Price Aside, what intimidated you about BJDs

The stringing part. It scared me out of my mind to just thinking about it and it took me years before I was brave enough to take my doll apart and try to do it the first time.
Still beats me, though, even if I have seen dozens of tutorials and videos. Even if my life depends on it, I can't find the right amount of tension for any of my dolls and I've taken them apart almost every year (for cleaning and such). Maybe the string that I use is not the right one, I don't know.
My dolls can still pose, of course, and stand, but I know they could do better if they were correctly strung (when compared with detailed reviews of their bodies by other owners) and it drives me mad sometimes xD

 

Honestly, it was just having them in general

I hate inanimate objects "staring" at me. I don't even keep posters or photos on the wall for this reason. It just makes me feel so self conscious, especially if they're in my bedroom. I mean, getting undressed and then turning around and making eye contact with something just... staring at you. Horrifying to me lol. So even when there were sculpts I really liked, it took me forever to take the plunge and start buying dolls. The thought of why pay this much money and not even do anything with it stopped me.

... my dolls still aren't on display anywhere, but I still enjoy having and working on them

 

For me it was definitely the size!
I got my start in the general doll hobby with 1/12 fashion dolls, so even something like an MSD seemed huge to me.
I remember getting a measuring tape and seeing what 45cm looked like and thinking it was absolutely massive for a doll; I was worried that 1/4 dolls might be too big for me, but I also couldn't find anything I liked in 1/12 scale for BJDs. All my favourite sculpts were 1/4 or 1/3 dolls and that really intimidated me from getting my first doll for a long while.

In the end, I find that I ironically like 1/3 scale the most now. 1/4 feels small in comparison, when it used to be so big to me.

 

Nowadays I'm still scared about touching them too much because of hand oils or putting them out of their boxes in case of yellowing. I also haven't even tried restringing them... I'm too afraid.

 

The wait, sending money to artists and dealers with wait times exceeding the 6 month buyer protection deadline. I also was hesitant to start a new collection of more expensive dolls and leaving even more valuable things for my family to deal with after I’m gone.

 

The yellowing, definitely. The fact that it's so expensive, yet it's expected that it would age so quickly just surprised me. Especially for tan and fantasy colour resins that would turn a different colour entirely (i hear the red pigment in resin breaks down especially fast). Leaving it in the open or putting it in it's box for long periods would both apparently cause the yellowing to accelerate.

At least for normal and white skin I can use the 'de-yellow'ing method or sand it down, but that's not possible for tan dolls.
(Side note, does anyone have any tips for tan doll maintenance?)

 

/This!

How long does it usually take a doll to start yellowing?

 

That depends on a lot of factors tbh. The age of the doll, the specific resin and ingredients in the resin and pigment mix used by the company, where/ how the doll is kept, other environmental factors like whether someone smokes in the house, etc. Older dolls used to yellow faster in my understanding, because the pigments used were less stable. Many newer dolls are made with resin that has added ingredients in it to specifically help slow down the process (colors noted as UV when you're purchasing them on a lot of sites). It's also a gradual process, so depending on the color your doll starts as, it may not be noticeable to you for a long time unless you're regularly comparing it to a new doll every few months or something

 

Thank you for the infos!
I´m looking for a cabinet that fits my other furniture right now.
Do you prefer to store your dolls in their boxes? Or do you have them on protected displays?

 

My dolls are in an ikea Billy case with glass doors because I have a cat that likes to pull things off bookshelves. I did put UV film on the glass portions, since i have a lot of windows in my office (and I put it in the main window as well), but one of them was kept on an open shelf without it for a year or so, and he's fine.
I don't see the point of spending so much on something I'm never going to look at because it's in a box somewhere personally. I got them because I like them and they make me happy, so i want to be able to easily see them near me in my space.

 

That´s a good point and I feel the same. I´ll check out the UV film for the glass doors of the cabinet, another good point.
I also have two cats that love to sniff (and my British Shorthair to sneeze) and explore new items.

 

Quite a few things, actually. Mainly body blushing and stringing.... I worry about breaking a doll and the last time I inspected a joint, that happened very slightly.....

 

It was the space issue mostly. I didn’t want to buy something that nice and have to put it in a closet where I couldn’t see it. I also didn’t want it sitting in the open where it could get knocked down or dusty. I really don’t like dust and clutter.

 

It was the same with me. My home is quite small, and I had big concerns about where I would keep them because I knew I’d want them constantly on display where I could see them at all times. So I talked myself into it with the idea of limiting myself to only one doll (and yeah, we all know where that led.) I really had no other concerns because I’d been collecting other dolls for some time prior to my introduction to BJDs. None of them had stuck around as a hobby though, although I’d tried a bit of everything…antique, vintage, modern vinyl, reborns. I’d try out a few of one kind of doll, work with them and enjoy them for a time until I became bored with them creatively, and then sell them to fund another type of doll to try. I just wasn’t getting the creative bang for my buck I was looking for. And then I stumbled upon BJDs and absolute magic happened.

So by then, I wasn’t afraid of anything concerning dolls…except, like I said, my overall lack of display space in an already crowded small home. I didn’t fear the price because I’d already learned how to utilize layaways for dolls on a lean budget, and I knew where to go for that. I didn’t fear faceups/blushing/tattoos because I had already done this sort of thing on vinyl dolls. And I didn’t fear clothing issues for difficult sizes because I’d already been a costumer/cosplayer/seamstress most of my life. I had no fears of their delicacy or restringing needs because I’d already handled some fragile antiques.

So yeah, it was only my fear of space that gave me pause. But like I said, magic happened. As I began to create their backstory, I could see where they lived in my mind…their “setting”. And my mind began to race with creative ideas of where I could put that. My first notion of an unusual use of space began with a window in my living room that didn’t receive any direct sunlight because of an outdoor overhang. One day I just boldly pulled down the drapes, put up shelving in its place, and created an entire “attic room” right there in front of the window. It was way more interesting than curtains and my family absolutely loved it. That gave me the encouragement to try it elsewhere too: take down a poster, put up a shelf and create a doll display on it; make a detailed room on top of a dresser; create a vignette on an unused portion of a nightstand; repurpose a little used storage closet as a display space by removing the door and adding shelves. Well, you get the idea. All these years later and I’m still thrilled with the results and so is everyone else who comes into my home.

 

Yes! Space was a huge concern for me too. I've actually started to branch out into putting my dolls all over. You've given me some good ideas.

 

The community, but not in a bad way! More-so like being new and not knowing terms or basic info and worrying about coming off as ignorant or making mistakes. Theres so much ive learned and still need to learn that its a bit scary.

 

Doing their faces. I dont have the confidence to send mine off to someone else and I knew that I needed to do their faces myself to fully bond with them...its been rough but I'm finally getting the hang of it I think.
On a lesser note...patterning for weird sizes. I'm so new to patterning...I feel like I'm learning sewing all over again

 

I was told that you couldn’t touch dolls without gloves because finger oils would damage them. … Took me a while to get over that. I’m still very nit picky about washing my hands before I handle dolls but I don’t wear gloves anymore. My dolls are meant to be handled and enjoyed! And I love that part of the hobby. Posing dolls is just so satisfying.

 

Restringing I’m still too scared to do it tbh

 

For me it is damaging them, I have a tendency to accidentally drop things.
In my time in this hobby, I’ve dropped head caps, faceplates and everything in between.
Thankfully only one face up has been damage due to this.