Doll Plans 2023

I hope to not buy new dolls - I just got back into the hobby around August (2022), and bought SO MANY doll secondhand and have a lot of company orders waiting...

I hope to work more on buying accessories to complete the dragon hoard of dolls that I bought ^^ They have quite a few outfits but I'm in dire need of wigs...they're all sitting around precious but bald

 

I’m only hoping to actually be able to complete/finish putting together a doll (or both of the ones I’ve been working on, if I’m really lucky!) That’s it. Sounds reasonable and doable right? Bet it’s not.

 

I'm planning on getting a few more dolls, but mostly saving up to enter one-off doll lotteries Definitely going to focus on getting more clothes, accessories, and shoes. Really need some more shoes. Probably doll furniture as well

 

I'm in the camp of no new dolls in 2023 only because I was not expecting LUTS to release the Royal Senior Delf and that truly broke all my self-imposed rules for doll buying. LOL So, I have an unexpected treat and I'm going to really hunker down and focus on all the dolls that I do have. I really hope to get some new face-ups from my go-to artist and also to really finish off anyone in the group that feels as if they don't quite have a 'default' outfit or shoes or accessories. I want to keep my funds open though for any special wigs/eyes I may see for pre-orders and different things like that -- I recently fell in love with mohair wigs and ughhhhh I feel I'm now going to hoard those instead of synthetic. xD Basically, I'm going to really focus on getting various accessories and clothing!

 

I might get a new doll, but my real goal is to try and focus on the dolls l have now. I have a floating head that needs a faceup and body, and some dolls that could use new faceups/updates to their looks. I also want to go through my collection of eyes/wigs and get rid of the items that haven’t worked out. New Year, new projects.

 

I suppose it might be slightly contradictory to say I'd like to take a break but also plan to craft things and learn new skills. But in the coming year I foresee myself (temporarily) having very little free time and limited physical capacity, so I'd like to just keep the BJD hobby and my goals within it very fun and low-pressure. If I feel like working on something, great. If not, I owe nothing. This summer I worked very hard on ambitious projects to distract from life issues I have no control over at the moment. Circumstances forced me to stop before wrapping things up, and while I'm very pleased with what I did accomplish, now I have a big mess on my hands.

My kids deserve more mummy time. But mummy needs some time too. A great achievement would be striking a balance for everybody while systematically tying up loose ends.

I think putting together some photos and seeing everything I made and did in the year in one spot would feel very satisfying. Maybe I'll do that, even just for myself.

 

I don’t plan to stop buying but I want to set a limit and if I reach that limit then set a one in, one out rule. It worked for ot dolls so I think I can stick to it.

I want to update the looks of a few dolls and get new photos of the ones I update or have updated already. I want to work on taking pictures of dolls together or photo story compositions, right now I’m only practiced in mainly single portrait style pictures.

I need to organize and cull my collection of bjd and other dolls. I went crazy my first two years of bjd collecting and bought everything decent I could find so now I need to sell all my extra dolls, clothes, wigs, and accessories that I don’t use.

I also should catalogue all my dolls so it will be easier for my family to sell or auction them if something happened to me.

 

My plans for next year are

1. Finish redoing Jarrad and Doria's faceups. Get them clothes and wigs. That got distracted by unexpected house move and now it is both cold and damp.
2. When Jude gets here, make sure he has eyes, a wig and clothes.
3. Actually figure out who Jarrad, Doria and Jude's characters are.
4. Shell the character I got into BJD's to shell and then realised getting her at the right scale is a nightmare. Including sculpting her head. In terms of bodies my options are
4a. Purchase a Narae or secondhand 16F Dollshe Diana who are both the correct height
4b. Find a secondhand body that I don't cringe at the thought of modifying heavily
4c. Just sculpt the entire doll from scratch
5. Make some progress on getting her partner shelled as well. More awkward scale shenanigans.
6. Doll sized furniture.
7. Figure out what to do with my Doll Leaves Lan. She's a sweet doll but turns out, not my aesthetic so she should probably move on to someone who can appreciate her.
8. Clothes. Make clothes. Also attempt making shoes because it turns out I am as cheap when it comes to doll shoes as I am when it comes to my shoes.

I worried when I got into this hobby that I'd end up going on a Buy All The Things spree but so far I haven't. I guess my desire for all the things has been balanced out by my fear of spending money and generally being a scatterbrain.

 

Next year I'm hoping to not buy any new dolls (just a couple bodies for floating heads if anything). I'm going to be on a strict budget moving forward, which is going to be very difficult for me, this past year I've been rather irresponsible with my doll purchases, making some impulse buys and all that.
I am hoping to expand the collection of clothes and accessories for my dolls instead though, which can be its own impulse purchase rabbithole of danger, but I'm going to try to keep a handle on it.
I definitely want to make more progress on my little dioramas and take a lot more photos of my dolls in different situations, try to vary it up instead of just my usual portraits.

 

Next year, I hope to go to my first doll convention. I would also like to get a couple more dolls and should have my long-term layaway paid off by next summer. I also want to seriously get into crafting for my dolls and learning how to do faceups. If I give myself enough goals I should get some of them done... right. lol

 

I'm hoping to get bodies for my floating heads, but not get get any new full dolls. Gonna try to finish my catboy too. And make everybody at least one pair of pants and a shirt.

 

1. I'm not planning to buy more dolls. I have two more coming in early next year and I want to focus on their wardrobe from now on.
2. I'd really like to get more accessoires like hats, glasses, bags, etc.
3. I want to knit more clothes. I bought a lot of amazing yarn this year and have all kinds of projects planned. On the other side, I don't think I'll get more into sewing. Tried my hand at it this year and picking out fabric has already been kind of a headache. Don't really have the space for it either, sadly.
4. Maybe more furniture? I made a sofa this year and I want to make a coffee table for it.
5. Put up doll profiles and finish their backstories. My two incoming dolls will be new characters and I still need to figure out their relationships.
6. Take more photos. Space has also been an issue here but I'm hoping to get a more permanent photo corner set up.

 

New year new doll plans! Except much of doll my crew's needs are similar to last year : D

I did get a good bit done last year but still more to do. All the possibilities can be encouraging or overwhelming, often both at the same time. I think I need more structure this year...

A list of things that would be nice for me to work on:

1. A couple Resinsoul sculpts I want more proportionate bodies for. Here's hoping the Guard Love bodies on order do the trick!
2. Move to the metaphorical back-burner any doll projects that have stalled out. Not every idea needs to happen.
3. Research photography backgrounds and/or diorama walls.
4. Draw or collage ideas for character outfits and acquire and or alter some patterns for the ones that still sound good.
5. Buy or make shoes. So many shoes. Around a 1/4 of my crew don't have any shoes at all.
6. Actually re-home any dolls that just aren't working out. Buy less clothes that don't go with existing pieces and aren't part of a character's outfit.
7. Pick out bodies for the remaining floating heads. Work on project dolls.
8. Get my in-studio storage better organized and thin things out. Re-organize what's left.
9. Build a spray box with a filtered ventilation fan so doing faceups in bad weather is possible.​

And doll community projects in no particular order: make process posts about how to research hybrid dolls, make something about how to rough-calibrate display screens for comparing resin color samples, post more doll profiles for the dolls that are complete enough, maybe plan another one-off doll meet, register for doll convention(s?).

Good luck to everyone on all the doll related projects!

 

I was oddly successful this year in accomplishing things I've wanted to do forever, so in hopes of keeping that up here are some general goals:

April 2023 update - aka the not quite mid year check-in! I've made some good progress, enough that even if I accomplish nothing else this year, I feel good about.

1) send Pips out for a faceup | odds on this are horrible btw but at this point it's tradition to add it to my list.

April 2023 Update - Pips is still blank.

2) make that Legenddoll order (planned clothes, shoes, eyes, and maybe a wig for my incoming doll if the other one here doesn't work) sometime after February | Odds on this are very good. Timing will be the only wildcard. Will it be sooner in the year or later this year?

April 2023 update - I actually didn't do the giant order - the dress I really wanted was sold out so I kinda FOMO bought another dress by the same maker and an Amors set I've wanted forever (and if that set got sold out I would have cried). Didn't buy any eyes (I figure that can be a project for next year!) but I did get another pair of shoes. I also made the wigs I had here work. Again, that can be a next year thing. I'm actually really happy with all but Prudie's wig right now, so new wigs are not top priority.

3) take more photos | note: I actually recently bought a little ring light and it helps a ton in the dark cave I call home. So odds on this are fair to good.

April 2023 Update - so far I've posted 11 different pics to insta this year. So yeah, I've taken more photos for sure!

4) make a little photoshoot cube for nicer photos | I'm still in the brainstorming phase for how to do this and how to decorate. So odds are "eeeeh?". Probably a later in the year thing.

April 2023 update - I bought the corkboard! I've also decorated/painted some of them. Alas, it's too small for my 30cm and up, but it works for Jiffy and Prell. I've even taken photos of Prell using it!

5) stay off mandarake plus try not to buy any dolls | 50/50 odds. There are very long and specific exceptions to the no buy that are allowed and I won't get into it here

April 2023 update - I haven't bought a single doll since December. So, so far so good! *fingers crossed*. I'm currently very tempted by a specific doll but the rational part of my mind is in the lead right now.

6) Focus on finishing what I've got | I saw enormous success with this last year, and for the most part this is what I browse/shop/plan and focus on. I just occasionally get sidetracked from it by other things, like new dolls

April 2023 update - definitely succeeding so far. Pips and Prudie have both their "fancy" and casual outfits. Penny has her casual outfit, and I've yet to figure out just how I want her fancy style to be. I gave Prudie a deep clean - de-strung her, gave her a soak, took all the old funky eye putty out of her head and gave her smaller eyes (for now). Penny needs new eyes - but again, next year's project.

 

If nothing else changes, these are my plans for next year!

• Save up and buy a Crobidoll Keith head and Crobidoll Ys head
• Save up and buy a Crobidoll LJ (possibly later in the year)
• Purchase clothing for several of my dolls
• Purchase a body for Artemis (my Luts 2011 Winter Event SD Head)
• Hopefully sell all of the dolls/items I have been planning to sell
• Commission face-ups for any blank heads I may have next year

 

1. I really want to try and not buy anymore dolls. I want to save to commission a custom head.

2. I also want to try and be more involved in the hobby, like go to meet ups or maybe a virtual one. I just want to stop being shy and letting my social anxiety get in the way and make friends in the hobby.
I also want to be more active on Instagram. I’m not good at keeping it up or taking pics so I want get better at it. Besides saving for a custom head sculpt I really want to try and save for a way better phone or maybeee a camera. Right now I have a old cracked phone my sister gave me. I think it’s an iPhone 6 or 7. But I honestly hate the camera quality and it’s probably why I don’t feel up to take pics and share them

3. I want to maybe try and sell my craft stuff I make for my dolls.

 

New Years Plans are not going to be large. I want to wait until I have a larger income before I think about spend a lot on dolls, but I do hope to buy a few. Initially I thought about finishing my SD crew, but with my income I'd like to tackle some of the Resinsoul minis I want to buy instead. Especially a Resinsoul Wu, because I sold mine and then missed the character too much so I want to reshell him.

I have a few dolls I need to find accessories for, especially an old DD that has had default eyes and no wig for a few years now. Then there's all my characters birthdays! I think most of them are going to be getting restrung. I also want to try wiring and sueding because I want to take more pictures. Finally, there's a faceup I need to do that involves facial scarring and a buzzcut, so it's going to be very labor intensive that I hope to do next year.

 

I plan to focus on more building lore and completing my doll wishlist. More kinda curating and not just impulse buying (the limited dolls always get me ) I want to also focus on designing and making all my current dolls a default outfit! I've been starting to learn to sew and that's something I want to improve in the new year!
Most excited about sculpting my own doll in 2023 tho! I started to teach myself blender recently and I have already drafted up some ideas for a doll I'll be posting about that on my insta and probably making a thread here to document the process!
I guess the most pressing goal is that I want my next doll to be a boy!