Others Handling Your Dolls

In general Im not comfortable with others handling my dolls. There are some exceptions such as if I am physically present and watching then an extremely good friend who I reasonably trust is welcome to handle the resin dolls... Like moving their joints and holding them on a sofa or on carpet... They aren't going to learn how to stand up a doll with one of my wonky old loosely strung dolls and from experience I've also learned that I'm pretty much not ok with any other person touching my dollfie dreams. I was surprised to see how much more roughly an acquaintance would handle them vs me and I about had a heart attack so no more of that! I can't really assume that just because someone has their own dolls means they respect mine in the way I do or that they handle dolls like I do. That's pretty normal I think.

 

If someone washes their hands and doesn't touch their face and is careful, they can hold a doll of mine.

 

I showed a friend my doll, and he was mildly interested but not inclined to touch. I then turn away for a minute (he was being entertained by my partner, not myself, so I was in the middle of something) when I turned back. Well, the friend had found one of Leander's jointed hands, which are blushed (and weren't attached to his body at the time) and was. Not being very kind to the poor fingies.

Internally I screamed, but externally I carefully extracted the offended limb and saved it from an untimely demise. The hand survived unscathed, thankfully. Though my heart will never be quite the same.

I...I have a few friends I would trust enough to treat my dolls safely without my supervision. This friend was not one of them xD

 

I have one friend who gets very curious and touchy with things while drunk. A few years ago, I watched him break someone's nendoroid and not fess up. When he comes over, I go to extreme lengths to hide all of my dolls. He would never admit to being curious about them while sober, but I'm just sure fingers will fly if he were to find them while drunk.

The rest of my friends are welcome to hold my dolls if they're going to be careful.

 

Hmmm I feel like I might be in a minority here, because I have let small children 'play' with my BJDs in the past before lol. I don't tend to be overly precious about things that I own, although I do take good care of them. I've lent things to people in the past and gotten them back in terrible condition, and while I made sure to let the other person know it was not appreciated, I also accepted that it's part of the risk of letting someone else use something.

My rule of thumb for my dolls is generally that I be present, and I'll give them a brief rundown on what they should know:
-Expensive
-Somewhat fragile
-Don't touch their face

If they still want to hold/touch/play around with them after that, I don't mind! But I do it with full knowledge that they might possibly damage them on accident lol. Frankly, being a clumsy person myself, I understand that sometimes things happen. That said, if the person is clearly not respecting the guidelines I gave them, I'll take the doll back quickly of course.

 

The only other people that have handled my dolls are my parents. They were very careful as soon as they felt how heavy a SD was.

Honestly though, there's no real reason to touch a doll unless you're actively playing with/posing it or if you're putting clothes on it, both of which are things I'm fully capable of doing myself so I don't know how common this problem will be.

 

I usually only let people who are already in the hobby to handle my dolls.

 

I'm a big ol' germophobe, so I generally hate people touching my things, no matter what they are! Plus I have horror stories where my brothers almost used my good sewing scissors to cut plastic wrap or similar haha - so I tend to keep a close eye on important tools and art like that.

On the other hand, when my nieces and nephews get a little older (they're toddlers now) I would love to be able to share the hobby with them. I know that when I was a child I would have been in heaven to have an older relative who collected dolls. I already loved making miniature accessories and furniture and so forth - I even made my own dollhouse! So either I'll buy (or maybe, by that time, make myself!) a few less expensive dolls to share with them, or I will let them handle my collection very gently and with close supervision.

 

Unless it is someone that I completely trust, its a no for me. I already have trust issues and dont plan to add to the experience

 

I encourage people to handle my dolls! They've all been very careful.

 

I only let people touch my dolls if they ask permission and I trust them. Only like 3 people other than myself have touched my dolls, so it's a pretty rare occurrence, but I also don't bring them out much around other people.

 

It would make me uncomfortable honestly unless it was someone I knew and trusted.
I think some people may view dolls as toys or play things and thus not handle them with care.
To me they are works of art so would prefer they be admired, but not handled.

 

I don't really mind, provided that they wash their hands before handling and not touch their faces. They also need to hold them over a soft surface as a just in case. So far, everyone that handled them are close family members and someone that has a friend who also has BJDs.

 

I never take my dolls out and nobody has ever wanted to hold/touch them, so I haven't really needed to worry about it. If it ever came up, though, I think I'd be nervous. I'm a bit of a germaphobe, I guess, and I'd have no idea of how to clean the doll if anything happened.

 

I'm nervous of people handling them if they haven't washed their hands first, because I'm scared of stains. But if someone is respectful and careful I actually love when people are interested in them and handle them! My fiance isn't into the hobby the same way I am, but when I get a new doll and he wants to look at them I am more than happy! A lot of people in my life don't like dolls/find them creepy, so when someone actually admires them it makes me very happy.

 

Generally I'm okay with family or friends holding my dolls. On very rare occasions I'll let strangers hold them.

For example, at an anime convention one year I had a mom and her son come up to me and ask about my doll. The mom was super into the dolls but didn't know where to buy them so we chatted for a bit. She asked if she could hold mine and take a photo. I was standing right there and so was my husband so I didn't see any harm. She had her son snap a photo of her holding the doll. She thanked me and returned my doll, no harm. She was very respectful and didn't touch it's face or dangle it around.

That being said, I don't generally let every stranger that shows interest in them hold one.

 

If I know the person will be gentle when handling the doll, then I wouldn't mind it! I wouldn't let small children or people who don't understand it's importance to me handle my doll. I'm pretty possessive with my stuff so I'd probably be watching someone closely while they touch my doll but if someone is truly interested, then I'm not going to deny them from handling my doll for a bit.

 

Honestly I’ll ever only handle or give someone to handle my doll if I know that person or if I know the person can be trusted. I would be especially wary when I’ve never meet the person before and it was my first time meeting them. If they want to hold him they must prove themselves capable of carefully handling him. It also wouldn’t hurt if they washed their hands as I don’t prefer having my boy dirty especially on his clothing. Instant don’ts if they touch the face without permission or any permission at all I wouldn’t feel safe trusting them again to handle my doll.

 

I'm in the camp of being comfortable with people handling my dolls, so long as they are respectful. If I get the sense that they can't tell the difference between a resin BJD and a cheap Barbie, then they're not going to touch my dolls. I don't want anyone randomly messing up her faceup or hanking on her arms or clothing. If they understand that BJDs are art and not a child's toy, then that's all I need (clean hands, too, of course).

 

Jesus! What a nasty one you came across in the park! Not sure I would have been this cool about it!