Name one thing you wish was different in this hobby

@animemom From what I've read about what the tax does, it only affects people reselling items for profit or scalping items in secondhand market. I could be wrong but I think if you're just selling things for around the price you got them for or selling it at a price that meets secondhand market demand, you should be fine, since you're just selling something you don't want and not selling for profit

 

Ah, so many good ones I agree with!

I wish bjds was a more mainstream hobby, so stores were more common and diverse. Imagine something like the American girl store for BJDs, only miss of them; with built in clothing shops and restaurants and the whole area designed to accommodate dolls as well.
I just think it would be fun lol

 

I never said they arent fair, I do believe they are. But if the process was simplier and the prices were cheaper it would be a whole different world

 

Safer spray sealant would be nice! It's such a production for me to work on giving my dolls face-ups, some of them have been sitting around blank for years. If I could be good at it instantly that would be nice too...

 

Controversial, but I wish 3D printed resin BJDs were accepted as genuine BJDs. As long as the print has been finished well, uses quality resin, and has lines reduced as much as possible, I see no advantage to cast resin over 3Dp resin, especially because 3Dp dolls are actually easier to reproduce since you do not have to deal with the hell that is mold making/ finding a caster. This also would help with the cost issue since the reduction of labor would make it more cost effective to price dolls lower.

but yeah, I’m also annoyed by yellowing. I want my dolls to age better than me lol. Natalia Loseva uses resin that, so far as I know, has yet to show signs of yellowing even if the dolls are exposed to sunlight and not perpetually stored, so there’s definitely improvements made on the yellowing front.

and again, I fully agree that limited dolls are disappointing. I totally get why artists limit their sculpts (it’s more fun to make something new than it is to make endless copies of the same thing), but selfishly I wish they didn’t.

 

I agree with the other poster about yellowing. There is something sad about the impermanence of our dolls’ looks. Maybe they’re a bit like us, in that they don’t stay beautiful forever. But it would be so nice if there were more advancements in the making of non-yellowing resins.

Another thing is that I wish there were some relaxations about what counts as a BJD. I’ve seen very beautiful dolls that didn’t count because they didn’t have ankle joints (they were very tiny dolls), or ones that were considered off-topic because they didn’t have well-defined belly buttons. It seems a little arbitrary to me at times. >.<

 

Well if I had to wish for only one specific thing to be different it would obviously be to eliminate the problem of counterfeiting. But if we aren't addressing that and want to be a bit more broad I would say it would be nice if there was no elitism in the community/ people did not automatically assume elitism when it's not there in other situations.

 

@mohnblumendolls : I too wish for more 3D printed resin acceptance! It seems like such an interesting medium to use ! I've heard that 3D printed resin could be less expensive (and no storage costs) than cast resin, and it can be printed at very small size but could also be a bit more fragile so it's trickier to mod. But yeah, it would be nice to see it more "accepted" as it could encourage more artists to sculpt.

I wish for more diversity in sculpts, materials, outfits etc. but I know it's tricky on a business point of view. I think that the hobby diversified a lot from when I first saw BJD, but surely there are still roads to explore.

I also wish to have more talent, more time and more money to become really good at crafting doll stuff, but it's not exactly wishing what is different about the hobby, it's more me bemoaning about my lackings. XD

 

Sadly that is not how it works. If we don't want to be hit with certain issues I have to claim I am a business. If I lose money two years in a row I will be considered a hobby, but still need to file. Come 2023 all states will have a $600 limit or have to get a 1099-K.

 

This last part for me, especially. When I started in the hobby over a decade ago, there was this myth that Volks collectors were "elitist" or "snobs". Since I have grown my collection to include many (probably too many) Volks dolls, and have been engaged in the community...I have never felt more welcomed. It was all a bunch of nonsense, and I have no idea where it stemmed from.

I feel like a lot of times people see someone's collection and make some assumptions about what kind of person they are, and if they will be accepting of them. But I've found that 95% of people in this hobby are super friendly and just want to chat!

 

@animemom
Yeah, I saw your longer post about it in the Chitown forum earlier today too and read up on it, and man it's so disappointing...

This is a weird general thing but I wish resin casting itself was different; specifically, I wish it was easier to cast darker colours so that a woder variety of resin colours would be more accessible in the hobby.

 

Art is never simple, that's why it's so valuable!

 

That's really bizarre. Is it because you don't have a company? I mean, thrift stores aren't able to sell things at full price.
In so sorry they're putting you in a predicament.

 

That’s crazy. The Volks community has probably been the most friendliest mature community I’ve come across. I think it’s how Volks functions as a business that might come off as “snobby” with the limited and random releases. It attracts scalpers.

 

But its cheaper, so they arent necessarely excludents

 

I'll add my chip in to the "if only there were no counterfeits" pile!

Otherwise... I do wish some things were more easily accessible. Doll-sized notions. Patterns in varieties of sizes. MSC, pastels, and other art supplies.

Oh, and another one: more measurements on sites, and accurate ones. It'd help so much to have those measurements to get clothes ready before the doll arrives!

 

I wish I had more money.

Also, I wish some older defunct companies were still in business. I have a Notdoll Belladonna and a Dolkot Bera whom I love dearly, it's a shame they're no longer making dolls. There are also a few discontinued sculpts that I wish were still available.

 

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Elitism. The idea you have to spend THOUSANDS on a doll to be "really" in the hobby.

 

The idea that the community is inherently toxic! Maybe it's just where I frequent and who I speak to, but I've found my little corner of the doll world to be incredibly supportive and welcoming, so people claiming that the entire community is toxic and irredeemable is both sad and, in my experience, wrong. The community, like all others, is what you make of it.