How Clean are Your Dolls?

My dolls live in the the doll rooms that I have made for them, and I wipe them off with a damp wash cloth every now and then.

 

I'm pretty much a neat-freak, but I don't have glass cabinets and my crew don't get put away in their boxes... so I do a fair bit of dusting and regular cleaning. The majority of my dolls are kept in a closed, dark room away from the cats so I don't have a lot of "fur issuses", thankfully, and their spare clothes are all put away in a number of trunks and boxes.

 

I'm not much of a clean-freak and my dolls don't get cleaned every day.

Since they're both fairly new (one arrived in Sept 2009, the other on New Year's Eve) I don't think they've gotten extremely dirty yet although I do plan on restringing both of them again this week. I usually clean them when I restring as it's a perfect time to get all of the joints clean, especially since my boy's joints tend to collect dust from his clothes.

Otherwise they live on a high shelf away from my two cats and get covered with a sheet when I leave for the day so that the sunlight won't hit them. The shelf they're on doesn't really get hit by sunlight, but just as a precaution I cover them up.

Great tips though for hair fixing and dust removal. My girl's wig is getting kinda messy so I should probably pick up a toothbrush soon to comb it ^^.

 

My B&G Sapphira, who is normal skin and coated all over in MSC, usually sits on my bookshelf. I take care to put him away when it's extremely sunny, but since he is coated I don't worry too much. My Soom Glot, however, is beauty white and uncoated, so she stays in her box unless I am playing with her or just want to have her around. I just figure that she'll stay cleaner and won't yellow if I don't leave her out. If she was coated all over, I might be a little less anal about it.

For my Sapphira who is out for the majority of the time, I like to give him a scrubdown every once in a while with Magic Eraser - not on his face, of course, since that could take the faceup off - to get the dirt and dust off. For both of their wigs, I will usually just wet my fingers and smooth them down every once in a while, or use a toothbrush. And for clothes, if I feel like they're dirty or could stain the dolls, I just throw them in the wash with my own clothing!

 

Mine sit out on shelves--I want to be able to admire them and have them where I can fuss over them. I don't bathe mine regularly. If I notice that someone particularly needs it, they'll get a wipe down. I get very little natural light, so that's not a concern for me.

 

Right now, I'm being extremely delicate with my doll. D: I wash my hands before I even touch her.


This seems a little exaggerated, but she's my first (and probably only for a good while), and I don't know how easily she'll get dirty or stained.

 

Mine sit on shelves waiting to be played with (just by me only) I have them all looking toward the closed door in the dark room, so when I come in...it's like "Me pick Me"
Cleaning, magic eraser and I remove all dark color wigs 'cause they can stain.

 

Hiro and all the off-topic crew can be found sitting on the desk and perched on the bookshelves of my craft room. I'm still so in love with Hiro that he can often be found sitting on the couch, watching dvds with us. I'll be in big trouble when he finds my wallet and figures out how to login to our home network ;-D

As for keeping the crew neat, I keep my grubby mitts off the dollies when food is involved. After meals, I wash my hands. It might be noteworthy that it's all about chores at my house - due to a mild allergy, I dust and vacuum every week, clean the kitchen every night.

hahaha I'm a freak on a number of levels.

 

I keep all my dolls and related doll stuff in boxes under the bed. Mostly this is because of my partner who hates the things, but it is also because I don't want them prematurely yellowing. It's easier for me to keep them neat and clean when I know they have somewhere to go back to. As a result they wont be out where they can get dirty.
Infact now that I think about it, most of the dirt on my dollies is from where they were played with by previous owners and I just haven't gotten around to cleaning them off yet.

 

depends, my germaphobia requieres that i clean them atleast by most standards rather often. if nothings going on with them being handled they get a bath, (damp cloth with soap) atleast once every month month and a half. usually just showing peices. (no stripping)

(currently at a freinds house so no bath lately but her place i think i less dusty than mine, we both have our dolls hang out on shelves and benches)

however after a meet up, i scrub my resin brats and i mean scrub. usually strip them down and take a hot cloth with 50/50 cleaning ammonia and water to them. i let kids touch my dolls and stuff at meets and strangers. i have no issues with this at all but man kids got some of the dirtiest germiest hands ever, so scrubbing it is.

and that's how my dolls stay clean. XD kids touch and then my phobia screams at me to kill the germs.

 

I keep them out... and generally dressed fairly neatly, but I'm not a neat-freak and they can sometimes get a tad dusty! I'll wash 'em down between clothes-changes, but not frequently. So overall: Average (probably).

 

I don't actually have a BJD quite yet (saving up!) but I've collected geisha dolls for years, so I have a good idea of how I would treat a BJD. My geishas are all displayed on shelves in my room, where I dust them frequently and fix their hair and whatnot, but my larger and more expensive ones stay in glass cases. I'm not a neat freak so much as I am paranoid that something will happen to them >.<

I also get slightly irritated when other people touch my dolls, and compulsively go over to straighten their hair and clothing back to perfection... but that's probably just the OCD kicking in.

 

All my dolls sit out on a shelf in the living room. The only natural light that really gets in is in the afternoon, but it doesn't hit the doll shelf. I don't cover them up or anything... And I must change their clothes and fuss with them overmuch because I have never noticed them getting dusty... Some of my other types of dolls, yes, but not the bjds.

I use the magic eraser for clothes stains and random spots of weirdness. A little spray bottle of water and fine-tooth comb get the wigs in order - mostly mohair and fur, so not too tough. My WS's have mellowed some (not really yellowed, more just creamyfied), but they are even all over - even under outfits that never get changed - so I think this is just the nature of the resin. I just could never stand to put them in boxes except for transport...

 

My dolls are out all the time, they sit in different places in my sewing room. They are always dressed and wigged, except when I'm using them for modelling, or making patterns.
I use a metal dog comb which I bought especially for their wigs. Sometimes I wash and condition their wigs, it just depends on how they look. If they look a bit dusty I use a large clean human blusher brush and dust them over with that. Their clothes don't tend to get that dirty as I change them often.
The dolls themselves are nice and clean. If they get a bit dirty from being handled or from the denim I use then I just give them a going over with a Magic Sponge. If their faces look a bit dirty, I'll use damp cotton wool and the tiniest bit of washing up liquid.
Sporadically I will tighten or change their elastic as needed, and do things like add a little bit of blush if I think they are looking a bit pale.
As for the light getting to them, well very old Spanish houses like mine have small windows so not a lot of natural light gets into my sewing room, but what does come through the window does not go anywhere near them, their shelves are angled in such a way to avoid it.

 

My doll got dirty though I put her in box all the time...I don't know...may be this is what is called 'yellowing'?...some parts shows different color...like more yellowing but not well distributed...
also, one day, i put my handmade jeans to try on her...the blue color stain on her leg...once i got my magic sponge, i cleaned it right away...aaawwww...my poor girl...hate it, hate it...

I love my bjd...i mean, they are expensive...i don't take them for outdoor photoshoot...only in door...most of time in the box with plastic mask on her face, layer with tissue (it was with tissue when sent to me)...i think, i'm kind of freak about this...hahaha...hope not, though

 

i did that few times, washing with damp cloth...i don't know...somehow, i see some fine (very very fine) 'scratch' on the doll and it's a little bit dove color...like if there's normal and dry skin...it's like there are dry skin spot on normal skin ...

does anyone have any suggestion about what kind of cloth to use? I used tissue and then switch to towel...now...only magic sponge i have

 

When I got my first doll, I was so obsessed about keeping it clean that I actually cleaned him almost everyday =w=

That was.. until someone told me that magic sponge can wear down the resin ^^;;

I've toned down on the cleaning now and clean my boys after I've brought them out for a meet (because they're sure to get dirty). If they were not brought out in a while, I usually clean them every 2 weeks or so, but just so the dust wouldn't settle on them. However, some of my boys still have stains that I can't seem to get rid of

 

Same here. Mine are all out in a set of open bookcases, and I don't cover them up or put them behind glass, it's pretty dark in here. The tinys have a glassed cabinet, but that's more to protect them from Kitty-zilla destroying their home than to keep them clean.

I don't really feel the need to "clean" 99% of them, because it's not like they go outside and play or anything. The majority don't really do anything that would get them dirty, and I change/rearrange them often enough to deal with occasional dust. The ones that are handled often, are modeling, or travel with me get a cleaning with a magic eraser occasionally, especially before a photoshoot or a trip, but that's about it. If I notice there's been some color transfer from an outfit, I'll clean it, of course, but that doesn't seem to happen that often since most of mine wear clothing either I've made or Pam has made. I've never used any water/liquid-based product to clean the dolls, though I do use hair-care product to clean wigs.

Tightening I do as needed...seems like someone is always loose and too floppy to stand, and that only takes a few moments. Complete restringing I'll do in batches...have a "restringing day", but we do that about three times a year. Other maintenance is done as needed or by urgency.