How many dolls do you plan on shelling?

The honest to goodness answer is I don’t know. I love collecting dolls and putting them in different outfits and shelling my characters. It’ll kind of end up being what it ends up being so to speak. Between me and my partner we have about 16 completed dolls with 7 being in my personal collection, my partner also has 7 and there’s 2 dolls that I would consider shared. I didn’t plan for this number of dolls or expect to have 7 dolls each. Just is what happened. I love dolls and I love the art I can do with them. They just make me happy

 

There are dolls I like, but I don't feel like i really need to own them because i don't have plans for them if that makes sense? But I have plans (more like hopes, since idk when I'll be able to buy the dolls) for 2 dolls of characters I want to make. Other characters I might've made, I've already started customizing from fashion dolls instead of bjd, so I don't feel like I need to make them again as bjd.

 

I decided to answer with the 36-50 range, because the truth is I don't know for sure. I already have around 30 dolls, I just bought a body to make another, and I have plans for two more. Will I always keep all of the dolls I have? Will I actually buy the two I planned for? I don't know for sure. When I started the hobby I would've told you I'd only have 3, but that clearly didn't pan out. I guess in the end I'm not trying to hold myself to a certain number anymore. I'll just buy the dolls I want and can afford, until I run out of either space or dolls I still want.

 

I'd say about 30. I've got close to that many now, but I'm waiting on several with a couple more on my wish list. There are also several I currently own that I'm planning on selling.

 

I said 11-20 because even though I already have more dolls than that, they're not all shelled characters-ie, dolls I bought specifically for a character. I have those and then some I get just because I like them and they tell me who they are when they get here.

 

Omg thank you I've been out of the hobby for a while and was so confused haha! To answer the question, probably none, only because I tend to develop characters and personalities based around the doll as opposed to the other way around but if I were to do it I think I'd probably have less than 10 since I get overwhelmed trying to keep all these characters organized

 

I didn't vote because my answer isn't there: infinite.

I will not ever have more than 20 dolls at a time, I try to keep 13 or fewer, but my collection is ever changing. My dolls shell my RP characters, and I tend to play a story for a few years, end that one, and start a new one. When characters/stories change, so do the dolls. So I don't think I'll ever have a set list of characters with a definite number, then stop when I reach it. It's constantly changing.

 

I have both a lot of O.C.s/RP characters and a lot of dolls shelling them. My S.O. also shells her characters and NPCs. I voted high as my collection has a lot of dolls in it, and most are shells.

 

I don't know.

It isn't a planned thing. I don't create a character then shell it in doll form. I see a doll I like enough to buy, buy it, and then find out who they are as I get to know them.

Currently the numbers are just over fifty BJD ranging in size from tiny little RealPuki, right up to a Dollmore Lusion Daish, plus an entire house full of off-topic dolls, bears, and stuffies etc.

I've tried the shelling-a-pre-existing-character thing a couple of times and it hasn't worked well. Multiple heads bought in order to find the one that worked, in the first case, and a doll that flat out refused to be the intended character in the second. That's way too much hassle either way.

Teddy

 

I agree with you. I like to make up characters of my dolls after I buy the doll. I did try making a doll that I imagined in my head before I bought a doll. I bought the doll, clothes, and accessories as I thought fit what I imagined slowly, but that was stressful for me.

From what I understood shelling as, I've only tried to make one doll into a character I imagined. I imagined a doll to be an assassin and tried to buy things I needed to create what I wanted the doll to look like. I don't think this method really works for me. I prefer making up a story for my dolls after I buy them. That seems to work the best for me.

I decided to try to make an assassin doll because I bought a doll outfit that looked like an assassin and needed to buy things to fit an assassin character, but I found the whole process to be stressful because I couldn't find exactly what I wanted to create the character. It was also costly because I didn't know what I was doing, and bought about five to eight eyes for that one character in my head. I couldn't decide what style of wigs would look good, and ended up buying more wigs. This was before I even got my doll.

This all began because of that one outfit I bought and I suddenly thought an assassin doll would be perfect for a doll if it wore that outfit. The more I thought about the outfit it made me keep imagining this character in my head, so I kept buying stuff for that one character.

 

If finances and space weren't issues, I'd probably shell in the 30-50 range. But as it is, right now I'm already at my limit and if I wanted to shell any new dolls/characters, I'd have to deshell an existing one. ;m;

 

I’m currently hovering around the 50 mark right now. (I know it sounds like a lot, but I’ve been in this hobby for 16 years, so it only works out to roughly 3 dolls per year.) All of them are shelled characters. I started off wanting to explore different fashion styles, so I wanted a doll to fit whatever style I desired to explore at the time. I would gleefully create a full character that would wear that style, then work hard to find the perfect sculpt to shell that character, and then happily create an entire wardrobe for them. It was so much fun, I just kept going…and here I am today.

 

I have around 10 or so characters I would like to shell into dolls someday, but that number is pretty fluid. Some of my original characters come and go for me, and there are also situations where I purchase a doll because I really love it's look, but don't actually have a specific character associated with it. I have also re-shelled dolls into different characters in the past, which has changed the amount of dolls I need in the foreseeable future. But, I think a little ebb and flow is part of what makes the hobby fun!

 

Right now I think there's about 5 concrete that I'd want to shell, but that number will probably change over the years! Most of the time I honestly get inspired by a sculpt of the doll and that's how I end up figuring out what that doll is going to be. I've only had two dolls that I've shelled into characters before seeing their sculpt so who knows how many it will actually end up being~

 

Oh sweet summer child. Most people in this hobby start out with one plan when they start and end up very far from it in the end. (Is there any end? O.O) I’m not sure which ticky box to choose, because I was originally going to have one doll to hang out on a shelf with my wife’s one doll and uh… there are a lot more around here after 15 years in the hobby. (Even after downsizing considerably, haha.)

It’s not bad to have a plan, but forgive yourself if said plan changes frequently because it happens to a lot of us.

 

If I have the storage for it, around 10.
But currently I'm limiting myself to 2.

 

I currently have 5 and am making plans to buy another very soon, so for now I voted 6-10. Realistically, I would probably stop myself around 10 (at a time) since there's not too many characters I want to shell and also due to space available!