Rough Play

I play pretty rough with my dolls o_____O I'm very careful when the first time I got them though. But now, I learned that they're tough and can handle a little rough play X3 Just a while ago, I dropped my MNF Breakaway head on the ground three times! And he at least bounced twice before stopping. I didnt do it on purpose of course... he just likes to slip out of my hands >.> But anyways, he has no dents/scratch, nothing! Guess Fairyland's resin are pretty durable XD

 

I am careful with my dolls, but I don't treat them with silk gloves either. I think I am more paranoid about bumping them or them falling while being posed than some people. However I will take them to restaurants, stores, and even conventions and carry them around all day. I rarely pack my dolls in a case for traveling unless I am taking too many to carry in arms. Usually they sit in my lap or in one of the kid's car seats in the back. I do figure I can always wash clothes and I do the majority of the face ups myself so I'm not that concerned. My biggest fear is some how breaking them. I tend to be a "worst case scenario" kind of girl. But I don't let it stop me from enjoying them. I carry at least one doll with me at every convention I go to. I often put Noble up on my shoulders to carry him and I sling Aric over my arm cause he fits there so nicely. This is how I enjoy my dolls and so far in two years minus some dirt and normal yellowing they are all still in great shape. Nothing I couldn't handle by cleaning with a magic eraser or alcohol or doing a new face up.

 

I try my best to make sure i'm not just throwing them around but i dont treat them like glass at all. I play with them all the time and just yesterday I had one of them fall off the chair i was sitting in thankfully he was fine but i was feeling a little freaked out there. Im really wanting to take some pictures out at a lake tomorrow but im not sure how safe i feel bringing them out by the water or on the dock, i dont want them getting broken.

 

i'm really not gentle with my stuff.
i carry Aiden everywhere, in a bag (anything to hide him xD). i put my camera and everything else in the same bag.
sometimes, i dont take a bag at all and carry him in my arms. i touch his face all the time...
he fell a few times because i didnt place him in a secure place...

well, it only happened once! since then i always make sure he's stable enough and far from the border of the table, etc.
if i sleep with my dolls, i wrap them like mummys in a blanket and place them against the wall so i wont sleep on them xD and my room is very dark so they arent always exposed to sun

i'm such a bad owner xDDD

 

I think that there is a certain way I have to handle each doll, and once I have that down, it's much easier to handle them. Like, as long as I don't trust this one in this position for too long, or as long as this one's arm isn't twisted this way, then I can do all sorts of "iffy" things with them without harming anything. The only damage that's ever been done to any of my dolls came from shipping.

Especially my pipos dolls are limited, and my tan goldie, but these are the dolls I actually take out/shove in purses/generally "play with" the most. I don't think having to wash them every once in a while is a big deal, and I'm ok with just documenting their face ups and having them retouched later in life if needed.

 

My first doll gets super man-handled because he's already got a crap faceup and a nick on his face. He can't get much worse. (Of course, I think he's beautiful and amazing, but anyone here looking at him would be shocked and appalled, probably...)
My other dolls don't get handled as roughly, because they're only a few months old, and I don't want them to end up quite as badly as him.

 

I am overly careful with others' dolls, but am not so much with my own. I know their limits, and have only, just TODAY, after five years of owning dolls, had a mishap. This was from a faceplant of an SD straight to hardwood floor. And all in all, it was only an eyebrow chip. Saddened, but it will get fixed, and won't require a fortune to get it done.

I had a friend once place my old DoC up on top of one of those huge mall gumball machines to take a picture, about five feet off a tile floor. He dove straight for the ground, headcap popped off, and I was too scared to even look, afraid his head would be in pieces, fingers missing, etc. However, he had not a scratch on him. And from then on, I learned that, while things happen, it isn't always necessary to treat them like raw eggs.

Now, I can understand if you have a limited edition, custom painted doll with an $80 wig, $200 outfit, $300 worth of jewelry, and $120 shoes. Then you SHOULD treat them carefully, with washed hands and triple-padded carriers.
However, I've never been so attracted to such dolls to have their 'characters' be the type that were all decked out in the finest. I have always had mostly "jeans and tshirt" kind of dolls, and they always look cute, but don't look like they're worth $5,000. And they're not. And it's fine with me.

There was a time when I had a doll with me a lot of the time. But I've outgrown that little fad, and the only time a doll leaves the house with me is if I'm going to a meet or need to bring a doll to size something. And they're in a carrier or bag.

I think it all depends on the above mentioned criteria. How they're dressed, what the doll is worth, how rare they are, etc.

And honestly, from my opinion, I feel like the older dolls hold up to 'abuse' a bit more than the newer ones.
Then again, you never know. A five foot fall caused nothing, while a three foot fall caused a chip.

 

I treat them carefully. LE or no, I don't want my boys getting damaged...my jeans&T-shirt boy is just as important to me as my expensive LE's in costly outfits with fancy shoes, hair, face-up ect. They have their own safe place to sit, with a black satin sheet to cover them from the sun.

That said I'm not afraid to, you know, do stuff with them. They occasionally come with me to shops, if we're driving past [hot cars worry me more than 20mins in a store!]. I'm not afraid to pose and change their clothes and touch their hair & I know most smudges can be cleaned from them quite easily. They sit with me when I'm in the mood for them to and I have occasionally grabbed one for a rather uncomfortable hug when upset. I just don't want them to suffer any damages.

 

I've heard some people talk about their dolls in a way that makes me sad.

"I love my doll though I keep her\him in a box when I'm not playing. He's been in there for a little while, because I've been busy."
"I freak out whenever someone touches them! I can't stand for anyone to touch their face or hair or clothes! I keep them in the closet\cabinet\box as much as possible. I spent too much on them. I only take them out for photoshoots."
"They're just sooo pretty. I like to hold them, but I couldn't ever think of taking them out. I panic if they even move so much as an inch too much this way or that!"

It makes me think either I'm a monster or they're just too careful!

I take my children out in a tote bag. I have a collection. I've learned the black Wal-Mart ones leave fuzzes so not to use them. We like the big blue one for the SDs, and this big white NY one we got from Bradley's old owner. It fits the large guys like Fidelis.

I kiss them on their faces. (OMG, I know, right?!) ALL OVER. I blow on their bellies. For some reason. Serenius likes this. Yes, I'm one of those doll people who sees the soul of the doll. Of course, I'm also a psychic and a sensitive, so I also have angels. He's one of them. He gets tickles, too.

I hang them upside down when they've been bad. (Serenius likes this, too much.) I pick them up by their necks when they're naughty and need a good shake. (Dear God, I am a monster. But I make sure I have a good hold and the torso is a good grip, and they were BAD because sometimes they pinch and hit.)

I brush hair. I kiss it. I kiss boo-boos when they accidently fall on each other in photoshoots and I don't have the ninja reflex to catch them (which isn't often). Or when they "accidently" fall on each other in photoshoots where they just "happen" to be "fighting". Yeah.

I cuddle them in bed. I give them baths when they're stinky. I wash hands that are dirty for strange reasons when I know they weren't when I left them. Faces, too. Joshua's bad about that, and he drags other Yos into messes as well.

So compared to others, my assorted crew of "living" children are banged around and messy. They might as well be toddlers in a food bowl. XD

 

I'm only slightly careful with my Beryl, mostly because she's already damaged her nose... twice. Freaking jerk doll. XD Other than that? Psh, they're toys, and I play with them. I have a single one of thier boxes, and that's in a closet. They all sit on couches on bookshelves with a blanket over them, but one of them goes to work with me every day. My two biggest, when I take them out, get oragami-ed into a duffle bag, the three tinies get shoved unceremoniously into Fairyland pillow bags, and shoved in a bag, and my newest one gets carted around by hand, because I haven't found a bag for her yet. I just don't care. Rat goes with me when I know I'm going to be sleeping at another person's house, and sleeps with me, I cuddle, I hug, I hold, they get dragged around by the neck, restringing becomes a two arm, two leg job, that sort of thing. I am careful while posing them, but I think everybody is.

I mean, I love playing with these guys, and I'm never giving them up, they're just as part of my family as my three cats are. so, while they grow and yellow, I grow and sag. :P

 

LOL. I forgot to mention that I'm currently having liver issues. They're yellowing and so am I! XD

BTW, I love your signature. That part about Saturn? Hilarious. XD

 

Well, none of my dolls are 'complete' enough yet for me to really play with them. However I have noticed the doll closest to me (my first) actually get's less play than my other two (who are currently faceless, wigless and sometimes eyeless) just because she has a factory face-up and I am paranoid about losing that since I can't redo it.

My other two .. they sit out, lounge around, one pretty much has her face-up redone every few days as I try to get the 'perfect' one.. I also drag her along with me where ever I go. I snuggle them and enjoy having them sit out on a shelf (in indirect light). I don't feel I'm rough with them, but I have no qualms about wiping and re-facing a doll every few days, nor letting them lounge around on a shelf.

 

I adore owners who can do this. Reminds me of the Cherishdoll Chubby that was modded into a demon! He was so cute! All I have done is open eyes and added gears! But wow! Adding joints is such a dream! :3

I feel like I'm rampaging the thread. XD

 

I'm careful with others dolls because they don't belong to me and I respect that they very likely wouldn't like having something damaged. That being said, my own dolls are not handled with kid gloves.

I had the pleasure of meeting people very early on in my experience in this hobby, and one of the first things I learned was that they are not as fragile as I would have thought them to be. I've heard about dolls doing faceplants and doing more damage to the floor than to their faces. Don't get me wrong, I do take precautions such as covering them up during the day - if only because my cat likes the window and will sometimes open the curtain in an otherwise dark room, and wrapping them up before putting them into the dollie bag (which is really a cushioned overnight bag that I could probably use for a pillow), and not leaving them standing or in precarious areas when I'm not going to be there for a while.

I'm not afraid to play with them or take them outside though - I just be careful not to let them have a full out sun bathing experience. I've even taken them to work on a nearly daily basis. I do most of my own faceups and blushing now so the wear of the blushing on Icarus' fantasy parts is nothing more than a minor aggravation that a nicely done job needs to be repaired or redone yet again. I actually find that having to repair or redo old faceups or blushing has let me improve my skill. Clothes are replaceable, especially when you make your own, and also washable despite the weird looks you get from the people you live with for finding tiny bits of clothes in the laundry. I do own two limiteds and a modded regular release that I likely couldn't repeat the mods on, but I figure I bought these dolls to enjoy and have fun with. Not to take up room in my closet.

 

Oh... well... I used to be very careless about my expensive stuff. That being my ipod, laptop, dolls etc. My first doll took a lot of mishandling. Luckily he's sturdy enough, and the only visible after effect of my childish behavior is yellowed resin.

I've come around since moving out on my own and having to learn how to master an economy and budget. Mistreating expensive things isn't as fun anymore after that. Now I carefully dust off lint of clothes before tucking them away in plastic bags and put them away in a clothing suitcase, unlike before when I just let them float around.
So of course I've grown a lot more careful with my dolls. I've experienced the bad way how trying to change eyes with long nails can really mess up a face up if you're not careful ): So yeah, I used to do rough playing, but realized that in the long run, I really didn't want to treat something that together cost over 1000 dollars, with clothes, in a way that could damage and ruin them. They're just worth more than that. To me.

 

Obviously I'm not going to be slinging my doll around like the Raggedy Andy I had when I was five (I liked boy dolls better even back then, barbies were useless when it came to playing war.... except as the heads on pikes that usually surrounded my forts), but I see no reason they can't be just as well played with.

when I got stuck on the idea of owning one of these dolls I fully expected it to involve a lot of clothes changing and posing and other such full contact sports (to borrow a P.E. term) and if the paint gets a bit smudged, well then so what? it's a mark of how well it's loved. in my mind, a doll that looks perfect every single second is pointless. (not to disparage those of you who LIKE your doll looking perfect all the time, differant tastes and all that.)

on the other hand I wouldn't do something that was terribly high risk to the doll either, like letting my sister's soon-to-be-born son near it before the age of say... five. or placing it somewhere precarious just because i think it'd make a "cool" picture. etc.

 

I love my dolls. They are prized possessions of mine. Therefore, I don't treat them roughly or like lesser things that don't warrant care. I keep them boxed when I am not using them because yellowing does bother me. I do not like it, and I want my dolls to remain as pristine for as long as possible. I really don't mind this because I'd rather have short glimpses of my perfect pretty dolls than prolonged exposure to yellowed, not as perfect not as pretty dolls. Keeping them boxed also keeps them dust and dirt free for the most part, and safe from being accidentally knocked over. I've never had a doll break anything yet, and I plan on keeping it that way.

And really, not having them around me all of the time is fine with me. I know they're in their boxes. There's nothing sad about it.

 

when i grow up, i wanna be like you xDD

 

WOOHOO!! You GO!

I have also been known to do very delicate mods. With a hacksaw and a wood rasp. No faster way to reduce the length and girth of a 70 cm neck where required.

The fact that I have my dolls out all the time is MY way of showing what treasured items they are to me. I love looking at them and pondering what I'm going to do next, and plotting what might make x, y, or z look more stunning. I don't physically drag them down from their shelves often, but that has more to do with logistics than anything else. They get played with. In my reality, that's what they are for.

I also have complete respect for those whose opinions differ. It's entirely up to the individual owner how to treat their dolls, and no decision necessarily implies lack of respect for or care of the items.