how to get your friend into BJDs?

Even though it is fun to have another friend in the hobby, if she doesn't seem too interested in the prices, there's not much you can do about that. Buying a doll is a personal choice, though if you're interested in getting her a doll (and she's found a doll she really likes!), you can offer to split the price half-way.

All of my friends that went into the doll hobby after looking at my dolls did so when they had the funds and the time for dolls, and it's much better to see someone in the hobby who loves their dolls as much as you love yours!

 

It's hard to get people into the BJD hobby if they have no inclination towards dolls in the first place. But, if your friend already expressed an interest and showed a positive reaction towards it, and you really think that she could get into it, then maybe education could be your next step. Show her more pictures, maybe with dolls dressed in a style that she likes in real life or with a style of photography that she likes. Link her to different companies, maybe she'll find her dream sculpt there. You could even get her to join DOA, it's a great resource as well.

Good luck in encouraging her to pursue the hobby!

 

BJD's are unlike many hobbies in that they quite expensive. Therefore, it's much more difficult to "bring someone over" into the hobby. If the price off-puts her, then there isn't much else you can do. However, just because she doesn't have a doll, doesn't mean you can't share in the hobby with her! She obviously enjoys your dolls, so maybe the two of you can do things with yours. See if she wants to join in with dressing, photos, etc. using your dolls. Who knows? Maybe after some time, she will balk at the price less and perhaps even want to buy her own.

 

I have two friends that have been into bjds since there was only Volks around. I'd see the dolls with them at conventions when we would hang out, and they would talk to me about dolls sometimes. Yet, it was only the end of last year that I was interested enough to pay the price.

All you can do is play with the dolls when she's around, or talk to her about them when she wants to. She will have to come around on her own, but since she seems enthusiastic that time may come sooner than not.

 

Keep making encouraging noises as he discovers Dollfie Dreams on another site. Respond YSBI! ("you should buy it") each time he shows you a new post. Eventually he will fall prey to the pretties.

Ok, so yes, I'm talking about someone specific. It took us the better part of five years to enable until he followed us here from the anime-cel-collecting world. It was a natural fit.

Eventually we -- or Iplehouse -- will get him to fall to the resin as well. BWAHAHAHA!

 

Like people said, if they are against the price, they;re unlinkely to get into it. But you can take her to meets and show the cheaper dolls like Bobobie and Resinsoul and such.

 

ugh i have been trying to get some of the ppl i know into dolls too. its hard though because of the prices the dolls go for.

actually when i lived in nyc for school, this last semester, i told some of my friends there about my dolls. my friend nikol was like "WHAT 700$???!!!" all i felt like i needed to say was that she spent money on clothes i spent money on dolls. but still i never think the price is that important.

but my little sister has oc's of her own like me, and she saw me doing some research on dolls i wanted to save up for, and she was like hey show me some dolls! and we ended up coming upon some dolls that she really likes. and now she wants them? i was so excited! so yea it will probably take a while, i have been into bjd for about 3 years now.

 

Well, when I first found BJDs, I thought they were interesting...wanted one enough to look up the company that sold the dolls whose photos I was looking at...and about DIED at the price tag! Instead, I kept looking at pretty photos, and stayed determined to just use old Barbies I could pick up super cheap at yardsales and secondhand stores to make into the OCs I wanted physical forms of...then I saw my first doll in person. I was hooked, but still balked at the price. Went to a meet...and still couldn't justify the prices, even from cheaper companies like BBB. Joined DoA. Got to see just HOW customizable these beauties are...and suddenly, spending 2-3 dollars to customize a Barbie (cost of doll and materials together) that is a fight the whole way, and who is pretty static once finished...wasn't so appealing anymore. Not when I could save up for a BJD for each character, get them exactly how I want them, and, best of all, they wouldn't all look the exact same under the modifications! They'd have different heights, builds, facial structures...yeah. I was hooked. Now I've got enough parts to make 9 whole dolls and 1 'floating' head (1 head is awaiting her body on the body of a doll awaiting her proper head. 'Floating' head is a secondary head for 1 doll) with enough parts for 2 more full dolls ordered (body for the head that needs hers, head for the body that needs hers, and another full doll who is coming in 2 shipments, head on it's way, body in about a month) Ahem. Yeah. So for me...time. Time and education where all it took.

Now...my sister has been interested as long as I have been, though I didn't know it when I started collecting. She told me once I had my first doll. Again...the only thing STOPPING her from collecting was the prices. My solution? I KNEW once she HAD a doll, she'd be hooked! So I got together with my hubby, father, other sister, and her BF to get the money to buy her her first doll as a gift. Showed her dolls under the guise of 'you like, I like, let's talk about them!' until I had a list of dolls that not only did she like, but she would love to turn into her OCs. Ones that she really wished weren't so expensive. Original goal? Get enough together to get he a Dollmore Kara Klum,eyes, wig, and outfit. Didn't manage to get that much saved up. Instead...we got her a second hand BBB Apollo for 100. He still needs proper eyes and wig and shoes. But she's made him his outfit to start him into becoming the character she wants him to be, that he fits. I also gave her my first doll, after wiping and re-doing it for her, as I was no longer keeping it, but didn't want to sell it. She still can't afford to pay for dolls for herself, but now she knows they're worth the cost when she CAN.

 

take your friend to meets, and intoduce her to DoA..
that's all it took for me to get into dolls
And I thought the prices were insane too at the beginning.. but you get 'used' to it.. I guess..
But I declared my friend nuts when she bought her doll for that much money.
But right now I got more dolls than her.. and more expensive ones.. so.. dunno.. good luck in any case

 

hmmm... if it is too expensive for her you may never be able to convince her to get her... there's no real trick. you just have to make her feel she cannot live without one!
i've annoyed my friends with BJD for a super long time, showed them pictures and showed them mine and sent links of the sites where they are sold. eventually one of my friend fell in love with one and bought it!

 

I've never gotten a friend into the hobby, but if I were to try, I would probably show them the list of Kid Delfs. They're popular, cute, generally well liked, and the cost is cheaper. Depending on how close the friend is, I would try to give them money for one for either Christmas or a birthday, but only if they seemed really interested.

And of course, bring the dolls with you every time you see the person who's interested in them; it would probably only be a matter of time before they caved, haha.

 

Keep in mind someone's personality when you decide to outright try to convert them.

Are they someone who flutters from one hobby to the next? Do they become really infatuated with a hobby and spend more than they can afford in their enthusiasm? What is their financial situation (can they even afford the hobby at this point in their life)? Are they going to get annoyed/resentful of your trying to persuade them?

Assuming you're not going to get them in over their head and this isn't going to put a strain on the friendship, I'd suggest figuring out what sort of dolls might appeal to them and show them the ones that you think they might like best.

All it took, really, was my friend minmin to link me to a picture of a Zaoll Luv and say, "This is [name of my personal character that I adore]." I was like, "oh my god it is! DAMN!" Whereas before I'd look at dolls and say, "Oh, that's pretty." or "Okay, that's a creepy doll. "

It took me much longer to be interested in the idea of tinies or animal dolls, because I'm not someone who has much interest in children or "animal heads on people bodies". My tastes are evolving as I think of characters I want to make into dolls, however. But if I'd been shown an animal tiny or child tiny at first, I would have resisted the hobby much longer.

 

I've been trying to get my sister into BJDs for a year or so now. She loves photography and always complains that no one will pose for her. She asks to borrow my dolls for shots sometimes. She loves animes like Card Captors and has a little Sakura doll (that is not articulated). When I suggest that she gets a MDD to make an articulated Sakura for photos, she gets all like "oh I don't like them and I don't want one" but I know that she would probably make it as a one-doll or a two-doll person. I don't think I'll ever convert her though.

 

I wasn't going to get into the dolls, and my best friend was really really into them. I felt they were to expensive. She knew the exact thing to say to me. Told me I could make two dolls into my favorite pairing. As soon as she said that, the idea stuck and the price didn't matter any more. I wanted my pairing, so I could pose them and take pictures of them, because I can't draw. So I would have my own way to make art.

 

Leave your friend alone, she'll get into BJDs if she wants to. I wouldn't appreciate a friend pushing me to get involved in an expensive hobby I'd already said I couldn't afford.

If you want to buy her a doll, go for it, but pestering her to spend a bunch of her own money on something as frivolous as a doll isn't the kind of thing a good friend does.

 

I'm with chibaraki. Can someone please tell me why your friend MUST get absorbed into this hobby? That's kind of self-righteous and self-serving. Your friend has a mind of her own. She can think for herself. If she's interested and becoming serious, she will ask you more about it. She can research on her own. Why force her into something that she may not truly like at heart? Why pressure her? She may just despise you for it later. :/

 

Well, don't try to force her into it or anything, but as long as she is financially secure, just invite her to meetups with you or invite her over to play with your dolls or look at dolls online. Buying her her first doll is always the best way, I'm sure.

 

It has to be something with wanting IRL friends in the hobby or something (speculation of course). I know I don't like it when people try to push their hobbies onto me, so why should I to they.