Questions for owners of older dolls: 10+ years

Yeah, but . . . people will claim just about anything online to get attention (as the General Discussion Archive will testify). And if you read the whole "bjd's lifespan" thread, not just the first post, you'll see that the OP's claims get thoroughly debunked; it makes me sad that they're still getting recycled as if they had some validity.

I can't help suspecting that -- if they exist at all except as isolated cases -- there are three likely causes of the "brittle-aging" resins: possibly the individual dolls were mistreated during their lifespan; or came from a company that didn't use the normal grades of resin for dollmaking; or came from one of the early "summer batches," back in the day when some companies had trouble curing their resins properly during hot and wet seasons. I remember at the time that we all speculated about whether there would be any long-term problems with the summer batches. Enough years have passed that maybe it's possible to find out, if the current owners know for sure what time of year their dolls were cast.

 

I've been skulking around since 2005, so I have several dolls that are over ten years old.
Some were purchased new, some second hand.
The time span of purchases is just as wide, spanning from the spring on 2005 when I bought my first doll new (I still have her) to the 13 year old F-05 that I bought second hand only last month.
None of my dolls are green. Some are yellower than others (I have a Luts doll from just before the green era that is an unusually lemony shade), but that varies depending on more factors than I can list. None have gone brittle, either. (That is a horrible thought)
My feelings for resin quality have more to do with brand than with age.
As far as special care, I have white paper up on my windows, under the binds, in the doll room to further diffuse sunlight. Even that precaution is for everyone, not the the elders in the group.

 

Were you the first owner of this doll?
10 of my dolls are over 10 years old. I am the first owner on all but 2 of them.

When did you purchase it?
I bought most of them new from the company or a dealer. One of the secondhand ones was bought in 2006, and one fairly recently.

Do you believe in the fabled "radioactive green" that all resin supposedly turns into?
I think this is an urban legend. There was the infamous "beauty green" back in the day, where white CP dolls got a greenish cast, and Iplehouse's first attempt at real skin (which contained french resin) which turned color. The companies fixed both issues right away.

How yellowed is the resin? How brittle?
Some of my dolls have hardly changed color at all, for instance the old Elfdoll and Serendipity NS. My worst yellowing with the old dolls are Domuya WS (now lemon yellow), and an old light tan Supia, bought secondhand with faded patches in the exposed areas.
None of them show any sign of turning brittle.

If you have a newer doll, do you prefer the resin quality of the older or newer doll?
Resin quality seems to depend on the brand, rather than the age. I do like the new environmental resins, where you can get a light-fast dark tone, and the color goes all the way through.

Do you take any extra steps in the care of this doll?
They don't bask on the dashboard of my car, and I do use a UV-proof sealant on the faceups, but other than that I don't take any special precautions.

Now I want to go check out that old thread @Cynthia in FlintHills mentioned

 

I have two 10+ year old dolls, a Volks SDCute Kaede from 2003 and a KyoTenshi Shiratori head from 2004. I'm not the first owner of either of them. They have both yellowed, but it doesn't look bad and is definitely not green tinted (yet?) I would say Kaede is a little more yellow than Shiratori.
For a while I owned a Crobidoll from 2010 and interestingly, she was FAR yellower than either of them! I don't know if that was due to how her previous owner kept her, or the quality of the resin.
Neither of them seem brittle, the resin texture seems the same as my newer dolls. I don't prefer the resin quality of my newer dolls either - I think resin quality comes down to the company/caster and not really the age. Both my oldies have good quality resin because they're Volks dolls, haha.

 

10 of my dolls are 10 years or older. One Volks MSD kit doll, a couple of Angel Region, a couple of Dream of Doll, and some Bluefairy Tiny Fairy. (All are MSD-sized.)

Were you the first owner of this doll? No, they all were second-hand.

When did you purchase it? At various times, mostly on DOA marketplace, a few on Ebay, one in person.

Do you believe in the fabled "radioactive green" that all resin supposedly turns into? I had one, an Angel Region Ami that I picked up on Ebay for very cheap. She was legit, had the official box and everything, previous owner was leaving the hobby. The pictures were misleading, though--they were taken in strong sunlight. I thought it was because the seller was clueless, but no, it was to disguise the fact that the doll had greened. Not bright green, just a weird greenish hue. I decided to just work around it and made the flaw part of her character. I found a pair of blue-green eyes that coordinated well with the skin, and a green wig, and dress her in earth tones. She photographs beautifully now. In person it still looks a bit weird to me, but I had so much fun developing her that I would not sell her now!

How yellowed is the resin? How brittle? Resin yellows, no matter what you do, and since these were all second-hand, I have no idea how their previous owner(s) took care of them. They've all yellowed to some extent, some more than others, but none of them are "brittle" in any way.

If you have a newer doll, do you prefer the resin quality of the older or newer doll? Each doll is unique, so I don't really have a preference. The only thing that bothers me is if the head and body resin don't match. Sometimes the MSC on a face-up yellows more--I have a couple of dolls that happened to, and I will probably have to re-do their face-ups.

Do you take any extra steps in the care of this doll? All my dolls are stored in boxes, not due to sunlight, but because we have pesky cats!

When I first started in the hobby, the idea of yellowing freaked me out badly. But what helped was buying an older doll and seeing that it wasn't that big of a deal.

 

I am fascinated to see how BJDs age - I've got REALLY old dolls that aren't BJDs (my MOTHER'S babydoll - 75 years old :d & my vinyl babydoll - over 50, & my daughter's which much as I hate to admit I got before Volks started selling their dolls. & Barbies....my own & my kids'). I do believe I've got perhaps 3 or 4 BJDs that are over 10 years old. I am sure these dolls will stand up better & longer than any vinyl doll will, but I'm thinking resin is not as durable as porcelain. If anyone knows, please share!
My old BJDs are a 5-Star Alex, AngelRegion Dana & my Elfdoll Aden (9 years old). They are fabulous, not particularly yellow (creamy) & still have their original face-ups (a bit faded). I got all three in the MP here, cause I didn't start getting dolls until 2011.

 

Like Cynthia, I've got a pretty wide-ranging collection that includes everything from Very Old Dolls to much more recent ones... Since I collect the old CP Delfs and "classic" Volks sculpts in particular, though, a lot of my gang are on the older side. Some of them have been mine from the start, others have had previous owners before me. (If you're curious to see the gang, most of them have Profile pages now-)

Just to get the funniest question out of the way first... No. No one here has ever turned neon green.

I do have two white resin CP/Delfs from their infamous "Beauty Green" period, though. (That would be from about mid-2005 to early-2006) They're not neon, but they did pick up a definite greenish cast after a few years rather than the more typical vanilla ice cream/ivory type of yellow... this is what they look like. Those two are both from late 2005.

The only brittleness I've ever observed in any of these dolls had more to do with an engineering problem and how it interacted with a particular resin formula than age. When CP made the original tanned Delfs, that resin was apparently a little more prone to breakage than their beauty white or normal varieties. A fair few people who had them ended up with dolls with snapped fingers or chipped wrists and ankles from normal handling... But the scariest thing that happened to them were the occasional cracked necks.

Those dolls were the first Delfs to use the neck-connector "key" pieces (Something Fairyland still uses-), and those place the metal s-hooks inside the doll's neck rather than in the head. The stress on that relatively thin area of resin, plus the movement of the metal hook, plus the apparently more fragile nature of their old tanned resin formula resulted in a few disasters. Many of us with those old tanned Delfs ended up restringing them with the classic doughnut-pieces-plus-s-hook-in-the-head arrangement out of sheer paranoia after seeing a few of those pop up.

That tan resin formula was also one of the ones that could definitely "go green" if exposed to a lot of light, too. There were several tan types like that in the old days, before UV protection was added and more stable red pigments were used. (Greening is the result of red pigmentation breaking down from exposure to light, heat or even just the air, so the more stable your red the less greening you'll end up with. That same effect is also why normal and pink types mellow. The red pigments that make them peachy or pinkish can eventually break down and fade.) Many of us were, and still are, fairly paranoid about letting our older tans get too much light exposure, and that's kept many of those doll in surprisingly good shape. My own tanned Delfs never went green. Neither has my Lati Adel. I'm a little less paranoid about my more "modern" tans, like my Light Brown Tedros from Iple, my Bronze and Tawny Sooms or my Sunlight and Ebony Volks guys, but still tend to keep them out of the sun. It's habit with tanned dolls at this point.

Among the normal skins, I've had excellent luck with Volks. My little Oldskin F-14 head and pre-UV Pureskins all look great for their ages. They're a little yellower than a brand new Volks doll would be, but none of them are in bananarama territory. The old NS Delfs have aged pretty gracefully, too.

My worst Normal as far as aging goes? That would be the Real Skin resin formula Luts used for the very first Senior Delfs. I have a Bliss from the first release who wasn't particularly well cared-for by his first owner... He was probably left in the sun at some point... and he was already faded to the point of looking more like a yellowed White than a Normal Skin when I adopted him as a "project doll" a few years after he was made. My more recent Luts dolls have held up far better.

As for which resins I prefer? I love the formula CP used on the oldest Delfs (circa 2004-) and I'm a Volks true believer when it comes to their current UV Pureskin and Sunlight... So, I like both old resin and modern, I guess. XD

 

Let's go with Shiwoo, my NS Minifee Shiwoo!
Here's a comparison pic I did shortly after his 10th birthday last November, showing how he looked shortly after he arrived compared with 10 years later: Instagram post by Sara (Wolfie) • Dec 17, 2016 at 4:25pm UTC

Were you the first owner of this doll?
-Yes!

When did you purchase it?
-2006, from eLuts.com (back when they sold Minifees)

Do you believe in the fabled "radioactive green" that all resin supposedly turns into?
-That's really only old white skin dolls. Certain batches of beauty white Delfs turned this color. The vast majority just yellow. I have a white skin mnf vampire shiwoo from 2007 who has yellowed to be, well, yellow.

How yellowed is the resin? How brittle?
-Evenly yellowed. No more brittle than when I got him. He's had leg breaks on stress points, but that can happen to older single-jointed doll knees.

If you have a newer doll, do you prefer the resin quality of the older or newer doll?
-I don't notice any difference. *shrug*

Do you take any extra steps in the care of this doll?
-Nope! In fact, he's my most played-with doll and also my travel companion. I've brought him with me on vacation to other countries multiple times.

 

My guess would be faceup removals and/or "de-yellowing" treatments. I've seen a lot of questionable techniques used by people, that I'd personally never use due to the clear risk to the resin. Even if it magically restored it to the perfect original color (and none of them do), I don't see it being worth the damage.

As for the OP's questions, I have one boy who might be over 10 years old... he came to me secondhand, from the Marketplace here. And his listing there was written very, very poorly. (I took the chance only because he was the only listing for the sculpt I wanted that stayed on the MP for more than a couple of hours, likely because of his condition and the poorly written listing.) When I bought him in 2014, he was listed both as "like 4 years old" and "made in 2005." So, like I said, he might be over 10.

Based on his condition when he arrived, as well as his sculpt, I'd guess he probably is closer to 2005 than 2011. He's an old CP Delf Dreaming Shiwoo, with his eyes modded open before I got him. While the previous owner (who I do not believe was the original owner) described him as having "slight even yellowing," he was badly unevenly yellowed when I got him. Not green. There might be a hint of a green cast in the hand that got the worst of the yellowing (and couldn't be salvaged), which could be any combination of severe/extreme yellowing, an older resin recipe before they were more stabilized as they are now, and it being dirty and stained from something else (he was quite dirty and stained in some areas when I received him, in addition to the yellowing.)

But having taken him apart, scrubbed him down, sanded him, and restored him to his original, even coloring? I don't know where you got this idea of resin getting brittle, because he's just as solid as my newer dolls. Even the severely yellowed hand is still as solid as ever.

 

I have a few dolls that are 10+ My oldest doll was also my first and is my old CP Delf Soony from 2006.

Were you the first owner of this doll?
Yup! Ordered her directly from Luts.

When did you purchase it?
Early 2006

Do you believe in the fabled "radioactive green" that all resin supposedly turns into?
All comments prior to mine have answered this already but not all resin turns green. Some however does. I remember seeing a thread about a tan Dolkot Kiss that not only greened but did so VERY unevenly and in not a lot of time. Poor thing was a mess and I believe it was all after one outdoor doll meet.

How yellowed is the resin? How brittle?
My Soony is definitely yellowed. It bothers me a little because I know it is partially my fault. I didn't keep her out of the sun like I should have, especially while living in Florida. But her yellowing is very even and I wouldn't call it banana yellow, but she is definitely more yellow than my other dolls. Not brittle at all though. She took a really good tumble once when her knees buckled while standing but nothing broke. She did get a couple small dings in her resin though.

If you have a newer doll, do you prefer the resin quality of the older or newer doll?
I don't know that I prefer the newer dolls over her but they definitely feel different. Her resin is so very smooth compared to my newer dolls. She definitely feels different. She feels sturdier to me and much heftier. Some of my newer Fairyland dolls actually seem like they would be in more danger of breaking than she would.

Do you take any extra steps in the care of this doll?
Nothing extra because of her age. She gets washed and strung the same way any of my dolls would no matter their age. She's definitely my favorite of my dolls though so for that reason I think I pay more attention to her. She might get washed a bit more frequently because she gets handled more frequently.

 

I have two older dolls, my first boy, a DoD Luke V2 is from 2009 (Not quite ten yet, but close!) and I am his only owner, and he seems to be doing great! I know he was a little paler when I first got him, but he only really seems to have a very slight yellow to him. Nothing drastic. His resin seems as strong as ever, and I never have any worries about my boy c:

My other older doll is my Elfdoll Aurora Elf Sooah from I think '07? I'm her second owner, and I know her first owner kept her in the box a lot, so her resin looks pretty good. I know for sure she has yellowed, but it is a beautiful cream color on her, and I don't feel like her resin is brittle either.

As far as care goes, I just keep them and all of my dolls out of direct sun when they're lounging around, and try to limit their time in intense sun when they go out for photo shoots. I did just update my Luke's face with a new coat of MSC UV cut, but that was because his lip painting had taken a slight ding, and I wanted to protect it. Other than that I just clean their bodies every now and then, and they look great!

As far as new versus old goes, I don't really have a preference when it comes to resin. It all looks beautiful to me, and I love having different colors and such to the resin of my dolls.

 

SD13B Isao Nanjou ver 1 2004 full set with box and accessories in company sealed faceup and original hot glued eyes = I am the 3rd Owner. I've had him for 9 years. Little or no yellowing. Some yellowing on his right hand. Resin is in pristine condition. I wear gloves when handling him. He is loosely strung and polished periodically. He is retired and spend most of his time in his box for preservation. The resin quality is almost the same as newer Volks dolls. I prefer the older resin quality (feels softer/smoother) and especially old Volks glass eyes. Isao's eyes talk.

SD16B Yukinojou Sawaragi ver 1 2005 full set with box and accessories in company sealed faceup and original hot glued eyes = I am the 3rd owner, I've had him for 7 years. His resin was yellowed by the time I got him. He is still on display in my study room but I try not to take him outside anymore because of his age. He's had an active life, he traveled with me to many places, met many people. In my care, he toppled (fell down) and almost dented his nose. His head and body was inspected by the Volks Doll Doctor in 2015 during IDEX doll convention in Florida. His sculpt is very beautiful. I am thinking of giving him a new faceup but I'm in no hurry. I want to see just how long the original company sealed faceup can last on the face.

Olivia Morgan ver 1 2006 Head only. In company sealed faceup. Pristine resin condition, no yellowing. I am the 3rd owner of the head, I've had the head for 2+ years. No special care, her head was like new when she arrived except for the head plate. She's a hybrid doll, my only girl. She pairs off with Yukinojou. The 2 sculpts are similar. They compliment each other very well.

We have no intentions to sell old dolls. Instead, we consider selling the newer acquisitions. Our family collects vintage dolls.

 

I have a CP Delf Lishe that I purchased back in undergrad!

Were you the first owner of this doll?
Nope - I purchased her secondhand off the forum from who I believe was her first owner.

When did you purchase it?
2007-2008.

Do you believe in the fabled "radioactive green" that all resin supposedly turns into?
I'm sure some resin is more likely to turn green than others, but I haven't seen it firsthand - and I've seen some pretty old dolls!

How yellowed is the resin? How brittle?
The resin is more yellow than I'd like, which I realized when I finally got up the nerve to sand her seams a couple years ago...she's definitely got racing stripes going on now -_-; But she's not banana yellow or anything like that, more almost tan. I don't think her resin has grown more brittle.

If you have a newer doll, do you prefer the resin quality of the older or newer doll?
I have newer dolls whose resin I prefer, but I would say that relates to overall quality rather than age.

Do you take any extra steps in the care of this doll?
She's currently unstrung and awaiting a proper scrubbing so I can get around to selling her. Aside from that, no!

 

I am beginning to think the whole "Yellowing" thing is a myth. The oldest doll I own was made in 2005, an Elfdoll
Sooah I bought second hand in 2010. She still looks gorgeous, her skin is a nice pale normal skin tone. If I didn't know anything about BJD and someone handed her to me, I would assume she was brand new straight out of the box. She may have been an imperceptibly lighter shade when she was new, I have no way of knowing. I store my dolls in their original boxes, in a dark closet. Most of my dolls were bought new, direct from the factory over the last decade. Not one of them has any visible yellowing at all. The texture of the resin has not changed. They are not brittle. Certainly none of them has gone radioactive green. I prefer tan dolls, I have an older light brown Iplehouse Kamau, and a RS Lahela, also by Iplehouse. There has been no perceptible change to their skin color. They still look perfect. I don't get what everyone is so worried about

 

I think its exposure to light and even artificial light if the light is too close to the doll.
Maybe this is why your dolls are looking good. I also keep mind out of the light. Mine are in a large walk in closet on shelves.

 

Were you the first owner of this doll?
For three, yes. The other three .. four (uncertain of the age of one of them, but I think she could easily be ten by now) I got secondhand.

When did you purchase it?
The first one was in 2006. The others were acquired in 2007, 2008, 2013, and 2016.

Do you believe in the fabled "radioactive green" that all resin supposedly turns into?
Since this is the first I am hearing of it, no. I do have one doll that turned a little green (bad batch of white Luts resin). I am more afraid of them all turning into bananas one day.

How yellowed is the resin? How brittle?
None of the resin feels brittle. Some have yellowed more than others, especially my secondhand dolls. I do have a paper white doll that is less yellow that newer Soom resin, so a lot depends on the company and how the doll was taken care of.


If you have a newer doll, do you prefer the resin quality of the older or newer doll?
In most cases, I prefer older resin. It feels denser, more solid.

Do you take any extra steps in the care of this doll?
No. I treat all my dolls like my older dolls. Keep them out of sunlight (unless going out for meets or photos) and take care not to drop them or mess up their faceups. When I am not in my hobby room enjoying them they stay on the buffet under a large piece of black out curtain lining material. No dust, no light.

 

Were you the first owner of this doll?
I have a WS Dollzone Wing, first edition with the elf ears and he originally had a tattoo on his forehead. His very funny (and terribly translated) card puts his creation date in 2006. I was his second, and will be his forever owner.
I also own a CP Shiwoo in NS. I won't mention much of him because I feel like he's slightly younger than the 10 year mark. But he's an oldie and one of my lovelies.

When did you purchase it?
DZ Wing (Elgin) was purchased in 2007 by me.

Do you believe in the fabled "radioactive green" that all resin supposedly turns into?
Not sure about Radioactive green, but he's about the color of butter now.

How yellowed is the resin? How brittle?
Butter color. I actually like his yellowed resin better than his original white. It gives him more depth and he looks more real.

If you have a newer doll, do you prefer the resin quality of the older or newer doll?
I have had several newer dolls since buying him. The quality of resin differs from company to company. I personally Love how sturdy he feels, and would love to get my hands on another Dollzone to see if there is much of a difference in new verses old resin.

Do you take any extra steps in the care of this doll?
I would love to lie and say that I do. But because he's a life-long partner to me, I really don't. I couldn't imagine sanding his resin back to white and risking making him brittle. Or soaking him in cleaner. He gets cleaned with magic eraser, he gets faceups like the new dolls, I'll eventually restring him again when I get over the mental trama from the first time I did it.

 

Were you the first owner of this doll?
Yeppers.

When did you purchase it?
2006 and 2007

Do you believe in the fabled "radioactive green" that all resin supposedly turns into?
Never even heard of this "fable".

How yellowed is the resin? How brittle?
My Soom cream white Gena is now a normal skin yellow hue. My Dream of Doll DoCs are just...normal. I haven't compared them to any other dolls lately, but they started out piggy pink, so they haven't yellowed so much as mellowed. No one is brittle, resin feels same as when new.

If you have a newer doll, do you prefer the resin quality of the older or newer doll?
Mmmm...I do think my Volks dolls have higher quality resin, but that doesn't make me prefer them over the old crew.

Do you take any extra steps in the care of this doll?
The DoCs, no. I did move my Soom into a doll box out of the chest of drawers (her home since arrival) that's about it. All dolls, regardless of age, live in the closet until I want to take them out.

 

Were you the first owner of this doll?
I have several dolls older than 10 years, I am the first owner of merely one of them.

When did you purchase it?
2006?

Do you believe in the fabled "radioactive green" that all resin supposedly turns into?
*sigh* God, where does this even come from?! I own one of the CP "beauty Green" El's, he is mint green, it's not radioactive, he doesn't bloody GLOW!

How yellowed is the resin? How brittle?
I've actually been running an ongoing yellowing experiment for the last decade or so, using samples cut from the many dolls I've modded over the years, the results are here:
Zaoll Test
Luts Real Skin Test
Dollmore Test
CPDelf Test
CPMNF Test
B&G Test

Yellowing to banana shades is real and does occur. Some resins will go quicker than others. Some resin mixes will go other shades depending on their original colour and the break down of the red dye. Degradation does occur, it's brutal, but it takes a very long time and a great deal of poor resin management to get to it. The majority of dolls will never see this sort of treatment, so I imagine they'll probably outlive their owners by some margin. It's also not about how brittle the resin becomes, but more how it actually begins to break down.

If you have a newer doll, do you prefer the resin quality of the older or newer doll?
No, I much prefer the older mixes and indeed, the experiments have shown me that the older mixes tend to age better. French resin aside, because it's a pointless outlier in any experiment regarding resin.

Do you take any extra steps in the care of this doll?
Nope, all my old dolls are regularly played with and are treated no differently to the newer ones.