Changes That Saved Your Love for Your Doll

Dollshe saint was my grail doll and i was able to get him when dollshe was doing their 'discontinuing' sale a couple years ago. I got tons of clothes for him, did his faceup nice, etc. I made him the boyfriend of one of my other dolls at the time. I loved his sculpt but I just couldn't bond with him. I ended up selling a bunch of my dolls, including his girlfriend. Only recently that I realized that I love his sculpt because he looks so moody and lonesome- since now he doesn't have a girlfriend i feel he can get more 'in character' the way i want him to be. I have him a new wig, a new name, and bam- i'm in love.

 

After I first received my (old style) Dollshe Bernard, I noticed that the shape of his eyes really wasn't working for me. I blindfolded him as a joke, to figure out if the eyes were truly the point of trouble and whether I should consider modding them. It worked so well that the blindfold just stuck and became part of his story, and he became my favourite doll for many years.

 

Similar to @arienh, I ended up not liking the nose and mouth on my MSD boy as much as I thought I would, so I made him a little surgical mask like people wear in Japan when they're sick. It worked perfectly, for his face and his character.

 

I love the Oz books a lot and made a YID Rexy into my prefect Princess Ozma, my fave character from the books. Then when Aimerai Doll did a line based on Oz, I ended up ordering a full set MSD Ozma. Who set and collected dust, as I already had a dream Ozma. A while ago I was I thinking of selling the MSD Ozma to buy a male MSD to make into a fav DC comics character Klarion. Then I got the crazy idea to just change the face up and gender of my Ozma and make her into him.
So little Ozma is now Klarion the Witch Boy from DC, and I luf him to bits, the doll's little grumpy face works so well for him.

 

I was all set to make a doll version of a game character who's very dear to me. I worked and reworked and modded and fiddled with his head, and even when it looked right in terms of refining the features, it still looked wrong, if that makes sense. I felt pretty discouraged, kept thinking it was related to my abilities, so I set him next to my other dolls for a bit, and that's when I figured out what was wrong -- his head was much too small compared to the scale of my other dolls' heads and that's why it looked so weird to me.

A company I love and already have multiple items from happened to release a head that looks a lot like the mods I was doing, except on a larger face! It should fit well with some minor fixes. I added that to my plans and I feel much better about the whole deal. The smaller head happens to be an excellent scale to be a skull base for additive mods, so I'm going to turn him into Charon, the ghoul companion from Fallout 3.

 

I got another doll. And that doll and the one I thought about selling were so perfect together I decided to give the one I thought about selling a second chance and sent away the faceplate for a proper face-up. Made all the difference. And those two are still the perfect couple.

 

I can't say it's a success now as I'm selling them now...however the reason isn't the dolls fault, so I still feel this is valid.

I did have one doll I didn't like anymore. I really didn't enjoy them any more at all, but I realized I was trying to make them what the site had shown, super girly. I randomly put a short fur wig on them instead of their normal long girly wig, and suddenly I really liked her again! I had just gotten so caught up with how much I liked the way the site showed her, I hadn't let her develop her own personality! She became a favorite for many years after!

 

More often than not, reviving a doll I've lst interest in does not work. Once the spark is gone, it's just gone and time sell or trade for something else. However, I do have two who have been revamped and loved--Jayden and Kier--so I'll answer for them.

For those of you who have done this successfully, what changes did you make?
Jayden- New faceup, new wig, new eyes and clothes
Kier- added freckles, new eyes, new wig, new clothes, new body

What didn't you exactly like about your doll anymore, if it was anything specific?
Both were cases of owning a beautiful doll and not knowing what to do with it.

Jayden as a character was previously shelled as a ResinSoul Dong, and I simply did not like a single thing about that doll once I had him in my hand, but I still loved Jayden as a character. Strangely enough, I already owned a Jie Doll Michel that I had never even considered using for Jayden, but in less than a year, that doll had already been through two characters that I found very "meh". I was considering sell him after the second character fell through, while at the same time searching for a new shell for Jayden, and after wiping the faceup, it just kind of clicked that THIS doll was PERFECT for Jayden, why oh why hadn't I seen that from the start?? New faceup, new wig, new eyes and new clothes, and I had my Jayden.

With Kier, I had a lovely Iplehouse Mars hybrid, and his character was the boyfriend to my sister's doll, but they just sat on a shelf and we did nothing at all with them. One summer, we decided we wanted to create a BJD boyband. We had the first three members planned, but not the last two. I had already stolen the poor Mars's hybrid body for one of the other boys, but while looking at that head, decided he'd make a good boyband member, and she wanted to reuse her other doll for the 5th member, and so Kier was born! The faceup stayed the same except for the addition of freckles, and I got a little bit better wig and different color eyes for him to distinguish him from the old character.


What are the things you love most about your doll after you changed it?
In both cases, my dolls are no longer just pretty boys that sit on the shelf with no story or personality. By completely recreating them, I can now enjoy the sculpts and the characters together. I like Jayden better as a teenage rapper than an adult preacher's son or wild club going partier and I like Kier better as a laid back boyband member than super girly Broadway actor.

 

sometimes different face up can make you love your doll more or different eyes or wigs

 

My second doll Alistair is a Dream of Doll Elf Kirill. I loved him from the get-go, but I had a hard time picking a style for him.

For those of you who have done this successfully, what changes did you make?
I changed his wig and eyes. Believe it or not, that's all it took.

What didn't you exactly like about your doll anymore, if it was anything specific?
Alistair's main problem was that he didn't fit the image I had picked for him. I wanted him to be this punkish type, the kind with chains and ripped clothes and crap like that. However, Alistair's expression just wasn't "punk" enough. If you've ever seen a band like the Sex Pistols or the Dead Kennedys, then you'll notice that the band members are always scowling, sneering, or smirking. Alistair IS smirking a little, but his eyes are too dreamy. I changed his hair to this long blonde Bret Michaels style, switched his eyes to match, and that was all it took. Alistair took on more of a glam rock persona and I was happy.

What are the things you love most about your doll after you changed it?
Alistair's face and wig jive now. He's got a soft, slightly effeminate face, and his long wig suits that. His eyes are the kind that have inset glitter, so they show up better in his narrow eye sockets. It surprised me just how little it took to make me fall in love.

 

This has happened to me a few times with all of my dolls at once.

I got my dolls some character appropriate clothes in a price range I had previously refused to consider after I found myself disinterested in nearly all of them a few years ago.
When I started the BJD hobby, I was a kid spending birthday money, so I couldn't afford custom clothes or Dollheart outfits. Then it seemed like too much to spend half of what I could put towards the next doll on a kimono or suit. I think the excitement of new dolls, practicing mods and face ups, and developing stories kept it fun. However, when my wishlist started shrinking, and all faceups and characters were set, I had nothing to do, and the dolls looked dull.
I had shelled a couple of characters who would wear only fine, extravagant clothing, so I started buying fancier pieces. A secondhand Fer here, a pricier blouse there... I finally gave in and had a couple of custom designed outfits made and bought a limited set for specific dolls.
Spending more time on clothes has helped a great deal towards maintaining my interest over time. It helps differentiate their characters as some are wearing seamstress made one of a kind sets while others have pieced together second hand outfits that reflect their personalities and stories as opposed to everyone being a reflection of my cheapness.

More recently I found myself so disinterested I considered selling most of them besides my first two.
Well, to sell, I'd have to actually spend time on DoA. Before I could list anything, I saw some pretty new small SDs, went through pictures of all small SDs, and came across Zaolls again. I realized I own or have owned nearly all the sculpts I ever really wanted, had some moments appreciating each of them, then wondered why I never got a Zaoll luv since that's one of the early ones I wanted. I love the sculpt, and her character is fairly fleshed out and connected to the others.
So, shrug, click, wait a few months. What was supposed to be a massive clean out sale turned into my first new doll purchase in years. And I seriously adore this doll. I haven't been as happy with a new doll in a long time. She already has a new set of clothes on the way, and since the others are important parts of her story, I can't sell them now

 

One word. Character.

When I bought Robin, Custom House Ange Ai Gaby, from the wonderful Ryok0, I had no idea of what I wanted when it came to the doll's character. First Robin was a boy, then a girl, back to a boy, before I finally, finally settled on a genderless child android. I found a purpose for the genderless body and I solved my indecisiveness about Robin's gender all in one go.

The name, as well, was a big issue. Simon, Charlie, Samantha. Blah, blah, blah. None of them seemed right. Once I discovered the character, I found the right name in only a few minutes.

I want to sew, I want to do my own faceup, I want to really create this character and bring it to life. All because I found the correct character.

 

My second doll, a Souldoll Swinte, I had the worst time bonding with her. I sent her out for a face-up, ordered s new wig, eyes and clothes for her.
I'm hoping that will save my love for her. I don't want to get rid of her, my boyfriend bought her for me. She's just so wishy washy right now.

 

Oh man I experienced this with my sleepy liria named Diana. She had this corset and skirt outfit that was cute and fit the character but it was so stale. I updated her to see punk ish look with some new clothing I had laying around and now she's perfect.

 

new faceup most definitely! jamie's been through three faceups so far. the first time i painted him, i blushed him way too peachy/apricot and, while i liked the faceup, it looked a little bit off?? i couldn't tell what was wrong with him. then my boyfriend tried repainting him to be more pretty boy/bishounen. i really liked the different style, but still something was a little off. at that point i was having a lot of trouble bonding with him and i barely handled him or took photos of him.

eventually i examined his default faceup photos and figured out that we were both placing his eyebrows too high! i wiped him and redid his face, this time trying a similar brow placement to that of his default—and voila! everything came together and jamie was saved. i instantly reclicked with him u 3 u

 

Character redesign, a new faceup and a better wig. I hadn't really bonded much with my doll before I fell out of the hobby for a while. I redesigned a few years later and decided to pick up my doll again and make some needed changes. I decided that the company faceup was really, really not working for me, got brave and wiped it off. I was always so nervous to work on resin but I wish I had done it sooner. The wig I had for him originally was ever so slightly too big and ugly besides, so I made my first wig ever and it's x100 better. I really do love him so much more.

 

I had fallen in love with the Iplehouse Bichun EID head and the Granado neuvo body, and thought at first that the hybrid was a good match. But alas, it wasn't meant to be. The Granado nuevo body has moved on to a loving home, and I'm getting a EID body secondhand for my Bichun boy. It's reignighted my love for the sculpt! I can't wait to go home and redo his faceup, buy him new clothes and a new wig