Safe on-the-town display -- how do you show off your dolls while keeping them safe?

@laela omg that's kind of mean of that person. how'd they react when they saw it was a doll? did they at least apologize for being rude?

 

I regularly take my dolls to JoAnn's, Hancock's, Hobby Lobby and Michael's. People generally don't comment much. I'm a regular at all these places, but particularly at Hancock's, so the ladies always stop to admire whoever I have with me, who generally ends up posing on the cutting counter.

I did have a woman at Hancock's tell me one day, "Your girl is gorgeous!" Said girl was my vampire boy, but I really couldn't fault her since he was in his flowing mohair wig, is more than a bit bishy and was wearing a calf-length fur coat and knee boots at the time. People sometimes stop to ask me questions, but no one has ever given me grief.

I just carry them in the shopping cart in the store.

 

I only have an MSD, but I've taken her accessory shopping once. The people in the store had never seen anything like her, though, and I ended up spending a lot of time answering questions! It was kind of fun.

 

That's a great idea~ :3

I haven't taken my boys out in a while, but when I first got Xavier, my 70 cm Dikadoll Autumn, I was so excited to finally have a BJD that I took him with me all the time. I also took him with me on a trip to Germany. It seems that an adult carrying a big doll is a universal head-turner. :-D People might not comment all that much but they will stare. I'm also a bit surprised that whenever I get comments, they aren't all that negative, usually people are very interested and positively surprised about this hobby. I've also had a few thumbs-up comments like "You have a lot of guts carrying that doll around, you go girl!"
and
"That's almost like carrying a yorkshire terrier!" X''D
Once I got the whole staff of a cosmetics-shop on a cruise-ship on route from Finland to Sweden marveling at my doll and wanting to take pictures of him and me... ^__^;;

Finnish people don't usually talk to strangers all that eagerly, but I've had a few encounters with curious persons asking about my doll. At first I was more than happy to tell them about BJDs, but it can be pretty tiring to always answer the same questions. Maybe that's why I haven't taken my dolls with me to public places lately.

I've noticed that especially in Finland old ladies tend to come and talk to me when I'm taking pics of my dolls. Maybe the doll reminds them of their old toys or then they are just lonely and happy to talk to someone.

 

Thanks everyone for sharing experience. The replies are encouraging. I do not have my doll yet but I am already dreading appearing in public. I think everyone will be laughing and pointing fingers. Well, it has to do with my own peace of mind, I know that people have more interesting things to do.
I would lke to carry my doll to the office. I guess I will need a special bag. But the big worry is my boss discovers her and what he will think. Oh. Need to learn to be my own master.

 

I'm writing this and then I'll go back and read what everyone else says, so Iif I repeat, you know why!

I usually don't care what people think or say when I take one of my resinoyds out in public. I have had people ask if they were ventriloquist dolls before. I carry whomever I have with me as if they were sitting in the crook of my arm.

I usually go places and set them up and take pics. As long as no one that works where I might be at says anything (no one has in nearly five years), they usually don't care if I take pics. i'm pretty sure I've also enabled people as well.

I used to feel self-conscious about it, but what's important to me is that they make me happy.

Edit: I've gone to the bank, grocery store, Pat Catan's (like Hobby Lobby but better and cheaper!), Joanne Fabrics, even the mall and the beach, among other places. I've taken my resinoyds so many places so regularly that when I go without them, many employees ask "where are your dolls?"

Ryu

 

i have taken mine around my town, i get some looks. someone commented "where do you get the quite children?" but i usually just take my yo's around because i can fit them into my purse without a problem. they go to coffee with my doll freinds at times just because!!

 

I remember one meet-up I went to was at a train station. We got a lot of looks, and a lot of people came up to us asking whether our dolls were for sale! I've also taken a doll around with me at a convention and no one seemed to care. If going out in public is a huge concern, investing in a carry-bag would be a good (and safe) idea for you to get your doll to your destination. You may just have to develop thick skin when it comes to ignoring stares and negative reactions once the photographing starts.

 

And to prove a point, here 's a pic of Ryuichi at Sam Ash Music. I just put him down and began snapping pics. The salespeople were amused, especially when I explained that he's a vocalist in a band!



Ryu

 

I like taking the dolls outside.
Last summer we took them out a lot (to the parc, the city, family, shopping, the Japanese gardens, just for a walk, to the trainstation, on the bus, ...). Then we take pictures of them.
But now it's winter and they don't come outside that often. But only last week we went shopping with them and afterwards went for a drink. The cashier started asking about them. I like that. You get contact with people who normally wouldn't talk to you.
Up till now we haven't had any bad or strange reactions. People seem to be curious about them and find them cute.

My daughter even got hers to school several times. She goes to a fashion school and she made him some items she showed to her teachers and classmates. She even took him on a school trip to a fabrics fair so she had him with her when she saw a nice fabric (it was no problem for her teacher).

The only minus : they can be heavy to carry around for a long time. We tried putting them in a doll carrier once but we both agreed that it was no fun. We prefer to take them on our arm. And if they get too heavy, we will just rest for a bit.

 

It's funny how many bystanders think BJDs are babies, like, wha? The size/proportions are totally different...

 

Yeah..they dont even remotely look like babies XP

 

I know! I'm usually like: Ryuichi's 35 years old.

I've had them called babies, ventriloquist dolls, creepy, scary, and even Chucky. I'm waiting for the day someone calls one of mine a voodoo doll.

Ryu

 

ehehe...dad calls Artemis a Hare Krishna idol and mum calls her a barbie ><

 

So far the reactions to mine have been fairly good, people give strange looks but people only usually stare at something that interests them. The SD's are great conversation starters because of their size! They get noticed! The important thing I find is if random people come to ask questions is to be as upbeat and perky as is socially acceptable, don't be the creeper that clings to the shadows with your doll, whispering sweet nothings to it... they already expect you to do that. XD

 

I know what you mean by "being a creeper." For some reason, people already expect you to talk to you dolls (I do ), but I try to not do so in public.

I hate it when people say "your baby is "fill in the blank." I say how old they are (usually its Ryuichi and now Ryuma), then ask them if they've ever heard of Asian Ball-Jointed Dolls. I think I've enabled quite a few people from the questions they ask me afterwards!

And cirquemom, I need to get a couple of those "ask me about my doll" t-shirts made!

Ryu

 

For some reason, I like to take dolls with me when I go "cemetery trolling", which is my term for going to cemeteries to take pictures of gravestones. I took Lee with me (Angel Street Zazean) to the Stones River Civil War Cemetery and aside from him getting a bit heavy after a while, I enjoyed having him there. (Even when I had a paranormal experience! I think his being there made me stronger.)

I don't often take dollies out shopping, but when I do, they stay in my bag and just peek out. No one has said anything really. Once, someone asked if I had a dog in my bag. XD

 

I loved reading your posts! Looking forward to taking my SD girl out!

 

I've been approached by people who are polite to ask about my dolls. I don't make a big fuss over it and, just as important, I don't make a big fuss over not making a big fuss. I think that's important. I keep my weirdness behind closed doors, so when I-m seen with a doll, people are just polite or otherwise interested. One time I brouhht one to class for a speech and everyone crowded around him to pet and coo -- even the guys. No one was rude or skeptical or looked like they wanted to be. I If you're a person who has been accepted, even your strangest hobbies will be accepted by extension. At least that's been my experience.

 

I used to take my Godo to fabric stores with me so I could get an idea of what weight I needed to buy to make clothes for him. The owner of one of the stores said something to the effect of "I'm not going to comment, we have a don't ask, don't tell policy" as he was ringing up my purchase.

He also came to class with me for the first year-or-so that I had him. It has been years, but to this day my debate teacher asks how my doll is doing when I run into him on the street.