Price Aside, what intimidated you about BJDs

Face-ups maybe? I still haven’t been courageous enough to try but I’m also a very big critic of my own work.

 

I was so afraid to pose them. I remember holding my first doll and thinking "this is a precious thing like a baby bird." I didn't want to chip the resin or break anything. The only doll like it I had was a porcelain doll as a kid. Now I know that resin is sterner stuff than I thought.

 

The yellowing
It always scared me to think that this expensive doll I love will just turn yellow.

 

A few things...and yeah of course the price, my usual spending limit doubled since I began the hobby.

The Uncle Fever, I was afraid of the size of the SD dolls, so I started with the MSD because they were smaller. Once I got that first ⅓ then had to get them friends, and now I am really liking the 70+ cm dolls. My big dolls are just so much my favourites. I still like and have my ¼ collection, but other then one more that I have had my eyes on, I am going for the big ones from now on.

Restringing was a big intimidation for me. I still don't think I get the strings tight enough, but I am no longer afraid of taking them apart. The first time I had to change hands I was shaking. What if I lose the string inside the doll? What if I break something? What is I drop the doll while changing the hands. Um, yeah, I really worried over nothing.

I was worried about breaking them as well, thankfully they are a heck of a lot sturdier then they look. I wouldn't say that I am super rough with my dolls, but I am certainly not gentle. When I first got my Dollzone Nina and I lifted her out of the box her head cap came flying off and bounced on the hard floor. I thought it was broken, not a scratch. I am the kind of person that will stick them up in a tree, shove their feet in a puddle, have them barefoot on a beach, whatever, I just want to take pictures. I haven't broken any yet.

 

Ordering via Email and filling out the ordering form for my Peewit. The payment + VAT was a hassle and almost turned me off.
Now the waiting time until the doll arrives.
Finding clothes and wigs for their size isn´t easy either.
But I´m still determined and can´t wait to have her in my hands.

 

Sewing.. I have so many ideas and then I start to sew and it looks like crap. I have a wardrobe of sewing accessories and fabric but nothing I sew looks even remotely professional..

 

The anatomical correctness of the bodies combined with the possibility of having to open my package and showing the naked doll to the customs workers xD

I was 18 when I started collecting dolls and that thought seriously embarrassed me, it didn´t stop me from buying dolls though. There was even a way to have the customs done through the workers themself, but since I don´t trust strangers with my dolls, that was not an option, even if I would have been beet red and stuttering through the whole thing.
Luckily my first dolls made it though customs without me having to open the box, the first time it happened was years later, when it wasn´t that much of a big deal for me anymore.

Aside from that, anything that could damage my dolls, including yellowing, discolouring through dark clothes, scratches ...
I´ve never done restringing, but if it´s needed, I will also fear to damage my doll or turn it into a pile of body limbs, so that will probably be procrastinated, till it definitely can´t wait any more.
For the longest time I wanted to have earrings for my dolls, but drilling a hole into their ears is absolute horror to me, so that plan has been put off for years.
But so far, nothing has really stopped me from enjoying the hobby, though I can imagine that, if I ever try to pierce my dolls ears and instead break of the ear, that would make me writhe in regret for weeks or months^^'

 

Don't give up!!!!! Iron the crap out of it and put on a bunch of accessories!! Fake it til you make it!!
I wonder if there's a sewing share thread for newbs only. Some of the stuff people make here is sooooo amazing It's inspiring, but at the same time, it would be nice to see more cases of people who are just starting out too to help normalize wonky crafts
Then again.... it's intimidating to share things that you don't think look good

I love reading the comments about the pipis. When I first started collecting the dolls as a teenager and people asked questions it was like the first thing I brought up. Even the nice ladies at the country post office who asked me about my new purchasing habits were excitedly informed that these fancy dolls from Asia had little pipis I'm not sure if I was their disturbing story of the day or if I turned them into doll fanatics as they pressed for more and more information about them

@Pina putting a hole in my doll's ears was my first mod!!! I did not use a powered tool for it because I was scared of the same thing, breaking the ear. I bought a little manual drill for it.... um I think it's called a micro hand drill or a mini manual drill or something like that, and you just twist it!
Mark the spot where you want your holes, check them in a mirror to make sure they look even (if you want them symmetrical) then put your finger on the back of the ear where you want the hole to come out. With the drill hand position the drill on the mark, aim toward your finger and twist. Try to meet your finger with the tool. I am so not coordinated and it worked like a charm!! You can even practice on other random plastic pieces, like a bottle cap

 

@Novalyna
Oh wow, thank you so much for your advise, I really appreciate it! I didn´t even expect some in this thread
Will definitely look those micro manual drills up and the hint to practice on bottle caps is great too!

 

Staining!!! To this day I am still afraid to stain a doll even though its already happened to me about twice now...

 

The amount of information, and also the lack of information.

There are so many companies and artists to familiarize yourself with, so many terms and sizes (trying to make sense of the BJD community's screwed up idea of "scale") and discourse and etiquette... and yet if you look up a certain sculpt half the time there will seem to be 0 information about it anywhere on the internet. No release dates, no size info. Might as well not exist outside of one instagram post or ebay listing. There's just a sense that there's a whole world of BJDs that is either too old or too unpopular to even have any information saved about them.

Also buying BJDs just seems like a scam at first. Give a random (often overseas) person or sketchy-looking website hundreds of dollars and then wait for months! It's okay, we're above board, we sweeeeear!

 

Probably the most intimidating thing was the fact that I had never seen a BJD in real life, let alone handled one. Didn't put me off ordering my first one, but I was definitely very nervously excited that whole ~6 month waiting time. Although her size (slim MSD) has since turned out to be my least favorite to handle, I fortunately did like her back when she arrived.

 

My first doll I restrung using one of those rattail combs it was a total nightmare because I was worried it would break and the elastic would slingshot back into the doll :’)
but I’ve finally got actual hooks to use so it’s much easier to restring now

 

Aside from the hit to my bank, I was generally excited about every aspect of bjd ownership. I was afraid of their potential fragility, and damaging their faceups, but as my first boy was 4th hand...he'd already seen some rough handling and it showed, so I wasn't as afraid with him. I think rather than being intimidated, I was overconfident. Once I had my doll(s) in hand, I quickly became overwhelmed with the simple fact that I am not, in fact, a crafty person. xD I can't sew, my drawings are sub-par, I had no photography skills to speak of.....anyway, the intimidation came after I had them, basically. lol

 

Yep 100% When I first started collecting, I bought a bunch of 'MSD' sized clothing for my Minifee... as it turns out, MNFs are 'slim MSDs' so none of it fit! I think I'm getting the hang of things now, though there are still things that make no sense to me at all, e.g., how exactly people buy Volks dolls, because it kind of sounds like most of them are OOAK lotteries (maybe? the more I try to look into it, the more confused I get, so I've mostly given up).

 

There are a lot of ways to buy Volks dolls.
Standard models which you can order anytime online
Full-choice which you can order in Japan, and sometimes online from Volks USA, international buyers are often using a proxy in Japan to buy them because online FCS has limited options. Japan FCS has a huge catalog to choose from like you may be used to seeing with other dolls, but it is done in person.
Coordinated models (coordinated full sets with various heads)
Adaption models (preowned dolls who have been renewed by Volks) that you can get in Japan
Preorders and Lotteries which you can order online (full sets that are not OOAK, order period, lotteries when the quantity is limited to help prevent scalping)
One Off Lotteries and Auctions (OOAK full sets) sometimes online and other times in person. I think the auctions are only in person.
That's excluding secondhand sales of course. They don't have a big catalog that you can browse and order from online at all times like Fairyland or Luts, but there are a lot of different ways to get them with different degrees of difficulty. Standard models and preorders being the easiest for those outside of Japan.
Majority of them are not One Offs, but I think people are often chattering about the one offs because they're exciting in a way, like for bringing back rare and beloved sculpts, painted by coveted face up artists or having beautiful and unique outfits.

 

For some reason, part of it for me was 'what happens when other people SEE them?'
Especially my parents. Not like I lived with either of them by the time I got my first BJD, so it's whatever. But I still see them regularly lmfao.
I've always been a bit embarrassed about my hobbies, unless I'm sharing them with others who are into the same things. And I guess this one felt especially odd to me since I'd NEVER been interested in dolls as a kid. I'd play with the barbies my aunts gave me out in the mud along with my army of little plastic animals, but I didn't do their hair and dress them up to make them look pretty.
I still dread my mom finding out the price tags on some of my BJDs.

Aside from that, I've always been a bit intimidated by the community ahaha. I've mostly been standing around on the sidelines since I got into BJDs . . . which is silly, since I'm really not a shy person!

 

I never played with dolls either actually had a doll that i had to face to the wall to be able to fall asleep xD One thing more that intimidates me about jd is dark clothing/ wig staining.. All my dolls are stained and looking how everyone sells them "stored in a box in wardrobe never touched without gloves state" I feel like I ruined my dolls..

 

Face-ups. Everyone kept saying how easy it is to chip or damage them. I was really afraid of this happening to my dolls. I don't have the materials or space to do the face-ups myself yet, so damaging it would mean spending money for another commission.
Well, in reality, it doesn't get damaged that easily. And one of my dolls has chips, but they are really not that visible, you really have to look for them. So I think it is fine

 

the amount of choices available in terms of sculpts and i was not sure at all what i wanted when i first started out :')