The urge to "rescue" a doll

Every time I go into the marketplace and see a damaged doll, tbh. If I had the money, I would save so many dolls.

 

I have a few "rescue dolls" that I picked up over the years. It was a great way to learn to do some modding techniques that I was hesitant to try on my more expensive dolls.

 

This happened to me recently! A doll I wanted for a while showed up for sale from someone who I know, well... Isn't very responsible with their dolls, from what I've seen them do in the past. This one wasn't in a bad state, but I was feeling the urge of "rescuing" her before it was too late... Unfortunately, I don't have the money at the time, but I do follow this person and I'm always looking for new pictures of this doll >< some day, little one...

 

Yes very much so, its such a strange feeling I get when I see a 'rescue doll' because I'll find myself feeling bad for it and wanting to give it a better place, even though I know they're inanimate objects and don't feel. Maybe its because they look so human? Look so helpless in a broken state that you just want to fix them? A want to restore them to their former glory and beauty? I have no clue but yes I've felt the urge to get a rescue and fix it up I'd do the same with porcelain dolls at thrift/antique stores/estate sales when I was younger. One people passed by at an estate sale because her left eye fell back into her head. Needless to say I brought her home and fixed it. Or this poor sock monkey that had so many cuts in it, I literally spent hours sewing them up. Now I feel the same way with those poor rescue bjds.

 

I do this with all types of hobby-related things. I've 'rescued' abandoned cross stitch projects, broken dollhouse furniture, and battered old vinyl dolls... I don't go looking for rescue cases, but I can't resist them when I accidentally come across them... (So the only reason I haven't rescued a BJD yet is because I haven't bumped into one yet...)

 

No I was a rescuer before when I was beginning to collect dolls now I only focus on the dolls I want.

 

I did this for years with other types of dolls, especially thrifting. I'm not really interested in this with BJDs because I'm really focused on creating my original characters. I might get one or two for sewing models or practice faces or something. I could see myself buying seconds of the dolls/molds I have and love.

 

I feel this all the time. especially with bodies. if you know how to airbrush there is so much creative freedom. you can dremel away all you want and often more bad ass characters come to light! ^^ i feel they could be a key to my creative chains. i feel so bad when i do anything with my own (expensive) dolls (parts! lol)... i feel as though a rescue would help with that. especially one of my twins, who's supposed to be missing her biological left leg

 

This is the same for me. I get great ideas, but I am so busy that I would never be able to finish anything. It's hard to balance my hobbies at it is... but I have so much respect for the people who do this. Maybe one day I will be able to try...

 

I did once. It was a head with a badly done open eye mod, I traded for it with clothes I mostly had for free so it's almost as if it was a gift.

The problem is it's an old doll from a company with little to no color matches in other companies, and it's a tiny so even more complicated. So even if I'll successfully complete the eye mod I wouldn't know how to use it.

 

I do sorta feel this with secondhand dolls, regardless of damages. Even if I know they won't fit, sometimes I just get enamored by a doll being sold and find myself saving the Facebook post or Liking the Instagram post to "save" it for later. For instance, I saw a Yo-SD for sale on Facebook back in November and I was waiting for the holidays to get money to get my two MSD's (I was a full time college student at the time and really couldn't work much). So, even though I knew at the time what dolls I wanted, I was looking at a doll that's the complete wrong size from what I want! It was a cute little thing, though, and I think it was $100 USD even. Either way, I have a bad habit of secondhand online window shopping, if you will, even when I'm not looking to really buy anything, lol.

 

you could make a little fairy out of the project and sell the completed doll for profit. airbrushing and body blushing would be your friend in this case. there's even freaking adorable tutorials for plastic fairy wings you can make. unless it was a SD, then it would become another baby lol

 

There's a lot of dolls that I've been wanting to rescue on IG because of the impulse but money is a huge problem.

 

Nooooo......

ahem.... Ciske, Troy, Kiki, Jessica, Freya..... (take it as a confession)

 

Ahaha, I went specifically looking for one at one point and let me tell you my love story.
When I got this boy he was in a state of disrepair... his mouth had been hacked up to his cheeks like joker, whole chips where missing from his eyes from a bad sleeping to open eyed mod, his ears had been chopped off, his entire nose sanded away... to be perfectly honest I didn't even know if he was fixable at all...

And yet... a lot of time and trials and love later... he's one of my most favorite dolls ever...

 

@Soenatte - you certainly created something very different for him than the original modder was planning! He is very sweet/cute.

I did it once - but no where near as dramatic as that. I bought a doll that I liked off the MP. She was bright and beautiful at once time, but when I adopted her, her faceup was chipped and damaged, and the MSC was chipping on her body so her white skin looked dirty. I spent a couple weeks cleaning her up, sent her out for a gorgeous face up by @meenist and when I finished, I realized she wasn't my doll, and that I was just holding her waiting for her real owner. I can't remember now if I broke even selling her again or lost money. It certainly wasn't profitable... but it was fun.

 

@HunYi ahaha~ I'm a firm believer that dolls "give back" the energy you put into customising them (ie, scary for a gore modification or more solemn for characters with a dark past, etcetera) so I'm glad it comes off as such~ I just really wanted to make this little guy shine

@akiko0021 I think, my dollfie dream boy (who is supposed to be a pretty cheerful child, really) he's the sweetest doll I've ever owned despite his really humble beginnings~

 

That's an amazing story! Having that kind of understanding/clarity about a doll's purpose is really special.

 

I think you actually have her in your portfolio which makes me a little sad about having passed her on since she was gorgeous, but she wasn't really talking to me. I believe though that what I did - and what you did with her - helped someone else see the beauty in her.