What Advice Would You Give a Beginner in the Hobby?

I make all of the bad decisions. Especially since I want ALL of the dolls and have no clue how much money this hobby needs and all of the work goes into ANNNNNYYYYYYTHING. I followed the advice of "you'll be happiest if you craft EVERYTHING yourself". I took that advice KNOWING I'm terrible at crafting and blew that money on buying more dolls. Ended up with nude dolls with NO face ups and no clothes and quite a few without bodies. Sad, over budget, stressed out because I can't FIX anything. I got even more stressed out because I think I have bad tastes in dolls.

But, you know what? There may be a moment where you have a bad time and that can happen anytime in the craft. Crafting, an impulse purchase, missing out on a limited doll and it wasn't FOMO, nature (yellowing, earthquake, etc), staining, a sell goes wrong, etc.
It felt odd, that time when I accidently damaged my favorite doll's face a few months ago. For some reason I was okay with that, when I thought I would not be okay with that kind of event.

I still feel a bit bummed about how my collection looks and I feel I have a harsh learning curve still ahead of me. But, when I see someone having a total blast with their doll and it makes me want to strive for my collection to give me that feeling, as well. Yeah, I failed at buying all of the dolls, BUT I have a lot of raw potential at my finger tips. I'm excited that I'm going to style some dolls into cuties one day!
I hope that counts as wisdom. Sorry, I'm not good at things. But, I believe you can do this.

Did I mention that my dolls are bald??

 

I definitely second the advice about being patient. It took me way too long to learn that I have a lot more fun in this hobby if I allow myself plenty of time between dolls to spend on getting them nice outfits, nice wigs, nice face ups. It's so tempting to rush into buying the next doll, especially if you feel you might miss out. But even for limited dolls, there is always the secondhand market. Nowadays I am a big believer that if I really want a doll, it will come to me at the right time, when I am ready for it and can afford it. I feel so much more relaxed this way. So my advice would be to take it slow, appreciate and have fun with the dolls you have before getting another.

Another thing I would say is that it's okay to make mistakes. Sometimes you're going to do things that don't work out the way you wanted (creating things, photography, or even buying a whole doll that turns out to be not what you wanted). There is a lot of trial and error involved, but you can't learn what works for you without also learning what doesn't work. I'm always having to remind myself not to be discouraged when I get things wrong. You can always sell a doll, delete a photo, change a face up.

 

I would tell newcomers to keep all the clothing they purchase - I didnt realize all the NICE pieces I used to have but they were so easy to sell at the time. Now I have better accessories and nice glass eyes - barely any clothing. Once doll clothes are gone they're basically gone for good.

 

I have some tips for the second hand market. I posted this somewhere before but it was awhile back. It is things that I check for when purchasing second hand dolls. Sometimes when people are new to the hobby, buying second hand is a good option. I hope this can help.

My Second Hand list::

I won't buy a second hand doll without the COA. Exceptions would be companies like Resinsoul, Bobobie, or other inexpensive companies that don't tend to have COA's and have not been copied.

I will not accept a copy of a COA. If the person wants to hold onto a COA of a doll that they are selling and no longer going to keep but not part with the COA or the box. I doubt the seller and will not buy from them.

I want the box, if available. I will pay extra shipping for the box. I have bought second hand dolls without the original packaging, but I prefer the used doll to also come boxed.

I will not pay extra for a faceup. I was not the person that commissioned the faceup, and I am going to wipe it off anyway. I won't pay extra for a company faceup either. I order most of my company dolls blank.

I don't pay more then the the original blank dolls value from the company. The reason is, if I can get the doll blank and new for the same price that someone is selling the doll at. I am just going to order the new doll.

If the doll has been used for years and the seller had it for a long time, or it is stained, yellowed, modified, or anything wrong with it, I do expect the sellers price to reflect the age and damage.

I will pay company price if the seller only recently bought the doll and had buyers remorse. I have done this before, when I wanted an instock doll that someone got to before me. They changed their mind after a week, and I bought the doll.

If a doll is damaged in some way. I decide if this is something I can fix, or perhaps a project I want to work on. I do enjoy working on dolls and modding them, but I want to make sure I can fix the doll before buying it.

I want to see nude shots of the doll front and back. Not only do I check for damage, but I check to make sure that the body matches the bodies that are sold by the dolls company, or have been sold by the dolls company in the past.

If I do purchase the doll, send me everything I paid for in a single package. If they mention sending the doll in one package and accessories or something else in a different package, I will not purchase this. There will be a record of something being sent and arriving and it might not be the doll I just spent my money on.

 

The wait for a pre-order is worth it, but if you don't want to wait, some doll stores like Denver Doll Emporium have in-stock dolls that you can choose from. Just bear in mind that most of these won't have clothes or wigs--you'll still need to buy those. Read very carefully to see what items an in-stock doll comes with, just as you would for a pre-order.

DO NOT buy a secondhand doll for your first doll unless it is from here or the BJD Discord! There are a lot of recasts (bootleg dolls) out there.

Only craft for your doll if you already have an interest in that craft. For example, if you can sew, sewing BJD outfits can be a lot of fun. If you hate sewing, though, you don't want to put yourself through that.