They get dirty doing meet-ups (About dolly respect)

I figure if I ever take my eventual girl out with me, I'll be keeping a magic eraser in the hotel room or even in my purse. It's worked wonders on non-resin dolls of mine, to get rid of random dirt, smudges, paint and staining. ^^

I don't think i'd just hand her over to anyone, but if they seemed genuinely nice and respect my warning about being careful, I'd love to let other people hold her.

 

I've only been to one dollmeet thusfar (waiting on mine to arrive) and was quite content to stare, though at one point I found myself with a doll having been plopped in my hands weighing him. If handling other's dolls, I try to keep my hands supporting the doll where clothing covers. The park seems to be one of the common meetup areas around here, so it's a little hard to keep hands perfectly dirt free when posing in the grass, rocks, and bushes.
As for posing them, some 'dirty' poses are more likely to amuse me, as longs as they don't attempt to pose me. People seem to think I need to be used as a pillow/armrest/hug recipient. I barely like most of my friends touching me, and only one of them I won't kill for attempting to pick me up or snuggle.
I'm the one who needs a "look, don't touch" button or shirt.

 

I intend to bring along some wet wipes to the London meet lol.

 

I'm honestly not too worried about dirt because I've become close friends with my magic eraser. Now what would really upset me is if I found my doll with a scratch or chip. I don't think I have to worry about that much because I watch people when they're handling my doll and I never leave him alone in a place with people I don't know. :3
As long as people are handling him as I would and keep their hands away from his face I really don't worry too much.

 

I'm ok with people touching my doll at meet ups because I know that these people are doll owners themselves and they know what they're doing. And I guess it's common courtesy here that if it's not yours, ask permission first.

I used to bring my doll to conventions but people kept touching his face and a kid tried to snatch away his wig! So after that I don't often bring my doll to conventions unless we have a booth where he can sit down and out of con goer's reach.

 

I've never been to a meet up before, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't mind people touching my doll. I really like seeing other people enjoy her. Mainly because not a lot of people in my area know what a bjd is. So it's a lot of fun to show her off and have someone else show interest in them.

As for dirt, that really doesn't worry me. I just got my first magic eraser, and oh my gosh!, it really is magic. lol ^-^ Now if someone actually chipped something or broke my doll. That would upset me.

I'm pretty sure when I get to go to my first meet I'll keep wet wipes and a magic eraser with me at all times. And more then likely won't stray far from my doll. She's to important to leave unattended.

 

People naturally have oils and dirt on their hands ( that is why volks FCS employees wear white gloves when handling dolls) but more then likely everyone had clean hands but left a little and I mean tiny about of their dirt and oil on your doll each time they picked him up and posed him. So by then end of the meet he was a dirty boy.

As far as the clothes being dirty well it might have come from posing or sitting on the ground. When we use something its goingto get dirty because we dont live in a clean lab.

They sell sponges to clean and hopefully most outfits can be laundered. But it would bother me if my dolls got dirty , I would be a little bummed but I would clean him up right away.

 

I'd probably only be comfortable with other doll owners holding my resin ones. The only two people who have handled mine so far are my mother and my boyfriend and both have tipped them upside down, tried to touch their faces, held them by their legs, let their headcaps fly off *heart-attack* So yes, no more inexperienced people will lay a finger on my dolls. The boyfriend is being slowly trained though!

 

I admit it used to irritate me a lot but then again I was type of person who would check her dolls daily to make sure they were clean I was always afraid that I might miss some stains and then they would become permanent

But now that I've had my boys for a good few months I'm not as picky and I'll let people touch them It's no big deal, just give em a quick wash over when you get home. Now if I could visibly see how dirty their hands were (Like if they were sticky) I would squirm a little inside

 

If its just a little grime, then who cares? Comes off easy. Only time I think you should be a bit angry or worried is if it was something more severe, or you JUST got your doll, and that same day someone spills nail polish on its leg.

Really, why get frustrated when you can just get a quick tissue and wipe it off?
Face it, dirt happens.​

 

Ah dirt, it happens, take a doll anywhere and they are dirt magnets! I usually have to wipe mine down after every meet, so I've become used to it.

Staining them is a lot harder to do, and usually you have to neglect the stain for quite a while before it becomes permanent.

Cleaning them after a meet is probably just wise in any case to prevent any further damage that may result from them being dirty.

What I get mad about though is when people are rough with them. I've had to send my Soony in to get a new face more than once due to rough handling at a meet. I haven't been to a proper meet since she got her new face but I'd be reluctant to let her be passed around (as with my Elf Ducan who was painted by a now hard to commission artist, so his face couldn't be replaced easily). This is what ticks me off, a smudge is no biggie, scratched eyebrow paint is.

I find I handle others dolls quite cautiously, like they're made of glass. Dunno why but I guess its a good thing to be too careful than not careful enough.

 

I've honestly decided that I will not be doing any body-blushing on my kids because of the tendency for them to get dirty when handled... I take them out to conventions all the time, and they sit on my Artist's Alley table (modelling clothes for sale). Sometimes people who don't own dolls will kind of "poke" at them, touch their arms or legs or whatever (thankfully, not generally the faces). And for people who do own dolls, I am perfectly happy to let them look at my dolls if they wish (and love it when they return the favor, I love looking at other sculpts!), and understand that they haven't immediately washed their hands beforehand and will leave a little oil behind on the resin. I don't wear gloves handling my own dolls and am leaving the same little bits of oil behind myself, but if I can just wipe it off with a magic eraser, it's not really a big deal to me. As long as there's no damage to the dolls themselves, it's all easily fixed and no big deal. I bought my dolls to have fun with them, not to obsess and worry about every little thing.

 

At KakkoiCon this year, things were pretty good re. my doll (Magic Erasers everywhere!) but when I was actually carrying my boy around with a freshly sealed head things weren't so good. He was cosplaying The Joker (can't shut up about this, sorry- it wasn't a great cosplay on my part but everything else was painfully fun) and non-doll people kept grabbing and touching his head and his wig. He ended up a little grubby, but him being TDK!Joker... it actually added to the effect some. I still had to go at him with a dry magic eraser when we were done though. Since he couldn't stand he got passed around a lot in a sitting position and didn't have many chances to take a faceplant onto other dolls, but I know one doll owner with us got a big smudge on her boy from another doll's shoe... and another had her Gretel head's eyebrows end up seriously screwed up from a smudge and then get worse when a magic eraser was taken to them. Hmm.
I won't be terribly wary with my boy- he's pretty resilient and well balanced for a MSD- but I still try to be careful with other's dolls. If a doll gets dirtied, well, he can be cleaned, even if it is a pain. Faceup damage or serious stains are a different business altogether.

 

Every meetup I've been to has had food. So obviously this is a concern! Even if one's hands are clean at the outset, next thing you know there are cookie crumbs all over a doll's face.

It should be obvious from this thread that the rule of thumb, no matter what your opinion, even if you think it's part of the hobby for dolls to be touched and dirtied, is always ask to handle. And respect the answer! There are plenty of things to do at meets that don't involve touching a doll: photography, selling items, discussing dolls and accessories, finding certain sculpts/eyes/outfits to check out up close, and just plain socializing. Not everyone goes to touch dolls and have their own touched. Not everyone plays with the dolls either. To some they are very pretty objects of art, to be admired but not touched. That should be respected as well.

I usually don't mind them being handled unless the person is obviously very ham-fisted and paws the dolls without care. I'd like their faceups and wig styling to remain intact; I don't think that's too much to ask! What I personally do is try to pick up dolls by touching them in clothed areas only; that won't get dirty nearly as fast as pristine resin. I also agree with an earlier post that I personally am not crazy about handling really, really filthy dolls. It's accumulate grime from who knows how many people and who knows from where... I'll pass.

 

I was thinking along the lines of Aichans post too to be honest

plus realisicly even if you only touch your doll with gloves theres going to be dust/air polution which will eventually settle and discolour your doll

a few finger prints wouldn't bother me as long as the face-up and clothing etc are intact

 

If anyone touched my dolls with dirty hands I would go berserk!!
I'm all "have you washed your hands? " before people is allowed to touch them. I wash my own hands before touching then too

 

Well if anyone deliberately got our dolls dirty or hurt them, they would not be liking life. But if it was an accident than we’d be upset but press on. From what I have seen most owners are respectful of other peoples dolls and tend to make sure their hands are clean and they handle the dolls respectfully. If they didn’t we’d let them know though.

 

I love my dolls very much.
However, I do not expect the person at an anime convention/wherever to run a B line down to the nearest bathroom just to hold my doll for 2 minutes.
I would bring wipes maybe, but not for the person, but the doll, because how awkward would you feel if someone point blank said, "You can hold my doll after you wash your hands." Its not something I would do.

However, I would like it if they treated my doll with respect, because mistreating someone else's possessions is just rude.

 

I'm super careful with my dolls and like to keep them clean (no smudges or marks), so I probably wouldn't hand them off to just anyone or leave them sitting somewhere I couldn't see them.
Smudges would slightly bother me, but those happen no matter what. Now a deep scratch, dent, or chip, or if someone had scratched their face-up, would really piss me off because it means that most likely the person wasn't handling them properly (and most of my dolls are LE and have LE face-ups).
Not all doll-people/fans are careful, and I don't automatically assume that they are.

 

It can be washed. I wouldn't really care. Sometimes I enjoy spending time cleaning my dolls.
Chips, or stains would be another thing though... >.<