Too many dolls?

Well, I believe I've hit the point where I have way too many dolls & not just BJDs but a select group of all the dolls I've collected over the years. I just find it too difficult to keep up with them so a major clean-out is in order. Even though I've regularly thinned the herd, there are simply far too many these days for my comfort especially since I lost my doll/sewing room when I had to more in my 93 year old Mom with Altzheimers. Now things are too cluttered & there're doll & sewing things all over the house.

While I still enjoy looking at them, I don't find myself interacting with them as much as I used to do. And that's really the reason I switched to modern dolls from artists foor their play value.

 

I guess it depends on the person himself, there will never be too many dolls if you want them all and love them all

 

I feel as though I had too many dolls at the moment, and I have another three on their way. I don't have the space necessary to display them so they majority are still in their boxes. Some dolls scattered between my two residences due to the lack of room and it's been driving me crazy, I hate having my dolls apart.

I also don't have much time to give them all the attention they deserve. Once school calms down I am going to reevaluated my collection and unfortunately make some cuts.

(This is not an invitation for you to message me about buying my dolls; thank you)

 

I actually do not have that many... so I think when you think "one of them is going to need a better home" is considered too many? well to me I think 5 is a lot already

 

Yes I have definitely got to the point I think I have too many dolls. I havent sewn or played with any of them for ages - and I am at the point I must take the emotion out of it and try and sell some... but even that feels a bit overwhelming - as there are too many to deal with!

 

Sometimes I re-home dolls because I feel like they're not getting the love and attention they need, but I never worry about "too many"; when they're with me, I know that they're safe, and that matters even with the ones who never quite properly become "mine."

 

I'm also worried about having too many That's why I limit myself to buy only 12 dolls (the 13th was the raffle prize I got from a dealer. Such a surprise! ) So I can take care of them equally.

 

I have to many dolls, not because I have a lot but because I have dolls who dont get any attention.
I tried selling them but I cant.

 

I'm not sure there is such a thing as too many dolls, assuming you have the space and funds for them. If you buy more dolls than you can afford and ruin your credit - you have too many! If you have so many that you have no place for them and have them thrown in a corner -- too many! But other than that, I think it's a personal preference thing. . . I mean, I thought I had a fair amount but then I see people with 50+ - a bit too much for my personal taste, but they took care of them and that's all that matters.

 

I personally fall into the range of larger collections around here (something I never thought I'd be saying when I started)... but no, I don't think I have too many dolls. I've had dolls that are poor fits to the collection in the past, and I sometimes have a hard time fitting them all together on their shelves, but I also can't imagine myself truly selling any of them unless things became desperate (and I'd want to buy them back if such a thing did happen). I can always find new spaces to tuck them into, and as long as they all have an interest to me, they'll be staying around.

"Too many dolls" is a personal matter. What I own currently (24) is likely "way too many" for plenty of people, "a comfortable range" for others, and "a portion of my collection" to still others. Right now, for me, it's comfortable, but I also have plans for more (including some on the way now), and those additions will similarly be comfortable to me. As long as there's characters for the dolls to shell, the number remains "just right."

 

It depends on the person. I will never have "to many". Sometimes I look al them and think that I have too many dolls, but then I look them again and I don't think so. All my dolls are unique and I love them all.I don't need to pay them a lot of attention to feel good. But i love to see them (all are in my computer room)
I only have to sell a few becouse I wasn't really happy with them. Now I have 34 BJDs, 3DDs a Pullip and other dolls, and probably my family will increase

 

I think it only gets to be too much when you can't enjoy them anymore. If there are so many that you can't do what you intended to do with them, then there may be a problem -- like if you want them on display, but have no space, or if you use them for photography, but never take photos of them because there are too many, things like that. When they outnumber their purpose and feel more like a burden than a pleasure, that is when they are too many.

I went through something similar with art. I buy a lot of prints! I have about five in a closet that have been framed but have no home on the wall yet because there is just no place to put them.

Same with doll furniture. I had to stop buying it because there is no place to display it.

As for dolls, thought... I don't have too many. I had to sell a bunch this past year so my collection is in the single digits! But I think my limit for dolls would be thirteen or so. I don't have very much space, and I want to be able to enjoy them, not have them stored away.

 

It's all about personal preference, but i've set myself a limit of 30 dolls maximum, and i'm right at that limit and now on a one-in-one-out basis. For me, 30 is probably too many ideally, but i have 5 different doll types within this so there is plenty of variety. I like to concentrate on my doll characters, and the more i have the harder that is!

 

Right now I have/am waiting on 24 full dolls as well as 14 heads. So technically speaking I'm at 38 dolls currently, with a wishlist of 12 more (plus bodies for everyone else). In total, that's 50 dolls! Pretty scary when you think about it! But are they too many?

I'd say yes as well as no. They certainly are an overwhelming number but at the same time any fewer and I wouldn't have enough shells for my creativity! I have so many ideas that a few dolls would feel horribly restrictive to me. Can't have a post cyberpunk pierced shikigami, a centaur, a cute mori fawn boy, badass girl warriors, robotic weapons, odd chimera-like creatures, elven bastards, mad doctors and so on and so forth only with 2/3 dolls now, can you? "Too many" definitely varies by the individual!

 

While I would never tell someone else they have too many of whatever they collect I have found in my own collecting that if I get too many of something I lose all desire for any of it. It's really hard at times as I am also a bit of a completionist.

 

I started out thinking that I wouldn't need more than one doll. I was determined that one would be enough. Well... my first hasn't even arrived in the mail yet and another is already tempting me. I just *have* to have an elf to go with my human, right? Something about that is "necessary" right?

 

At first I thought, whew these are expensive, I doubt I can get into this hobby! I started with a big Obitsu girl and hand painted her face, because I'm an artist and made her outfits, because I'm also a seamstress....... but then.....Well she has to have a boyfriend right?! Then I rescued a girl from someone whose dog got a hold of her feet, and learned how to replace parts........then she also has to have a boyfriend...right?! Next thing I know, I've got a habit....lol. Ah well, could have worse habits. At least this one is only once a year.

 

I think there is no limit. You think it's 10, then 20... and you always end up saying this is the last one, but that's a lie! ahaha

 

"Too many" is a very subjective number...

How much space do you have?
How much time can you devote to the dolls?
How much can you afford to pay for them?
How much can you put into maintaining them?
How and how often are you planning to interact with them, if at all?
Are you going to need extras like a decent camera and studio lights to do that?
A good sewing machine and dress-making materials?
Display cabinets?
Do you have other time/resource commitments that ought to take priority?

How many dolls approaches the "too many" number depends on a lot of factors, and given how hard it can be to settle on the right number for your own collection, it's darn near impossible to do it for anyone else. A number that works perfectly for me (A fairly "hands-off" collector who regards her dolls as toys rather than companions-) might be OMG!OVERWHELMING for someone who takes a more hands-on, My-Dolls-Are-My-Kids type approach to the hobby.

So, yeah... It's a personal thing.

 

As illustrated by Brightfires, having too many dolls is a matter of personal choice and conviction. At the end of the day, having too many dolls is a subjective amount because what quantity constitutes how much is too much? There is no written consensus that tells us how many dolls are enough and how much goes beyond having a lot. There are so many factors that can contribute to the illusion of having a definite amount of dolls and/or spare parts.


Personally, I wish I had well over 200 dolls, but realistically I know I'll never be able to have enough space to keep them all -or money to buy so many- so kudos to those who do.