Good things the BJD hobby has done for you?

They help relieve stress, and encourage other creative activities. Since I started buying dolls to be specific characters of mine, I've started writing more again. I tend to be very shy, but I've met some great people through bjds and feel very comfortable talking to people at meetups (meetups being a shared activities and all. You know you all have at least one thing in common).

 

BJDs have helped me meet some very cool people, and has helped me loosen up, in a social sense. I've also got another thing to loose my creative skills upon, which keeps the engines going!

 

At the top of my list would have to be the friends I have made because of my dolls. We have a local meet group that gets together about once a month and has done so for over a year and a half now. I my doll friends

Next, I would have to say the creativity my dolls bring out. I love sewing clothes and making props for them and sometimes I even surprise myself!

 

I am extremely introverted and shy and this hobby has forced me out of my comfort zone to meet new people to share the fun. I also finally have something to do with all the little stuff I've been collecting for years (miniatures, fabric, beads, etc.). I used to make porcelain dolls but had grown bored with them, so this hobby came into my life at just the right time.

 

I have to say, that I've met some very interesting people through this hobby, or just dolls in general. I had to move this weekend, and one of the women in the house I've moved into has a large doll collection, and had never heard of BJDs. It was great, because she was really fascinated with mine

 

I've collected dolls for a long time, but over time it became a "duty" rather than the passion it had been. I collected for the sake of adding another Barbie to the army of them already in storage. They became faceless investment items and while they are beautiful, they lacked personality to me.

Discovering BJDs has completely reawakened the reason I love dolls...the love of play, of fashion, of imagination. Heavenlea isn't a faceless boxed doll left in storage, but a companion; someone to talk to, to play with, to buy for and dress in pretty clothes. She keeps me company when I'm on the computer or watching tv, she talks to me as I'm falling asleep at night. She has hopes and dreams and through me, we'll both find a happier life.

To the non-doll person, we must sound crazy, but I think those of us who are enjoying their childhood and those of us who have rediscovered their lost childhood, we understand completely.

 

I am an artist, it helps me creatively learn so many things! And they make me smile for really no reason at all--- that’s a positive for anyone!

 

The BJD hobby has given me a large amount of responsibility, for the dolls themselves and for my money. I've been able to play make-believe with my dolls, to be able to play with them as i played with my toys back in my childhood. Lately aswell i've been designing clothes for BJD's (for a friends store) which has given me a taste of the design industry that my college kept talking about but never showed us. I'm really getting a chance to put my creative designs to an actual use, rather than just an image that sits around doing nothing. It's amazing to see your own ideas realized.

Most importantly to me though, i've always been quite lonely. But every since i've gotten into the BJD hobby i have these unique and wonderfull dolls who i can share myself with. So i don't feel as lonely as i did now~

 

It has stirred an amazing amount of creativity in me in both sewing and in my stories. I have always had stories run in my head, but now I have an outlet and my small people to help put the story with pics to bring even more to them. I always wanted to be a story teller, with the BJD I can.

 

I guess for me, it was gaining responsibility and learning a lot of life lessons on the way. The wait for my first little girl has been long and hard, but at the same time I got to experience so many things In the Philippines, the doll-culture here is somehow very colorful to me. Actually, that's not even half of everything! Ahahaha XD All of a sudden, my rather boring life had turned ten times more alive! I got to see more of my own culture and learn so much, too, like how to navigate through the city since I don't really live there in the first place There has been so much that the hobby has really taught me

 

My BJD's have tought me a lot of things ^_^

They helped me advance my photography outside of a photo studio, I am striving to improve my sewing skills, and learning more and more about the process of making these wonderful dolls ^_^

I also learned abuot all the diffrent kinds when I thought Volks was the only thing that exsisted.

It has given me a reason to get out of the house without my hubby and child for just a little while to go to meets and expain my cirlce of friends and network a bit. And it also helped a friend that I was loosing contact with to reconnect when I got her into the hobby.

All and all.. it has been an awsome ride so far XD!

 

Ooh, I like this thread ~

I only have one doll for now, but he won't be the only one. But so far, I can say that the good things that have come from him is that it makes me feel that my precious characters that I create in my comics and stories are more real (granted I treated them like real people before I decided I would dollify them). They're physical representations of my characters.

It even has my mum wanting to learn how to sew and make jewelry again for dolls and it keeps my dad creative with his woodworking. (As well as me creative to make accessories for the first time. Testing out different arts instead of just drawing and writing)

I've started up on photography again because of Ian, wanting to learn how to get better at it and motivated to practice. He also keeps me company, I don't have the hobbies of hanging out with other people since there's no one (or at least -very- few (like one or two)) to hang out with in the first place.
I guess I could also say that a good thing would be that I feel much more comforted and unalone when I'm having a depressing phase in my life, cause Ian (and the rest of the family of dolls), I know, will always be there for me when I need them.


*-Great- conversationalists too 8D lol

 

Friends! I have met some really great people through this hobby - so much that our friendship has carried over into real life, not just online.

As well as getting motivated to get a job, and to stick it out at my job.

 

BJDs inspired me to re-learn how to sew: which has allowed me to develop a very close relationship with my aging grandmother. I can't say enough how happy this has made me; for a long time I was a very solitary person. BJDs have sort of given me a way to emerge from my shell...

They've also revealed a very businesslike and money-managing side of me that I never knew existed. XD I'm also discovering new dimentions of my craft capabilities. Yay for personal discovery!

And this may sound strange, but my kids have actually helped me discover a few things about myself.

 

Well it has helped me feel happier i suppose. I think bjds is a mood lifter and inspires you. It also helps me to get out more and meet cool interesting people.

 

BJDs made me realize I love photography more than I thought. xD;;

I used to just like to snap a few pictures here and there, but now, while I wait for a ride home, I stare at scenery thinking of how much of an awesome thing it'd be to take a picture of. xP


Also, they make me want to learn to sew.. ^3^;;

 

Just seeing my dolls after a hard day at work gives me so much comfort! ^^ The hobby also gives me the motivation to work hard and earn! lol

 

This probably sounds totally weird...
My kids keep me company.
I also have gotten a lot more creative with things. They've totally inspired me to start sewing, and keep up with doing my art.
I've learned to work hard for things, and to keep myself (mostly) motivated~

 

I was 16 when I discovered them, and after that they motivated me to get my first job to save up for them ^-^ I actually got a second job as well, and worked both to save up. It was great, and I loved being able to work for a "good cause."

My boy also inspires my art and photography, and I have a feeling he's going to make a wonderful model for me when I begin studying 3D animation ^o^ So technically, he's helping me w my career as well! *pats head* He's amazing.