Dolls and your country (pros/cons)

Sorry, I’m just boggling at not being able to buy isopropyl alcohol in stores. I can buy 16fl oz.of 91% at the grocery store in the States. Is this a thing in the UK? Like a controlled substance? I know those can vary country to country.

 

I know, right? I'm used to it being a common household cleaner, but it took some explaining to even get across what I was looking for, and the closest the staff at the drug store could offer was surgical spirits. Just remembered that I never found it Japan, either. *shrug*

 

I'm from Ireland, I suppose pros would be that it's mild, there's a lot of pretty places to take photos, the customs charges are high but in the 12 years I've been collecting I've only had a doll package pulled for customs like twice, it's easy to get sealant because we have Games Workshop, I can avoid the customs fear by going through a UK dealer (until Brexit kicks in??)

Cons... it gets dark really early in winter, it rains A LOT which messes up my faceup schedule, and there aren't many collectors here

 

I live in Japan (but am from Toronto)

Pros: Literally the best country ever for doll collectors bc brick and mortar stores/conventions. Shipping from other Asian countries is cheap.

Cons: I live on an island in the middle of the tropics and can only get to Tokyo four times a year. And it's never when there's a convention happening (I try not to take time off while school is in session). Oh yeah, and it's deadly hot/humid. I live in perpetual darkness just to shield my doll from the sun.

 

UK/England
Pros: I've actually found a group relatively near me and went to my first meet yesterday which was awesome!

Cons: UK customs fees and every nice Etsy shop being in the US so shipping is way too much

 

Large city in the US:

Pro- Easy access to craft and sewing supplies, lots of other BJD enthusiasts. There are shops where I can get doll scale props.

Con- Housing is super expensive. No room where I live now to display my dolls.

 

Florida in the US:

Pros: no customs that I know of, a lot of people selling from the US.

Cons: The humidity is the worst, unless it’s winter. And even then, it’s still quite warm. And humid. But depending on your location you get a nice coastal breeze. My advice: central Florida (unless you like theme parks) isn’t quite as great temperature-wise as coastal Florida, and coastal florida has the pretty beaches. But your dolls will yellow/mellow unless you keep them in the box or keep the blinds closed, I’m afraid. The sunlight here is bright.

 

Germany ...

Con:
Customs (the paperwork /driving out to ransom our parcels part), requiring "proof of payment" and all, meaning I get to print my paypal excerpts before driving to the local customs office to be allowed to ransom my dolls. And customs again (the money part). 19% import tax on the full price including shipping costs, plus 5% customs fees if value above $something. And parcels from China get stuck in central customs requiring 6 pages of paperwork before we are so much as allowed to ransom our dolls. Did I mention customs? And paperwork? That part is honestly a nightmare. Buying second-hand from within the EU is paradise by comparison, with parcels actually being delivered right to my door. Utopia!

Pro:
The weather is pretty doll-friendly most of the time.
Games Workshop is a steady supplier of Purity Seal etc.
Currently, exchange rates partly compensate for customs fees (oh excuse me, import tax), allowing us to get a doll for roughly 110% of the default price+shipping.

 

I'm in a very rural area in Kentucky in the US. (State is important because it's vastly different than in a big city like NYC or LA.)

Pros:
-No import fees/customs fees.
-There are US dealers for many companies.
-Kentucky weather is wild and unpredictable, this is both a pro and a con. As a pro, there's a chance of warm dry weather year round for faceups and outdoor photo shoots--it's December, and yesterday was warm and sunny!
-Minimum wage in Kentucky is $7.25/hr, but our cost of living is pretty low compared to other areas, so even in minimum wage jobs, it's still pretty easy to save up to buy dolls if you carefully budget.
-Most people in our area are not caught up on high fashion or name brands, so our meets are a lot of fun and we have dolls here from Mirodoll to ResinSoul to Fairyland to Volks to LE Soom, and everything in between, often the with one owner having that much variety in their own collection. There's no pressure to have the most expensive or best dressed or most famous faceup artist, or to be dressed as fancy as your doll. We all just hang out and get excited over all the different dolls. (Though to be fair, this could be less about location and more about the individual people in the area.)

Cons:
-USPS shipping is very expensive, and if you don't buy tracking and insurance (and even if you do sometimes), they won't care or help you at all if something gets lost or damaged. It also means shipping a doll within the the US can be up to $50, and outside the US can be $150 or even more. That really hurts international sales.
-Kentucky weather is unpredictable. Spring should be warm, but it snowed on my wedding in the middle of April. Winters can be freezing cold with feet of snow, or we could even have tornadoes. So you might get that faceup done the day your doll gets home, or you might be stuck waiting weeks or just settling and doing it anyway and having it chip.
-People are pretty spread out here, it's mostly a rural area. There are several people in the state who own BJDs, but meet ups mean you're traveling at least an hour or two to go, unless you volunteer to host. Then it's sometimes hard to get more than one or two people to attend, because of the distance. Even worse if you don't have a car. There is no public transportation in my city.
-Going to any type of BJD convention means a looooong drive and getting a hotel for several nights. I'd LOVE to go to Resin Rose or Doll North, but that would mean saving up for a year or longer, either a days long drive or plane tickets, and probably finding a roommate or three to split the cost. The closest BJD convention to me is a 5 hour drive. It's fun and worth it, but the amount spent on travel and boarding is enough to buy two new Soom dolls.

 

US Pacific Northwest, here...

Pros: Lots of great outdoor locations for pictures, gorgeous springs and summers, part of the US = no import duties or customs fees on dolls and being close to Seattle means easy access to supplies and such.

Cons: Dark, wet and cold autumns and winters that are more or less made of humidity. The one local doll shop we had that included BJD items closed a few years ago (Dolls & Friends) and while things coming into the country from Asia or Australia get here fairly quickly, anything coming from Europe or Russia can take for-freakin'-ever.

 

North Eastern US

Pros: Not very humid, never gets too hot, the seasons are beautiful for taking pictures, no customs fees, and when stuff comes into customs from overseas I live pretty close to where everything comes in and I get my packages relatively quickly after they get cleared.

Cons: It rains a lot and we get snow, which is particularly terrifying when a doll is getting delivered to your porch while you're out and the weatherman was wrong about it not raining. Where I'm at is hours away from meet ups.

Are there any Italian/Mediteranians in the hobby here? I may be moving to the south of Italy in the next couple years and I'm curious about what kind of problems I may face with the climate.

 

I live in Hungary. The weather is good enough for face up, except the crazy hot summer. I can take my dolls to fine places (If only I got a nerve one day to take him out.) I can buy lots of things for costumizing, but I pay 27% costums witch is a little horroristic. I am ok with it, it's import tax. We pay it for other imported goods too.

 

It's not sold freely where I live either. I did manage to score 100% Isopropyl Alcohol at our local pharmacist. I had to convince them I wasn't up to misschief first though. (Apparently it's an ingrediënt used for something far less innocent too.)

 

I live in Texas in the US

Pros:
-No import fees. This has been mentioned a lot, but I really try not to take it for granted! I have been considering moving internationally and to be honest I'm doing some doll splurges just in case to get some off my wishlist early 'while I still have a no-tax discount'.
-Supplies and dolls are easily accessible. I live in a large-ish town so its easy to get fabric, faceup supplies, hardware for dioramas, and we have several US dealers for big companies.
-My area has enough doll collectors for local meet-ups and is relatively 'low cost of living' so I can afford some doll purchases and a house with enough space to put them in on my salary.

Cons:
-The heat and sun is BRUTAL here. In the summer we have about 15 hours of daylight and days (sometimes months) are regularly over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. I struggle to find places to keep dolls displayed where they wont get too much sun, so they tend to stay in boxes. I also try not to take them out too much for photos because conditions are usually terrible for both of us.
-Politics and other issues have been huge at the national level. For example, right now our postal system is struggling and the news writes stories about how it might go under if the govt. doesn't step up with some funding, which it hasn't yet. This also means shipping is expensive and I suspect the workers are underpaid/valued, but luckily I haven't had too many issues shipping so far.

 

I'm in the UK.

As something of an introvert, who keeps trying to put herself out there, the lack of doll meets immediately local to me are both a blessing and a curse. I live in a small 'rural' area of the midlands, which doesn't have a big doll-community presence. Well, it doesn't have a large BJD community. More of the porcelain doll 'types'. As such, I can enjoy my dolls in my own little world, while sharing a few pictures to social media, but I can't put myself out there. It's half-and-half my own issues and not having many/any local doll meets that are easy to reach.

The ready availability of customisation tools is also something of a hinderance. There are certain substances that aren't readily available across the board in shops. It has to be ordered online, and even then it gets expensive for shipping and might have to come from overseas. I think it's either UK or EU laws that prohibit the sale of some substances, due to their harmfulness to nature and human health. I don't honestly know, but we've [the community] had to source suitable alternatives readily available in shops to the beloved Mr Super Clear.

That whole shipping/coming-from-overseas applies to the receipt of dolls, too. Sometimes, I can get lucky and the sellers mark down the value on customs forms (without being asked). But, occasionally, I've been hit with customs fees that are inflated by 'handling fees' from the couriers. The cheeky... Ahem, the worst was a Granado boy through a courier I'd never had experience with. Something like £72.14 or thereabouts. After he had been delivered. Normally, it's before. However, this particular Granado guy has become my favourite, in spite of the troubles with shipping and high customs fees.

It's a mixed bag, really. Sometimes, I wish I lived in larger populated areas (either in the UK or overseas). There are no conventions specifically for BJDs, or that even remotely cater to BJDs. If we weren't in lockdown, I'd look for a doll convention to attend and just take along one of mine. See how much interest I can muster in people. Spread the word, as it were.

 

I’m from Canada! It’s cold a lot, which I’d imagine would interfere with sealant for faceups, and dremel long outside in the winter is probably a big no-go. My province has the approximate humidity of 9% according to a very disappointed terrarium hygrometer in my living room, so everything dries so fast here. Apoxie sets in like a few hours (not fully, but it’s not workable for quite as long) which is kinda nice because I don’t have to worry about messing it up for as long. Most things still ship here, especially because we live right beside the US of A. Getting MSC I’ve heard can be a challenge.

We have customs fees, but they’re not that bad. And not evenly enforced (rd never has customs fees because the border doesn’t really care that they’re massively under declaring). Shipping from Canada isn’t that bad, mostly, and to Canada is t that bad, mostly, but our dollar does us absolutely no favours. Everything being in USD is deeply tragic to my wallet, because, for instance, my $800 twigling girl cost me more than 1K after the currency conversion.

 

I live in the US, so bjd related things are very easy to obtain.

Pros: I’m grateful for no import taxes, and I’ve never had a serious issue with our postal service (other than it being slow sometimes). Where I live is close to two big cities, so getting supplies, attending meetups is possible and there is a local bjd convention each summer. Plus there are authorized bjd sellers in my own country to save on shipping and have great layaway plans. Weather is quite a bit on the wet and colder side most of the year, but it I like it. Not good for face ups, but since I’ve decided not to do any anyway, it’s not an issue. Great for staying inside and working on projects without feeling guilty because of nice weather.

Cons: Me! I’m such an introvert that I stay away from meetups and have only attended our fantastic bjd convention two times.

 

I live in Canada. (Southern Ontario)

Pros:
- Snow photoshoots are fun and you've often got the parks to yourself because no one else wants to be there
- There's a nice community, and I'm pretty close to a major convention
- We very rarely have to pay import fees

Cons:
- There are maybe three weeks in the whole year where it's an appropriate temperature and humidity for sealant
- The cold will shatter resin, so you have to be careful in the winter
- It's really hard to get MSC, or any other kind of aerosolized sealant. It has to be shipped by ground, but a lot of companies will send it by air anyway. It'll get destroyed at the border, and you won't be refunded. You basically have to buy it from a local hobby store, in person -- you're out of luck if there isn't one around

 

I live in Northern Canada (waves at @onee-chan-taichou) but I started my doll collecting in Toronto.

Pros of Toronto:
A lot of gorgeous cityscapes and parks made for some fun doll photo shoots. People were often open minded and curious. It was fun being able to talk about dolls even to strangers. I was able to bring dolls to big events and public spaces without a real fear that something would go wrong. And Doll North! All my dolly peeps were awesome!

Pros of Northern Canada:
There are no people around so I can do photoshoots undisturbed. I was able to get some streetscape pictures in the dead of winter in the middle of the day with no traffic whatsoever to mess it up. There's some great wild areas too.

Cons of Toronto:
Sometimes I did get custom fees, or my mail would get bounced around because my apartment wasn't the most secure.
It was busy as heck so streetscape shots needed to be perfectly timed.

Cons of Northern Canada:
People are really closed-minded, ESPECIALLY if you're an outsider and have weird hobbies. I have a feeling if I turned my dolls into a fleet of Ford F350s with chrome rims, lifts, a king cab and gun rack I'd be the most popular woman on the block, but since I have "anime dolls" instead...yeah.

There is only one nerdy shop in town and it doesn't carry doll equipment of any kind.

 

When i was there for Doll North and Anime North, i went out one day and brought my doll Mikami to the CN Tower. no idea if i got looks or not, but i got a bunch of cool photos. sadly he changed molds since then (and hopefully the last!!!!!!!!!!!) so i need to go back to take more. if i can do touristy stuff, so can he!!