How do you get over not bonding with a doll

I'd say make her a fairy! Go for it. I had trouble bonding with Leah at first because I hadn't been expecting her and I didn't know who she was. Coax the fairy side out of your Chloe. Wiping the faceup probably won't devalue her too much, and if you like her enough that you're willing to try, again, go for it.

 

not sure... I hang out with them... I hold my dolls and I cuddle my dolls. The stories and characters are already in my head by the time I have the physical doll in my possession. If I don't bond with the doll then I sell it and it's happened a couple times.

 

i have bonded with all of my dolls but i dont know how i would get over not bondning with one , but i pic my dolls with reall care so i dont thing not bondning will ever happen

 

Before she arrived, I had a lot of plans for my second doll and even centered other characters around her. But after seeing her in person and giving her a faceup, I don't think I'm bonding with her. It's not a problem about the faceup but I think I simply don't like the sculpt as much as I hoped. Part of the reason could be that she doesn't have the right wig and clothes at the moment though. It'll take some time, but I definitely want to be able to bond with her.

I bond with my dolls through doing faceups and posing them so hopefully this will work out. If it doesn't, the doll will probably have to go. Even if I personally dislike the idea of it.

 

Well to start I hand make soft sculpture pets for my dolls (this is my business). So I really bond with my girls while they "watch" me create something special for them. I get a feel for what I like best on my dolls (wigs, clothing, eyes, etc..) and once I know their style I customize their pet. For me this makes the whole thing personal!

Also I have been through four deployments and while I was going through them I stepped up my activeness in the hobby. During one of them I had to have a spine surgery and the two weeks after my Emma slept next to my bed on my dresser every night. This also helped "bonding".

 

As my collection grew in size, I let go of the concept "bonding" as my mind simply can't function while at the same time maintaining a strong emotional bond with over 30 inanimate objects. (Slightly related to the concept behind Dunbar's number.) I even let go of making up elaborate back stories and personalities for most of my dolls. If a doll is pretty and I like playing with it, then it's enough for me.

 

I agree with Khell I don't like the word 'bonding' with a doll its what a mum does with a baby and you get a response between them to me it just doesn't apply to dolls. I usually like them before I buy but did just buy one that seems to be a disappointment. I didn't feel at all excited when I opened the box I haven't bought or made anything for her because she doesn't interest me at all. Never had this happen before. I would say with your Chloe dress her in something fabulous then see how you feel

 

I had a horrid experience with the first two dolls I bought from a company, and I never ended up bonding with them. One I gave to my sister as a Christmas gift, as she loved her, and another a friend fell for and bought off me - having the dolls go to good homes made me feel better that I never bonded with them.

 

Both my girls are default face ups, I lack the skill to do anything else. I bonded with my doll by making her clothes and taking more photos then I knew what to to with. I spent hours trying different poses trying to bring out her personality. Another thing I found really good was just sitting and drawing/painting my girl. I Just look at her and think ' wow she is so beautiful, I am so lucky to have something like this that is just for me' I don't know maybe if it is different if you have many dolls, I just have one and another on the way. They are the nicest things I own.

 

Well, I don't bond with dolls, I bond with characters, so I don't think I know how to do things in a different order. I first bond with the character and just after I buy the doll :/.


However, I have here at home the first doll I bought, just to be sure if I'd like to get really into the hobby. Turns out that, even loving both the character and the sculpt as much as I do, I couldn't stop thinking of changing his model. All his friends are SD, it was already getting on my nerves the fact that he was an MSD. It annoyed me so much that I changed one of my already customized sculpts to hold this character personality. But I didn't have the guts to resell it because... well, it was my first doll ever. So I just changed his face up and wig and gave him another name, from a child character I intend to develop writing. It worked out pretty well! I could keep the doll (which model I love to pieces) and solve my problem (:

 

I don't need an emotional connection to an inanimate object. If I am going to spend that much money on something, I better like it.

I also, like some of the others, am attached to the character I get the doll to be, but I buy dolls to be the character not the other way around.

 

So far it's only happened once---many, many years ago. He was a lovely sculpt but just didn't fit with my others, so I sold him to someone who loved him more than I could. I felt badly but it was a good decision in the end.

 

If it were me, I would wipe the faceup -- infact, I have done that before. I bought a doll second hand with a beautiful custom faceup, and the faceup was even one of the things that hooked me as a buyer. But, as lovely as it was, I felt like I just couldn't do much with the doll. It was a very gothic looking, and it was completely limiting my options as to styling and character development. I finally had enough, wiped the faceup, and did my own. I am so much happier with her now. She's like a completely different doll, but in a very good way. Once I buy a doll, my concern is that I enjoy having them, not resale value since I can't predict what the market is going to be like anyway and I'm not going to know whether or not I am going to even sell the doll in the future. However, you are not me, so if you really don't want to wipe the face, you can try other things such as experimenting with wigs, eyes, and clothes. Start fresh with new character ideas. And it is possible that you just aren't going to click with her, that can happen too and it's ok -- sometimes dealing with a doll in person turns out not to be what you expected.

Bonding for me involves figuring out who they are -- sometimes this is easy. For instance, if I am shelling a pre-existing character I know what they look like, what style of clothing they wear, what their personalities are, etc. If it's a doll that doesn't have a character attached it takes experimenting with different looks until something clicks. Eventually they develop their own personalities (usually as part of the above process), though not all have in depth back stories. I do faceups or at least modify the existing faceups on a lot of my dolls, though if one comes with one that I like and works for what I want I'm fine with keeping it.