Mother, artist or collector

I'm a mix of all three. I also think an artist can also be a collector. I don't see nothing wrong with being just one so I don't dislike any of the categories, people are who they are.

I have always painted and I highly enjoy working on my dolls. The only thing I have not done yet is face ups(but I will soon because I will never send one of my dolls away ever again) I just got all the materials I need for that now I just need time...

Anyway, I see my dolls as art, I know they are beautiful objects I can work on and modify however I want and this is the whole reason why I love this hobby! and I like to give them personalities and styles. My dolls have very specific styles so I never change their hair color or eyes once I have found the perfect combo but I love photography and I see them as my models because I also love drawing.

However, I also see them as something personal because I have put bits of myself on all of them. I treat one of them as my son, he's really especial to me (all of them truly are) but I don't put them to sleep or feel like I have to take them out every day, in fact, due to college and work I can go on for months without touching them (I check them out everyday though) and once I have bonded with them, I see them as family, I respect them and treat them with care and love.

 

There IS a thread on this topic--right here in Dolly Debate: http://www.denofangels.com/forums/s...-friend-or-simply-just-as-an-inanimate-object

 

I think haseshi is being more specific with the diferentiation between artist and collector. I don't hoard dolls merely as objects to be kept in shelves all over the place and then to forget how many I have or their names (I've seen it happen way too often to hoarders here in DoA), but I don't treat them as my kids nor do I "put them to sleep".
In my opinion they are not meant to be kept in shelves to be looked at, they are dolls after all, and are intended to be played with, I do fiddle with them sometimes and love placing them in natural poses (that sometimes creep out my roomates for being too life-like) and photograph as often as I can.
I do however see them as reflections of my own personality. They don't have lives or personalities of their own, they are displaying certain characteristics I see in myself or just that I like in general; if you read the personalities and characteristics of my 4 characters you'd actually be reading my own, a piano player, a punk teen, a quiet and reserved boy, a strong and to-the-point adult, they're all different versions of me, so I don't see them as "children" or anything.

 

I'm definitely a mix between the artist and the collector. My dolls are my characters from my stories. They have personalities, they look a specific way and have a backstory. Interesting topic.

My dolls are large collection of characters, I photograph them whenever I can and love to play with, dress and pose them every so often, however to me they are just dolls and have a sitting spot on my shelves when they're not in use. I love taking them to meet ups and to the store to pick out fabric for the next thing that I'll make them.

 

I'm a mix of "Mother" and "Artist".

Like the "Mother", I do take my dolls out, care for them, give them personality, enjoy being with them, sometimes call them my "kids", but I don't really consider myself a "Mother" because it would be really weird for their characters to call me "Mom".....I am well aware they aren't living kids and in character, they have their own families, I do not exist to them. I don't take them out in strollers or baby carriers or anything.

I'm also like "the Artist", as I do my own faceups and blushing, I sew for them, I am always changing things. But they are more than art, they have characters that I role play.

So I'm a mix of these two, and never the Collector....it would make me so sad to just keep them in a box or on a shelf or see them simply as an object.

 

Is there some implication here that you have to be female to care for your dolls as more than objects? Because I definitely feel more than a detached appreciation for a piece of art towards my dolls... but I really can't be their mother, haha.

 

I selected "None", because I don't see myself as any of those. I see myself as a hobbist/enthusiast. Also perhaps a general 'doll fan'.

 

I'm probably all of these things at times. I make up names for them, paint and sew for them, and admire them. I'm quite fond of them; they don't ever cause me trouble like my real life child sometimes does.

 

I'm about 20% collector and 80% wishing I could suddenly start to hate my dolls :[ I like them too much for that. Sign.... Anyway, I'm a pensive collector, and I do assign back stories but it's sort of just an outlet for some of my feelings (mostly the ones that my close family knows about but not my friends and stuff). Like my fantasies and whatnot ^^" But I don't consider myself an artist in any sense.

 

I have a few elements of the collector, but I'm more the artist than anything else. I keep changing the face-up and look of my MNF girl because there's just so much potential there!

 

Of those that were listed, a mother and collector. I baby my dolls and talk to them as such but I'm under no delusions- I know that they are collectables and that they represent characters with back stories that hold significance to me. I also enjoy them artistically but not exactly the way that was described.

 

I am definitely a (crazy) Doll Mother! I enjoy dressing them up and treating them like they're people. They don't sit in closets or on shelves or stay stored for too long, they're normally on my bed. I call them my daughters, and they pretty much have their own different personalities that I also have to deal with. :P

 

I consider myself an amateur hobbyist. I love customizable things and even if they are not customizable, I just love trying to! XD
As a profession I'm an (commercial) artist and have been all my life but I don't consider my self an artist in this hobby nor a collector
(although I do collect dolls of other types). I can't say I hold any type of maternal-feelings for any of my toys/dolls In fact,
I don't think there is a single bone in my that has any maternal instinct. So an amateur hobbyist is what I am.



- Enzyme

 

To stick to your definition I think Im a collector, I love dolls, I love looking at them, displaying them, maybe giving them a flippant character and making clothes for them, but I wouldnt use the word artist or mother for myself. I guess the word 'collector' makes me think I collect dolls, where as I just own some dolls.

 

Artist mostly, but a bit of collector, too.

BJds are just so beautiful to me. I love looking at them, planning outfits and styles for them, taking photos... I don't mod much at all. I just appreciate what other people contribute to sculpting them and styling them, but I definitely put them together with my own bit of aesthetics.

I am definitely NOT into mothering them... but I DO care about them... and they are mine like all my possessions... I try to take care of my things--not as well as I should, but I do. But they are mostly mine to dress and play with as I feel like.

 

I'd say a mix oc collector and artist. I really like dolls for the photography options. I love to get new clothes and wigs, to make clothes, and to photograph dolls and other toys. But the collector part comes into it as well, because I think no matter what collections I have and how they change, there will always be some dolls that just sit on the shelves and don't get that kind of attention.

 

I think I'm a mix of all three, although mostly I guess I'd fit into the "Artist" pigeonhole you've created up there. ^^

I do take care of my dolls and sometimes like to cuddle them or carry them around, although I'd say I have more of an owner-pet relationship than a mum-child relationship to them. They all have names, characters and personalities, and in my imagination I think of them as little people who share my house, although obviously in real life I know they are art objects that I own.

As for the "artist" part of it, I am constantly taking pictures of them. I make things for them, sew for them, and have recently started learning how to paint them. I create stories of their characters, and that's a lot of fun for me. It's only my BJD that I do this for, however. I have many different dolls in my collection, and while most have names and some have "personalities" it's only my BJD that I seem to have evolved as true characters and works of art.

I am somewhat of a collector, because I love dolls and love being a doll owner. There are dolls that I want, and dolls that I am saving/striving to get in my collection. I love it when I find a doll or item that I have been wanting for a while. I love admiring my dolls (all of them, not just my BJD) and think they are beautiful.

I have to agree with Idrisfynn, though. I don't particularly like being categorized. I think of myself as a doll enthusiast, and I don't think it's entirely appropriate to try to fit individual owners with their individual ways of enjoying their dolls into a narrow definition of what "type" of doll owner they are.