Questions for owners of older dolls: 10+ years

This is interesting, since I wonder about the same thing. How will my doll look in 10-15 years? I'll follow this thread to see what people with experience has to say

 

It really depends on a variety of things, like the company, the type of resin used, the amount of care the owner takes with the doll, etc...
I have a CP/Luts delf tanned Dark Elf Soo, which I purchased in 2006. A lot of the tanned sculpts back then turned very green, but my girl must have been in a good batch because she's still the same gorgeous tan she was when I bough her. I think not exposing her to heavy light constantly probably helped.

 

I have a CP Delf Lishe head that I got secondhand; I believe he was made in 2006, but I've only had him since 2011-12 or so. He's yellowed, but not dramatically, and he's definitely not brittle. (I spent a good four hours cleaning years of sealant and paint off him just a couple months ago and there were no worries that he'd break or anything during.) He really doesn't seem any different than my newer dolls, so I'm perfectly happy with him!

 

I own a hybrid doll with the head and body both being made in 2008, so not quite 10 years yet. I am the third owner of the head (Damp Tales Kiruru) and second owner of the body (B&G). Both the head and body have yellowed to a nice darker, almost tannish color. Not neon yellow at all. Both are in excellent shape, as the previous owners took great care of them.

 

I had for a while a Dollshe Hound from 2006.
He was incredibly yellow, but he also had spent several years stashed away in some garage and was dirty and with moldy strings.
After some cleaning he looked pretty much the same as a normally yellowed doll. Resin felt the same like on newer dolls, nothing brittle or anything.
He still had his old face-up too, and except for the dirt it was still in a surprisingly great condition. No chips or cracks in the sealant, came off without stains too.
I sanded him completely to lighten him up, something I would never do again...he lost quite a lot of details and he had some areas I couldn't sand so he ended up a little patchy.
Nowadays I'd rather live with a yellowish skintone.
I sold him off to a friend in the end, repainted him before for her, and he's in a good home now
That's how I got him, and with his new owner now.

In comparison, we managed to snatch up a Volks Ian not long ago. She came still sealed (!) from Mandarake, and the doll itself had been released 2000.
She spent 15 years completely packed up in her box, unlike the Dollshe who went through several owners and years of improper storage.
The Ian felt pretty much like a regular new doll, despite having been casted 15+ years ago.

I have a few friends with old CP Delf, which indeed turned banana or greenish yellow, but the whole "don't expose to sunlight" thing is something most of them started to do way too late.
Nowadays all of us are a little smarter.

Most of the questions do heavily depend on the doll and company in question though. Most of the old dolls I had here were really old Volks, and those hold up great.
Of course only when the former owner took care of them too

 

I have a couple older dolls, they're actually very nice and I wish more people would give them a chance.

"Greening" depends entirely on the quality of the resin and the chemicals in it. I've never personally had it happen, but I only have pale dolls.

My experience with Volks pureskin is very good so far, I've bought 4 separate 10+ y.o. parts from different individuals in pureskin normal and they all colormatch each other. The pureskin does turn a pretty dark yellow but it actually doesn't look strange at all unless you're comparing it side-by-side to a newly cast korean pink or taking badly balanced photos. I'm uncertain on the age of one of the older pureskin white dolls I've seen in person, but it has turned a rather beautiful ivory color that I much prefer to the paperwhite of today.

I have a Volks oldskin that has been well-taken care of. The resin has mellowed a bit but not really yellow, it's more like instead of being a peach / pink or anything that it has become more of a creamy beige.

Owning old dolls has actually almost entirely put me off to newer dolls with a few exceptions. For me there's just something wonderful about the way the resin has settled into a particular color and knowing that the doll has been through so much. It's bizarre to me, my most beloved doll was actually the cheapest doll I ever purchased because she was "heavily yellowed" etc.

That being said, I'd be very wary of old "tan" dolls and companies with poor reputations. I have an original Souldoll and the resin quality is honestly rather poor compared to their modern casting. I've seen a lot of uneven yellowing in Soom dolls, and I've heard of Luts and a few Volks batches turning some really weird colors.

But, I really love older dolls and I wish more of them were actively around!

 

I am the first owner of my CP Delf El I have had him since 2006! He has yellowed but it is even and not crazy bright or dark yellow luckily! I have kept him out on a shelf, away from windows for most of the time except when I was moving between houses... I kept him in his box in a climate controlled storage for about a year. Other than that I take him out sometimes when I go to meet-ups or want to photograph him~



His faceup is the original factory faceup, it doesn't have any chips or damage, the only thing I had to replace was his eyelashes which eventually fell off with age. I've had to replace his elastic over time as well. Overall I think he has aged quite well and I am so happy that he hasn't suffered any major damages with age!

Compared to my newer dolls, he has a few issues that I considered upgrading him for... Like his single jointed body limits his posing, and his S-hook is attached to his head cap which is such a pain, I NEVER open his head cap unless absolutely necessary haha! But in the end I feel like if I changed anything on him it wouldn't be the same doll to me... He is my first doll, and I have cherished him since the day he first came home I love him so much just the way he is!! ^o^

 

I have several old Volks dolls, dating prior to 2006. My old normal skin Kira and Mario seem to have barely yellowed at all. My pureskin dolls, a Link in particular, have yellowed more substantially (but I still love you buddy). I have a Volks Kohya, who I think was beauty white? who definitely has yellowed slightly to a very light, lemony color. However, he is probably one of the most lovely of my dolls . . . his skin is almost translucent even in its current ivory state. Curiously, all of these have been kept out of sunlight and boxed for about 9 years in a cool room(I took a long break from the hobby due to financial reasons). I personally do think they still look good and that these changes are fairly subtle. Unfortunately, I don't have any tan dolls from that time period in which to compare.

 

Probably twenty of my resin dolls are ten years or older. I was the first owner of about half of them, and most of those are Volks pureskin. I think the resin has held up very well. I don't think it is brittle at all, and it doesn't turn green. The resin has mellowed and turned into a warmer, less pinkish color, but I think it still looks good, especially in photographs. I think my older dolls are more opaque and sturdy feeling, but I don't have many brand new dolls to compare them to.

Luckily my dolls are kept out of the sun because my windows face north, so I don't have problems with that.

Linda S.
galatia9

 

Let's take my oldest, though not my first, BJD as a case study:

Doll: Etsuko, 1999 Volks SD Sara with B-02 jointed-torso body

Were you the first owner of this doll? No; I bought her from Ravendolls here on DoA.

When did you purchase it? I've lost track -- maybe in 2011? Or earlier?

Do you believe in the fabled "radioactive green" that all resin supposedly turns into? I'm sorry, but what? I'm not sure who thinks this is "fabled" information; it's so very fabled that I've never heard of it, much less seen it in person. (I wonder whether this could be the lingering half-life of one particularly irritating thread that began with a potful of made-up pseudofacts; I remember feeling ragey when that "discussion" started on DoA several years ago. I'm sure I could dig it up if anybody wanted the link -- it will be in the General Discussion archives, and the title was something like "A bjd's lifespan." The OP of that thread didn't seem to stick around DoA very long, but may have gone on to spread misinformation in other places.)

How yellowed is the resin? How brittle? Etsuko's resin has mellowed a little, but it isn't !YELLOW! -- instead it's a soft peachy/beige tone, like a fair-skinned person who's spent some time outdoors. And as for brittleness, again, huh? I've never heard of a doll getting brittle over time, and I certainly haven't handled any that did.

FWIW, I'm not generalizing from a sample of one or two dolls here. I'm not the greatest recordkeeper in the universe, but I know I've had more than a hundred BJDs pass through my hands over the nearly 14 years I've been in this hobby. Most of my current dolls are from the early 2000s, because most of the time I prefer their solidity, simpler engineering, and aesthetic. None of them is any more brittle than s/he was to begin with. The only one who's turned !YELLOW! is my Souldoll Gunun, and that's because he's made of Souldoll's early "limpid" (French) resin. I figure he's earned his color fair and square; it suits his exotic stylized face, anyway.

If you have a newer doll, do you prefer the resin quality of the older or newer doll? I have a lot of newer dolls. My favorite resin is still Volks oldskin -- I love its weight, texture, color, and behavior over time. In a tie for second place are the gorgeous creamy resin of my 2004 Tensiya/Dollshe Haute Hound (very different from the resin of my other older Dollshes), which has barely changed color at all, and the 2013 Iplehouse Light Brown of my Tokyo Story Tedros.

Do you take any extra steps in the care of this doll? No. (Like what? I'm really curious now -- what kinds of "facts" are people making up about how to handle older BJDs?) Etsuko sits on my fireplace mantel with a row of other Volks dolls; she gets her turn at having her clothes changed like all the rest, and I ought to restring her this summer, but that's it for special treatment. (No, I don't light the fireplace. )


@pikkochan: I'm sure you know this already, but just in case . . . you don't HAVE to hook your beautiful El's S-hook to his headcap unless you just want to keep it that way for sentimental reasons. I've switched all my old Customhouse dolls over to neck donuts (for the S-hook to rest in) with bits of masking tape to hold the headcaps on -- I got tired of breaking fingernails every time I wanted to adjust an eye!

 

I have a DZ Feilian from 2006, when DZ didn't took 5 months to deliver lol and a Hid I ordered in 2007 and arrived 2008. I'm the first owner of both.
I think they were normal skin, they yellowed even and are the same tone. They don't look green or are brittle. And being my first BJDs they suffered quite a bit lol

What I prefer of the new dolls is the details and aesthetic evolution. There's a difference of texture but is not something I have feelings about. And the older dolls are heavier.

I don't do anything anything different about them. I left them inside the box during college years and rarely took them out. Now they are out with the new dolls. They all usually stay out of sun but I don't mind if they catch sun either. I think the only care I have is not letting the cat touch them.

 

I just bought a Hypermaniac Kakiva from 2004. Her first owner couldn't have done a better job taking care of her. Her original faceup and wig are flawless. She doesn't look yellowed at all. I love her weight and thickness.

 

I have a 2001(?) Volks Mimi head and a 2003 Volks MSD Yuni fullset (with a new faceup). I purchased both secondhand from the marketplace last year, and I believe both were purchased secondhand by their previous owners as well. They're a nice warm buttery yellow that I personally really like. I haven't noticed any brittleness.

I like the weight/thickness of the older Volks resin more than my new dolls (a Mirodoll, Doll Leaves, and Luts). I think the Luts has a nicer texture overall, though.

The only problem I've had with my Yuni is that the metal peg holding one foot's hook popped out the other day, which scared the hell out of me, but it just needs to be glued back in. I think that speaks more to how old the glue was than to how old the doll herself is, lol!

 

While I've only been in the hobby just over nine years, I do have two (maybe three?) dolls who qualify. Amir is an Angel of Dream Chen, who was my first doll that I bought in stock from JunkySpot. Though I was his first owner, he was a few months old when I got him. Eirnin is a Volks F-16 made around 2005. Tanner is a Volks School A, and I'm actually not certain of his age, but I think he's right around 10 years, maybe a little younger.

Were you the first owner of this doll?
Amir, yes. Eirnin and Tanner, no. I am at least third on both of them.

When did you purchase it?
I ordered Amir on April 2, 2008, but he was "born" in July 2007 and sitting in stock at JunkySpot all that time.
I got Eirnin off the DoA MP in winter 2015 and Tanner in winter 2017.

Do you believe in the fabled "radioactive green" that all resin supposedly turns into?
It exists, but it doesn't happen to ALL dolls. None of these three looks green at all.

How yellowed is the resin? How brittle?
Amir is white skin and has gone from very white to very creamy, almost a pale NS-y. Tanner and Eirnin are both pretty yellow, which is typical of old Volks dolls. None of them feel brittle at all.

If you have a newer doll, do you prefer the resin quality of the older or newer doll?
Personally, I think old AoD resin was better. I have owned newer AoD dolls, and I feel like Amir's resin is thicker, heavier and less plastic-y. I also like his body better than their current bodies, and his head sculpt has more detail and looks more unique than their current ones. (They've changed the Chen sculpt at least twice since I got him.) My only complaint is that his headcap is s-hooked instead of magnets.
With the other two, I don't really see much difference in old Volks resin and new.

Do you take any extra steps in the care of this doll?
Nope! All of my dolls get the same care and treatment, regardless of resin color, company, size, age, resin type or whatever else.

 

My oldest resin is my Luts VDES head sculpt, I purchased the head on September 2005 directly from Luts -- so yes, I was the first owner.
My second oldest and complete resin doll is my SoulDoll Paris, who arrived to me on January 2006, I purchased him directly from SoulDoll.
I own five complete dolls, two of them are white resin, eight floating heads, two of them white resin. I do believe resin can turn into a neon-green,
although I've only seen photos online. All of my resin dolls are kept in their boxes inside my dark, cool closet so I can't say I have seen any yellowing.
I have seen some of my dolls mellow a bit in color, however, if I compare their faces to the inside of their head caps none of them have changed
much in color or have any yellowing that I can actually see with my eyes (at least thus far). They seem pretty much the same exact color to me (as
the inside of their caps), so if there has been any change it's even and I can't say any of them look yellower or greener, just less pink.

My SoulDoll Paris is my oldest complete doll, I haven't seen any sings of yellowing at all on him, although he does seem a bit less peachy than when he
originally arrived. None of the dolls I own regardless of age appear more brittle than when I originally purchased them. The newest doll I have is
my Fairyland Chic-Line Rou, who I got in 2010. The resin quality is pretty much the same as my Luts/CP VDES, its just as smooth to the touch and dense.
I can't say I prefer one over the other in texture, color-wise I do like the Rou better, the VDES was a bit peachy and still looks quite orangey. I don't take
any extra steps to take care of any particular doll in relation to any of my other dolls, except that like I mentioned before all of my resins are kept in
my closet. That's only because I don't want any accidents; like my fur babies accidentally ingesting parts of them, or the dolls falling on top of them, etc.
My fur babes are the most important factors when it come to storing and displaying my material possessions, but I would definitely still keep my resins
in the closet even if my cats weren't allowed in my room simply because I like to think it helps to keep their resins from aging too fast.



- Enzyme

 

I have an Angel Region Ren from 2006 or 2007 (owner before me wasn't sure). He's still in absolutely great shape!

Were you the first owner of this doll?
Nope! I have no idea how many owners he's had but at least two before me.

When did you purchase it?
In 2012, December. I actually received him in early 2013.

Do you believe in the fabled "radioactive green" that all resin supposedly turns into?
I think that probably depends on the original color of the resin. I've only heard horror stories like that about older Luts/Fairyland dolls. I have yet to see a doll turn bright green, however.

How yellowed is the resin? How brittle?
Here's a pic of him from just a month ago:



He was originally white resin, but he's basically just "normal" now, and still pretty pale at that. Doin' pretty good for 10 years old. His resin isn't brittle at all, it's still quite solid.

If you have a newer doll, do you prefer the resin quality of the older or newer doll?
I actually really like the quality of his resin, it still has a nice "tooth" to it, and it's very solid, as I said. Has a nice weight. I don't own any other dolls that feel quite like he does.

Do you take any extra steps in the care of this doll?
Nah. He gets more regular cleanings but that's just because his outfit is darker so he gets stained more often. He's been restrung a couple times, but that's just due to him being around the longest.

I also own a sleeping head of the same sculpt, but in "normal" resin. I think she's about from 2010 ish? I don't have any proper pictures but she's a lot more yellowed. Still not brittle, though.

 

* It was Luts and only a certain year that yellowed. It actually yellowed very fast. Like it was missing something in the resin. It was an oddity and Luts corrected it.

 

@Cynthia in FlintHills Thank you for reminding me haha, its been so long that I always forget those exist! and since i never open his headcap I never really think about it, I really need to order one! that would be a lifesaver xD

 

I have a few dolls that are over 10 now. They're all Cerberus Project Delfs.

Were you the first owner of this doll?

One was the first doll we ever had in the house (a Delf Moon) and we're his first owner. The others were secondhand (a Dreaming Delf Moon, Delf Woosoo and two Delf Chiwoo Elves).

When did you purchase it?

Moon came direct from the company in 2007. Woosoo is from 2006 but we got him secondhand as an older doll. Same goes for Dreaming Moon, though he's probably circa early 2007 and I've had him since early 2008. The Chiwoos are also secondhand. We've had one since 2009 and the other since probably a couple of years ago but they're both older as well.

Do you believe in the fabled "radioactive green" that all resin supposedly turns into?

All resin does not turn green, so I don't know where you heard that unless you're talking about Beauty Green resin? That's a nickname given to early Beauty White Cerberus Project dolls that seemed to green instead of yellow, but as far as I know it was an isolated thing. I have had a few dolls that greened instead of yellowed over the years. I actually prefer it when this happens.

How yellowed is the resin? How brittle?

Their resin isn't any more brittle than a newer doll's, so I'm not sure where you're getting your info on that. They have changed color, but they're not gross yellow because they've all been taken care of (and none of them were cast in French resin, which tends to unevenly yellow). The normal skin dolls are more of an orangey NS than the pink they started out, and the WS dolls do have a yellowish tinge to their resin, but it's nothing you can't live with if you love a sculpt and keep it in good shape. My old Dreaming Moon is still one of my favorite dolls and he's still fabulous in photos and in person.

If you have a newer doll, do you prefer the resin quality of the older or newer doll?

Both have their good points.

Do you take any extra steps in the care of this doll?

Not really. Maintenance is the same throughout the life of a doll. The older ones have just had time to have more faceups and restringing because they've been around longer.