I'm not allowed to have rare/expensive dolls

You shouldnt limit yourself like that. What you do with your dolls, limited or rare, or not is your thing. Even if you damage them that stuff can be repared.

I own both normal dolls as well as limited ones, and I handle them all the same. In fact my Soom ltds get lugged around a bunch right now with me sewing them outfits. Its a constant try on, amend, try on again, amends again and so on. If I wouldnt do it they'd stand naked forever, which is kinda stupid imho, after all I got them to customize.

 

I have both common and rare dolls and definitely feel your pain. I enjoy handling both, but tend to take out the rarer ones out less. While I know that normal handling won't break them and any possible accidents can be repaired, it's still annoying if repairs need to be made.

Suprisingly though, my Resinsoul Long / Mirodoll hybrid gets taken out and played with the least, though. The head's heavily modified and airbrushed to match the body, so any repairs would be beyond my skill personally. If a faceup were to chip with my other dolls I'd be able to make a new one pretty fast to hold over until I got them to a faceup artist, but don't have the skills for anything that extensive.

I don't wear gloves when handling my dolls or anything, and they're all fine. As long as your hands are clean and you're not purposefully rubbing on the faceup or anything they really don't get damaged that easily regardless of limited status. The only thing that I've really ever had damaged was a faceup, and even that was because the doll fell flat on their face, and the faceup dented slightly (not the actual face, just the faceup). I kept the damage, as it ended up looking kind of like a mostly healed scar and it was kind of cool.

 

Im a tactile person too. To each their own, but for me personally I dont see the point in spending a ton of money on something to sit on a shelf and never get touched. I buy my dolls to play with them because that is how I enjoy the hobby.

That being said, I do of course wash my hands before handling them. And I actually dont display them at all. I worry about resin discoloration and dust and cats knocking them off shelves since I dont have a windowless room or a glass case for them to go in. So I keep them in their boxes until I want to play with them.

I say just buy dolls you like and will enjoy, and handle them as much or as little as makes you happy. :3

 

Man if I wanna lick my dolls i'm gonna do it. They're MINE, I can do whatever I want with them hahaha.

I mean, I don't bother with any sort of gloves or anything, I just touch them as and when I want. I touch their faces, I rub dirt off them with my fingers, I pick em up and take them outside and enjoy them. What's the point of having something you won't enjoy?

I have a few limited dolls and I can't say I treat them any different to my non limiteds. I've unstrung them, i've taken them outside, i've hung them from things (hahah) and soon enough I intend to take one apart and dye it because i'm clearly nuts.

But hey, it was my money and they're my property. If I wanna enjoy them my own way that's my right. I paid for them.

I have a tendency to reach over and touch or otherwise fiddle with the ones next to my desk pretty regularly.

 

Most of my collection is rare, limited, and or otherwise no longer (easily) obtainable. It doesn't affect how I handle them at all. They're resin... If they get dirty, wipe them off. You should know by now from handling the dolls you already have that they are not like incredibly delicate sugar sculptures. Or course you don't want to go throwing them around or dropping them, but they are not so fragile that you cant even touch them.

 

I dunno, I see no difference between my dolls, I scared to break them anyway, it doesn't matter if they are rare or not. I mean, I get it in my head but in my heart, I see no difference.

 

I have got only one doll, and he is not super expensive, not rare, but not the inexepensive kind. He costs me over 600$+shipping and costums. (IOS head on 70cm Universe Doll body) Most of the time I play with him without any reason, I just like to pose him. No I never handle him in gloves he is mine to play with, to costumize or just goofing around. I don't think that I will play different with a rare or more exepensive dollie. So feel free to enjoy your hobby and YOUR dolls the way you like best.

 

Once you buy the doll, It's literally yours. Toss the resin baby into the ceiling if you like! Go nuts! It's yours, you paid for the artistry and you can display it untouched or rub your hands all over the face. This one doll is yours to make mistakes with, be it enjoying too much, or not enough.

Now, that said, you could possibly by gloves to handle the doll, and a neat glass case with a curtain if you want. But don't be afraid to play with the rare beauties if it's what makes you happy. Even if you treat them with a higher level of reverence- pose them every day, get seasonal outfits. Have some fun.

 

Ha!
Just wash your hands before you start tinkering with them and be reasonably careful when you're doing it... and there's NO REASON why you can't have whatever you want in your collection.

I'm saying that as a collector who has some rare and pricey things in their collection, who tinkers with them constantly and who's never once worn gloves while handling them.

 

Rare or not, I take them down from their shelf and pose them around, of course if they have some delicate parts I will be careful, but never have I worn gloves to handle them. Only time I ever wear gloves around them is when I do face-ups or mods. I spend a fortune on them, I'm allowed to enjoy them however I see fit :3

 

On the sliding scale of "my dolls live undressed in their boxes in a temperature controlled room and I wear gloves to handle them" to "my doll is in pieces in an old mixing bowl on the floor because I just dyed it and I haven't got round to restringing it yet" I'm definitely nearer the latter! Thing is, they're expensive and if you break something or scratch the faceup it may or may not be a big deal depending on who you are and your circumstances. So it's perfectly normal to want to protect your doll. When I got my first boy he lived in his bag and only came out when I wanted to play with him. But since I'm not actually that tactile with my dolls, this ended up being pretty rare and there seemed no point having him if he only came out rarely. So I put him on a shelf and now my growing collection sits around my bedroom for me to look at. Occasionally I change their outfits, make wigs, practise faceups and sometimes mod the heck out of them, like sawing their legs shorter, opening eyes... I probably wouldn't do this with the more expensive dolls available - it's a calculated risk - if I mess up I may like the doll less or ruin it completely and I may not be able to repair or replace it. But nothing lasts forever so you may as well enjoy what you have while you can.

 

Bah. Outside of washing my hands and keeping them out of sunlight, my dolls get played with. My $75 YoSD sits on the same bed as my Dust of Dolls Doom Bomi, and both get posed. Granted, I didn't have to pay a 'rare' price for many of my rarer/more expensive dolls. But even the ones I did get photographed and travel. Am I careful with them? Yes. But buying them not to play with them would be a waste of money for me.

 

Both of my dolls are discontinued, and they weren't common when they were available, but that won't stop me playing with them! It's rather funny, when I was a teenager looking at bjd's for the first time I thought if I ever got one I'd have a glass case and the doll would be for display. Younger me would flip out that I keep the doll that was over $800 on the headboard shelf! Also, no gloves. I can understand why others do it, but I would prefer to just make sure my hands are clean before touching my dolls. I'm also a rather tactile person and I love the feel of resin.

Price can definitely impact my ability to bring a doll home, but not how much I play with them when I get them.

 

You know, your dolls are gonna be rare some day no matter what you do. They will always be expensive to some degree and by someone's notion. Say $300 is a lot to someone but not to you. And your dolls being rare bc companies aren't around forever same with sculpts with the whole discontinuing issue.

So you do you. I fiddle with my dolls all the time. Even have some on my desk to look at and move their arms from time to time. Lol

 

Washing your hands if they're dirty or greasy is a good precaution, but everything else, even gloves, seems needlessly over-the-top to me. (To each his own, of course.) Even a Volks Shinku is, in the end, plastic. Pretty durable plastic, too; there's almost nothing that can dissolve it. Even my more expensive dolls get handled. I just don't feel the need to treat them like they're made of spun glass.

 

I try and set a limit on what each size category is allowed to cost me. That way I feel I can enjoy without the guilt of playing with something that cost me a lot. But fact is when you fall in love, the cost doesn't matter and you have to play or what was the point. I have had dolls that I have taken on trips that cost me quite a bit, but I love them for those times we spent together. So if you are going to enjoy them don't think about the cost just take care and you will be much happier for those times.

 

I definitely handle and play with my dolls! I wouldn’t enjoy a doll at all if I was scared to touch it...which is actually a big part of why I ended up selling my grail. I was afraid of him.

Thankfully, I have no interest in fullsets or company faceups, so I tend to mostly want basic blank dolls rather than limited dolls anyway, which cuts down a lot on costs. I also do most of my own faceups, so if I do accidentally mess it up, it’s no big deal to fix. If I do fall in love with a rare limited $1000 doll, I’ll probably skip buying it and just follow other owners for pretty pictures.

 

All my dolls are handled on a regular basis, no matter what their price tag is. They're not as fragile as you think, so as long as you have clean hands, you should be fine. Don't be too discouraged -- it's common to feel hesitant about tinkering with your dolls if you're just starting out.