How did you discover bjds?

I started collecting vintage play dolls to replace my childhood ones. In 2001 I found out about bjd in the ot section on a forum for other dolls, they were still very niche back then I think so I did not look into them. 20 years later I was at a point of having my collection of other dolls complete, so I started looking for something else and remembered bjd.

 

Wow! I aspire to have a collection that big one day!

 

I'm an odd man out here. I was never really into dolls, so this hobby took everyone, including me, by surprise.
A dear friend of mine at the time got into it, and I try to know at least the basics of all my friends hobbies so they have someone to talk to about it. When researching, I came across faceup tutorials on YouTube and the customization aspect. I thought "hey, I could do that," borrowed a head from a friend, and lo! I could! That lead me into collecting my own dolls, and, after a lot of trial and error, I found my hobby love in collecting and customizing mostly semi realistic SD+ dolls.
I really like how this combines many hobbies, from sewing to photography, and that's probably why I've stayed hooked.

 

Like you, I’ve always loved dolls too and never really outgrew them. My sister heard of these dolls before I did and then I saw more at a convention and wanted one.

 

18 years ago a friend invited me to join a UK based doll forum that had sections for all kinds of dolls to be shared and discussed. One of the women had a daughter who was into BJD and did wonderful photos and stories. I was smitten and asked her lots of questions. In less then 5 months I had all my reborn, OOAK and similar dolls sold and I ought with those funds my first 3 dolls from Denver Doll. In stock Elf dolls. 2 girls and one boy. Thus began the adventure and after most likely buying and selling 600 most likley I have been in this hobby for 17 years and still love it.

 

I started drawing a lot more seriously as a teen once I had really gotten into anime - naturally, I also ended up on deviantArt to show off my digital drawings And from that, it was just a short stone's throw to BJDs as someone's images trickled through my feed... probably it was an image of DOD Shall or Ducan? I also vaguely remember a pen pal from a pixel art forum owning a doll. Although I was really obsessed for a few years, I never managed to save up enough and kind of forgot about the whole thing.
It was only in my 30s when doing a puppetry-related project that I remembered BJDs when looking for jointing references for marionettes... and then I bought a doll and joined DoA and then bought a few more and now I have 5 lil dudes chilling on my shelf. I feel like my teen self is really happy now haha!

 

{laugh!} You might want to balance it against how much space they take up.


I'm lucky my hysband is also a collector so is fine with the amount of space that collections can take up. He reminds me I'll need to find space for any new doll I get, and I remind him whenever he's looking at a new sword or laquer box (and we both despair over space for bookshelves and artwork):

Teddy

 

When I was younger, I saw Dollfie Dream and thought they looked beautiful! (specifically, Beatrice and Maria). But I never bought any until recently