Does becoming a "crazy doll lady/person" concern you?

No, not really. I'm already halfway there. And people already consider me a crazy cat person, because of the amount of cats that live with me.

Plus, I remember being fascinated with the people who had a lot of dolls in their homes. I once visited a family friend with my mother, she was an old lady who had many porcelain and bisque dolls in her homes, some of them sitting on the couch. I remember being really taken with them and asking her lots of questions. She seemed happy about it.
Maybe that subconsciously woke my own obsession with dolls.

 

I don't really care that much. I don't post my girls to facebook since I have here, tumblr, instagram and flickr to chat with other hobbyists about my dolly business. I love what I do but I'm not one to flaunt my hobbies in the first place since I like to keep to myself. It's a creative outlook for me since I like making alpaca wigs and I like to do little crafts for my girls. Plus coming up with characters has always been one of my fav pastimes. I think you shouldn't let this get to you and you should do what you like; no matter what others think of you!

 

People will judge you for one thing or another no matter what you do. I'll happily wear the "crazy old doll lady" label with pride ^^ Better than wearing the huge ever-popular "boring old slave to social norms" badge

 

Not at all! That's already been a joke (as if it isn't already a reality) among my friends and family for years concerning my hobby and interest in dolls.

 

I do tend to go overboard with my hobbies.. but the BJD hobby is so costly I could never see myself having, say, a room or house stuffed with dolls unless I won the lottery. One of the nice things about BJDs that I've found thus far is that there is such emphasis on being patient, saving up, waiting for a doll or accessories to be made, that sort of thing. Maybe it's because I've just started but going into crazy doll lady territory seems like something hard-earned. I wouldn't care what other people think of it though, I already have other unique hobbies too.

 

Sometimes I do care, specially because I am a man, and social pressure is just huge with this topic.
I am also a Nurse, and I do not belong to any "artist" community that can understand me a bit better with my likes and hobbies.
Anyway I am very well aware that I am not hurting anyone and that as far as I have my bills, house, food and savings sorted I am not doing anything wrong, in fact, I think I am mannaging my life better than some people with " normal hobbies".

 

I honestly would only worry about someone I knew collecting dolls if it became something unhealthy, but that is the only reason I would.
I completely empathize with InkyBear because I am also someone who is very self conscious and generally a socially anxious person. I am a guy and I don't want people to think less of me because I collect something "feminine." In no way do I actually care about gender roles, but I hate when people try to dictate the way I should live my life because of my gender.
Also it is really fun to read everything in this post because you can really see the diversity in the BJD community! I myself am a college student who isn't in my own apartment yet, but when I get my own place I do wonder about where I will keep my dolls. I also wonder about how my future partner will feel when I do reveal my hobby, but obviously if he likes me then he would not mind this hobby over any of the other ones I have! Also on the topic of children, I do in a certain way think of these dolls as mine, but maybe not in a father type of way per se. I myself do want children, but I think of them on a different spectrum altogether, because my dolls are objects but my children will not be!

 

I guess I'm a little nervous about how people will perceive me if I ended up having a large doll family. I really wish I had the confidence to say, "Who cares what people think! Just do what makes you happy!" But we have to live amongst "normal" people sometimes. I just can't wait until I have a place of my own, so I could have a safe place to geek out with my dollies.

 

Personally I do worry that i have the potential to be seen as a generic doll collector, whereas i think of my dolls as more of an art form and my creative outlet/hobby. If people who do not know me were told that i collect dolls, their perception of this would not necessarily be the same as the one i would explain to them in person. For that reason i am keen to ensure that i dont ever let my collection get too big (will shortly have 11 which is really too many, but this hobby kind of takes no prisoners!) so that i dont look like i live in a toyshop. I shouldn't care what people say but i do. With two grown up children, i get the impression that some people i know, may secretly think that i should have grown out of dolls by now!

 

It concerns me a little that if I have too many dolls I may be seen as a "crazy doll person"... I hope that doesn't become the case though since I really love my dolls and would rather not be judged for that...

 

I have 4 bjd's, hoping to start looking for more soon, an array of stuffed animals that were either made for me as gifts or had some type of whimsy about them. I have a few reborn dolls that I painted myself and 7 living dead dolls around my room. I have never concerned myself with thoughts people might think I am crazy for my collection. Have always figured that if some one cares about me they care about all aspects of me or at least respect it. Each item can be displayed easily and not over whelmed the space.

 

I was already a crazy doll lady and a crazy cat lady before I hit 30. If I didn't care then, it's certainly not going to change now!

 

Absolutely not, I have always been the crazy doll lady!

 

I have collected Barbie Dolls most of my adult life. They stay packed away most of the time. mostly for protection, but also because of room constraints. I have recently thought about reducing the number of dolls in my collection, just for that reason. But then, I discovered the world of BJDs and I am hooked on dolls again. I have decided to try repainting Barbie dolls, just to get my toes wet. I can't get enough of repainting videos, and am well into my second one.

I have decided to keep this on the d.l. Why? Because the very first time I tried discussing this with someone, they said, "Uh oh... you're gonna be a crazy doll lady."

I'm still very excited about my new doll adventures, but I'm now wary of trying to discuss my excitement and my progress with people outside my family.

Hey! At least I have all you wonderful people to share this with!!

 

No, I'm not worried about that at all. People are going to label others no matter who they are or what they're into, so I try not to concern myself with what others might think about me and just focus on doing whatever makes me the happiest. ^_^ Why should I let dumb labels dictate my life? If they're going to call me a crazy doll lady for collecting the things that I love, then so be it.

 

I agree with what Iron_Dog said you know how to budget well enough to get dolls that's pretty mature right there and honestly if you live life trying to please everyone else you're gonna be miserable get dolls be happy and it's awesome that you have a supportive fiance I say go for it

 

Yes and no? I saw this youtube video recently where a girl who's in the bjd hobby talked about priorities and how she realized she was getting in too deep when she started putting the dolls' "needs" above her own, depriving herself of luxuries so the doll could have new shoes or whatever. Her way of putting it stuck with me as just about perfect, she said something like "don't be a slave to your own possessions, you own the doll the doll does not own you."

I think it does become easy to use the dolls as a proxy for luxury and get caught up in that, addicted to pampering this very pretty lump of glorified plastic while living like a pauper yourself.

I try to think of the long term. I like to imagine, ok hypothetically if I lose interest in the hobby in a few years from now - am I going to look back on my time in the hobby with fondness because it was fun, or just be appalled at my behavior? Was it a good hobby, or a stupid addiction? I try to keep myself in check in this way, not do stuff that I may one day regret (for example no spending beyond my means, no giving up social life for doll life).

A hobby should enrich my life, not control my life.

I think that's the difference between happiness versus craziness. There's nothing wrong with being eccentric, but things can start going wrong very fast if you allow eccentricity to become obsession. You've got to maintain control, whether your thing is dolls or clothes or alcohol, all these pleasures can become burdens if you lose control.

ETA: Oh, and as far as what other people think, whether other people think you're crazy - meh. Life is short, find some less uptight people to be friends with. Although I also think that part of it is we mustn't be overbearing with our hobbies/interests to people who aren't part of it, you know, like my real life friends are great and don't look down on me for my doll hobby but likewise I don't get offended by the fact that they don't like dolls themselves and some think dolls are creepy or ugly or pointless. I don't force my fondness of dolls on them, and they don't force their dislike of dolls on me, so we're ok. It has to be a mutual tolerance.

 

Well... the way I see it, I gotta be some kind of a 'crazy' lady. It's better for all involved if I hoard dolls and keep my cats to a minimum instead of the other way around.

Seriously, though, yeah, I get that. I'm child-free, so my skin crawls at the thought of someone deciding my dolls are a weird, sad baby substitute, because ugh no. Or worse, as a disabled adult, that they're a sign that I'm mentally a child, which... blargh, I love so many 'childish' things and I hate that no matter what, once you're openly disabled in any way, like, people will use that to try and remove your autonomy/see you as less of a 'real adult'. But of course, society thinks women shouldn't have hobbies, just babies...

 

Life is too short to worry about becoming a crazy anything lol I just do whatever i enjoy. I have only just started getting into BJD but before that i didn't collect dolls at all, in fact i didn't care for them very much even when i was little i preferred teddies to dolls. I was somewhat of a tomboy, but now i am a convert. Plenty of people are avid collectors of one thing or another from trains to stamps, toys, cars, shoes, umbrellas!!! No matter how crazy you think you are, there is always someone crazier lol