What does it mean for you to "bond" with your dolls?

To me bonding with a doll means finding a sentimental connection with it, i.e. it no longer just being a chunk of resin but being something you actually care about. I mean, I don't actually think that my dolls have souls or mentalities of their own, but they're still special to me.

 

Bonding with the doll, for me is spending time with them as if they were living breathing people. When my baby gets here I'll talk to them about whatever is on my mind, put him to sleep, dress him up properly and go out for walks. Also going to keep cleaning him for maintenance and stuff. because like us humans, dolls need to unwind and relax to feel brand new too. Doing simple activities like those can deepen a bond >w<

 

My take on bonding:

With Vince it was instantaneous-- I loved him to bits when I opened the box. Since then I've gotten to 'know' him, by which I mean I know how his head naturally likes to sit, which positions he snaps back to or falls into whether or not I'd like him to do something different. I know where his resin's the smoothest and how his little hand fits around my finger. So while I did bond with him right away, I feel like we're bonded more deeply now.

With Pete and Billy, I ordered them on layaway and then had a money crisis and needed to borrow from my mother, and I had her keep the big box with the dolls in her closet until I'd paid back the loan. I wasn't as sure about bonding with Billy because of his size-- child dolls aren't my thing, so anything smaller than MSD I thought might wig me out, but I wound up loving him. But, since Pete was the more expensive of the two, even though I've long since paid back the loan and kept myself out of the financial hole from thence on, I sometimes feel a lingering guilt when I look at Pete. He's beautiful, and I love him, but bonding with him is more of an ongoing process, where I sometimes have to get over the circumstances of his 'birth' and remind myself that there's no earthly good in feeling guilt when I've already fixed the problem and haven't had the same trouble since.

 

For me it means getting used to them and figuring out who and what I want them to be, so that they aren't just pieces or resin anymore. :3

 

For me, bonding is that the doll get a name, personality, backstory and their own look (wig, eyes, clothes).

 

For me, it's not just that they are complete, both in doll form and having a backstory and character, but I have to LIKE how they look and the character. I've sold off gorgeous dolls before simply because I couldn't get a character feel for them. They HAVE to fit in with my main plotlines and fringe characters or dolls bought simply b/c "OH PRETTY!" don't last long. Totally wiping and starting over usually doesn't work either, because I still see that doll as the first character that didn't work out and feel like I'm "forcing" it.

 

For me they have to be complete and their stories have match with their appearance. Also it means that they seem to have a certain way to exist. Everything in them just... matches. If it didn't sound so weird I'd say I bond with my dolls when they seem to develope a soul.
But I think that sounds little bit creepy...

 

For me, I make little changes until they develop their own personality. So instead of seeing the company default or online person X's doll, I see my doll.

 

for me bonding with my doll it's like bonding with a person
i like to go places with her, and knowing that just looking at her makes me smile like crazy i know she's like a best friend to me ^o^

 

It is like love for me. It's something that just happens... when you are less expecting, it's like a car crash! XD

I have one dolls who looks exactly how I wanted him but I just can't bond with him! >__< so I have changed his looks, name and everything! after almost 5 years I still can't bond with him. He's a DOD tender too. My last try is to mod his head. I think I don't like the sculpt so I will make it into something very different, I won't play safe now, I will go over the top with him just because I want to bond with him.

Due to this, I don't dare to buy another MSD boy doll and I can't buy another DOD. I LOVE with all my heart my other 2 DODs (Doc Zen and Doc Twin-B) and I have bonded completely with them, even when they were not finished, I already loved them. And when I mean "bond", I mean I see them as family, I love them and I would go crazy if something bad happens to them.

 

Wow Ok so I have my very first dollie part. A Loong Soul Ling Jing head and... I can't part with her. ( i realize its a male sculpt but i am making mine a female) I have never held or touched a dolly before and I keep touching the resin ( its so much softer than I expected)

I also have the little blank head sitting here beside me and i keep glancing at it. ( waiting for face up supplies). I kind of feel utterly CRAZY hahah Its a disembodied resin head with no face up and no eyes and yet I feel so attached to her. ( Her name is Tuulie BTW)

I keep picking it up and running it over in my hands. taking off the back head plate and peeking inside. * leh sigh* ^_^

Does anyone else do this?

 

*raises hand* guilty as charged! Just ask my best friend who's also in the hobby... all the while ever since my IoS Sezz head, Hellel, got home he's been out and about together with my completed dolls despite of the lack of a body to call his own... or hair... or a faceup at the time. I did paint his faceup since, though, and his wig did get home, so all he needs now is a body -but that doesn't mean I don't value the time already spent with him~

 

Ooh, definitely! I got my first doll this year, a few months ago actually. My friend bought the head for me (and then his body!) More so with the head itself though, a migidoll miho. That sculpt is my dream doll and to actually have it is a bit mind boggling. I never thought I would be able to own him and I was nervous that it wouldn't be what I expected.

You're so right though, the resin is so smooth and I keep having to take a peek at him. I've been keeping him in the box for safekeeping until I get everything together but I'm already really attached. *A*

 

Oh yess. When I got my first girl I could not stop touching her. Resin has a very unique feel and it was very bizarre to me. :P I still find, when I hand out with her or just hold her, I will rub one of her feet. (Major creep) But it is so smooth that I just do it without thinking. xD

 

You're not alone~ xD I love touching feet and hands all the time. uvu;;; it feels somehow relaxing, don't know what you say! I used to do this a whole lot when I had a yoSD around even if we didn't bond after all and he was later adopted by my best friend... I find myself really missing that, however...

 

Wow I am so glad I am not the only freak here lol. My Husband keeps looking at me like ' WHAT are you doing to the disembodied head NOW?'

 

Definitely! I got my first head off the marketplace, a Luts KDF Summery 2010 and I just held it and stared at it and took it out and looked at it some more.... it was love. I since have gotten 2 more dolls and I have done the same thing with them. I never expected it really to be this way, but it's true. I still take them out and stare at them lovingly. (though it hasn't been all that long!) They are just too beautiful!

 

Yup! I have two head that are still waiting for their bodies. One of them was bought in 2007 and I haven't yet found a body that I like for his character, but I could never ever part with him.

I'm completely in love with their ears and often catch myself tracing my fingers over the lines of the sculpting.

 

The LS Ling Jing has MASSIVE ears! and I am obsessed with them. They are low set adorable little elf ears and I keep running my fingers over them

 

Oh wow, how cute! I love huge ears like that so much.
I also like to have my dolls with me all the time. I always play with their hair. That's my obsession... wigs. I have boxes and boxes. I have never sold one, only traded with a close friend. After they are posed nicely I will brush their poor wigs (probably way too much, I ruin my wigs constantly).

Here is a giant ear picture to make you smile!


Parsley by designbasia, on Flickr

I'm a huge ear lover, heh!