What is holding you back from having your dream collection?

Besides my last two girls I got semi-recently who I had wanted for many years, it was effort. I already had the dolls I loved and cared about, but never put in the effort to make them clothes or get them nicer wigs. I just wanted more dolls instead.

 

I don't think I have something like a "dream collection". If I do, it's probably something like "in addition to the dolls in my possession, I'd like to have a ¼ boy and a ⅙ girl". I'll be one step closer soon because I'll add the boy to my collection
What's holding be back from buying them at once is space, money and time – and for the ⅙ girl the perfect head
Space: My apartment is not so big and my doll room neither. Where should I put any more dolls except for the dark cabinet?
Money: Besides the doll costing a lot of money, the accessories too. Even if you do stuff on your own, the material will still cost you a lot. Until recently, I've been a student without income so I didn't have much money left for costly hobbies.
Time: I've been wanting to sew something for my doll for two weeks now, but I had no time at all. I'll compensate that by buying a complete outfit together with my new doll so at least he won't start out blank. Which leads to point two again

 

My dream dolls just... not existing, honestly? Most of my dolls are shelled OCs, and a significant amount of my OCs have body types that just aren't popular for BJDs. There ARE plus-size dolls, but many of them are hard to get your hands on, and none of them are men. I would really love to commission sculpts for them, though, and in that case, the barrier would simply be money, LOL.

 

Funds - I can really only afford to buy 1-2 dolls a year while also having enough left over to spoil & enjoy the ones I have

Energy & bonding time - honestly, this is a big one for me. I'm really low on energy, and spend a lot of the energy I do have on work and other hobbies. I like to get each doll finished and allow myself time to properly spoil them and bond with them before I buy another. Which means I'm a sloooooow collector (but this is fine! It's how I enjoy them. It just means my wishlist has to wait)

Availability - I'm an old school doll collector and pretty much all the sculpts I want are discontinued. I'm at the mercy of the secondhand market.

Space - I live in a tiny flat. At the moment I only have my CP Delfs on display. I would love to have a seperate display of non-delfs but I don't have the space.

 

I have all the dolls I could ever want or need of this genre (not including those I'll never get due them being discontinued/un-popular/no-longer-made), I just need energy and desire to complete them. I have a lot of other hobbies where customizable toys are involved, and I tend to switch between which ones I focus on from time to time and then switch again when I lose my interest or get frustrated along the way. I lost interest in strung resin dolls a long time ago, so I went back to 1:6 action figures, now I am slightly focused on both figures and BJD, but I'm not planning on getting more resin, just trying to focus on actually completing at least one of those. Hopefully, before I kick the bucket, but seeing how slowly I get things done now, I doubt it. Lol! (:

 

All I need to do is one thing (aside from the ones I can't get, because limited models): paint the faceup of those who have been waiting so long. I'm 90% prepared with some clothes, wigs, stories for them, but if their face is supposed to express their personality that I can see in front of my inner eyes, it's a pain for me to get it into reality.

 

I just need time! I have so many plans that require me to sew, do faceups, wigs, shoes, jewelry- and I’m not a master of any of these skills, I need to put practice in! But I’m a mom, I have a full time job, plus a farm to manage. It’s a lot of work!! I do have a dream that they will look stunning, all on display, clothing to match the season, gorgeous faceups, and all the accessories- it will happen, I just have to keep finding these spare moments to learn and create

 

What's holding me back is being late to the party My dream collection would have some DoDs in there but returning to the interest after a long long while also means many dolls I fell in love with at first are long discontinued and hard to find.

I also don't want to end up with a big collection, so I can't really get every doll I ever wanted - there are always bound to be some that have to be left out in order not to feel too stressed and overwhelmed by the numbers.

 

A combination of funds, and simply having joined the community very late, like some of the above commenters have stated.

 

The availability and I really don´t want to have more than 2 or 3 dolls.

 

At this point, space and time! I'm happy with the dolls I have and the couple that are incoming. But, same as some folks upthread, I am in a small apartment so space is limited, and I'm fond of my 1/4ths and small 1/3rds. I have a display cabinet for my dolls now and it's nice but my dream is to have an entire spare closet I could make into a dollhouse for them! Ideally as part of a dedicated craft room so I could have all my sewing and knitting stuff right there whenever I want to make something for them. Ah, but the housing market's still a mess over here, so I understand.

And, again, just having time to spend with them. Making things, taking pics, even just sitting with them. When I get home from work I'm usually too tired to do much or just don't feel like I have time, and my company is not keen on WFH which would help me a lot there. I'd just really love more me time, and thus more doll time.

 

To some degree money (materials for wigs) and to some degree my own perfectionism/impatience. So many of my dolls are still naked simply because what I want to sew for them is probably above my current skill level, but I've been unable to kick myself into even making an attempt on their clothing because I've got it in my head that their outfit must be perfect right away...

Just yesterday I figured that instead of trying to make them the outfits I've planned, I'll first make them all yukatas as even though most of them wouldn't wear one, they're fairly easy to both pattern and sew, and I just really like how they look in general. Maybe them having at least something to wear would help me get over it, but it's to be seen if this plan helps, I meant to start on it as soon as the idea popped into my head yet ended up procrastinating by doing doll maintenance and mohair dyeing instead... and I hate doing both of those things... Goddammit, I'll send this reply and start working on a yukata immediately!

 

Energy, mostly. I have big plans, but I don't have energy to work on them.

 

Money, I have to make sure my loved ones are taken care of before I can spend on this hobby. The dolls I'd like are very expensive and I just can't justify spending so much when there are others depending on me. Especially since the dolls I have now give me enough joy that I don't need the super expensive ones.

 

Availability or accessibility. I am happy with the dolls available to me but there are some that are not. Another reason is I can’t make everything I want for my dolls, even if I could, the materials I imagine sometimes don’t exist. I also bought some dolls early on and my taste has changed, so I’m working on curating my collection this year.

 

In my case, it's mostly about money and personal dilemmas. There are so many options in the doll world that I have a hard time finding what is really made for me, I already know shat I don't want but I don't know what would be the best for my needs, so it's mostly about time to figure it out and money to make my projects actually happen that's one of my main objectives for this year ; working on figuring all this out

 

I’ve actually managed to build my dream collection, so I’m here to cheer you all on! I know it’s difficult, but rest assured that it’s difficult for everyone so you’re in good company. It’s taken me 18 years to get to where I feel my collection is complete, and there’s been so much learning, planning, and curating along the way…and all of it had to be done within a budget and time constraints too. It can be daunting…but is oh so worth it! So my advice is to take your time with it and enjoy the process as part of the fun of this hobby. It takes awhile to refine your own personal aesthetic and learn what truly works for you, and that’s perfectly okay. And finding me-time in a busy life can seem daunting, so fully celebrate every chunk of it you’re able to carve out as a success. Even if your efforts seem small, in the end it all adds up!

For me, the hardest part after so long is stopping! So while I’ve managed to complete the collection of my dreams, it’s turned out to be much larger than I ever thought it would. When you slowly and methodically collect about 3 dolls per year, that can really add up after so long a time. But what a fascinating journey it’s been! And the joy of the overall process has been immeasurable.

 

90% funds, 10% space. I don’t have the space to display a lot of dolls, and can’t afford them anyway. My entire “fun” budget each month is $60, which includes dolls, video games, books, eating out, gifts for friends and family, craft supplies, etc. Unless I want to cut out everything in my life but BJDs, it takes months to save up for even basic dolls from less pricy companies. Buying the amazing limited fantasy dolls I really adore is almost impossible for me right now, even with layaway options I generally wouldn’t be able to afford the monthly payments. Maybe some day, but right now I’m just enjoying the couple of dolls I do have.

 

I have my dream collection of dolls, but I need quite a bit of money for the two limited outfits I’m searching for.