Mistakes Made In The Hobby

Not checking seller feedback on the MP
Waiting weeks and weeks being trustworthy to receive my items
Deleting the messages and forgetting the username
Never receiving my items.

Now I always request tracking number.

 

Thanks Yumi for the tip, i did not know that using the magic eraser too often can damage resin and erase face paint. I love to clean my dolls with the magic eraser.

A doll collector (non BJD) I met in another forum once said "BUY LESS, BUY BETTER".

 

I prefer more realistic sculpts. My first BJD was an Elfdoll, which was perfect for me. The mistake I made was not realizing how unrealistic/simplistic the sculpt I chose for my second doll was actually going to be and how freaky she was going to look next to my first (and every other doll I had planned). After I got her and saw in person how super simple and stylized her head was, I thought I could make up the difference with faceup and modding, but although I've done some major face mods and tried multiple faceups, I finally have to concede that she's just not going to fit in and look right with the rest of my dolls, no matter what I do. I like her when she's standing by herself, but I just cannot stop finding myself annoyed and put off by how out of place she looks with the other four.
I'm finally at the point where I'm admitting defeat and planning to replace her head, and I've removed a few dolls from my wishlist that I strongly suspect would have the same problem fitting in with my collection once I got them home. I hate a lack of cohesion.... drives me crazy.

 

Refusing to sell dolls to revamp my collection, I'm glad I got over that though.
Also refusing to try wigs/eyes outside of the spectrum of what I had specifically planned for a character, also glad I don't do this no more.

 

Hmmmm..... Well I thought I had researched everything so thoroughly and carefully before I started buying. But I have managed silly and expensive mistakes anyway!

1. Ordering a doll that has taken so long for the company to actually produce that I'm now not sure I still want it and I've got so bored waiting for it that my doll plans are now totally different. And I've bought other dolls instead. I have no idea what to do with this one if it ever shows up and I still have a payment to make on a doll I'm not sure I want.

2. Deciding on the perfect head for a character, carefully researching the best body match, saving the funds, waiting for it to turn up - with several shipping delays.... just to discover it's totally wrong for the character and I don't want it.

3. Buying a load of tools and accessories I thought I needed only to discover when I got my first doll, that I don't actually need most of them anyway *sigh*

I think like someone else said earlier on the thread - it wasn't until my first doll turned up that I realised my taste in dolls was completely different in reality from what I'd thought from looking at photos. It's turning out to be an expensive learning process!

 

The ""Love at First Sight" problem.

Fall in love with a company's first release photos. Impulse buy, then when the doll comes to you, you realize that you don't like the doll after all.

I usually wait a few months to see if I'm still wanting the doll long after the first release, then the hunt begins for said pretty doll.

 

Luckily I haven't made any damaging mistakes (to my dolls) I did research a whole lot before diving into the hobby, though I didn't always listen to some of what I read (see #2)

1) tried to make my doll a wig when I'm not the most careful/neat person when it comes to crafting

2) believing for a while that I could just go outside and hold my breath while spraying MSC

3) accidentally putting the knot in the elastic too far down so that the leg got messed up and I had to restring the doll again

 

When I ordered my first doll, I forgot to buy sealant AND a wig cap, forgetting those were huge nono's when you're in the bjd hobby. I bought them both thinking I'd get them just in time for my doll, but now I have a wig cap and MSC while still waiting for my doll to actually ship out because he's being delayed for some reason or another. I rushed for nothing in the end!

 

Buying a doll with my then boyfriend. By the time the dolls got to me (about 5 months later) he had broken up with me and I was stuck with his doll that wasn't to my taste and I had to trade her after months of not bonding with her. So I'll probably never buy a doll for a significant other again lol

 

A million years ago there was a similar thread and I posted a list from early in my BJD collecting days. This is that list. Word for word.

Looking over that old old list, I am amazed to realize that
I still do a lot of those things. >.<
At least I didn't mispronounce Kara Klum when I was talking to Dollmore. I just made sure not to say it at all.
And wtf I didn't use caps?! Who does that?!

Adding to that old list:

1. I have this thing about not using stands when standing my dolls at meets - in groups of other dolls. This is a bad idea. Very bad.

2. Doing faceups, blushing, tattoos, anything involving MSC - in the rain. And the snow. And the wind.

3. Leaving a fully blushed and tattooed doll dressed as Snape for month, in all black. He was never the same....I only just cleaned off all that black this year, had to wipe all that work....

4. Doing the same damn thing to another doll recently. Still haven't fixed her either.

5. I am really good at restringing dolls now, unless it's a one-part torso or a Pukifee apparently. I spent TWO HOURS trying to restring my old Pukifee only to realize I was trying to put the knot in the smaller thigh part. Two hours. I was in tears.
When I got my second Volks SD10 boy body it was the one-part torso. I pulled it out of the box and somehow, in like 30 seconds of handling, managed to accidentally unstring it. Another several hours down the drain....

6. I don't know what it is with me and Volks because my SD13 boy body used to unstring itself every time I touched it I swear to god as well. I ended up getting a stupid-huge S-hook for it. That seems to have helped.

7. I once did a really good faceup on one of my Kara Klums, then proceeded to crack him in the face with a giant pair of (really heavy) metal scissors. He was never the same after that...But I learned that boiling dolls is a good thing!

8. Glued my LTF's hand magnet in backwards. Thank god for boiling.

9. Glued my DM Pado's head magnet in backwards. Thank god for boiling.

10. Glued my other LTF''s FP magnet in backwards....you probably get it by now. I've boiled a lot of parts.

11. Put a decent faceup on a floating head, tried a wig on it, stuck it in a drawer with wig still on. That faceup was a loss.

12. Buying a neck turny-key thing for my MNF hybrid, spending some quality time getting it on the body, and then freaking out because I could not fit the head on it...
Because I had it turned backwards. So that's why that arrow is on there....WHO KNEW. Obviously not me.

13. Spent a hundred-thousand hours of doom trying to pry the steel-like hot glue out of my Volks Michele's eyes, when poking a little with a brush-cleaner soaked knife got it all out in about 5 seconds. 5 seconds. I am not joking.

14. Buying temporary bodies for hybrids. That has never ever worked out.

15. Selling eyes. Why did I ever think that was a good idea...??

16. Selling my MNF Shiwoo (the first one). I knew I'd regret it when I did it and did it anyway.

17. Not selling dolls when I should have. Trying to make something out something that just doesn't work is only frustrating.

18. Trying to string anything in a skirt. Skirts = doll bites.

19. Internet browsing while intoxicated. Why did I buy that again...?!

20. Buying "extra" heads. Somehow they all get their own bodies. =_=

21. Being afraid to try something new. This is my worst mistake ever. Being fearless is way more productive and fun in this hobby...I'm still getting there.

I know there's more. Way more. So many more I'd probably need several posts just to fit it all!! So I'll stop now.
After 6+ years of owning dolls and being in this hobby I can honestly say I only learn by making mistakes. Usually more than once....Ok, mostly more than once. XD

 

1) Getting a magnet into the head of my TDF and realising it's so tight that it's not going to come out.

2) Not specifying a faceup enough to the artist, and getting disappointing results.

 

>_<

I am guilty of the "love at first sight" impulse buying, especially with limited releases and when I actually couldn't afford it... my wallet (and my family) must hate me for it.
I also spent much more money than planned (aka "I'll only buy one bjd!" turned into "I'll only buy two!" and so on...)
Thinking "I NEED this and that doll" when I think that actually I'd be just as happy with less.

I chipped my boy's hand when restringing him because I was too frustrated and impatient with it.

Got super-glue on his leg when repairing another chip thanks to the tube "exploding on me" (I friggin' hate super glue...).

 

The mistake of all mistakes - glueing that damned magnet the other way around - mea culpa , had to dremmel it out

 

1) Buying shoes that were a size to small because I hadn't taken into account that the usable inner length was different (and incredibly smaller) than the outer length
2) Getting an ugly and ill fitting wig because I was cheap
3) Buying a doll sized arm chair

Maybe I won't regret the last one so much, but since I'm a poor college student at the moment, every little cent counts. LOL
Too bad it went to the point where I cheaped out on that wig. d:

 

Well, mine was buying a size too large and it looked completely ridiculous on my doll.
Also, I cried my heart out for mistaking seam lines to be cracks.

 

Mistakes...

- Not washing some of the denim mad pants with water an vinegar... it stained my girls the first time she wore those pants but no lasting damage was done as she wore them only for a few hours.

- Not doing my research when selling a doll for the first time. I ended up shorting myself as shipping was much more than I quoted to the person buying so I ended up eating the shipping cost . Oh well it's how you learn but it still felt nice having successfully completed a sell (I know it's the small things that make me happy).
- Not researching wig sizes when I got my first doll. I went crazy buying wings from leekeworld only to find out that they were a little too big for my girl.
- This is more recently. Putting both my girls in the same travel back when going to a meet up. For some reason my MSD's shoes really smudged my other girl and scratched a face-up a bit. Not doing that anymore I'll be buying a proper doll case sometime soon.

So far nothing else has really happened.

 

As i was looking over my first doll i was told she might need to be restringed, so i had her close to my face and she bent in half, she couldn't hold her self straight and smacked me in my glasses and face, scratching my classes and face -_-
the doll was fine, but i felt like i'd been slapped for looking to closely at her body lol.


- Touching face up while tring to get a wig on. the eyelashes fell off! i was able to glue them back on but now... >> no touchy face lol.

 

1) Impulse buying. Almost never works out, but I did buy a "junk" Unoa Sist from Mandarake the second I saw her. Who passes up a Unoa for under $300? Not me! Love her to bits.

2) Buying clothes, shoes, wigs & eyes without actually measuring the doll first. I still do this! Why??

3) Using personal payment through PP. I'd bought from the person before and I thought it would be fine, but I never got the stuff I bought and could not get my money back

 

Tons of mistakes just from stringing and faceups alone, I almost feel sorry for my first doll xD


1. Grazing doll's foot because I was trying to rush restringing.
2. Stringing parts on the wrong side uxu
3. Using brush cleaner with a brush that had painted wooden handles to wipe faceup. Paint from the handles dissolved and flowed down to the head. I was so scared but thankfully it didn't stain.
4. Nearly forgetting to wash head with soap after using brush cleaner.
5. Spraying MSC on a windy day.
6. Cleaning brushes with brush cleaner and not washing them thoroughly.
7. Buying accessories my dolls would probably never wear just because I thought they were pretty.
8. Gluing magnets on the wrong side. Thankfully noticed it before the glue had set.
9. Chipping faceups.
10. Storing new dolls in somewhat air tight storage boxes. The resin smell built up too much, it smelled really awful :c I say new but the dolls are over half a year old now :/


So much mistakes already, and I can imagine the list growing when I start to try mods Even with ample research, I still think that there are things you wouldn't know till you actually go and do it yourself.

 

So many times..... lol Darn you Friday nights with wine!