Faceup guilt?

hmm...if I ever bought an antique, it's because I want it the way it is.
I can't honestly say the same for a doll with an existing face-up. They're designed to be customizable, so if you want to change it...well, I don't see a reason to feel hesitant. It's like giving an old painting a fresh top layer. ...Restoration? Is that what they call it? I forget.

 

I've only ever wiped my own faceups. That's to re-do them. I feel no guilt about wiping my own work if I didn't do a good job. And since I've never gotten a factory faceup, not an issue! ^_^

 

I feel that this hobby is all about customization, and if you are settling for a faceup you don't love just because it's limited, old, from an artist or exclusive, I feel like you're missing a big part of the joy of doll ownership. I've wiped limited Volks faceups, beautiful defaults, and perfect artist faceups just because they weren't what I liked for my character. Sometimes I feel a little sad causing a beautiful artwork to no longer exist, but overall, I don't feel guilty. It was enjoyed by someone and served its purpose, time to move on.

 

I don't have a lot of secondhand dolls around here, but in the case of the one I got last year who did have a faceup, no, I didn't feel guilty about it at all. And only slightly guilty about having some mods reversed--they were really nicely done mods, but neither those nor the faceup suited the character I had in mind. I wiped him with no hesitation, cleaned the rest of his body, sent him off for mod reversal, and gave him a bright, clean, new faceup and body blushing when he returned, and never looked back (except to compare how drastically different he looks now).

I have another one who's still sporting her previous owner's faceup, but only because I haven't gotten around to doing what I want with her. I won't feel guilty at all about wiping her, either--and the original owner is even a friend of mine (who's curious to see how she turns out).

In the case of a rare LE or one-off with a special faceup, then I'd probably hesitate at doing it, and likely would instead get a basic or already-blank version of the sculpt, rather than wipe the special faceup, but in general, for me, off they go with no regrets.

 

If I loved the doll and knew I was going to keep it, I would change the faceup to how I wanted it. If I loved the faceup as is, I would keep it.

If I thought there was a chance I would sell the doll and removing the default faceup would lower the value, I wouldn't change it.

The oldest a BJD could be is 16 years, so I don't consider them to be antiques. Nostalgic, maybe.

Linda S.
galatia9

 

total guilt - factory or artists (unless it really sucked) - and I'm regretting not asking the artists/owner to remove some of the face ups when they offered. probably because I'd hate for someone to remove my work. plus my theatre costume/gallery training/background to conserve... <sigh>

 

I wouldn't feel bad. I see BJDs as an incredible art canvas, and if you can do the face-up, I think that's fabulous!

 

I think everyone in this hobby is in it because of the customisation so when they sell a doll it may have it's faceup changed :3 hope that helps, I wouldn't feel too guilty if I were you :p

 

I never thought about someone feeling bad about it getting wiped. I hope no one ever takes it personally. Even if the former face-up was beautiful, if the new owner has something else in mind, I think it should be ok to wipe it.

 

My only doll right now came with a default company faceup and I would feel guilty wiping it. Not because I think someone might feel bad about it, but I'm taking away part of my doll's identity so to speak and I'm not sure if I can replace it with one that is better. Does that make sense?

 

I've never had a factory faceup last more than a day. I feel no guilt. I prefer to buy blank, but sometimes that's not possible. That's okay.

A house comes with paint on the walls, paint that might be trendy, unappealing, neutral, boring or some combination. I'll repaint to my tastes, even if the previous owners clearly put much thought into their palette. Those were their memories, not mine. I have to live with it and look at my walls. If I screw it up, that's on me.

Same with dolls.

 

The only face-up where I'm on the fence is the one my Volks old F-28 came with. It's really very old (but in great condition for such an old face-up, there's only minor rubbing off at one eyebrow), you can tell from its style but there's a possibility that it's actually THE original face-up he came with from Volks and there's a tiny chance it MIGHT be a Valico face-up. So I'm not really sure - preserve it as is? I don't mind the small damages, you can't properly see the eyebrows anyways because he's got bangs. Have it repaired? Remove it and have my favourite face-up artist do a new one? It's less feeling guilty about removing a face-up someone else created but more like "OMG, it's the ORIGINAL!!!" ...

 

I feel like the hobby revolves around the customization of the dolls for most people. That said, some people might collect dolls directly as they come from the company i.e. fullsets and the character backstories some companies give.

Personally, I'm having a conflict buying my first doll deciding whether to get a default faceup or a blank doll. I would save money with a blank doll, but I've also never done a faceup myself before. I might have a hard time wiping a faceup I paid for myself, but wouldn't have a problem wiping a faceup I did on my own, if I didn't like it. I don't think I would have a problem wiping a faceup from a secondhand doll if the faceup didn't suit my taste, and the faceup wasn't factored into the price of the doll.

 

My personal thoughts are that if you buy the doll you're free to do with it as you want, especially when it comes to the face up because the face up is a large part of the doll. Some people also don't prefer a face up or blushing--or, like you said, the doll is in need of one. So, yeah. I am with the "this is about customizing" folks.

 

Can you email Volks a photo and ask them?

I feel the same way about original Unoss BJDs by Araki, who still have their default faceups and sculpted lashes and brows on. There are so few left.

Linda S.
galatia9

 

Oh man, I went through this with X. I had a very clear concept for her but her faceup was beautiful and done by an artist I admire. Being a modded hybrid in a colour the body is no longer produced in, I couldn't buy another, and I loved her modded dreaming eyes. So I did eventually wipe it. The person who sold her said they might get another with that concept by the same artist in the future so that was reassuring.
It's hard but when it comes down to it, it is customizable doll, and it is yours. I think most people in the hobby are pretty understanding about it.

 

I only have had two secondhand dolls come to me with faceups. The first, I hated, and I wiped it right away. No guilt.

The second was not that great, but I kept it around for some time before I got a slot with the artist I wanted to paint her. I had done some extensive (for me) photoshoots with the doll, and felt a little bit of guilt at wiping that face off before sending her off. I did not feel better until I got the photos of her new face and knew I made the right decision.

If I had a limited or rare faceup that I wanted to change, I might see if someone would want to do a trade or buy it if I could still get a basic version. I had a limited Maska that was just not working for me with his limited faceup, and rather than wipe it and hope I could make the sculpt work, I ended up selling the doll and buying a whole different doll. The person that got him from me was thrilled to have that faceup, and I doubt I could have recouped my money if I had wiped him.

 

I felt guilty wiping the default faceup from one of my dolls, especially since I payed for it, but it just didn't work for the doll and that was the only time I felt guilty about it. My first doll was pre-owned and I wiped her faceup off the day I brought her home (I bought her off a friend so we met up and exchanged in person) and yesterday I got another secondhand doll and I'm going to be wiping him and redoing him as soon as I get a chance, I guess I don't really feel guilt since I just want to be happy with my dolls faces.