Others Handling Your Dolls

Generally I don't let others handle my dolls. My cousin is really the only one who really appreciates my dolls (other than my mother). One time I let my cousin hold my Lusis. She was just so amazed by how detailed her face was, she touched her faceup. I let her know not to do that and she stopped and respectfully said sorry. It was my fault because I didn't tell her not to. Now I know to let people know that they are expensive collector's items and not to touch their faces.

I would let my best friends hold them but they are absolutely terrified of my dolls

 

i'd be way too terrified to let anyone else handle my dolls orz the only one ill let be held is my pukifee, bc i'm not super attached and she only generally gets shown to people who already know me/bjds so it's not a concern of care. but anything bigger than that? no way. not that i really run into people who i would show them to; i'm frightened to take them anywhere, and even if i did they'd be safely in a bag 90% of the time rather than exposed. it's a big investment for me (the idea of buying anything "useless" ie not crucial for daily living got scared out of me from an early age) so if i lost a doll to even a pure chance accident i'd be horrified, never mind if they were carelessly damaged or god forbid stolen ....

all that being said, when i can finally get my msd out of storage and back safely in hand, i think i might want to try taking him outside for pictures .... even if it is risky business ^^'

 

It depends a lot on just who is doing the holding,... in general though I've been pretty chill about letting other people handle my dolls. Though so far no kids have wanted to/had the opportunity to hold my dolls. I think I'd probably a lot more cautious with kids than I am with adults.
With all the adults I've had hold my dolls I pretty much just ask them not to touch their face and explain about skin oils messing up the face-up. But other than that don't really worry too much, since my dolls have all been fully clothed when they've been handled and the adults in question know enough to not be too rough with the dolls.

 

You can't trust anyone, well at least I can't so no one would ever touch them.

 

Exactly! that's the only problem, finding people that know how to handle them and be respectful with things that belong to others. I'm not selfish or stingy, It's just that people need to know not everything is a toy.

 

I'm definitely one to show off the posing ability of my dolls by just handing them over.
Usually it's Ruthie, and her favorite prank is to pop off her mag hand when they go to move it. She also has no faceup atm, and is already yellowed and tumbled, and perpetually a toddler so I don't worry too much about her in others' hands.
Carrie has a fancy faceup and a fussy wig so I'm a bit less likely to just hand her over--- I'm a bit less likely to have her out on the daily anyway bc of it.
When I get my new big girl, Idk what I'll do yet. All my others are secondhand.

 

I wouldn't let my nieces or nephews touch them since they are only children.
Only my mother and boyfriend ever touched my doll.

 

I’m perfectly fine with people handling my dolls if they ask first. I tell people they need to have clean hands, for the wigs and clothes, and not to touch the face because of possible damage from hand oil. So far everyone I’ve had approach me has respectfully followed those guidelines, and no one has done anything rude or damaging. If I owned $3000 art dolls, I probably would be pickier, but none of my dolls have delicate fantasy parts or body blushing, so I enjoy letting others experience how the dolls work and feel. Had a guy who’d never seen them before drop by our local meetup this weekend, and he was surprised by the weight of my Volks tiny. I remember feeling the exact same way the first time I ever held one.

 

No one really gets a chance to touch my dolls besides my mom or close friends, all of which are aware of the hobby and how expensive the dolls are. I don't think I'd let any of my extended family touch them if that situation ever arose, and I certainly wouldn't let a stranger. Sure, my RS was cheap but I'm not risking $150 on a stranger.

 

In general I don't let people handle my dolls. Most folks aren't familiar with them & don't realize that the dolls are expensive & somewhat fragile. I will let my doll friends play with them as they respect them for the art they are. It was mainly thanks to a friend letting me play with her BJDs that I became interested & I think that's a good way to promote these dolls to other doll collectors. In fact, one friend fell in love with my Not Doll Lab Lucy & bought one for herself.

 

I would probably let other doll-peple hold and touch them but so far I have had no good experiences even with friends. They just grab them and try to put them in weird poses and think it is so funny to leave them like that to see my reaction when I notice it... I recently got pretty upset about it and therefore I tell people to please leave them alone. To them they have no value and they think it is crazy to spend so much money "just for some doll".
I try to place them on shelves and behind glass where they are not too easy to be reached and hope to keep them save this way XD I am used to the comments and I don't as long as people keep their hands off my cuties

 

The only person I let touch my dolls is my fiancee, because she gets how much they mean to me and she's careful. It doesn't stop me from telling her to keep her fingers away from the face every time, but that's probably my problem.

 

I probably wouldn't mind letting friends in the hobby handle mine, especially if they're showing me how to do something. Outside of the hobby, I'd be pretty leery.

 

I'm VERY paranoid about letting others touch and hold my dolls. No one I know personally knows how to handle a ball-jointed doll, and I hate telling them "Don't do this, don't touch that, don't bend the arm that way." It makes me feel like a fussbudget.

 

I have never taken my dolls out before. My husband likes to handle them. My daughter likes them but doesn’t try to touch. So I don’t know if I would be ok with strangers touching unless it is someone in the hobby.

 

My friends and parents, yes. Others, no.

 

I let my boyfriend and some close friends handling my dolls but I'm really afraid when that happens Lol

 

Only my family have really met my dolls and I'm happy for them to handle them. It can be really interesting to see how they pose them actually because it's usually in ways I wouldn't have thought of.

 

I don't mind letting others hold/touch my dolls but I also immediately tell them not to touch the face. The only doll that I get a bit antsy about people touching is Mkhai and only because I spent 36 hours metal leafing him and I REALLY don't want to have to touch that up since the process is so intensive and the sealant takes 6 weeks to fully cure.

There has been a person who I'd wrongly assumed would be ok to handle my dolls since they were also a doll owner. It's not that they were very rough but that once they finished taking photos, they simply walked away from where they'd posed my boy, leaving him standing on a ledge about 3' off the ground (which was concrete) and in a public place with a good bit of foot traffic. Fortunately, that doll is a rock when standing and nothing happened but it could've been a disaster. Because of that, there are very few people I'll let take my doll more than 10' feet from me and generally I watch them like a hawk the entire time.