Have you ever felt like you just couldn't buy another doll? (The 'cool off' period)

At the moment I'm on a break from buying dolls, after having brought about three or four a year since I started in the hobby. It's mostly to do with money - I'm an unemployed student with a mortgage - but it's also to do with my realisation that a lot of my dolls are in some stages of being unfinished. There's at least something to do, or fix, with all of them right now. I don't really like that feeling and think it should be addressed before I buy another doll and start from scratch with it. I think my doll family is pretty well put together now - well-structured and cohesive - and I can live without getting my next doll for a while!

 

This period lasted two or three years for me.
I bought a doll as an impulse buy and, when she arrived, I felt like she was the only one I wanted - she would be the only one I needed to have. So feeling like this to me was a reflex of seeing that new doll and being so happy I didn't need anything else. I even considered selling some of the other dolls (I'm considering doing this right now tbh) because they don't look pretty next to her, they only look flat for me.
So this was part of the reason why I felt like I would never buy another doll again.

Another reason was complicated personal issues, that started around that time and are stil not completely resolved, which contributed with making me stop thinking about the hobby completely.

But now, suddenly, I felt like coming back, getting a new doll (or rather, two new dolls that should be on the making for the next 50 days), buying new clothes for my favorite doll, getting new faceups and looks for the others to see if I can bond with them at all (if not, they will be sold...)... And I feel happy ^^ I missed this, seeing other dolls and what people create, their stories, meetings, this board...
I think that when the new dolls arrive, I won't want to buy new ones, or so I expect - meaning, I hope I can "cool off" completely, when it comes to buying new dolls. I've never wanted a huge collection. My original plan was buying only one! Now my plan is keeping only three of them, and focusing on improving them.
But I hope I won't simply forget this hobby, either, because it's so nice ^^

 

I'm hopeless at 'finishing' my dolls - they're all sat around looking sad, wearing rags mostly, gathering dust as I never get around to photgraphing them either! I got to eight dolls then felt 'dolly overload' as they all needed so much work - sold a few, but of course more moved in to fill the vacuum! I'm back up to eight again now....have my eye on a couple more but I'm being really strict with myself, as in I must get the eight I already have dressed before ordering more!!! The fact that I can be strict with myself is progress - not managed that before LOL

 

I wish i could have that feeling. I don't know if it is because i haven't let myself really buy from the more expensive "perfect" companies or if it is because I'm just addicted to that new dolly feel. I am just coming back from a self imposed exile where I ignored everything dolly related to block myself from buying any more. I'm happy with all my dolls, though two are physically unfinished and a third needs decent clothing for his character.... But I always see dolls and think just one more, that one is perfect, etc. right now i really want a Minifee girl but am attempting to focus my energy finishing those that need it. I wish playing with mine would be a good distraction but for some reason it seems to make the want of more even stronger. Guess I'm weird. XD;; If I ever do have that feeling its right after i get a new doll who is better then expected. But as can be deducted from my pervious statements, lasts only till I see a new doll.

 

Aha, I WISH.... I just paid the remainder of two layaways and I'm going after a new doll (well, part of it, I almost always get my dolls piece by piece...) already! At least my wishlist is growing at a significantly slower rate than it used to, and it also shrinks periodically when I decide not to get whatever doll after all, but... yeah... I just have this kind of insatiable WANT.

 

I'm at a point where I want to improve on the current collection before I start acquiring some of the less-critical dolls on my wishlist. Ideally, I would get the floating heads on bodies, faceups for the four that need them, and at least one decent wig+outfit for some of the more neglected ones. This won't necessarily stop me from buying new dolls altogether [because pukis are evil like that ] but brand-new resin is not as much of a priority right now

 

I've had plenty of periods of inactivity in my shopping... I collected all my A-list must-haves some years ago, so all the new purchases since then have been new releases that I simply fell in love with. The past couple years have only yielded a couple dolls per year (but some of them were spendy enough to count for an army, I mean ow, Volks, owww).

And right now I am on total hiatus, being unemployed, no dolls or eyes or shoes or even wigs-- so the last 2 dolls I had in mind will just have to wait until I'm ready to buy dolls & doll-related items again. I have the money for them both, but no job, so no luxury spending until there's new money coming in!

 

I'm actually coming back from a cool off period. In the beginning I didn't browse the online stores because I couldn't afford it. I maybe bought a wig here and there and even commissioned someone to sew some clothes but eventually it all stopped. Recently my life style has changed and I've been able to browse the stores again with excitement :3!

 

I feel like I am getting to that point. I have plans to add one more character and that's about it. It's strange. When I first started collecting I felt like I wanted every doll that came out. Now I'm super picky. In fact I'm still trying to figure out what mold Jackson will be. Once he's here I'll focus more on perfecting the rest of the crew.

 

It's not that I don't want more dolls, but I've gotten to the point that I am very careful about which ones I choose to be next. I own 20 dolls at this point, and I feel as if I've come to a point where I don't want many more. I've also bought a variety of sizes and sculpts, so I feel like I have a pretty diverse collection. The drive to buy a new doll every time I'm able has worn off, and now I'm focused more on fixing up the ones I have. But I don't know if my wishlist will ever be empty!

 

kind of, I do have a few dolls on my wishlist and I do want to get another doll (technically I have the money for it too), but my plans to get another doll seem to be interfered with every time I try
now I feel as if I should just stop trying to get another doll and enjoy my girl (at least for a long while)

 

haha, I definitely had a cooling-off period immediately after I bought my first doll ^.^
Lasted about a year, in which I was content with looking at other dolls and exploring various sites, but I didn't feel like I desperately wanted another doll.
about only a month after this, I was patrolling SOOM's iMda page looking for new dolls, having noticed a pattern in their releases, so.........
yeah, that rabid doll-lover jumped out and shouted at me: "yes! you do desperately want a new doll! induuulgeeeee~~"
ahem, so I did. It took me another month to crack, but yeah, I cracked ^ ^;
there certainly is a cooling-off period. I hope that this time it will last substantially longer ¬.¬

 

Oh, I wish! I've tried a couple of times to convince myself that I didn't need another doll, but it never lasted longer than a couple of months at most!

 

Yes, I remember specifically when I got my ninth BJD, I felt overwhelmed by numbers and didn't want to get any more. The following year, I only added one BJD to my resin family. But then the year after that, I added an all-new type of BJD to my collection, a 70cm boy... and my enthusiasm came back and the door was reopened for new arrivals.

I am lucky in that I don't fall in love with every new BJD that comes out, and I can appreciate those belonging to others without wanting to buy one myself. When I think I might want to buy a new BJD, I look at who I have at home and decide if I love them more, or if the new arrival would bring something new to the family. Usually I can dissuade myself fom buying more. Plus I find it really difficult to find girls I like, so that helps keep the numbers down too. The BJDs I buy tend to be ones I have been looking at and considering for a long time, rather than new ones that just came out.

I'm sure I have more than I can ever utilize effectively in stories (27), but they are all "keepers" and I have specific plans for them. My favorite thing to do now is to buy alternate heads with different facial features for my existing characters (like a dreaming or sleeping head, or a head with different makeup on it). I can add heads without adding bodies! I don't feel so overwhelmed by numbers this way and I'm spending less money, but I can still be creative. I am really enjoying this new aspect of my BJDs.

I think I can consider this to be a cooling off period again, because I have no plans for new characters or new dolls at the moment, and too many projects with my existing dolls that I want to concentrate on. Plus, I bought a lot in the past two years.

Linda S.
galatia9

 

I was really looking forward to buying a couple more dollies on my wishlist NOW - But I know I am terrible for not dressing my dollies - I have some spare cash so instead of buying clothes for my dolls, I buy another doll! So I decided to be STRICT with myself and not allowed to buy another doll until I had SEWN all their clothes first! Not to mention I had a 90cm doll in bits in a box in a cupboard, needing restringing and general TLC - I've always preferred to squee over a new doll to working on my existing dolls *bad dolly mum*

So I tried sewing for my half nekid, dressed in socks/rags dolls.....OH THE FRUSTRATION.....OK then so I'll BUY them clothes.....cheaply.....or I'll have no money left for a new doll.....*a week of trawling online stores and doing calculations follows - plus a headache*

So now FINALLY my 90cm doll is restrung And I have on order a decent outfit for every other doll - Yaaay! And after all the obsessing - couldn't even sleep LOL - my son thought I was a tad peculiar for caring so much about doll clothes - but you all think I'm normal, right? And all the calculating and all the stress of dressing them, new wigs and eyes, shoes *faints* Well strangely I've lost interest in getting a new doll for now LOL - there's only so much a girl can take! Give me a month to recover.....

 

I feel like this at this very moment, but since I have felt like this once before (... 11 dolls ago ...), I'm wondering how long it will last!

The first time I felt that I had quite enough was when my first SD (my second doll) arrived. She was so large compared to my first doll, an MSD, that I thought, "when I have two of those, that will be more than enough to handle". At that point, my second SD had already been ordered, and though I was planning to get three SDs, I thought that after all, three SDs would just be too much for me. My second SD arrived while I was without a job, and funny enough, when I had no income I did not find it hard to resist new dolls. For several months I was quite content with my three dolls.

But THEN! I found a new job, and for some reason I felt like celebrating by gifting myself with a tiny doll. It only went downhill (or uphill, depending on your point of view, lol) from there. My three dolls no longer felt like 'a lot' and I began discovering my favourite characters all around. In about a year I extended my crew to seven SDs, four MSDs, one Yo-sized doll and two tinies (- I usually forget to count the tinies, just because they are so small ).

I never thought I would own fourteen dolls. It's a lot. There are more dolls that interest me, and I know by now that it would be foolish to state that I won't buy any more, but I also know that I have now reached a point where 'more' may soon be 'too many'. Just clothing and styling all my dolls is beginning to take quite a bit of time; giving each of the dolls the attention they deserve is getting to be quite a task too. Moreover, I have several looks I would like to create for each doll, so I certainly have my work cut out for me, and it's not as if I get bored with a doll once I have given it one particular look.

I find that right now, I'd like to focus on the dolls I have. There isn't a single one among them with whom I would like to part; I love them all and want to perfect their looks and take plenty of photos. I don't feel the urge to get any more, despite the fact that I have seen two dolls that I really love. It is entirely possible that sooner or later, I'll feel another 'dollie hunger' and order those two lovelies, but at the moment I am quite, quite satisfied. (I hope it lasts. Seriously.)

 

Well, I already have 14 dolls at home, 14 more in the making or on the way and 4 more to order these days. And I am just in the hobby for one and a half year now. I am really waiting for the day when I don't feel the need to add more dolls^^

 

Yup, been there two. The past two years I was unable to buy anything dollrelated (that didn't have anything to do with my shop), because I simply didn't have the money. I have to say, it feels great to be back in the game again!

Good luck finding a job. Hopefully you'll get one soon.

 

I had a cool off period for a good 6 months I think when I started college, I was just too busy to really enjoy the hobby. Then for some reason when my second semester started I really jumped back into the hobby, got two new dolls and a floating body waiting for a head xD so for the past couple of months I was constantly looking at what things I could get for my resin peeps, changing faceups, getting new props, etc. I think now I'm finally settling down again, probably due to my wallet lol, but now I can just enjoy the ones I have and look forward to when I can eventually get others. but even then there's only about three more I really want and the rest can stay on my wishlist~

 

Hmm, well I've gone in and out of my doll craziness definitely, but I've never felt contented necessarily. I have had periods of a few months where my interests drift from dolls to other things, but eventually I find myself back at dolls.
There are quite a few more dolls I want to get, I think I might be done around five or six maybe. I'm planning a second girl who hopefully I'll have here by the summer if I plan my money right and can hopefully start my new job. I got a lot of work to do, haha.