Dolly curses/superstitions?

Shortly after I bought one doll, I had a restringing mishap and bled on her. I took this to mean she is well and truly mine.

 

I'm not sure if this counts, but I feel like I sort of 'called' my doll into my life. I've wanted one for a long time but for some reason never seriously thought I could have one? Like, it was a hobby for other people? The weird thing is that as soon as I realized that there's literally no reason I can't get into the hobby too, I started noticing that my distant acquaintances were selling their dolls left and right, almost like the universe wanted me to buy one. Maybe confirmation bias? I don't know. But after a few weeks of seeing them everywhere, I stumbled across a boy who was not only in my price range but had the same name as me. That was the point when I decided I deserve something nice.

 

This is turning into one of the mist interesting discussions lol
Was just wondering what rituals or superstitious people have when bringing home a new or adopted BJD if any?

 

A superstition I follow (unsure logically why I do) is that I won't play/dress/maintenance any dolls after 8 or 9pm in fear that increases the chances of wandering spirit at night processing my dolls. I even have quartz/charms in their heads as just in case. I grew up in a strange house where I've experiences things I couldn't explain and always had weird vibes. So I take extra "precautions" in the house I'm in now and figured it wouldn't hurt if it's all in my head.

 

I won't buy YoSD or tinies unless they're from Fairyland. This is not a preference issue. I've bought 3 non FL tinies and they just gather dust. One of them I do plan on keeping, but otherwise I think the Fairyland Fairies have got me.

 

My superstition is that I only announce when I got a new doll after I've already opened the box and have it in my hands. I'm afraid that if I get too excited and talk about it too much before I get it, it will be lost in the mail.

 

I suppose I have a few superstitions when it comes to BJDs.

I dress my dolls to the season that we're in. If its summer, they wear summer clothes, otherwise I can't look at them without feeling uncomfortable. When you have more than 20 dolls, dressing them becomes quite the adventure!

I will not leave a doll standing farther away than an arms-length. It seems that whenever I go any farther away, they will fall over, even if there is no wind, or we're indoors.

When I take them apart for restringing, or even changing a wig, I kiss their little heads and apologize to them. If I need to take off the back of their head or faceplate, I tell them "go to sleep," like they're being anesthetized.

Like it was mentioned before, I can't have them in an uncomfortable/unnatural position. I have a few that have jointed hands, and they can not have "Emergency Room fingers." Their fingers have to be in a natural position.

Everyone must have at least hair and eyes. Even if they don't have a faceup, or they live in The Headbasket, they have to have hair and eyes. If they have a body, they must have clothes on. No nekkid dolls around here, unless I'm making them something. If I'm working on an outfit for a new doll and I have to leave them overnight, they get a blanket on them, in case they get cold.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Oh man, I never realized exactly how superstitious I am when it comes to my Crew!

Ryu

 

I try to never mistreat my toys and dolls, and I apologize to them if I accidentally do something wrong (like if they fall over while I'm fiddling with them). Since I was a kid I thought toys had a kind of life in them, and my mom encourages it by believing the same (she even has her own toy room in her house, I love it).

Plus I think watching too many movies where toys murder folks had me on my toes. Be good to the toys. Or else.

 

Hahaha. Omigawd, I'm the same way as a lot of other members have mentioned.

I've been thinking of branching out (I'm exclusively Volks at the moment). However, I've been eying Luts and was thinking to myself that I need to get two since I don't want the first Luts doll I get to be lonely as she's "the adopted one" or whatever. I know they are dolls but I would feel bad if the Luts one felt "ostracized" by the Volks dolls. Hahahahaha.

Oh, I don't take out or rearrange the eyes. We only realigned one doll's eyes as they were a bit wonky (the original owner put them in that way), but other than that everyone else's just stays put. It's the whole "the eyes are the windows to the soul" thing so we don't want to mess with that just in case it changes the doll somehow.

I also don't like it when a doll sits alone. Like, if we arranged the dolls a certain way around the house, I can't stand it if one is sitting all by herself in the living room so I have to have another one sit with her. Same thing with any dolls left inside their boxes for whatever reason, I feel bad for keeping them in there even though it's probably for convenience or safety or space. Once I take them out, even if it's a floating head, I apologize profusely.

Oh, and I agree with some of the others in saying that if you are good to your dolls then they are good to you. We're great with our dolls so I feel there are good vibes with our dolls. We usually are the first owners of our dolls too so I do get a little uncomfortable when I get a doll from the secondhand marketplace. The first doll we got from the secondhand marketplace we actually met the seller in person and you could feel how much she loved the doll so I didn't feel anything bad. But the others I always think in the back of my mind, "Okay, so why are they selling this limited edition doll. Are you haunted?" Hahahahaha. Secretly hoping that my doll and teddy bear army will keep any bad spirits away, but don't tell my husband that. Hahahahahahaha.

I think too this is another reason why I don't alter my dolls too much once I get them. Most of them are default everything (face-up, wig, eyes, outfit, shoes, etc). Only rarely have we changed the wigs and outfits permanently for some as I feel that we accepted them for who they are and if we did changed them somehow was to just have them fit their personalities better. That being said, even though a lot of them can share clothing and whatever, we kind of designate certain items for certain dolls (like these are definitely Marie's clothes and those are Naomi's and this teddy goes to this one while this teddy is shared with these two, etc).

And I know this is a bit silly, but I try not to bring my dolls to any places that are potentially haunted or hand them to a person that has negative vibes. With the degrees that I have, I know logically I have nothing to worry about. But you know...just in case...

 

I can't leave any of my dolls undressed for more than a few minutes. They seem like they'd be uncomfortable or make the other dolls uncomfortable!

 

I've always been the type of person who gets emotionally attached to inanimate objects, so of course I do the whole talking to/apologizing to the dolls. I also usually keep them near the other dolls that are in their little "story" group (siblings and couples), and I'm uncomfortable leaving them in clothes or accessories that don't match their "vibe"/character. And if there's a doll who's character has someone important to their story that I don't have shelled yet, I feel like I need to work on finding a doll for the other character so they're not missing that person.

It's interesting to hear about other people's superstitions that are different from mine though; like, I've never felt any differently about dolls that are secondhand versus new ones, and I've never worried about my dolls becoming haunted - not for lack of believing in spirits or "creepy" comments, it's just that I think of them so much as the characters I've created or extensions of my own imagination that the thought of another "thing" in there that's not mine just doesn't occur to me. I feel like they have such strong personalities that they would be more likely to fight off evil spirits instead.

 

I have a doll on order that I’m Very Excited about, but I’m also a somewhat superstitious person and very picky with my dolls/collectibles and their vibes. However, I can’t judge vibes from across the Ethernet about a doll that has yet to be made! Here’s to hoping I don’t open her and feel like I opened a carcass instead of a doll