Bringing your doll to an Event

Teddy - It looks like you're in trouble with your little ones since they seem to be ready to climb out of the carrier and run around. That's a great way to carry them around though.

I've also used a basket to carry some of my MSDs even though it's easy to carry them on your arm.

 

Oh! I love to bring my boys to events. I have a violin shaped carrier that can fit an sd and a msd or 2 yo-sd. But most of the time I just brought 1 boy and carry around in my arms. I'll ended up putting the carrier aside. xD It's just a means to transport em while I'm in the train or something. If I'm not bringing my sd, my msd and yo-sd can fit into a square bag that I padded nicely. But my msd has to sit though.

 

My parents bought one of those chests from Michael's (the cardboard ones with the handles and clasps), and made me a carrier out of it. They put a wall down the middle, and padded each side, then they built a shallow tray out of foam core and padded the bottom. The dolls go in the padded compartments, and the tray sits on top of the sides of those compartments so that I can put extra clothes and accessories in it.

 

That's a great idea, thanks for sharing!

 

Whenever I bring my dolls out and about with me (to conventions or just out for photos) I always pad a larger hand bag with some foam or bubble wrap. Then I use a plain white pillowcase to wrap the doll up for longer commutes. Then when I want to carry them around I can but I have the bag to put them in when I need my hands free. For smaller dolls I would imagine they would fit in a normal sized handbag as well. As long as you are careful not to hit the bag on anything it is super safe.

 

The dolls travel to the event in a secure pillows-and-straps carrying bag, no matter what. My favorite is Iplehouse's double-wide EID bag with the extra pockets on the outside. It cannot be beat. I live in the city & don't drive, so I absolutely require a bag that can keep a thousand-dollar doll safe on public transport or air-travel.

Once I'm at the event, I don't need to be schlepping another bag around for display purposes, so I just carry the doll on my arm. These guys're tall; it'd be too much hassle to pack a second bag that's big enough to display them. And I finally have sufficient biceps for the task, so I use 'em. ^^ Besides, I cannot bear to humiliate some of these elegant and/or butch beauties by sticking them in a frilly basket or baby-sling. Dignity must be preserved!

If it's a meetup, or club-meeting, or convention event where everyone will be sitting around, then my biceps get a rest, and the doll sits somewhere with other dolls-- or else I put him on a stand. I often carry one of those Dollmore waist-stands in my messenger-bag. They're wonderful, slim-line, lightweight, and come apart into 2 pieces for easier transport. Then, the doll gets to be displayed looking his best. I highly recommend those stands.

My favorite events are the parties at Snowleopard's house.... she lives within walking-distance of me, so I can bring as many enormous dolls as I want... I load multiple doll-bags into my little bag-lady shopping-cart, throw in a couple bottles of wine, and amble down there at my leisure. ^^

 

Carrying bags and a stroller (I am not kidding either, I've seen a lot of people push their dolls around in a stroller at conventions.)

 

If you plan on carrying your doll around a lot I would probably get an official doll carrier bag, some companies, like Volks, sell them. Personally, I don't carry my doll around a lot but the one time I brought my SD to comiccon I used a large padded purse that she could sit in c:

 

I'm suppose to bring him to a cosplay event but I have too much to carry but for meetups and picnic outings, I usually bring him

 

Hello

(Sorry if this has been discussed before.)

So this june I'm going to my first bjd convention ever, Dolliverse.(yay so excited!) I've been lamenting over which doll to take. Ideally I'd take them all but with 14 dolls (9 sd's, 4 msd's and a yosd) that's not really doable unfortunatly. I keep changing my mind like, this one needs new shoes, but this one needs a new wig, etc...

So how do you decide which dolls to take?

I've actually contemplated getting some kind of trolley to store them all in but I think that'd be a bit ridiculous. (not to mention heavy!)

 

I'll be at Dolliverse too! I love Dolliverse, it's so much fun

Last year I brought two full dolls (SDs too - people told me I'd be kicking myself by the end of the day because those kids are heavy and my back did feel like it was about to snap in two, but it was so worth it) plus two heads because one needed eyes and I wanted to check with her faceup, and one needed a wig in a size none of my others wear. So that's one of my tricks - decide on one or two full dolls, and take a couple heads that need "accessorizing". Could easily be done with feet, too.

Will you be going by car or by bus/train? You'll be carrying your dolls around most of the day, so if I had anything smaller than SD I'd probably go for one or two of the little ones.

I haven't quite decided which doll(s) to bring this year, either ... for meets, I usually ask the other participants if they'd like to see one of my dolls in person (for body comparisons and the like) and if they do, I'll pack that one.
If I can't make up my mind at all, I try to remember which one(s) I took last time and take someone else this time around. I try to be fair and not always take the same ones (unless someone requests them), so this year I'll probably just take my newest as I'm not specifically looking for clothes / wigs / other stuff that needs to be tried on this year.

 

It all depends on what you want to carry! Are you worried about the weight? SD's can be heavy, and since you will be carrying the doll around all day this could be a problem after awhile. YO-SDs are small and can easily be stored in a large purse but I also worry about how much easier they are to set down without thinking about it!
Do you have a favorite doll? If so maybe think of that one. I know it's hard, especially if you don't think you'll have all of the accessories together but I know you'll be able to chose a doll to take!

 

Think about--

* Narrowing it down to the few you really, really want to have with you for a con.
* If you have a doll you might need to find some things for that and is hard to fit...maybe bring that.
* If people have requested you bring one, or you think people might enjoy seeing one, bring that.
* If there's a mini-meet or a contest or a theme you need a particular doll for-- bring that.
* If doll is too heavy to easily carry around, do not bring. (sure you can haul around a cart, but why is that good? if there's a reason, OK.)
* If your doll is not ready (missing things you'd rather they have-- the right eyes, wigs, clothes), maybe bring another.
* If you can't protect the doll easily while transporting to and from the con (don't have the right sized carrier, can't carry easily, might get broken if banged about)-- do not bring.
* If your doll is fragile (easily scratched/damaged), has parts that might fall off (wigs, magnetic parts)--do NOT bring!
* If you can't keep your eye on your dolls at all times, or safely keep them out of the eyes of possible thieves-- do not bring.


Too many dolls can make a problem for you and your dolls. Don't worry about leaving some at home! They are safer and won't enjoy being crushed all together and banged up as you tote them around, anyway. Only bring the ones you can enjoy having at the con and that won't be damaged or inconvenienced (you or them) by carrying around.

Delicate dolls with lots of pieces that might fall off or be damaged or get lost-- only bring those to safe, easy places--maybe to more controlled meetups where you can safely pack and unpack them and set them up somewhere safe and don't have to carry them around.

Cons are not easy for watching and worrying about your dolls all the time because there is lots of moving around and distractions. Carry something easy. It's better for you and better for your doll, and you can have more fun concentrating on your one or two dolls and doing con activities.

If you can easily carry around a bunch of dolls and they won't get damaged or lost or distract you from the con--then, OK.

 

Do you guys prefer carrying your dolls in doll carriers or holding them in your hand when you want to bring them out to a meet/gathering or event?

 

Depends on how many I take. I usually try to take no more than three to public events, maybe up to 5 for private home meetings. I usually carry my favorite and put the others in the bag.

 

Typically when I carry dolls out with me to a convention, I use one of my "doll bags"--which are actually a pair of soft-sided Craftsman tool bags I picked up on a Black Friday sale last year! One's about 12" long, and fits 2 tinies across the bottom; I've built up some padding out of foam sheets covered in flannel, and added velcro buckles to hold them securely in place (since I also use this one when flying to out of town conventions, I want them secure!); a blanket goes on top of them, then a "false bottom" piece of card, and lastly another doll or some other items sit on top. If I'm walking around the convention, I'll open it up and let them (and the MSDs who came another way) sit up in the bag and be more visible, but still easy to carry. The other's 18" long, and has padding only at the bottom so far (I need to add it to the sides); with that one, I'm using old shipping blankets currently, and will eventually swap out for specially made blankets that are a bit more compact, so I can fit plenty of dolls in there to carry along with me!

When the SD guy went with me to the most recent convention, however, I had to carry him, as he doesn't fit into any of my existing bags; since he was the only one I had, and only for about half the day, it wasn't an issue for me to carry him around in my hands.

 

I like to work on my doll stuff while I nanny when the baby is sleeping so I found a picnic basket that's made out of wicker. It looks like a brief case made out of wicker. I ripped out all the gross cloth and thin foam, then added foam core and on top of that batting, then I took thick thread and sewed in a cute anchor patterned cloth on top of all the soft padding. My MSD has room for other dolls and accessories. There's probably room for 4 or 5 dolls and it's super safe. Since it's wicker people are very careful with the picnic basket since the outside is fragile. I found a small picnic basket carrier and did the same and it fits my Pukifee perfect. I could probably fit two or three puki's in it depending on how smooshed I wanted them to be. I just bought a bigger one so I can have multiples in it for when I store them instead of travel with them, and for my future SD doll I picked up a music case (for a clarinet or some other larger instrument) and I'm going to pad that as well. I'm feeling pretty pro at finding doll carriers lol although I'm very partial to wicker since everyone is super careful of wicker.

 

i didnt see what size doll you have. My gf has all MSD, and i have an SD. With my sd i had to carry her around like a small child in my arm, or have her sitting on my arm resting against my chest.

My gf however was also carrying a camera with a lense, a cannon t3 rebel i think, anyway she just had her doll sit on the camera legs around the lens but on the top of the flash, he stayed very well but she said he started to strain the neck with the extra weight.

I had an idea of a belt style holster but that would only be practical in msd and smaller.

When transported to the event she wrapped them carefully and placed into boxes they were shipped in.
Mine i wrapped in a sweatshirt and laid in a duffle bag.

Hope this helps

(edit) just rememberd her yosd was carried in the camera bag, one of the slots for a filter was the perfect size for him to sit in.

 

Sooo While I was at ACEN this weekend, I was carrying my SD sized doll around all day. Since this was my first time taking him out of house, I totally underestimated how tiring it would be to carry him for hours. My arms are still so sore 2 days later. It feels like I ran a marathon...with my arms.

Are there any other ways to carry these guys around without getting tired?

What about transporting them in general? Like to cons in other states?

I'd love your input.