How did you discover the BJD hobby?

I started with Blythe few years ago...and since this year all I can see are bjd!!

 

I saw a doll (Kaye Wiggs bjd) on e-bay and googled her, found Jpopdolls as a result, and looked into what a bjd doll actually was and the rest as they say is history....

 

I found out about it almost 10 years ago on a local TV show. And from watching Doll Master

 

I actually have no idea how I first came into contact with bjds but it was probably through like manga or anime conventions or something of the like. I remember when I was in middle school seeing BJDs often linked with lolita fashion, but my mind never actually made the connection between the two. they were just separate things. I didn't really start thinking about getting into BJDs until after I joined my local lolita fashion community. I guess joining just reminded me that they exist lol

 

A famous tumblr blogger reblogged a picture of one of Andreja's/Nicolle's Dreams' dolls. I subscribed to her channel and then bought a MH doll. After realising how inferior they were I ordered a £20 Etsy 3D Printed BJD and then finally my Doll Chateau Hugh.

 

I'm not sure, but I think I first saw bjd when I was searching picture of people for avatar/icon to rpg games :-D But I didn't search for it so much and few years later I found them again thanks to anime conventions and now I am looking for them on different web sites and I am looking for my first doll ever :-)

 

Years ago I stumbled upon some face-up tutorials on deviantart, after researching some more I ended up wanting one really badly. But didn't think I was ready to handle such an expensive doll. So I forgot about them for years. Then, I met an internet friend that has a few dolls, she resparked my interest and now, months later, I have officially entered doll hell (in a good way tho)

 

When i was young i really love dolls when i grow up i still have some antique dolls and i kind of get over it, then when i was in my high school years i guess i was browsing facebook and i saw one of this Fb age that i liked posted a picture of a very realistic doll. She's super gorgeous and i fell in love and got excited so i scrolled through comments and saw that it is called a BJD, Ball Jointed Doll not knowing what it means i did some research and learned that, that very first BJD sculpt that i saw is a Supiadoll Rosy. It actually took me almost 2 years before i got my first doll which is Souldoll Yeon bee. Well i did research, like a lot of research and a lot of pictures browsing. lol

 

Actually mostly from Haute Doll magazine many years ago. Had a passing interest until I learned about Iplehouse, and then have been hooked ever since.

 

Well, I'm not sure, but I think I discover the BJD thanks to a friend, that posted some photos of her BJD on FB... So, searching on the net, I fell in love with Souldoll, dollzone and finally, my favourite, Doll Chateau !

 

In my city we have a convention called Otafest and we went, as we were walking through Artists Alley one of them caught my eye. My husband then said "Oh Yeah! I've heard about those! I bet you'll love them! I was curious so when we got home I looked it up and they were on average 200-300 dollars from what I found. I fell in love with the Mystic Kids Lillian and Bam that's how it started now it's my hobby and I love it. It gives me a highly creative output.

 

When I was little, I was never really into dolls because they didn't quite appeal to me and seemed far too stiff - I defaulted to stuffed animals. One Christmas, my friend who collects BJDs said to me, "Hey... you sculpt. Did you ever think of sculpting BJDs?" I didn't, so I dabbled in it and studied one of hers to get a better understanding. During college, I wrote a thesis on sculpture and discovered an artist named Hans Bellmer during my research - his work reminded me of the BJDs, and inspired me to really try my hand at sculpting my own for my exhibition. Since then, I've been hooked and collected a few of my own!

 

I think that I first found out about BJDs when I started getting into lolita fashion (in 2005/2006), I didn't like dolls of any kind at the time but there was a girl on the forums that posted pictures of her doll modeling a dress that she had made and I didn't really think much of it but did think she was pretty (I never did find out what sculpt she was though). Then I walked into a meet-up at an anime convention that I was working at and really fell in love with BJDs.
It could have also been through anime though, I really like Rozen Maiden for a while.

 

There was a post on 9gag, with iplehouse dolls, something like; "That moment when you realise... IT's dolls!", kinda. And I got fascinated. I have collected Bratz when I was a kid (Still have the collection!) and thought this might be something. So I searched for Iplehouse, since it said so on the pictures, and BAM. Then it started! I think it's about... 4-5 years ago now?

 

Many, many years ago now Kiriko Moth was active in the same fandom that I was, and she posted on her Livejournal these absolutely stunning photographs of her Volks boys and...

... Just like that, my attention and curiosity was immediately hooked.

The price alarmed me at first, and ironically Volks dolls don't do it for me personally despite the fact they brought me to the hobby, but... I've never looked back!

 

Well... the first time I saw BJD's was in the zoo, where some lolita girls holding dolls were walking around. I was a bit freaked out then. The next time was a few years later when I was older, and I had gotten into making fabric dolls (Waldorf dolls specifically). I followed a lady's blog about these fabric dolls and at one point she started posting pictures of BJD's. I was a bit put off by the joints then but the more she posted the more curious I became. After about half a year of occasionally checking them out I decided I wanted one. It was a scary decision to finally buy one but the best decision in my life.

So I guess I could thank that lady for introducing me.

 

I've always seen a few people carrying their BJDs around during cosplay events but never really took any interest, until I saw pictures of a friend's LUTS Breakaway and I fell in love.

 

I used to be a member of another (non dolly) forum and on one of the off topic discussions somebody had said their other hobby was collecting bjds, she had posted some pictures ( I now know was a pukipuki pong) and she also posted a link to this site. I joined here, researched a bit more and fell head over heels in love with these little dollies! That was 5 years ago and I now have my own little family of fairyland dolls!

 

I stumbled across Silje's photos on deviantArt - I don't remember how. For years I watched her doll photos without a clue of what kind of dolls I was looking at, and not realising they were customisable. Then one day an artist, Aurore Blackcat, happened to mention the term ABJD. She turned out to own dolls like Silje's! I was over the moon! I did a Google search, so ehow managed to discover Dollzone's Scarecrow Hal, and the rest is history. Well, personal history at least.

 

I've been into dolls for story purposes. I wanted to make stop motion sci-fi films. Most like Barbarella or twilight zone. Campy spoofs and such. Then I got into Sylvanian families aka calico critters. I was so into their size and started looking into tiny dolls. Got into that tiny pullip and then noticed the 11cm obitsu. I was so gonna buy it till I saw pukipuki. Then I was obsessed and here I am now striving to OK brain my first full doll. I have also changed the types of stories i wanna do. Why not all genres?

Also now all I want are slim minis.