Dolls you have no idea how to Customise?

You can buy a bodysuit for DD against staining.

If you can't find a way to "connect" (can't find a better word) with the doll, just sell it and find a new one (or not). I will do this as soon as I can. Time to sell some dolls.

 

I usually have a pretty good idea of what I want for a doll even before I buy it. But if I just fall in love with a sculpt and am clueless beyond that, I like to search on Google and IG to see what other people have done with it. I don't want an exact copy of someone else's doll, but it's a great way to find inspiration for color pallets and styles for facups, wigs, eyes and clothing. It's nice to know what does work without having to try out a bunch of things that don't. (In the case of your DD, you might want to visit the DollDreaming forum if you haven't already done so. They cater to vinyl in general and DD specifically, and while you won't find nearly as much information on BJDs there, it's a nice supplement to DoA when you're a vinyl doll owner.)

 

i think that it’s ok to have a doll that you don’t customize right off the bat. if you like the doll and gain some amount of joy from looking at her, it’s worth keeping in your collection.

sometimes the dolls character and style will develop naturally over time, so there is no need to try and force it and wind up with a bunch of clothes/accessories that you don’t like. my dd was in his default outfit for quite a while before i started developing his style, but eventually everything started to click and now he has a look that i’m very happy with.

also for bodysuits, i recommend checking out the ones available on coolcat. they are a little different than the volks ones, and there are more styles available for a wider variety of outfits.

 

I actually JUST solved this problem with 2 dolls I've been stumped on for quite a while!

For me it's usually a matter of not rushing yourself (letting the doll sit blank/nude for a long time and getting to know her) and trying everything that you have until something clicks.

Some dolls just don't look right until I get the right shirt on them, or the right wig. Some don't look right until their second faceup. Some don't look right until you change their iris size. I find it's just a matter of tweaking everything until the doll starts to look right.

 

I have one doll that I’ve had for years who I’m still stumped with. He is an odd size, so finding clothing has been a struggle. I’ve just come to the realization that I really like this doll, and not being able to get him complete is his identity, lol. It used to frustrate me with all my dolls getting them figured out. So much so, I was ready to just give up and get rid of them. I’ve learned to just let it go and if it takes me the rest of my life to get each one figured out, that’s ok. My dolls are fortunate when they get a complete outfit. I have no idea why I struggle so much, I must be missing the ‘character composition’ aspect of creativity!

 

Ohhh ok! I thought you couldn't bond with the doll

Well, I have 2 Lillycats and they are still naked because
1) I'm lazy (I could just buy random outfits from etsy) and 2) the person I commissioned the outfit to just disappeared.

And... I'm kinda.... Thinking about explaining again the 2 outfits I wanted for them, hearing absurd prices (usd 400+ each) and looking for other seamstresses... I dunno if I can do it right now...

As someone suggested here: take a look on google or think about what you like. For example, since she is a DD you could think about a cosplay.

 

It can be pretty expensive and time consuming to shell a doll whose character seems ambiguous even though trying different eyes/wigs/styles is pretty much the only way to figure a doll out. It's certainly not a problem with either you or the doll itself, sometimes a doll and owner just don't mesh well together. My third doll was like this and as much as I thought he was cute, I couldn't fit the correct way to style him and gave him to someone else in hopes they could. I'd say keep endeavouring for a few months more, try as many styles as you can think of/afford, and don't feel too sad! There's no need to rush, you'll get there and even if you don't, you did your best ^^

 

I keep trying different eyes, wigs, and clothign styles until I find their character (some take forever, some come straight away)

Occasionally one will refuse to settle and (eventually) they're the ones that get sold on, hopefully to a home they'll settle into.

It does mean I accumulated a lot of wigs and eyes that didn't end up as the ones selected fro a particular doll, but it means that these days I already have a lot of wigs and eyes on-hand to try on new dolls. This really helps narrow down their look and character a lot quicker. Sometimes one of the stock of previously unused wigs will get used for the new doll, sometimes they won't but I can narrow down the style of one wig and the colour of another to buy for the new doll's look. Same with the eyes.

Teddy

 

I actually felt this way about my first doll. I knew I wanted a BJD, but way back then, I usually bought dolls because they were cute and filled in the details later. I'd say I probably had Amir for a good year and a half before his character started developing. I knew his name and a little bit of his backstory, and that was about it. I tried goth clothing, scene/emo stuff, Sephiroth style, suits, nothing felt right. Long silver wig with bangs, short black fur, long wavy black, bald..nothing.

Two totally unexpected things brought his character to life for me. The first was finding the perfect wig and it was entirely by accident. I was just goofing off and stuck my sister's doll's short blond wig on him, thinking it would look terrible, and it was so perfect! I never ever thought he should be blond, but he has been for ten years now. The other thing was that I started doing photo stories/photo responses with someone else on a forum, where we'd take turns having ourdolls "talk" to each other through a short photo story, I guess similar to facetime but doll forum style? Having to think about in character replies really helped me to get to know him better and that story resulted in almost all of Amir's basic character background and personality. Figuring out his personality helped me decide what he should look like. He's become a hot blond boho artist/model, and now is a father of two!

Sometimes, you just have to try things you wouldn't expect to like. If you can go to a doll meet, ask if anyone has any clothes, wigs or eyes to sell or trade, or at least try on your doll to see what you might like. Maybe try writing a short story with your doll, or find character sheets online and try to answer questions for your doll.

Sad truth, sometimes the bond just isn't there and you can't force it. If that's the case in the end, you can always sell the doll and get something you like better. No shame at all in passing heron to someone who will feel a bond!

 

I really thought I had a handle on who my DZ Shoyo would be when I got her, but I was really uninspired putting her in the outfits I'd bought for her. Then I swapped her for a mori look and that was all it took to realize I'd been styling her wrong. But I had her for months just sitting there looking unfinished and bored and I was super guilty for buying her and doing nothing with her.

 

I generally know what I'm doing with my dolls before I buy them, but some of them take so long to get here that the idea dies in the wait, and I have no clue what to do with them when they finally arrive. OR something changes and their current look and character is no longer needed. I bought a Serenade doll rabbit ages ago, and I had a vague plan for her, but by the time I got her I wasn't really interested anymore. She sat blank on a shelf, then went into her box, and I finally sorted her out a month or so ago and for the first time in actual years she's got a place and has a faceup.

My Dollzone Carter is on his third life right now. He started off as a ghost, then turned into the Joker (which started a massive change in my doll collecting), and the Joker lasted several years until I realized I liked all those characters better as my 70cm versions (because I had three sizes of almost all of them), so I wiped him again and tossed him a drawer. Just recently I took him out, along with my also drawered and blank (like, never used blank) Dollzone Hermit, and they're finally settled with both Carter heads as somewhat undead twins.

Basically, sometimes it's just a good idea to wait. I mean, you can still play with her, my Rabbit often went to Dollmeets dressed in different outfits, totally blank. But having her "fully customized" (which is literally a faraway dream for a lot of my collection lol nothing is ever finished) doesn't necessarily need to be an instant thing.