How much modding is too much?

I'm getting my first doll soon, and i really don't want to mod him. no experience, and i'm scared of something permanent. ^^;

 

*snort* Okay I'll agree on that one.

I don't know I think at least from my perspective that it is a shame to over mod limiteds till they are unrecognizable. not because its not your right but because I think of the other people who would have really liked to have that same doll for its original properties.

I personally am not overlyfond of 90% of the horror mods. some of the scars are well done but with everything. When well done it can be a thing of beauty.. otherwise why bother modding at all?! My modding skills are still baby baby but I have a pretty vast history with sculpture so I can say that its deffinatly something i'm looking in to in the future.

 

I am only speaking for myself but I am a BJD artist and own several limiteds and I feel I can do whatever I want to my dolls that I own and that I paid good money for.

I bought a Garnet who is a limited in hopes she would look good with a Dollshe boy but when I got her home her head was huge, (I had no way of knowing unless I could see her with a DS boy so I took a chance and bought her anyways at the LA Dolpa) I felt she needed modding, so I sanded and dremeled the crap out of her to get her too look proportionate with my DS boys and I personally think I did just that without harming the integrity of the Garnet mold.

As far as making boys from girls I have no problem with that either, I have seen many boys turned into girls so why not the opposite, some girl molds make great boy molds, I see no harm in this whatsoever, even with the limiteds, I have seen many beautiful Amelia, Cristal and Olivia boys right here on this board, if that is what the person buying the dolls wants to do to make a unique beautiful doll then more power to them.

Just my 2 cents

 

People get dolls for many different reasons. If they want to use the doll as a base for their adventures in epoxy, then more power to them! I wouldn't dare - I'm much too scared to try modding mine. Some people would much rather creatively change their own dolls than have someone else make a Minimee for them -- it's a bonding process.

So it's hard for me to say what is "too much". I think it's up to the owner. I guess it's too much if after total gore-mods and making an open-eyed sculpt sleepy-eyed and making regular ears elf-ears and webbing the hands and adding fins and whatnot....you then don't bond and expect to get retail+ value back on it. But hey, someone else might want your zombie selkie elf too! So who can say?

 

I agree...

Besides which, it may be an integral part of the character. Just as transgendered people exist in real life, transgendered dolls exist and it may be less a "sex change" for aesthetic purposes as it may be for backstory.

 

Sub-par extensive gore mods make me cringe, because once you go there you can't go back and the doll is effectively ruined visually. But really, this question is all about personal taste. If you do a mod and make your doll look good, more power to you for being brave enough to go there. It's those people who don't do their research and make formerly beautiful dolls hideous because they just had to put a giant, ragged hole in the side of their heads or tried to dye them bright blue without looking up proper procedure (etc, etc...) who I find personally upsetting. These dolls just cost too much to screw around with them without putting in any effort.

 

I can recall seeing a Volks Kaede that had her eye sockets modded so much that she didn't even look like the same doll to me, and her face-up made her appear like a little space alien. While it was the owner's perrogative to modify their Kaede in this manner, it made me a bit sad. As others here have stated, when the doll no longer looks anything like its original sculpt, I think its gone too far. I also feel its a waste to buy an extremely limited doll or OOAK to modify, other than doing seam line removal or simple changes like eye color or wig. Can't a similar artistic statement be made with a more widely available doll?

 

As long as you don't mod it to resin dust and nothing is left of your doll, modding is ok for me.
If people extremly mod OOAKs or higly limited dolls so far that you can't regognize anymore it is sad but that's life.

 

Here's my two cents!

1) First issue: Are people sure hat this is the mold they want? Maybe there is another one that'd be better for the character, without any modding... I personally like to keep my dolls as "virgin" as possible (which is funny since I'm a modder ), but that's just my own personal preference because I buy most of my sculpts because I love them the way they are.

2) As for Elf ears/scars/vamp teeth - like you already said, that's different and not as extreme. There are many wonderful molds out there that would be perfect for other-than-human etc. characters if certain features were added. Same goes for eye openings for me. I have quite a few along those lines. That's what customizing is about, for me.

3) This one's important to me: DO YOU HAVE A PLAN? Modding the sweet daylights out of a cheap/common head to see what happens is one thing - but in my book, you better know exactly what you are aiming for before you lay a hand on a Black Ducan!

 

Mod away! Since it's a completely subjective issue, a doll can only be too modded if the person looking at it thinks so.

I have a doll I dyed, scrubbed clean, modded eyelids on, modded nose on, and re-dyed. I doubt anyone can tell from a glance what he used to be, but that's of no concern to me. I lack the skills and time to make my own custom resin doll from scratch, so I used a pre-made one, and I don't feel weird about it. It's always in the eye of the beholder.

 

I'd love to have the guts to modify my dolls As it is, I'm going to wait until I've built one from scratch, then make a dozen or so permutations on that. I'm too scared to possibly damage something that's difficult to obtain.

On the other hand, I love seeing heavily modified dolls of other people's. There's nothing nicer than looking at a doll and not being able to work out the sculpt.

 

As with everything in the BJD world - its up to personal taste. I've seen mods that make me go 'WOW' and ones that make me go 'ewwwwww'. Like most people I'm sad when I see a bad mod job, but hey - if the owner is over the moon about it, great! I'm planning a drow boy (Luts Lu-wen) who's going to be dyed black, and I know some out there will cry 'nooooooo'! I'm not planning to sell him - he's going to be mine, all mine - HAHAHAHAHAAAA!!! *ahem*, ummmm, yes.

 

I do a lot of modding, both for myself and on commission. I don't think there is any specific standard that is necessarily too much - what might be too much on one doll might be great on another. Mods should be specific to the base sculpt though - not everything looks good with a broader mouth or narrower jaw.

I think it's "too much" is when the modifications are done without reference to facial structure and awkwardly obliterate the facial anatomy. It's "too much" if the modder (or owner, if it's a commission) doesn't like it anymore. And in that case, it may not be too much to someone else's taste.

Poorly done doesn't mean that it was taken too far, just that it was poorly done. I have a play head that I consider seriously over-modded, but danged if the craftsmanship and anatomy aren't spot-on!

 

I'm not sure, but I wouldn't want it to lose the 'feeling' of that sculpt. Does that make any sense?

 

I don't really think there is 'too much'. It's really pretty subjective. It's a matter of personal taste! If you want to change El so that he'll look completely different to suit a character, mod away.

Personally when I buy a doll I buy it because I love the sculpt.^^ But I know some people are excellent at modding and the work they do is fantastic, so who am I to limit them by accusing their work as 'too modded'? So long as the doll isn't destroyed and left in dolly resin dust, do what you like with the doll, so long as it's what you want and love.

 

Like alot of others i agree. A person can do what ever they want to their doll. They paided for it limited or not.
And if you dont have anything nice to say about someones modded doll, then dont say anything at all

 

When it comes down to "garbage disposal", that means the doll has been modded too much.

 

How much is too much?

It's that point where you go "Ooops."

 

I guess it depends really. But I don't think there really is "too much modding". I think it's more like good or bad modding! If the doll doesn't even look... right, well then... Maybe it was too much modding. If someone's just jacking around with their doll because they're bored and it comes out terrible, then that's modding that shouldn't have been. But art is subjective, and everyone has their own opinions.

I admire the owners that do beautiful mods. I know I wouldn't even dare!! My girl would come out all mangled and ugly!!!