The Fear Factor - when did you lose it?

It's been almost a year since I got my first doll, and I'm still pretty terrified of breaking her or getting her really dirty. I actually restrung her the day after I got her, but it took me about 8 months to muster up the courage to change her eyelashes. ><

 

I never had the least bit of fear about these dolls. When I first found BJDs, I fell in love with Elfdoll Rita.... but I thought the Rainy doll body looked awful. I looked around a little more and figured out that you could make hybrids.... and that was when I seriously started saving up for her, when I saw the Mirodoll body I have her on, liked the sculpt of it, and saw that they hybrid well with Elfdoll. I had a really specific idea of exactly how I wanted her to look, and I was excited to put her together myself. I had never seen a BJD in person before she came home (in two separate shipments of course!) but I wasn't the least bit afraid to dive into customizing her as soon as she arrived. I've done her faceup, restrung her, glue-sueded her, and done a ton of modifications to her body, from putting S-hooks in her ankles and wrists, to using heat to reshape her wrists and reposition her fingers, to shortening her calves and reducing/reshaping her bust. It's been amazing fun!

 

I would say I lost the fear within 3 months of getting my first doll. I mastered restringing so quickly which was a great help once I started buying the soom fantasy dolls.

 

How long it took me to lose the fears:

Faceup: about 8 hours....because Amir arrived blank right before I had to go to work. XD
Restringing: 2 years. I didn't have anybody local to show me until then
Modding: Hmmm...3 years? I think Parker was the first I modded
Hybridding: 1.5 years
Ordering from a company, not dealer: 3 years
Buying secondhand: 1.5 years

 

One hour cause I had to re-string him.

 

Well after about a month with my first doll head I decided I didn't like the default faceup anymore, got the supplies, and by a month and a half I'd wiped it and started trying on my own. I was never afraid of restringing though, five minutes after getting the body out of the box I had it taken apart to see if I could get it back together, and after some pinched fingers I finally did it. I've never tried modding, that has always scared me, but I've got a spare head that I'm using for faceup practice now that I might try some light modding on, just to get a feel for it.

 

Fairly quickly, for me! I had painted and customised other dolls before - I knew painting up a 27cm Obitsu would be way different to painting a big resin BJD but since I had some limited experience already I decided I would paint my first big girl's face myself! So I bought a blank doll. It took me about a week to get annoyed by her lack of faceup and attempt to paint her. It took me about three goes of painting up, not liking it, and wiping/redoing it to get it resembling Alena. I did my first restring - or at least, I took her apart to spray seal all the pieces and then put her back together; it's not like she needed new elastic! - not long after that.

I think the idea of damaging something so valuable is more intimidating that the act itself. I wasn't scared to paint her or screw up, because I knew I could take it off - I've always been more concerned with accidentally chipping or staining her, personally!

 

Lost my fears super quick. About a week after I got my second doll I wiped her face and took her apart and am in the process of making a hybrid I would jump right on faceups but I keep buying more doll stuff instead of art supplies >.<


~Bambi

 

I started playing with my doll within the first week. My first was a beautiful ShuShu that I purchased from Luts. I tried stringing and sanding the seams although she didn't need either. I started on face ups when I bought my first large doll because I loved ShuShu's default and I was more focused on trying to sew for her. The thing that attracted me to this hobby was the customization so I started pulling my dolls apart early.

 

I don't think I was ever truly scared of customizing any of my dolls, but it was a few months before I got around to restringing and hot-glue sueding my first. I didn't put it off out of fear that I might ruin something, more as though that "first doll glow" feeling needed to fade for me to see what he needed done to him. Then I researched how to do it and did it. I remember being apprehensive that he might not seem like himself after changing his faceup, but I certainly knew I didn't like his company one and that it absolutely had to change, so I went for it. It wasn't great, but the next one was better, and so on.

My second doll came to me in pieces with some faceup gunk stuck in various crevices, so there was really no getting around that one. I entered this hobby knowing I would end up getting involved in all of the hands-on stuff, so from the start I absorbed as much information as I could and found that I really enjoy doll maintenance.

 

This, to me, is what removes the fear. I totally understand procrastinating - oh gosh I only have a 1/4 yd of this vintage silk velvet - if I goof up it's gone - but eventually if you're going to do anything you have to wade in. There are so many tutorials, on youtube, blogs, here, etc. It's always heartening to see how creative people share their talents, their trials, and their techniques. (I'm of an older gen, so I know what it's like to struggle along without guides). Despite the fact that these dolls are worth, often, a lot, creativity is very much about allowing yourself to make mistakes. The tutorials will help you not dive in blind, and there are lovely people like the ones on this board who will help you with the info you need to clean up the messes.

 

My first meet was my wake-up call. Until then I'd been too scared to even change my first doll's feet from flats to heels ... then I watched evie the kid and Ereskigal wrestle a Soom Chalco out of his fantasy parts into his human form, and boy did he put up a fight. That was when I realized those dolls were obviously a lot less fragile than I'd feared

 

My second doll gave me the cahones to restring and suede my first. I didn't realize how poorly she was strung and that she could pose better. My second doll was like a circus contortionist and now my first is pretty good too.,

 

Reading through this thread has helped me because right now I am just staring at my MDD, not even daring to really to touch her. And she isn't even strung or needs sanding, or whatnot. Too new, too expensive, too foreign. I'll get over it.

In the meantime, I took the plunge and bought a used BJD on eBay (well, am trying to, seller has not responded, no clue if she has even been shipped): MnF Shushu head on a SoulDoll double-jointed kid body. I like the custom face-up but will probably have it re-done at some point in the future. As for the body, it's got some flaws, so that's going to be perfect for practicing re-stringing and such.

I hope all will go well - it would be wonderful to add a new doll family member so quickly

 

My first doll was secondhand (third-hand, really!) and her original faceup was wearing, badly. That I wasn't nervous at all about doing. I've done faces on cloth dolls before, and figured it couldn't be too much different. It was actually easier - with a cloth doll, you have one chance to get it right once you start using the paint pens. With a BJD, you can just wipe off your twenty or so failed attempts at getting her eyebrows to look somewhat alike.

Taking off heads is no big deal, either. I haven't restrung anyone yet, though, more out of no real need to than anything else.

 

I had to restring my first doll within the first couple of days of receiving her. It wasn't really terrifying because I did the research before hand. It wasn't even that hard, I just didn't have the strength to attach her foot at the end and had to have my boyfriend help. By this point I've gotten over almost all doll fears.

 

It took about a year before I worked myself up to restringing Amelia Thimble. Partially, because I found it so hard to track down the string I needed. However, taking heads off and changing out eyes came about the same day.

 

My first doll came with the factory face up, but when i tried to put again a fallen eyelash i chiped the faceup in the eye, so as soon as the msc arrived i did the faceup and now i do the faceup for all my dolls, and for a hot sueded it took me a year and a little more for my first reestringing

 

I was absolutely terrified to re-string my Dollzone Gill, but after finally gaining the courage I took her apart and cleaned, blushed, and tightened her strings. I'm glad I did, because she's 200% cuter, and she stands a lot better! It took a few months to do it ...

Now, just to gain the courage to wipe her company face-up...

 

I never had any real fear to begin with so for me it was... right off the bat? I've removed the head and changed the eyes almost right away... then faceuped my first doll a few times, restrung it, put eyelashes in, glued an inner floating piece back in place, modded a sleeping head to OE... all within my first year of ownership xP;