OOAK dolls. What do you think of them?

Maybe I'm confused, but aren't all dolls that are modded OOAK? Is that what you mean, to mod an existing doll's sculpt to look different? That's a pretty common thing. Five of my dolls have been modded in the face (nose sanding, ear gaging, eye opening, etc), two in the body (leg shortening, hip carving) and several more have been pierced.

I have purchased modded dolls, I normally try not to, but if the mods are very well done and fit my character, I will.

Is that what you're asking? Or are you asking about buying an existing head, modding it beyond recognition and claiming it as your own sculpt? I'm pretty sure that would be frowned upon, as you're claiming you created the sculpt. In this case, you didn't create a OOAK head, you modded an existing head, and that sort of borders the lines of modified recasts. It would really depend at that point on how you were selling it---as your own creation entirely, or as your OOAK mods on the original sculpt.

Please correct me if I misunderstood and completely missed the point.

 

I also don't quite understand what you are asking. With bjds being fully customizable it means a large percentage of them can be considered ooak. When they have a custom face-up or modifications you are basically turning them into an ooak as no two are ever going to be identical even if painted/modded by the same artist. Obviously you would not call this doll your own sculpt as you have only modded it to be your character which is what a lot of us do. If you are talking about not using a sculpt you bought and making your own then anything goes. I have seen artist dolls that look amazing. The ones that have been completely created by an artist as a one off and no more being made then that is more rare but they are around.

 

Depending on which BJD community you observe, I think there are a lot of fullset OOAK BJDs around.

Personally I wouldn't be inclined purchase a complete fullset OOAK, because I like to personalize my dolls to fit the time period (modern) and style (also modern) for my story world. Its look would have to be completely perfect for me to buy it, since I don't display my dolls in a cabinet, never to be touched.

Actually, I consider ALL of my BJDs to be OOAK, because I dress and wig them to look how I want them to look, and more than half have custom faceups. My Volks Link still wears his default style wig and eyes in his default color, but there's no one else like him.

Linda S.
galatia9

 

I'm also not 100% sure what you are asking, I guess maybe because OOAK is a pretty vague term which gets applied on everything from scratch sculpted dolls through to common ones with a custom face-up

Ummm... yay? designing, customising, modding and making your doll 'unique' is a very large chunk of what the hobby is about, I would say dolls bought full-set and never tweaked would be in minority

 

I agree with everyone too. Each doll is unique even default down the line, they all have their individual quirks.

I think my OfKa Lukas is one of those extreme OOAK dolls. He is modded beyond what most doll owners would recognize, but he is still a Telesthesiadoll Chifeng on an AOD body. He cannot be reversed (never say never, but why bother), another is my 5Stardoll Tumnus on an IH SID body.
You said you wanted to see so here they are.


Yes, I modded the %^$ out of them but they are still someone else's sculpt.

 

I agree with this.

Chamillia, are you talking about creating the OOAK fullset dolls for yourself, or are you asking what people like and what they would buy for the purpose of selling what you create?

Linda S.
galatia9

 

If you go to the Workshop forum on DoA and look in the project journals, you can find a lot of modified dolls which I would consider to be ooak in the sense that the sculpt has been carved into or have extra sculpting on it (not just the basic changing eyes, wig, outfit etc).

I have collected other dolls before bjds whereas ooak dolls were popular and common for artists to customize to resell, though I think in this bjd hobby there are so many different sculpts and the dolls as a base would be expensive there wouldn't be many ooak bjd dolls (for sale) in the same sense.
Some of the custom dolls for sale I think the original owner made it for themselves and then decide to sell it.

I would purchase a ooak doll if I really liked it and have the money.

 

I'm really sick of OOAK being used on BJD dolls. There are OOAK art bjd's. Those are usually off topic. But a painted or modded BJD sculpt from one of the approved companies is NEVER OOAK, since if you have enough money and talent you can copy any face-up or mod,and those mods and faceups can be removed, returning the doll to the 1 in however many there are. Original one of a kind was a tag produced to label things where there was only 1 single thing of that thing in existence. Including that to mean, this is a very unique version of that thing, cheapens the meaning and makes it worthless for people who really needed to use that label for things. OOAK doesn't mean rare, it doesn't mean cool, it doesn't mean " oh look at how creative and nice that is" it means there is ONE and ONE ONLY of that thing in the entire world.

Sorry for the rant. This is a major pet peeve of mine and it applies to other things too.

 

Czechmix, I agree to some extent. OOAK doesn't add a lot of value to BJDs in the long run, and the term is used way too loosely. Many times the unmodded version is worth way more than any "OOAK" that was created from it, and modding a limited BJD into an "OOAK" can even devalue it, because a buyer would have to do a lot of work to restore it to what it used to be.

I still consider my BJDs to be "one of a kind" to me... but they're not priceless to anyone else except me.

Linda S.
galatia9

 

I love customized dolls. Actual OOAK dolls make me a little sad. I mean, it's great that they are loved, but they always seem to drive the price up way too high when sold, because of the rarity, and I really don't understand limiting resources so tightly that there's only one of a thing that could have been made in a larger edition.

 

More than rarity or unique look, I'd say I bought the story behind my few "OOAK" belongings. No BJDs among them, so far, but I imagine the lessons I've learned from my experiences with them can apply.

If there's a story to an object, it crosses into the realm of valuable* - be it rare, unique, or a completely ordinary thing that went through an extraordinary event.
It may be hard to find the right market or customer for a true OOAK thing (consider that most doll collectors would rather customize the doll to fit their own pre-existing aesthetic, idea, or story, rather than buy something highly "storied" from someone else's mind) and in the end it could take a long time to find the right buyer, but they'll be willing to pay if you ask the correct value for it.
Assessing that value and putting a price on it, with OOAK things, can also be a trying process.
*Keep in mind that value comes in the forms of the monetary and the sentimental. You pretty much can't expect people to pay for sentimental value, although it is a very real thing.

I tend to like things that are actually "one of two of a kind" more than "there's one and only one," because it gives the item a sense of connection to something else, somewhere out there in the world. That's possibly a personal quirk and departs from the answer you're looking for though.
As for a total one-off doll, if it's within my budget and I absolutely love it, sure I'd buy it.

 

if I saw a really cute one which I just HAVE to get.. then yes XD but I usually just look around for company dolls..

 

Technically, all BJDs are OOAK. Even if you get a company faceup--those are hand-painted, not printed. That means they are all slightly different or ooak. Then owners will make them even more individualized with eyes, wigs, outfits. There really aren't any bjds that are exactly like another. Copying DOES NOT COUNT. Even if you copy a doll as exactly as possible, there will still be differences in the faceup, the fabric, everything.

Doll companies make ooaks now and then. The take dolls and have a special faceup and outfit and eyes and wig for them. The company ooaks are different only in they are created by companies.

There are definitely customizers who sell ooaks. Val Zeitler and Connie Lowe and others will paint and make ooak outfits and wigs for dolls and sell them as ooaks. They are quite successful at doing this.

Individuals will sell their ooaks now and then, as fullsets. It's really not so rare.

Others will have ooaks, but will just sell them to whomever, understanding that the new owner will just make the doll into their own ooak, so they won't bother with a fullset.

Anyway--just about everything that can be done with bjds has been done by someone! This is a very creative and diverse group of people who are into bjds, after all!

 

I actually have a OOAK doll; a hybrid with a custom paint job. His name is Arseis--half-human, half nightmare--and I absolutely adore him.