dolls, the community and the hobby in general. Except.... one kept lingering in my eBay wish-list for all that time.... I sold a car that wasn't being used anymore, and I didn't have any bills piled up. I decided to buy that darn doll after all that time. I crept back onto DoA to get a list of the things that I would want for him like clothes,wigs, and learn how to buy and care for a BJD. I did have a wig and shoes from the failed attempt from years ago, since that doll wasn't going to have them.

I had lurked on DoA a little bit between the time, just to look at photos. I never thought to look for any local owners since I figured no one in Kentucky would be here. Oh, wow! I found a meetup section.... and a whole group of local collectors. I was scared as I've ever been to go to that meetup, but I'm so glad I did. I made friends with everyone that was there and after the years of successfully ordering myself my 'grail doll', I have enjoyed it more than I would have guessed.

I did attend fewer meetups for about a year because I changed to working nights again, had a huge household change and my health wasn't good. My health improved and I learned to switch sleep back and forth on meetup weekends. Lately, I've been able to attend more regularly. So, that was a sort of break, but for the long-term it needed to happen. I did feel I let some of my buddies down but everyone seemed to be very understanding and didn't make me feel like I had missed out. I also didn't do much with my dolls during that time, but they kept my mood up since I put several of them on display in my darkened bedroom. I get to see them before and after I sleep, and it always makes me glad to see them no matter how rough my last shift might have been.

 

I took a 7 year hiatus from the hobby because at the time, I was still in high school and the stress of moving out of my hometown to a different state all of a sudden really took a toll on me. I began to find my solace mainly in books, and sure enough the rest of my high school years flew by with my nose in a book most of the time. After high school came the stress of college and trying to figure out what you want to do for the rest of your life, so that took about 5 years to complete haha. I'm back now because I found that I will never stop loving dolls. They are so lovely to look at and owning one is equivalent to owning a very fine piece of art. Whether they be BJD's or not, it's something I've always found to be a part of what makes me who I am, partly because my mom is a seamstress and I grew up helping her cut patterns to make our clothes when I was a child. I've been collecting some Pullips and other ABS plastic dolls over the past few years since I couldn't afford a resin doll at the time. Now that I've just graduated college and am trying to create a sense of structure in my life that school used to offer, getting back into a hobby or starting a new one can really give you a sense of fulfillment so you won't go crazy from not having anything to do. Like it gives you another clear goal to strive for, a direction and sense of purpose all while having fun along the way! I'm glad to see that this hobby is doing really well. It's definitely grown since 9 years ago! There's so much more information available now then ever!

 

I’m coming back from a 10 year or so break, in which I moved to a different country, got married, got a master’s degree, got married, had a kid, got a job that eats my life.... I’m actually coming back in part to deal with the stress from the job, haha. During those ten years, I still had my dolls, but they were at my mother’s house on the other side of the ocean. I finally had them sent to me a few months ago. (And bought two more.)

 

My interest in this hobby comes and goes. Sometimes I go months and without doing anything with my dolls,and sometimes thinking of quitting the hobby altogether,and then for some reason I get excited about the hobby and obsessed with dolls all over again. I'm in that phase right now and hope it lasts,because I've learned so many new skills I can apply to the hobby and I'm enjoying a new creative streak.

 

I took a ten year break from dolls, I never sold any of them, just packed them up since I was very transient for a while. (I still kinda am) but took them out and decided to come back around March... and so far I've added three dolls to my collection. ^^; I think it's kinda hard to stay out of the hobby for good, but taking breaks when inspiration is lacking I think is a pretty common thing!

 

I took a break from about halfway through grade 12 to the end of my second year at uni! I completely lost interest, mainly due to some really aggressive gender conformity on my dysphoric closeted self's part. I left my dolls halfway across the country in storage while I took that hobby break, and it ended up being... a really good move, to be honest.
It wasn't just good for my finances, like I was going to joke about, or inspiration or technique or what have you. I only came back once I both felt comfortable living life not just as a guy (it was the right move, but it takes some getting used to) but as a gender non-conforming one. I might be moderately insecure about my gender and how people see me, but dolls are a fantastic creative outlet, darn it! (Plus, taking a break from obsessive interests is good for sanity/sense of focus/ideas!)

 

In fact I am on a break right now. And by break I mean, i'm currently not in the process of buying a doll nor looking for any more potential sculpt I may want. Like most of my hobbies, I do take a lot of *cough* long *cough* breaks. But it does not make me less interested either. And my break from the hobby will extend in the near future I could imagine. That is because I know uni will get in the way again.

 

I just bought a house with my boy-friend and we will have a lot of renovations to do.
I don't plan to make a break, actually I don't want to but I think I will have less time and money for a while.
I will probably have to distance myself from my hobby

 

I had about 4 years break from BJD hobby. I didn't checked any forums or doll sites for news or doll releases, and then I came back, it was so exciting! But I have a lot of regrets missing dolls I like now. Some of them are too expensive now due rarity or any other reason. Anyways I'm back to my dollies (whom I didn;t sell, but they sat at my table being untouched, so sad!) Now I have 1 new doll and 2 waiting^^ I love this feeling!

 

I took a break for just over a year because my work life became stressful, the group I was meeting with stopped meeting, on top of trying to reconnect with old friends and make new friends, doing other things and hobbies... bjds just kind of got pushed to the wayside. But I pulled out one of my boys a few months ago and remembered how much I loved them. Ever since I've been trying to find another group to meet with while I figure out what to do about my bald guy... One of these days I'll even get into taking pictures again.

 

I started in the hobby in 2008 and I had a break for about two years around 2012-2014. My taste in dolls had kind of changed and I didn't much care for the dolls I had back then and their characters and story were kind of childish. So when we moved houses, I just never took them out of their boxes and finally ended up selling the whole lot. Then I had an idea about a new storyline and that got me started again. My "first crew" had been SD-sized, but those were too large for me (and too expensive). My "second crew" is all mature minis and I'm way happier with them. I got the first ones of my new crew in the summer of 2014 and am now up to nine dolls at home and three more ordered.