Doll research *or* Buying too soon?

Personally, I think a good time to buy The first is any time after you have learned enough to avoid the most common mistakes that can damage a doll and you understand and have admitted to yourself the financial investment the customization you want is REALLY going to take if you are not buying the doll exactly as you want it. I think after living with a first doll for a while, then it is easier to decide realistically what comes after. I think making extensive doll plans before working with the first doll a while is not as useful as focusing on the first, what you truly enjoy (and don't) about the doll and how you want to progress from there.

 

Actually, I find it interesting that this discussion has come up

I have two friends who kinda fit the catergory. Me, personally. I spend a couple of months usually searching for molds to fit characters I already have created and then painstakingly save to get that perfect mold. However I have two friends who are a little more cavalery. One friend it seems like she's averaging a new doll every month. I've seen her buy dolls on the fly, fiddling with them for awhile and then just resell them. It's her money so whatever, I just don't understand it and it kinda scares me.

My other friend, I'm sure, just got into the hobby because myself and another of my friends are in it. She has two grogious dolls, but tends to not be so safe with how see treats them. Both have company faceups with eyelashes and both have been damaged. Now, again, it's her dolls so she can do what see wants, but she doesn't seem to get as much out of them as we do. It honestly seems like she has them so that when we sit there with our dolls she doesn't feel left out.

I don't know. I do think that hey, it's your doll and your money so you can do whatever, but at the same time another part of me just doesn't get it. I'm poor, so the friend who buys dolls left right and center kinda drives me, especially since she just goes through them it seems and I love and am anal about my dolls, so the friend who kinda just has them to have them, but doesn't really develop them or take care of them drives me as well.

I think I just need to vent...

 

To clarify a little: I wrote my post trying to think of what could maximize the enjoyment of someone getting their first doll, not any kind of perceived rule, guideline or judgement. First and foremost, I think people should do what brings them joy in the dolls, always.

 

Research was fundamental for me. Not only about face-up materials, clothes, sewing, wigs, but about body posability, company feedbacks and the like.
I was relutant at first to buy my first boy from a company with very little feedback at first, yet the sculp had won me over. *shrugs*

There are also things you only think of looking up when they're already in your lap.
As stringing, sanding and sueding (for me at least).
I should confess.... Seeing a hobby colleague take a doll with a very loose stringing makes me silently rage. It happened many times with people that own their dolls for about a year! And it annoyed them, why didn't they look that out earlier? If not me, I'm sure someone'd have been patient to teach them if they didn't understand a tutorial.

Anyway, that is my thinking and examples....

 

I have been doing "hobbies" since I could hold a piece of clay. I am a professional painter so I have an edge on what solvents work on different materials. I have been working with resin figure models for years. I have made molds and done castings. I have also sculpted figures and sold castings of them. So when I started researching a few years back it was more of the terms I didn't understand. Faceups, greening, polishing, stringing, doubled joint vs. simple joint. Once I found out the dolls are resin and alot of the faceups I have seen are done with pastels and water based pencils and acrylics, well that's what I have been doing all along anyhow. Now it's just gimme gimme gimme. I have 1 now and 2 possibly 4 on the way.
If the terms were more easily explained I think more people would get into it. Some of my pre-BJD work
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=1190498314&aid=103473

 

I got my first doll with no idea how to care for her or work with or anything. THEN I started to research. It wasn't a good idea because when she came I didn't really know anything and so she sat blank for awhile while I tried to figure out what to do with her. Also if I had waited a bit, I think I would've picked different clothes for her. I didn't know the ones I got wouldn't fit right.

 

Hmm. I think I learnt the most about faceups and sanding while waiting for my first proper msd-sized doll. I knew what I was getting into, I'd saved for five years (no pocket money from parents) and I was pretty sure of what I was looking for. It's hard to find dolls which have a hint of a smile! XD

so, I knew I'd be having to do my own body blushing/faceup/sanding (in reverse order here hahaha) as I honestly didn't want to pay sooooo much extra for a professional to do it. I was already into sewing and anime, manga, porcelain... (to the extent where people though I was eccentric)

I'm an arty person, and I don't do things half-way so it was the same with dolls.
I need to see profile, 3/4, face-on shots of the head. I'm annoyed when companies avoid showing a profile shot... Means there's a ski-jump nose or bulging forehead going on. Often at the same time. ¬¬

It takes for EVER to get even your own parents convinced you're "in love" with the doll before you buy him/her.

edit: Christabelle1031, your work is amazing!

 

Speaking only for myself here....

When I first discovered BJDs, I was actually looking at photos on deviant art. I poured over all the unique dolls and quickly became obsessed. I wanted information about these gorgeous dolls. I went to every company I could find. I watched videos on box openings, face ups, and dolly how-tos. I poured over photos till my eyes hurt. I was info hungry. I researched and debated between sculpts. I think that it was in March 2008. In July or August 2008 (I don't remember that well), I got my first doll...it was near my birthday when she came. I got my Shoyo during the summer event that year. I bought her because she was one that I wanted and came with 'everything' but shoes (easy fix on that).

However, I would say at that point I went from newbie-preowner, to Newbie owner. Everything that I ever read was nothing compared to holding my lovely hunk of resin. But I suddenly had no clue what to do with her. She was there with her patient smile and big green eyes but I was clueless. I even asked silly questions I knew the answer to because I couldn't remember what I had read. I think I was as prepared as I could be but the experience of owning was totally alien.

Now, almost 4 years later I have 2 full dolls, 1 floating head, one that just got paid off on layaway today, and another one to be ordered next week. I'm getting good at this! Personally speaking, I think I waited a good while and did as much research as I could. I still felt unprepared though when she was home for the first time.

So it comes down to this: Do I think a newbie should wait? Yep. Do I think research is needed? Oh yeah. Do I think that buying a doll quickly without any info is a mistake? For me yes.

 

For me it was half-half. I had a fast time falling into the joy of the hobby and was already ordering my first doll, when I though I knew enough. I never saw one in real life, never even thought of watching or looking for videos of them. I didn't know what was dangerous or what can be done for caring. But I didn't mind. When I had questions the web had the answers. So I gradually became aware more and more while my doll was on her way. And I could enjoy her more, because I learned while waiting and after her arrival. And I think that's not such a bad idea.

 

Not to generalise but people that have the money, like a bjd (A LOT), buy it and then have no idea what to do with it. that is proabably when they have bought it WAAAYYY too early.

When i bought my first doll I looked into the pricers, sculpts, and even clothes and where to buy them. People who buy without even looking into what they are really are a bit mindless to be honest :/

 

For me is important get information about that hobby... After decide if it is hobby for you and choose or discover your dream doll

 

I spent a full year asking questions on DeviantART, joined forums, watched tutorials on Youtube, looked at pictures, read a dozens of: "What to do/not to do" and countless posts of: "DON'T LEAVE RESIN IN THE SUN!" Until I was confident that I knew enough...

Then I joined here and I realized: Ho sh*t there's a lot I don't know. So yeah research makes a big difference.

 

People will buy what they like and do as they wish and that is their choice and their right. I personally looked found out about them and ordered one only after doing a lot peeling through the web and finding out all the information I could about them and how to take care of them.

I am sure there are things I still don't even know, but I knw enough to know what damages a doll and for what cost I am glad I do. But as within any hobby I always end up learning more only after I have the item/s. Becuase it is easy to read about something, but normally harder to actually do lol.

 

I haven't done much research actually. I'm not silly enough to attack them with a sharpie. I haven't been able to buy a doll just yet. I'm trying to do more research, though. I think I will learn a lot when I get my doll, though.

 

Research before getting into this hobby is what has saved me in this hobby. I was doing face-ups on off topic dolls before I ever got a BJD.

I know that had I purchased a doll years ago, when I first thought about getting one, I would have been clueless. Back then face-ups, restringing, and eyes were all foreign concepts to me... And had I had the money back then? I would have have been a 17 yearold clueless doll owner, with no idea what to do with her BJD.

So, in that regard... I think some people fall into this hobby, thinking it'll be simpler than it really is.
It's an error in judgement, and I understand people being like that, since I nearly was...

Still, I think someone SHOULD do some heavy research before getting into this hobby.
They're just too high maintenance not to.

 

Contrary to what seems to be popular opinion, I don't think there can be a "premature buying" even when you have ZERO knowledge on proper care. Sure knowing how to take care of your BJD and what's not good is awesome. But there's no "WRONG" thing you can do with your doll (unless you're banging it against concrete or something o.o). All the stuff about "proper care" is just measures taken to keep the doll in the most pristine condition possible. So for people who want to preserve the doll, thats needed. But just as default, its not imperative that you need to know everything.

After all, you don't do Labs in science knowing everything, you learn hands on.

 

I agree with HoushiChan, I bought with no knowledge whatsoever, and the best way to learn things is on the way during the hobby journey. Research as you go is a perfectly fine tactic.

 

Hmm, perhaps that is true for some people... I know I would have been overwhelmed had I bought it back then, with the little knowledge I had tback then... But that's because if I had messed up something back then, I wouldn't have known how to fix it... And while it wouldn't have restored the doll, it probably would have put the doll in my closet for a long time, and left me thinking I screwed up terrible. XD

But different people learn different ways, I suppose.

 

its easy to get fully "into" a doll without researching about it first. i think you should do your research and find out about everything you can about the dolls, before you buy one, its best if you wait and save up more money and more knowledge so you can pic out the right doll for you.

 

If you put it that way I think may have purchase my first doll prematurely too. I first got interest in bjd via dA then found out about DoA afterward. Researching was rather difficult considering DoA refuse to accept new member at the time. But I did not order my first bjd on impulse. Beside my inability to afford something as pricey as bjd on impulse like that, it's as you said, this is a great investment.

I waited about 6 month before purchasing because I didn't want this to be like a shirt that look cool only for a week after I got it.

It wasn't until after my first boy arrive that I got into DoA via a member at an anime convention. After that was when I begin to seriously research and got into the fun part of bjd. The beginning was rough for me and I contemplate on quitting several time but I'm glad I didn't ^-^