The most supportive

For me its my boyfriend. I thought he would be like that's so weird. But no. He even jokes on the phone that I'll have a doll in my lap (which I normally do!) He even spends AGES taking photos of them for me.

Opposite side is my mum who complains how creepy they are and how she wished I wouldnt buy anymore

 

My mum must be the most supportive. Although my family doesn't care much for my hobbies, they still support me.My sister has no interest in dolls whatsoever, though she's a photographer, so I sometimes challenge her to take pictures of dollies. I can talk to my mum about dolls for hours, she'll listen but she's not as excited as I am, which is understandable. She helps me when I pick stuff out, she taught me how to sew and knit. I'd say I'm pretty lucky

 

I've found my parents to be surprisingly supportive, my mom helped me sew the carrying bags for my dolls. She once sewed a dress for one of my dolls just because she said it would be cool because the doll didn't have any.
My boyfriend says he has no interest in the dolls but he made stands for them. He said he finds the creation process interesting too.

 

I find myself very envious of you all that have family members supportive of this hobby.

I really expected my Mother to approve, as she always worried I never liked anything "girly" growing up, but unfortunately my family mostly only have negative things to say about my dollies!
My Dad has come around a little in the last year or so, and helps me restring and so on (I've tricked him, by talking more about the technical side of BJDS, and maintenance) but I'd say the only people I know who are supportive are my boyfriend (though not the cost!), and a couple of friends....

...thank God for them, or I'd go mad.

 

My mum is really supportive, but that doesn't really surprise me as she collects porcelain and cloth dolls. I've not mentioned them to my dad yet, and probably won't for a while, but as long as he doesn't find out how expensive they are, he'll be okay with them. He can be a bit weird about the money that I spend on my hobbies, even though it's my own money... It will be interesting to see how he feels about them as photography props, because photography is something he's really interested in.

 

My boyfriend is probably the most supportive. He really enjoys hearing all my character plans and seeing the props I design for my dolls. My parents are not anti-doll at all, but they aren't as interested in the hobby (and, to be fair, my eyes glaze over the same way when they talk about their hobbies )

 

My mom is the most supportive though my grandma adores my dollies the most, especially the tinies. My dad, on the other hand, told me to get a boyfriend instead of playing with dolls. xD

 

My family thinks of all dolls as kids' toys. My mother is okay with my sister having dolls because she's the youngest, I think? (She's 19). I think she's okay with them because she doesn't know how much they cost. Sometimes she sews dresses for her dolls. But I know she won't be supportive of me. She would freak out if she found out I'm also in this hobby. My bro and dad would, too.

So I guess my sister is the only one who is supportive of me here.

 

My family didn't really care much either way until I started making my own clothing for the dolls. Then they realised that this was a talent I could develop and they started telling me how beautiful my clothes are and encouraged me to start selling them.

I now run an Etsy shop and both my mum and dad are super supportive of my sewing. They check my Etsy account every day and always comment when I've had a lot of sales or designed something new.

I still don't think they're particularly fond of the dolls themselves, but they like that I am being creative and developing a useful skill through them.

The only family member I can think of who is very fond of the actual dolls is my Nanna. Everytime she visits our house she asks to see them and hold them. She tells me how beautiful she thinks they are and wants to know all about them. My Nanna has a few (non-BJD) dolls of her own, so I guess it makes sense that she likes mine. It's really nice to have someone in my life who appreciates my dolls as much as I do!

All-in-all my family are actually a lot more supportive than I ever thought they would be, considering how much money I spend on the things!

 

Definitely my grandma. I mean, I've been pretty lucky, my family had been really supportive in general and my boyfriend has been amazing about it, but hands down, most supportive is my grandma. She's been into dolls since before I can remember, though mostly fashion dolls and older Madame Alexander\Cissy type dolls. I am the oldest grandchild and also the most gentle (Not just because I was older, but when I was as young as my little cousins are now, I was much more careful with my toys and dolls than they are...) so she let me play with them and dress them up with her from an early age. At one point, I remember wanting to save up for an Ellowyne Wilde doll like hers, and I remember overhearing my grandma talking to my mom about these crazy expensive Asian dolls at one point, though I don't remember why they were talking about it... I remember saying something like 'That's ridiculous!' and everyone agreeing that $600 was a bit much for a doll. Of course, I had never seen a BJD and didn't even know that's what they were called until a few years later. When I announced to my family that I was going to save up for a BJD, my parents doubted I would\could do it, but they still encouraged me. (though they did ask a few times, 'Are you SURE you want to buy a doll? That's a lot of money...') I used to ask my friends if they thought $500 was crazy for a doll, and they all said yes, but I was determined. My grandma, even though she also thought $500-$600 was bit much, always encouraged me and told me she thought I would do it eventually, and probably sooner than I thought. She gave me large amounts of money for gifts to help my savings at the holidays, and she still does most of the time. I even turned her onto BJDs once she saw mine and fell in love with them like I had... She took me to my first doll meet, when I was too young to go by myself, and she took me to the local doll museum (though it was mostly antique dolls and it's closed now... Still pretty cool!) and to a semi-local doll shop that sold mosty American dolls of various sorts and teddy bears\Steif toys, but they also had Domuya dolls, a few Dollzone dolls, and lots of Goodreau dolls (guh, gross...). The owner showed me her new Unoa.

I love my grandma for so many reasons, but she has been there for me on the doll front every step of the way.

 

Sadly, nobody :/ My family is 95% female, and the bad thing about that is that they all have the same mentality about life- your only purpose as a woman is to be a stay at home mom with a husband who takes care of you, and any hobbies other than cooking, cleaning, and gossip is "unladylike" (which, to my grandma, is the ULTIMATE INSULT!!! >:0). How I managed to fall into such a family, I will never know.

Of course, when I showed my grandmother pictures of the dolls I wanted, she thought they were nice until A: she found out they were from Japan and Korea, and B: She saw that one of them was male (Limhwa Mono). Now she makes this dissatisfied grumble whenever I mention either of them!

My mother, on the other hand hates the cost, and thinks my job should be my hobby -.-

 

My family aren't really interested in them, but I don't have a bjd currently so thats probably why, my sister won't even listen to me talking about them so I rarely bring up the subject. I have plucked up the courage recently to chat to my mom a bit about them, and she seems ok about them. My Dad...hmmm no comment. But I think that I have to be aware that they might not like BJD's, and listening to me might bore them. Still they might be more interested when I actually get one

 

My mom! She was actually with me when I opened the box and she always listens and talks with me about them ^_^

 

My mother is the most supportive, but my aunts are too. My mom constantly asks me about them, if I have been doing commissions, if I bought new ones, if I sold any. She usually initiate the doll talk, which is very cute since she is no the time to care about things like that. She is a very practical old lady who doesn't understand the meaning to collection at all. I recently won a doll from a company and when I told her she and my aunt send messages congratulating me. We live in different countries (continents even) so we talk over skype and she lover when I show them and their little clothes.

All my family thinks it's a great artistic outlet or me (since I'm a faceup artist), but when I first told them I thought they would go mental at me cos of the price. I never lie to them about how much I pay if they ask.

My ex on the other hand, hated them and thought it was a waste of money. I couldn't even mention it without him making a face.

 

My mom is the most supportive and I think it's because she likes sewing clothing for dolls.My grandfather asked a few questions then seemed to lose interest and my sister hates my girl, I think it's because she's jealous, I give my girl more attention than I do my sister. I'm actually scared of having my doll left alone with my sister and I'm not sure how she'll react when I get more dolls. The rest of my family don't know about my doll. I'm not actually sure if I would enlighten them either, the thought of my cousins knowing about my girl or seeing her...Nightmare material right there.
Those who give me the most support are my friends, but they are mostly all doll collectors too so I'm not sure if it counts.