Second doll... To be or not to be SD

Yes and no. Big dolls feel sturdy in my hands and really nice to hold. But their weight also makes them fall harder when they do fall, and if they fall at a bad angle they can chip/break body parts simply because they're heavy. I pose my dolls a lot for photoshoots, so anytime they're free standing I always have a worry at the back of my mind. So I guess big dolls generally feel less fragile than smaller ones, but more fragile when they're at risk of taking a tumble.

Speaking of weight... a mini tends to be around 500-600g. A 1/3 doll at least 1000g (1kg) depending on its height and quality of resin -- let's say 1100-1200g for a 60cm doll. This sounds goofy, but maybe measure that weight into a bag (using food/pantry stuff?), hold it in your hands and compare it to carrying your mini. Do you want to carry twice as much resin around, and do all the dolly things like pose and change clothes to a doll twice the size of your mini? Feeling the physical weight might help you decide.

 

Good idea on the weight measuring, @aihre! That's similar to what I've done in the past when considering a doll I haven't seen in person (which is every doll haha - I've never been to a meet-up and don't have doll-collecting friends nearby) - namely, to find a photo of them in a standing position and then use Photoshop to re-size it to their actual size, spread the image over several pages, print the pages, and tape the pieces together. It is very helpful, and can even be useful for judging prop sizes, diorama details, etc. It can be harder to find details on weight, but I'll remember to try that in the future as well.

Personally, I was veery hesitant to enter the 1/3 doll range. I am a small, weak person haha. It took a few big dolls (65cm Dollshe girls) to realize that I couldn't handle that much weight/size (alas, because some of my favorite head sculpts are made for that size). However, I love my 57cm Maskcat girl. She is a bit heavier than the 1/4 doll and the Obitsu 50cm doll I own, but she feels manageable and she poses very well so isn't as awkward as the Dollshe bodies. I'm really looking forward to being able to make more detailed outfits for her because of the larger area to work with.

Honestly, I would say if you have the funds, just try one and see how you like it. You might love both scales!

 

I'm glad I could help, if only just a little! We all have different preferences. I don't want my dolls to weight or feel like they weight a ton of bricks -- I am short, weak and scrawny and now much older than when I got into these dolls. Carrying my largest feels like a chore. Dressing tiny dolls is an ordeal, despite having puny hands as is customizing them (probably because of my shaky hands), but I feel like they are the perfect size for me. There are not a lot of 30cm mature dolls in BJD form, but I far prefer other kinds of plastic and articulation anyway, so it's all good! I definitely believe we all find what works for us in the end, if we are willing to try different things and not just hide when new options are available. (:

This is my Limhwa Limho Mano, with my DollZone Mo-Wen, who were meant to be brothers (the two BJD I was referencing earlier). However, I found the slightly more realistic sculpting on my Mano to clash with my Mo, more so after I heavily modified the former. Tha's when I decided not to care about my dolls looking good (to me) together or in photos, and just purchase the ones I actually wanted to own. I am okay never taking photos of these two together ever again (for many reason, but mostly because I am weak and hate doing things that seem like a chore). n__n

That was before I modified my larger doll. My Mano currently looks like this; my Mo was also in the process of being modified but then DZ discontinued him and I kind of lost the will to continue (he is in limbo now). Different sizes can indeed work, just as long as they are not too stylistically different (IMHO, although I have seen people outside this genre of dolls using 1:6 hyper realistic figures as boyfriend/girlfriend for Barbie, Fashion Royalty, and other giant-headed fashion dolls, even Monster High. Which would be hilarious to me, if I ever did that, but apparently works well for other people). Here's my Mo-Wen, with my first two 60cm-ish BJD, I thought he looked well with them because they were all stylized in not-very-realistic-way.



Edited to fix links. For some reason I am having issues with links on DoA lately, probably because I suck!

 

I originally took this picture for other purposes but it shows a few different 1/4 dolls next to a 1/3 girl. She's only around 58cm, so rather small for a 1/3 nowadays. Most 1/3 dolls will be taller than her.


I suggest taking your time to decide and then buy the one you really want. You also don't need to photograph them together if they don't look to great together.

 

Size-wise I don’t worry about it. My dolls are entirely character-driven and constantly on display in decorative vignettes throughout my home. Because their displays are varied, I can always find a place for any size that catches my eye, and this is the way I like it. From the very beginning (2006) I made the decision to strive for diversity in my collection. So I created a fantasy world of my imagination for them to inhabit (sort of like the world of a Tim Burton’s “Alice”.) It really worked beautifully for me, enabling me to have complete freedom to explore all sorts of fascinating characters (and therefore dolls and sizes.) Like the vignette of an SD-size mystical caretaker of an old Victorian attic, who is surrounded by several trunks that house many sizes of smaller dolls alongside her. It all works for me!

Of course this is only one way to collect, and there are many others. Only you can decide what will work best for you. This just suited my need for creative freedom the best, and allowed me to explore all sorts of fascinating fashion along the way because I love creating wardrobes for my dolls too. I also love creating characters and artistic ways to display them, so it all worked perfectly. I’m big into artistic exploration.

 

Thank you! As long as dolls still look like dolls, I feel they can work together well enough (it's when they start getting in varying degrees of realism, that they start to look off, IMHO). Posting photos seems like an issue that hasn't been solved in a while on here, but I never had problems posting links before. That's going to be fun. Although, it's a mystery of it's on DoA's side of things, or Imgur. I don't post imgur photos/links anywhere else, so I guess I'll never know. I'll try adding them under a spoiler, see if that works -- there's a limit of one photo per post on the discussion area of DoA, so...

Spoiler: My Heavily Modified Mano As He Looks Now

Spoiler: My DollZone Mo-Wen W/My First Two 60cm Doll

 

Black fabrics, or any fabrics that have excess dye can stain. Black is probably the most common, but as long as the doll is wearing light colored socks, it won't be an issue. I don't leave my larger resin dolls dressed; I always undress them when I'm done customizing them in some way or taking photos of them. However, I have read in the past, some black articles of clothing or shoes staining if left for prolong periods of time on resin. Which is not as prone to staining as other types of plastic, but as long as you don't leave the shoes on forever without checking every so often, I don't believe there should be any problems -- or you can have them wearing socks. Hope that helps. (:

 

I am really bad at estimating the size of a doll based on measurements on a webpage... My first doll was an MSD and my second and third were SDs. As soon as my first SD came home, I realised that she looked all wrong with my MSD - he was supposed to be an 11-year-old but looked far too small next to her. She was 65 cm tall .

All my plans went off the rails with my second doll ... I pretty much let go of my notion of size then and there, because I do love both my MSDs and my SDs, and I didn't feel like exchanging any of them for reasons of size only.

When it comes to SDs, though, I do take into account a size and weight limit. My boys and girls are 65-67 cm tops, and they have relatively simple bodies that I can handle and restring with relative ease (I'm really not strong at all). I know that 70-75 cm is too tall and too heavy for me. I've really refrained from buying dolls that I loved because they were too big. On the other hand, I do have a Doll Chateau Dolores who is 72 cm tall. The thing is that he's very lanky. He is tall and has very long limbs, and though he feels solid, he doesn't weigh all that much. He sits and stands very well, so we're fine, he and I .

I think that with larger dolls it is a good idea to figure out how well they handle. Ideally, go to meetings and pick up other people's tall dolls (not that I did, I ordered my first SDs in total innocence, lol). Personally, I get frustrated when big dolls don't pose well - they're liable to collapse under their own weight. For myself, I've grown to trust the engineering of Dollzone, Doll Chateau and Spiritdoll (girls). They are solid, not top-heavy, and they stand and sit great. No doubt there are other companies that have good SD bodies - these are just the ones that I like.