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Owning 20+ dolls...what is it like?

Feb 23, 2017

    1. I have 50ish dolls now. Its fun! :XD:
      They take up a lot of room, basically a whole wall of shelves, but its cool to have different groups so you can customize different spaces for them and have them 'interact' in poses.
      I don't change my dolls clothes or wigs too often, if you're someone who did that every day, that would be way overwhelming! Mostly they just sit pretty lol.
      I dont know if I ever planned to have this many, but I knew it would be my favorite hobby from when I first discovered them, so it doesnt surprise me.
       
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    2. Sometimes it feels a bit overwhelming to me, this coming from someone who has a mixture of [mostly] slim mini's, tinies, anthros, and petdolls! I sometimes feel like I should downsize, but when that thought comes, the doll/OC is fully developed and is too important for me to get rid of. T___________T
       
    3. I have around 50 and I love having them all around.
      Although some don't get played with much they get admired every day!
       
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    4. I found it really stressful having so many dolls as I couldn't afford to 'finish' them all as I'd envisioned, so it nagged at me constantly. Also I do like having all my dolls together, rather than scattered about the place, and it's easier to keep them out of direct sunlight if they're all in one place, so the practicalities of that were quite hard to manage too. Finally, I hate dusting and they do gather dust in their clothing, even if their wigs and faces are regularly dusted off - and all that clothing needed shaking out somewhere *cough* and sometimes washing - and IRONING *horrors*
      So I enjoyed my large family less than I'd thought I would - sold them all but 2, and only regret selling 4 of them really. The numbers are creeping up again though - I'm onto 11 dolls again and counting!
       
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    5. The issue I've run into with keeping a large collection is not so much the dolls themselves, but the stuff that comes with them. Keeping 20+ doll boxes (because you might need them later!), extra clothing, props, and so on becomes a bit of a storage issue. Basically, my spare room closet is wall to wall doll boxes.

      But having over 20 dolls? That's the fun part! You're never bored. There's a doll for every possible mood you might be in. There's always a project to work on or photos to take. I like that part. I just wish I had a more elegant storage solution when it comes to their stuff.
       
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    6. It really makes a difference how you collect and what size you collect.

      If you are a "one outfit, one wig, one pair of eyes, default face-up, done" person or mostly collect smaller sizes it's not that stressful.
      Your doll is quickly finished and doesn't take away much space on top, it's also a lot cheaper and less stressful and if the doll is done, it is done.
      As soon as you pile on how many pieces each doll needs to be "perfect" (several outfits, custom stuff, moddings, custom face-up, hard to get pieces etc.) or if you are the type that is never really done with them, then it can be stressful and sometimes annoying. Double that when you have to/want to do some or all of those pieces yourself.
      If you mostly collect SD and upwards space becomes an issue too.

      I am now at 17 dolls (and a spare head I am not sure I will keep).
      However, one of them is a 1/6 boy and three are small critters, which leaves me with 13 1/3 dolls. The big kind, because I prefer 70cm guys.
      I already thinned my group to the ones I only need/truly want.
      I paint all my dolls myself and also airbrush their parts.
      I also am sadly a dirty perfectionist and like my dolls to be fully customized, with lots of different outfits to pick from, custom wigs and eyes and I am never really satisfied.
      I only have so much money available for the hobby, and when two get big outfits another can't get his new body. It's a constant planning and prioritizing.
      On top of that, due to commissions and my shop, I am rarely able to paint my own dolls...so a lot of them are blank or have old face-ups.
      It's annoying to want to take pictures and then have to go through them and think "not you, you are blank. Not you, you have no fitting outfit for this season. Not you, the wig doesn't fit" etc.

      Did I mention that I live with my girlfriend who has 20+ dolls, many of them SD and bigger too?
      And because we don't want them just piled on each other or sitting all on a sofa, they have their own cabinets in which they stand.
      With a nice wooden stand eight 70cm dolls can fit into one Billy, and four into a Detolf.
      That's quite a lot of Detolfs you need to have them all nicely presented, and next to that you still have their clothes, props and co. and not to mention the boxes that want to be stored too :horror:
      And you need money to buy that furniture too, money you can't use for the dolls again.

      So, yeah, it can be stressful and annoying sometimes, but it's also pretty great.
      I sometimes dream of having like, only three dolls, but I enjoy having the choice and to be honest, it looks pretty cool when all of them stand like that together.
      I like that each of them has their own wardrobe, own props and weapons and that they are nicely presented. I have to be a bit slower than others, but when they are finally all somewhat finished I know it will be great. My "goal" is by the way to end up at 25, and so far it looks good.
      I still have three planned characters, maybe four, and I barely find dolls anymore I want to own (I can't even find dolls for those four characters).

      I have friends with 60+ and more dolls, but they tend to be the "others do the work, one outfit is enough etc." type, for them it's mostly a storage issue.
      As said, it really depends on how you collect and what you collect.
       
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    7. I currently have 19 with 1 I'm waiting for. I do have a handful that I do tend to take out more than others, but I love all of them. I can relate to those who said they are always inspired by their dolls because of the variety. The hardest part is storage; they are in their boxes and take up almost an entire closet. I don't have a great way to display them due to the size of our apartment so having ample space for our hobbies is high on the priority list when my fiance and I start house hunting. I don't have any plans to add more dolls at this time, but if there is a new release that catches my eye that might change :)
       
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    8. I have over 50 dolls at the moment and I must confess that that's too much for me. I feel like I can't sew as much as I wanted or find out interesting styles for all of them. The trouble is I do love them all and I don't yet know from which ones to part. Just babbling. With flu.
       
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    9. I have over 100 dolls of different types, and I can only manage to have no more than a dozen on display due to lack of space. There are times when I ask myself why have so many, the only answer I can come up with is I'm an addict. I keep telling myself to thin out the collection, but I just can't part with any. The most difficult part of having a large collection is which dolls are going to be on display, I don't have any one favourite to keep out of storage so I put them in a rotation.
       
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    10. Agree with @CloakedSchemer that it's overwhelming, and I feel life would be simpler with fewer dolls. I don't have space to display them all, so some of them don't get much attention.
       
    11. I promised my partner Id only get one, and right after I ordered that one I put another on layaway :). I think I'll end up with 5-6, as that is the core cast of characters Im working on.

      I can't imagine having 20+, because I likely wouldn't have the space to devote to that many, but even ten would seem like quite a few for me. I do work with someone who owns 26 though.
       
      #31 francienolan, Feb 25, 2017
      Last edited: Feb 25, 2017
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    12. I currently have only 3, but I'm planing at least three more for the near future. When I got my first doll in 2014, I decided 5 would be a good number, but now, I think I could easily end up with 20, but maybe not too many more than that. I do prefer SD size, so I'm glad so many of you have mentioned the space issue- not for the dolls but the "everything else"! I never would have thought of that! With just the three I have now, I already don't have a good storage system for all their clothing! Luckily they're one wig/eyes characters :) I also really like the idea of having enough that you always have a muse, no matter your mood :) My lovelies have a couch on my work table and they make me smile every day!
       
    13. My friends and I agree, that our promise of "1 doll is enough" is long gone ! :lol: Once you bring home one, he/she will make you bring another doll and another and so on... *_* I should admit not all of my dolls get an exact attention at once. But I try my best to spare my time to take pics of them, setting up the background and props or even take them to doll meets.Usually if I'm too lazy to bring the hunks, I will 'repay' them with a photo shoot, so I can bring the little 'hobbits' to doll meets. :wiggle
       
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    14. I've been a doll owner for over a year and still only have the one doll. I do want to eventually add more to my collection, but part of me just can't let myself spend so much money on dolls. Most of the dolls on my wishlist are Luts too, and those can be kind of pricey. Ah well, I can dream I suppose :)
       
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    15. LOL I've close to 50, of which 37 are SDs - I've 2 EIDs, a 72 Idealian, & 8 other 70cm + dolls among those. I have NO problems maintaining them, although I have to budget for face-ups (really can't do my own). I am constantly making clothes, one reason I got them in the first place, so no problems there. Every one of my dolls is a character in a small town I made up, & I write stories about them, plus photo books (I'm behind there...). I have them all sitting about my house in various little groupings, which changes from time to time, and I change their clothes as the mood strikes me. It totally brings a smile to my face to see them all sitting around, as if I've captured them at a moment in time :D Not a burden to me AT ALL :d

      I do have to add that the entire concept of 'forever' clothes, one outfit only, or only one wig, is alien to me!
       
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    16. I only ever planned to get 3. My current crew is at 56 (not counting the seven or eight floating heads I still haven't figured out what to do with), 55 SDs and 1 tiny.

      It is quite overwhelming to handle them all at once, and it requires a lot of energy to move them around since they're in the 63cm-73cm range. And it's very hard to sometimes remember who's got what eyes and what company their wig is made by (and part of the reason why I did away with them having storylines and characters—too much to keep track). I don't have a lot of space so I have them carefully piled up on my work desk, and just bring out the ones I want to work/play with. I enjoy having them though, so all the grief is worth it.
       
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    17. What's it like? It's baffling. I only intended to get five or six...but it turns out that they are like potato chips. I was honestly shocked when I counted them and realized for the first time that I had gone over twenty. But I'm fond of every one of them, and with all of the beautiful and interesting new sculpts that keep coming out, I suppose I'll probably be hitting fifty or even one hundred someday. :sweat
       
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    18. Sooo true, can't stop at just one.
       
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    19. It's honestly really a bit overwhelming at times. u_u I have downsized a little bit lately and have sold some floating heads, but I just seem to replace them with new sculpts. orz' I only have my MSDs and a few SDs out at any given time, so many of them stay up in their boxes. I really miss only having three dolls, as I did in the beginning, but I love the sculpts that I have and can't see myself parting with many more of them.
       
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    20. I have 6 big (SD) characters in mind, of which I currently own 3.
      I dont want to end up with too many dolls because i dont want them in boxes all the time,
      also a lot of bjds sounds like an endless work in progress.

      Someone in here was also right, its better if you have a lot of tinies than big dolls,
      so I might get them tiny pets or so in future, but I haven't researched yet!
       
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