Rough Play

how lomg do you usually take them outside for? like 2-3 hrs? yea theyre gonna yellow.. but I would like have lesser of it as much as possible ... ^_^.. and if its not that bad of a effect I think Ill be okay with it.. its just that I saw some pictures of bjd's that are really yellowed so Im kinda paranoid now

 

I don't even KEEP my dolls' boxes for the most part so yeah, they're out and interacting. The cats check them out. The spiders check them out (unfortunate consequence of having a below-grade space for playing...) They aren't FLUNG, nobody chews on them or anything, but they are MY GROWNUP TOYS by golly and I play with them They're not *porcelain statuettes* after all.

 

Cymorrill oh okay ^^ so a slight yellowing is good too ^^
thanks~

 

I handle my dolls pretty similarly to the way you do in that they go places, I pick them up a lot, and I don't mind other people handling them provided they ask first and I'm there to supervise (I don't worry at all about the doll people in the meetup groups around here). I got my dolls to enjoy, and part of that is being able to be hands on. I have other collectible items that are just shelf pieces, so it's nice to be able to do more with my dolls.

I do avoid touching faceups, but that has never interfered with anything, as I don't need to touch their faces to play with them. Basically don't display them in a sunny spot, don't leave them standing unattended without a stand, and try not to drop them and they'll be fine -- they really are not terribly fragile and can hold up fine for adult play

If you're just taking your doll out for a meetup or photoshoot I wouldn't be worried. What you want to avoid is prolonged exposure. How much they yellow and how noticeable it is depends on the doll's resin, and the skin tone they started out with. Color change in most NS dolls isn't really all that noticeable -- you can see it more with BW. Also some tan dolls can have a reaction to sunlight due to issues with the red pigment, but again it depends on the doll. French resin also yellows faster, but I still think my French resin boy looks lovely Also, some resin starts out with a more yellow tone, some is more pinky etc.

Realistically all resin changes color somewhat over time, so I wouldn't be too paranoid about it.

 

XD I love this thread! Makes me feel alot better about the stuff I do with my doll(s)

Although Recently I normally keep my dolls in their boxes when I'm not playing with them. My sister keeps all her dolls on shelves and hanging out on couchs and what not. I used to do this when I had my Twing-key as I had a safe place for my doll couch and she'd hang out there or with me. But since at my new place there wasnt many safe spots for them (out of direct sunlight) So I keep Mizu in his box most of the time, or covered up when suns out when he is out.

But I dont take heads off to put clothing on (unless the shirt requires because of small neck hole) I cart him around... do most of my photoshoots in natural light... I've played with him at parks, posed him up in tree's or on monkey bars. Put fireworks in his hand! *gasp* lol But I was very careful all of those times, I always make sure he is very stable, and with dangerous things like fireworks (light...) I made sure to carefully watch it and the instant the fire began to get close to him and sparks started to get close to his pants I took it away =P; But it made for awesome pictures!

We did his faceup, and blushing so I dont worry about messing those up, or staining (as he gets stained from his recent cloths...) So long as I have a magic eraser handy ^-^. my Dolls are loved. I dont worry to much about him yellowing (greening >.>; ) As I dont keep him in sun to long, and I know he's staying with me for life

 

Well, I'm not the 'roughest' when it comes to playing with dolls...I'm seriously obsessive about the faceups not made by me (I'm touching my own faceups much more freely) and my dolls have their proper carry bag. I don't really take them outside unless I'm doing a photoshoot...and they stay in their 'room' where the sun can't reach them...

But I do put my feet in their lap when I put my feet on my desk and I'm really unconcerned about staining clothing...it can always be washed off. Or if not? I can sand it off! I stomp on them when I'm restringing and I also wield my trusty rubber eraser quite freely - I'm not above using it even on their faces when an elusive little stain/mark/whatever appears on it.

And I have this dream of one day doing that photoshoot in the river...

You could say that I'm on the more careful side, but I have my moments^^

 

In my opinion, my BJDs are no different to any other dolls I've collected- I don't throw them or anything, and I never take them out with me (simply because that would be rather weird.) but I don't treat them as if they're fragile. It honestly never occurred to me that I should when I first started collecting- I understand that they're expensive, but I was also the kid that played with her porcelain dolls. To me, part of my monetary investment is getting to play with 'em any way I darn well please. They get tossed on the bed, wigs fall off all the time, they stand and topple over onto my carpeted floor constantly, they get shuffled around on their little bench, picked up by the arm or by the neck when I'm in a hurry, jammed in my lap so that I can get wigs/clothes/accessories on, and in all that I've only had one single broken finger, and one broken ear (not on the same doll either.). I touch their face-ups, kiss and snuggle them, and sometimes they do hit something hard (which always makes me a little nervous) but as I'm the one that paints their faces and does their body blushing, nothing really bad ever happens that I can't fix. I just feel like I don't do enough with them as it is to justify all I've spent on them, so I'm actually planning more interactive 'play' with them in future. They're not nearly as breakable as my porcelain dolls were, so I'm pretty pleased with that!

 

When I got my very first doll, even tiny little stains freaked me out. I had learned from the BJD community that you must take very good care of your doll for it to stay intact. However, I soon found out that they don't break that easily ;3

I don't coat any of my dolls with layers of MSC, I like them better without it. Sometimes I like to blush their bodies but I hate it when the MSC gets dirty and yellow so I prefer to keep my dolls all natural (exept for faceups and manicures). I also find dolls easier to keep clean without MSC, when they're sealed it's hard to clean a spot without erasing the MSC. So far all the stains on my MSC free dolls have come off with a magic eraser and they're cleaner than the ones who are blushed.

I know that MSC also protects resin from yellowing, but I don't worry about that so much. I prefer pinky resin so most of my dolls don't really yellow anyway, the just turn a darker shade of pink. I do try to protect the ones that turn a lemony yellow colour, though, but I still photograph them in the sun and sometimes leave them sitting on a shelf. My Zaoll Luv is rarely kept in a box, but he's pink so he has that privilege ;D

I'm not afraid of small scratches either. I love doing realistic photoshoots and sometimes my dolls stand barefoot on the ground and get wet in the rain. Some of them have gotten scratches on their feet and their clothes and wigs have gotten messy, but those things are easy to fix. The one thing I'm careful about when doing photoshoots outdoors is leaving dolls standing on their own. I always pose them so that if they fall, they fall on their backs. They have never faceplanted but my Zaoll once fell on his back. His faceplate went flying and a tiny piece cracked off. I fixed it with superglue and you can't see it under the wig, if at all ^^

The things I'm careful about are faceups and body parts that might break. Stains always come off, clothes can be washed, scratches can be sanded, but faceups are expensive. I send all my dolls to get painted by talented customizers, so I hate it when the faceups get ruined. I also hate broken fingers and would be devastated if a doll broke it's nose, foot or some other vital part of their body.

Another thing that ticks me off is when somebody messes with their hair right after I've spent 15 minutes styling and cutting it.

So as long as you keep your hands off their hair and face and their noses and body parts don't fall off, I'm okay :3 I take good care of my dolls even thought I don't wash my hands everytime I touch them. I'm careful, not paranoid.

 

Due to space limitations and an idiot cat, when I'm not playing with my dolls, they're in their boxes as that's the safest and most space effective place for them to be. But when I do take them out....

I make sure I don't have any gunk on my hands but I don't wash them and put gloves on before handling them. I try not to touch their face because I don't do my own face ups and want to preserve them as long as possible. Their wigs and clothes stay on them even when in their boxes and sometimes even their boots. Generally they get carried around in a doll carrier/rolling suitcase, but the distances I'm walking/travelling when I go outside with them would make it awkward if I didn't (and trying to juggle 6 dolls with only 2 arms is not fun). I've picked them up by an arm/leg and folded them double to fit into a bag. I let others handle them (usually with supervision for non-doll people) without freaking out. I take them out in the sun for photoshoots. I've wedged them in trees above my head and sat them on rocks in fast flowing streams for pics. I've even had them in a knapsack on my chest while riding a scooter.

I bought them to enjoy them and I can't see handling them as if they were made out of spun sugar. Where's the fun in that?

 

You take really good care of your dolls. If you are worried about face ups you should get the Cool Cat face guards for when you transport them. They are very sturdy and work great!

 

If there was a reliable way to have a permanent face-up done, I'd do it. Especially with Moswen and Jaiseki who both have extensive body painting. Eventually I'll need to get them re-done because I do handle them a lot and they do have some chipping in the body painting regardless of how careful I've been of that (Moswen more than Jaiseki), but I knew that would happen *sigh*.

Actually, I use the clear dome tops off of Slurpies with yarn punched through opposite sides to tie them in place. The large domes are good for SD' s and the smaller ones work great for MSD's. With less than five minutes time, you have basically free face-up protectors. My tiny, he's usually in his own box or wrapped in the blanket I knitted for him when travelling.

I need to travel for roughly an hour by public transit to go to doll meets (thus the rolling suitcase, which has padded pillows I made inside to help protect from random bumps and thumps from other passengers) and even when I bring my dolls to work, it's still a 15 minute walk (I don't drive), so shlepping them around in a carrier is easier on my arms, not to mention safer as I have muscle issues with one arm and don't want it suddenly going numb on me while holding an armful of dolls.

 

I'm really rough on my dolls. They do spend about 80% of their time chilling on my shelf due to my scheduling, but when I do have time, they get some pretty full play. I do my own face-ups and blushing, but I still try to avoid touching their faces at the very least, but my girl's lashes love to get tangled in her hair on a regular basis, so I do have to undo that. They don't wear heavy-pendant necklaces after I realized how much swing those get, so they just get the cheaper, lighter weight ones now, or usually just a chain. They get redressed pretty often, or at the very least, I check to be sure of how much the clothes are rubbing. But they end up in trees, standing/sitting in the dirt, among the flowers, etc ALL the time. They pick up a lot of dirt and require some regular gentle cleaning. Oh, and they face-plant on a regular basis, but only because I like shooting them out in the flower bed, which is so soft they can't easily stand and it does them no harm to go face-first into it.

My main issue I've had has been that my Soom boy cannot seem to get a decent stringing. The tightness that allows him to (mostly with flop-difficulty) stand also has rubbed off the little nubs in his hip joints meant to help it stay stable. His resin is just so heavy it's hard for him to stand up proper. So, he's got a ton of hot glue in his legs to protect all that. He also wears double-thick tight underwear since he's tried to remove his bits (as was evident on his painting on more than one occasion).

Other than that....there's my usual almost-carelessness. My girl is easy to grab by her waist, but my boy I usually have to extract from a meetup doll-setup or a pose by first grabbing his shoulders/neck area, then moving to his waist. He also swings his heavy old feet and kicks me on a regular basis though. Both of mine are NS, and my minifee girl goes out the most with me, is noticeably yellow if you compare to a new NS or to the extra head that she came with that I never use, but she's really even and seems to have stopped yellowing after a few months of having her. I like it quite a bit better.

 

I don't baby my doll as much as some other seem to. I also buy my dolls to enjoy them so handling them is a big part of it for me. I tend to try and make sure my hands dont have anything on them but I also dont run to wash them every single time and I WONT wear gloves. If I was 'collecting' maybe but that's not my sort of thing. My dolls sit out on my table or bookshelf when I'm home usually, but if Im going to leave my drapes open for long periods or if i go out - they go into their box to stay safer and cleaner - not like theres anyone home to enjoy them when Im out anyway right? Clothes I'm not too careful with. Maybe if I ever get a super fancy limited outfit made of some exotic material... but for the day to day type stuff and anything that seems to be made of cotton or other such - it's washable. I try not to handle their faces too much but I probably paw it more than I should, moving hair, flicking off a random clothes fluff or fur-wig bits. ^^; I've found with time I get slightly less strict with my behaviour towards my dolls.

 

Now that I think of it...I'm not exactly the gentlest with my dolls....I've gotten the whole 'Massacre! you MONSTER! you're killing your doll!!' from my brother and friends who've witnessed my popping of their joints out of sockets for posing, cleaning, and restringing...heheheh. I refrain from touching them if my hands are dirty, but do wipe away dirt and such from their faces...which has caused some rubbing off of the face-up on Reika. I don't always remove her wig before storing her in her drawer, so Reika has REALLY notice-able staining on the top left 'temples' of her face-plate. >_<

 

Im getting a NS luts Regen so I think it'll be okay ... and I dont think its french resin... thank you very much for the info.. its very helpful ^^

 

oh okay.. so its still really depends on the company/mold and a bunch of other reasons... and ill be very careful not to leave them outside very long
thanks ^.^

 

I believe that toys are meant for playing. I un-box my "collectible" dolls, even when their boxes are made for easy display, & I love that BJD's are made to be posed & "interacted" with.

Like you mention, I believe that faceup & aesthetic work can be touched-up or re-done if it comes down to it, & my threshold for "being gentle" with my doll might be slightly different from other collectors'. I take extra care when I'm handling someone else's doll, & I'd like people to be reasonably careful when handling my doll (like, don't drop her, kplzthx!!!), but I'm not a "don't touch the faceup!!!" type.