Display or play

I would have gone for a 4th option - display when not being played with.

Teddy

 

Why not both? I agree with @Teddy. I definitely display my dolls when I'm not playing with them, I mean I don't play with them like you would say a barbie but, I dress them, pose them, take pictures ect, then put them back on the shelf where they are displayed I hope to get a real display case one day to protect them from my cats though.

 

I just preordered a tiny girl that I am planning to primarily display... maybe I will take a few outside photos but nowhere near as much as I do with my current only doll, Inle. I've actually wanted an excuse to decorate a small container to use as a doll display, so I suppose it all depends on what overall image you're going for with a doll.

 

When I have more dolls, I'm sure some will eventually be mostly for display, but I don't think they'd be ONLY display. I love playing with them!

 

I feel like I'm wasting money when I don't constantly play with them. Play as in move around or have them sit with me or change their clothes. Very gentle, limited play, but play nonetheless.

 

I play with mine. I've been playing with toys since before I could even talk, and I can't justify spending so much money on dolls I can't play with. They sit on shelves when I'm not playing with them, so maybe that kind of counts as display, but the shelves are all dioramas in a closed off room, so not really.

 

I only play with my dolls, I never display any of my resin dolls. They stay in their boxes, inside of my closet when I am not "playing" with them. If I'm not photographing, repainting, modifying, or sewing for them, I don't touch them or remove them from their boxes at all. I don't think of them as display pieces, but as customizable toys, and that was the main and sole reason why I got into them over fifteen years ago. If they were static scale statues or figures, then I would consider them display pieces, and I wouldn't play with them, or modify them at all -- in that case I would only display them. (:

 

Depends on the doll. Display and play with vinyl; they're sturdier and less prone to UV-related issues, and so much fun to pose and dress and leave standing around on the nearest shelf or table. Baffles the heck out of uninitiated visitors! But...play and then tuck away until next time with resin. I'm with @Teddy on that one - you need another option! I keep planning a personal exhibit in a room with blackout curtains, and if I ever get around to making it a reality, then they will be play and display, too. In the meantime, I just can't stand the idea of my beloved (frickin expensive) beauties turning butter yellow. Little vampires that they are, prolonged sunlight is anathema. But when I do play with them, I play for real - no matter the original price tag. If I'm going to spend upwards of $1K on something, I don't want to look at it longingly from behind a glass wall. I don't treat them like spun glass - they are extremely sturdy, and made to be touched and customized and enjoyed to the max. I wouldn't buy them if they weren't.

 

mine are out and proudly displayed on the shelf. They get taken down and outfit changed or do a photo shoot but with working don't have too much time for playing as such. However I like them so I can look at them when im sitting in my room.

Teddy is right a 4th option of displayed when not played with would be mine

 

I find this really interesting - to me, something you play with doesn't get put away in a box, because that restricts the playability of it.

I leave my "toys" out so they can be picked up and played with on a whim, rather than being resatricted and formalised by having to be fetched out from wherever they've been put-away.

Obviously, you have a completyely different approach to play than I do. It's quite fascinating, these highly personal differences of approach to what is essentially the same activity.

Teddy

 

Teddy, I have seven fur babies at home, they are allowed everywhere, so keeping my large resin dolls in the closet away from my cats helps me feel like both are safe from each other. It also allows me to feel like I am helping my resin dolls age a bit better, and slower than if I exposed them to heat, light and fabric dyes (they go wigless and nude inside their boxes). I don't have time to play with them all the time, so I don't see a reason to keep them out for easy access, when they are safer in my closet. I have a lot of non-yellowing toys displayed throughout my room, in places my cats can't reach, but I have no place to display my resins and I don't feel like I would want to do so either. It is indeed very interesting how differently people enjoy the same hobbies, or dolls in this case. It would be easier to just keep them out, but I rather keep them away from my cats, and the other way around. (:

 

I've been very lucky in that none of my cats have ever shown much interest my dolls and other toys, and what little interest they have shown hasn't been destructive. One of them used to go and sit with the dolls when she was in trouble (the dolls never told her off!, and we occasionally found her curled up on the lap of one or other of the largest, OT, dolls), and one of the current cats used to hide under the larger dolls' skirts on occasion when he was a kitten, but that's really the extent of any interest our cats have ever taken in the dolls.

Teddy

 

I don't display my dolls as I'm not comfortable with the sun shining at them too much. But I do keep them dressed and pose them a little before covering them with towels to block light and dust. Also, they hardly ever go back into their boxes, so I'm playing with them all

 

They are for display only. I mean...how do you play with them?

Greetings to my country mate! We don't have much collectors here.

 

I think when most people say "play," they are referring to customization, dressing, creating characters, putting together photo stories, purchasing props, posing, all aspects of photography, and suchlike.

 

I need that invisible fourth option, because for me every doll is for both. Dolls come off the shelf for photography sessions and customization, redressing, etc, but I also like to have them posed behind glass where I can see them when they’re not out.

 

For me, 'playing' is taking her out somewhere for a photoshoot.

 

My crew are all out, dressed and in their display cabinets... I don't ever keep them packed away in boxes... and I'm usually tinkering with one or another of them at any given time, who'll be out of the cabinet and where-ever I am. So, I'm another of those "Why not both?"-types.

 

I chose play only because there was no 4th option for both play and display for all dolls, which is what I do. I play with all my dolls, but some times I would just let then sit there before me for art inspiration or just for company