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Is The Hobby Still Too Recent?

Nov 1, 2011

    1. 10 years is a long time. But I can't help wondering if BJD collecting is still new. I was looking at De Cave Design the other day and found really delicate doll items made for tiny tiny dolls (1/12 scale I think). Funny how I never found such things in the BJD hobby. Because it is too recent? And because it is so new, not many experts out there knew of the hobby? I am not saying people here are not talented, some of them are very talented. The choices just seemed to be a bit limited. I think it is because the hobby is still in its infancy or other more 'traditional' people don't accept it.
      Mods please delete if it is off-topic or a duplicate. I searched 'recent' but can't find anything similar.
       
    2. I think it's just getting out of the "new" stage. When I first became interested in BJDs, it was 2007, and all I knew was Volks. I have absolutely no idea if Volks was the only company out there at that time, but I hadn't joined DoA until a year later, so I had no resources.

      It's not well-known in the same fashion as toy trains, stamps, and coin collecting are known. Those have been around for much longer than the BJD hobby by far. Maybe in another 10 years, it'll be seen as more common... but there are a lot of doll collectors who don't collect porcelain, and are never thought of when people hear "doll collectors". If I hear that someone is a doll collector, I'll ask what kind, but I'll still assume it's either porcelain or Western fashion dolls - not BJDs. You just don't see BJD collecting shown on TV too much.
       
    3. Are you kidding?! There's a WEALTH of choice out there! Literally anything you could possibly imagine, some talented soul will have made in scale and will probably have either shared their methods so you can make your own or sold the thing in question. This is an incredibly talented hobby filled with hugely creative and artistic people that put their ideas on the web every day!

      It's got nothing to do with how old or young a hobby is whether you can find what you want and more to do with where you look. You have to remember that we work in scales unlike those of other hobbies so no, you're unlikely to find outfits and the like in Toys R Us, but you will find furniture or accessories. There are thread after thread here of truly obscure places that people have stumbled upon things that are perfect little miniatures and for everything else, there's the MASSIVE BJD section on Ebay or Etsy and the VAST MP's here. Really, how much more could you wish for?
       
    4. I don't know, I've seen a lot of choices out there, and many many more than there used to be. Over the past few years there's really been an all out explosion. As for what constitutes new or not, that's largely relative, so I don't know exactly how to answer. Though yes, we are newer than many other forms of doll collecting, but that's not limited the creativity any. There are many very creative seamstresses, faceup artists, modders, etc etc -- and that's not including what the companies themselves have been putting out. As has been mentioned already, much comes down to where you look and how patient you are when it comes to finding just the thing you need. Often the stuff is out there, you just have to find it, and if you really can't find something, you can always commission someone to make the piece for you.

      You do need to take into consideration that one type of doll hobby can be different than another. Different in scale, different in style, different in terms of what's popular to the majority of hobbyists. I'm not sure what acceptance by 'traditional' collectors really has to do with it.
       
    5. 1/12 scale is dollhouse scale, and people have made and collected dollhouse miniatures for a few hundred years. I collect them myself and have several dollhouses. I think the trouble with museum quality (like Bespaq) 1/3 scale furniture would be that the time, craftsmanship, and storage space required to produce them commercially would be prohibitive. I'm not convinced that there would be a big enough market for these items to make it worthwhile to build them for mass sale. I think Bespaq did make bigger items at one time, but they were extremely expensive and did not sell very well. I see them occasionally online at auctions. I see lots of inexpensive 1/3 and 1/4 scale items, but I don't think most bjd collectors would pay several hundreds of dollars for even one piece of fine 1/3 scale furniture. Some would, of course, but not a lot.
       
    6. ^This. The bigger the item, the more expensive and who would pay $400 for a doll chair when, for the same money, they could buy a doll. Not many. It's just not a lucrative market.
       
    7. I quite like that the hobby is somewhat new, and therefore unusual. Any apparent shortage of "stuff" increases the thrill of the hunt... or forces you to be creative, and make your own doll accoutrements. If BJDs were as popular and easy to find/kit out as Barbies, I don't think I'd be as interested.
      The expense will keep it somewhat of a niche hobby, but things that are difficult to find, hard earned and much anticipated usually bring the most satisfaction :)
       
    8. I think it depends on where you are looking and what items you're looking for. I think making detailed scale furniture for the larger dolls is going to be rarer if you're comparing it with a popular, long-time hobby like dollhouse miniatures. 1/3 scale furniture is likely to be expensive, if you want high quality, and a gamble for a business to make. Larger companies like Volks could probably make a limited edition sofa and chairs to see if there is any interest, but smaller companies and independent businesses are less likely to make something if there isn't demand for it from more than a handful of people.

      If you're looking for clothing then there are some very talented people making really high-quality doll clothes now. There are more seamstresses and doll tailors opening shops now than before.
       
    9. I've mainly been making my own furniture for my dolls. I found out recently that Maximus, the horse from Tangled, sold at the Disney store is the perfect size for my 1/4 Shoyo girl Sula, and mostly I use found objects for seating. I don't really think of the hobby as "new", because people have been collecting dolls for years, as noted above. It's just a different type of doll that is growing popular (bjds).
       
    10. The real thing is that BJDs are unknown among most of the people. I don't think it's a recent hobby, but a very exclusive one.
       
    11. Ten years really isn't a long time for a hobby to be. I guess compared to other hobbies, doll and otherwise, it is quite new. I had never heard of BJDs until some friends from another doll collecting niche introduced me to the world of BJDs. I certainly would never have known of their existence any other way. On the other hand, I think that in ten years' time a lot has happened, such as access to many more companies, clothes and wigs. However, I really wish dolls, clothes, wigs and shoes were easier to get a hold of. One drawback is the fact that one cannot go to a store and be able to look at any BJD products in person. It has been frustrating for me at times to try to figure out scale and size. Each company who crafts these dolls has their own little variations in sizing so, for instance, what fits one YOSD may not fit another (grrr!). I think that this niche will always remain a niche, unless a way is found to keep the high quality of dolls and be able to mass produce them. I really would rather it remain a niche, because I like the idea that these dolls are individually hand made and hand painted whether it be by an individual hobbyist or a small company. That's the idea behind the existence of BJDs in the first place, right?