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What kind of collector are you?

Nov 20, 2023

    1. I’m a little new to the community, and I’m very interested to know how many people here prefer to manage their doll collecting.

      So, what type of collector are you?

      Do you go for Fullsets? Or Basic dolls for your own customization?
      If you go for your own basics: do you customize them on your own and to what degree?

      If you do your own face ups, create your own clothes, or just buy or send off parts for painting separately, I’m interested to see what everyone has to say. :)
       
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    2. I'm eclectic! :XD: I've bought fullsets and blank dolls and own sizes ranging from petite pet dolls to big SDs. I've painted/sewed as well as commissioned artists for these services. I like each doll to be different from the others--different resin color, different size, different sculpt, etc. I don't have a massive collection, but I suppose my general attitude is that if a doll is too similar to what I already have, I probably don't need it. :)
       
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    3. A mix of both. I like to customize with the accessories I choose.
      I like company make, and if the full set has parts I would like to mix and match, I might get that too.
      I'm not good at making yet but I'm learning and enjoying it. I do shop for things that I am not ready or willing to make.
      I've discovered I really don't like sending my dolls off for painting. I have had good experiences with it, but it's a stressful time. I prefer to avoid it when I can. But sometimes the doll is worth the hassle.
       
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    4. Almost entirely secondhand, to start! My collection is minimal at the moment, with no fullsets at all, but two of my three BJDs had faceups prior, and only one has been blank with the head and body purchased at separate occasions. I think that I've found I do in fact prefer that my dolls have faceups beforehand, because then I can wipe it and redo, adjust it to my liking, or just keep it as is! Having a blank-faced doll, I find, tends to paralyze me a bit with the prospect/pressure of needing to give them a nice if not perfect faceup. But that's just my own brain, haha. Otherwise, I also enjoy body blushing on my own, since I can really control how my dolls look that way.

      I love making things for my dolls, but I've bought them things too! I do like to have my dolls be cohesive as a whole, so they lean towards dresses regardless of gender and I keep them near one another in display. Also, in my head, I like to come up with personalities for my dolls based on their appearance and sculpt's facial expression(s). I always imagine them getting along in some way, though, so I like to think that when I see them sitting on their shelf it's as friends hanging out together, hahaha. It helps comfort me too whenever I'm unable to pay attention to my BJDs for a long time due to school or work.
       
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    5. Mostly, I like to buy blank dolls and make them my own. New or secondhand doesn't really matter, as long as I can get what I want. Often, I hybrid them because I want something very specific. Except for two, I have painted them all myself. Those two who aren't by me are special. One is a default faceup from a defunct company and I used to talk directly to the artist a bit, so it's personal. The other was a secondhand doll with a faceup by one of my favorite faceup artists and it just happened to work really well for my character. I occasionally mod dolls, but usually something simple like eye opening or nose sanding.

      For clothes and accessories, I'd say I buy most, but I do make stuff, too. Just depends on whether I have the skill to make something, and if I do, is it going to cost me more in materials and time than just buying the outfit?
       
      • x 1
    6. I am a bit of everything. My first 4 dolls were complete full sets from the company - wigs, clothes, faceup. But as I have gone on, I have bought blank dolls and paid for them to have custom clothes, custom wig, and custom face up. I really haven't made anything for my dolls yet - I've bought materials to do so but I keep psyching myself out.
       
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    7. I have only bought one full set. I've got like five dolls out of 20+ who didn't immediately scream I had the wrong character in mind for them when they arrived, so I tend to go for blank dolls that I fall for and let them tell me who they are when they arrive. That said, I've gotten a few secondhand with face ups (though more than a few of mine are secondhand in general), and it's a coin toss whether the face up will affect the character I have in mind or not.
       
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    8. I prefer buying secondhand because I don't have the skills yet to do a new faceup on a brand new doll – I feel I couldn't do the sculpt justice. I have bought some dolls new or as fullsets because that was the best way to get them. I think being able to sew outfits and do cleaning and modification myself makes me more attached to my dolls.
      So it's a bit of everything, really!
       
      • x 1
    9. I buy dolls directly from the company, but have bought secondhand in the past. I pretty much only like to customize blank dolls, especially doing their own faceups, but there are a couple of Fairyland fullsets that I definitely wouldn't mind buying if I had the money for them. It takes a lot to find all of my likes in one doll enough to buy a fullset, but the Crow Witch Sia hits all of them.

      As for faceups, I can honestly say that even when my faceups fail to live up to my expectations, if I love the doll I still get excited to try again. Faceups help me bond with the doll and I also get to explore my creativity with each faceup, so I recommend trying your own faceups if you have the money and patience to start. It really helps you personalize it to your exact specifications and you can learn a new skill in the process! Just be sure to always, always, always use a proper respirator and keep your filters up to date.
       
      • x 1
    10. I prefer to buy blank dolls and customize them myself all the way.
      I have about a 50/50 mix of new from company and second hand dolls. I am happy either way as long as the prize is right, considering everything from company/seller reputation, condition, convenience etc. to more personal things like how badly I want that specific doll right now.
      I have a pretty good sized collection right now. I have time and space for them, but those are not unlimited resources, so I am finding myself getting more and more picky with what I buy and when. I dislike selling dolls so I much rather wait to bu until I am fairly sure I want a doll for good.

      I interact with my dolls mostly by crafting for them. I sew most of their clothes and I build a lot of their furniture and props. I also do their face ups myself.
      I do usually buy wigs, eyes and shoes ready made as i don't enjoy making those as much.
      I don't enjoy photography, but I enjoy setting up little scenes and I do enjoy sharing those with others, so I do still take pictures ocationally. And even if it will never become a favorite thing to do I have to admit that as I've been doing it more I have also goten better at it and that removes some of the frustrations and makes it a little less of a pain, so I am sort of-kind of warming up to it.

      I am a hands on collector. A doll that is only there to sit on a shelf and look pretty is nice and fine for antique dolls that need to be preserved, but not at all as much fun as one I can take down, play around with, sit beside my computer to keep me company, take out into the garden for photos or take with me to go to a friends house. :D

      I love how durable and easy to handle BJDs are and how they are essentially a blank slate for us to make our own.
      I love how I can look at a dozen examples of he same doll and see a dozen different dolls depending on what the owners have done with them.
      Because of this, fullsets -as pretty as they are- does bore me a little bit. :sweat
       
      • x 3
    11. I buy both from companies and from secondhand market, depending of what I want and how available it is.
      I have bought fullset in the past, but it's really not for me. I always ended up in selling the fullset parts. Sometime because I finally wanted to make my own faceup but didn't want to erase the fullset one, or selling the outfit because it didn't quite fit my character, or selling the body because I wanted to hybriding the head...

      Like @Lillith I mostly interact with my dolls by crafting for them. I do my own faceups and wigs, I like to craft accessories and I enjoy more and more sewing.
      I also enjoy taking photos of them, and sharing those photos. Taking photos is nice, but I like a lot showing them too.
      I dream of making an head one day, but currently I don't have the time or the will to really begin it. So I wait hoping someone will finally make it before I have to :lol: (I woud love a middle age woman face, or more elderly dolls in 1/3 size and that is so rare or non existant!)
       
      • x 3
    12. I buy always blank and only those dolls that fits to the characters of my story/book and go full customization to make them look as described. Even if I like a doll, but it doesn't have a character from my story, I won't buy it, no matter how I like it. Usually do extensive research everywhere where it's possible and ask for help with color matches, proportions. Thanks to good people from the community I was lucky so far and got all my hybrids right from the first attempt.

      Not interested in crafting, even though I can make wigs, tattoo but crafting is not my thing. In 100% cases I'd give my dolls to my fav faceup artist, who did all faceups for all of my crew, also will order outfits and handmade shoes if needed. If i need 3d printing, I just ask my friends to print something for me.
      I consider my dolls as an art-objects and use them as models for photography. Basically that the main thing I'm interested in the hobby :roll:
       
      • x 1
    13. I guess I am a DIY/hands on collector? I always try to get blank dolls to paint my own faceups, I don't care for fullsets as I love making clothes and wigs myself. I prefer buying second hand rather than straight from the company, too, as I tend to prefer older sculpts and am a sucker for fixer-uppers. I'm also a huge weirdo because I really like yellowed resin somehow haha. I like to handle my dolls a lot, either just for play/photos or for crafting new things for them - they have all those joints! I'd feel sad only to keep them for display.
       
      • x 2
    14. I like customizing my dolls as much as I can -- as a traditionally trained artists for most of my life now, I love painting on everything!!! So of course, I enjoy painting my own dolls, and modifying them if I feel like it, to making crappy clothes, wigs and more recently even crappy shoes as well. The thing I'll probably never seriously try, are eyes. But that's only because making glass eyes is probably harder than it sounds, and I am not a fan of resin. If I knew making glass eyes was easy, I would probably try that as well -- even if my eyes turned out like crap, because I enjoy torturing myself, and my dolls as well! However, it would probably require more than just skill and talent as well as the right equipment to make handmade glass eyes, and I'll probably never be able to justify purchasing just to make a few pairs of eyes for my own dolls. (:
       
      • x 2
    15. I've got a mix, but I definitely lean towards basic dolls - some with faceups, some without. I did end up getting the one doll with fullset I liked secondhand, and the fullset has pretty much been a jumping off point for adding to her wardrobe!

      Now that I've got faceup supplies myself, I've been having fun painting my dolls' faces and seeing what I can do. I'm nowhere near the level of the artists who take commissions, of course, but it's a good time and it makes me happy to be able to point at my dolls and say I painted them! At the same time, I quite love my company faceups (Megu just wouldn't be Megu without the faceup for me), and though I am considering redoing one of the faceups I commissioned, the other one's just perfect.

      I've also made some wigs but at this rate, I'd prefer not to, heh. It takes forever and it's a messy process. If anyone's got some pointers on where to find good, very curly wigs, I'm all ears!

      Clothes, I've made some, I've bought some. I love my little fashion models for using up random bits of yarn and fabric but, uh, if I was the only one making their clothes, they'd be pretty short on pants. Sorry, guys.
       
      • x 2
    16. I buy basic and limited dolls but usually buy nude dolls. I only have a couple full sets that I bought used because I wanted the doll and just happened to find them as full sets. I buy most of my clothes from seamstresses I find on Etsy, Facebook, and Instagram. I usually get company/factory faceups because I haven’t found an artist in my area that I want to send dolls to yet.
       
      • x 2
    17. I prefer blank faces, though my hands often fail to replicate the dream faceup I see before my
      inner sight. I try to complete my own characters. Only one of my dolls is inspired by a book character. The most important thing for me is photography and making something of myself for my dolls It reinforces the bond.
       
      • x 2
    18. I’ve built my collection from the very beginning to be eclectic…diversity was always my goal. I wanted to be completely free to collect anything and everything that fascinated me. So I created a Tim Burton-esque fantasy world (somewhat like his movie “Alice”) where all sorts and sizes of characters could interact with one another. I’ve had a lifelong fascination with sewing and fashion, so this enabled me explore all types of styles by creating the fascinating characters to wear them. And being the creative sort, I’ve done the vast majority of faceups myself on blank dolls but have added some wonderful company faceups too along the way. The same with clothing…I enjoy sewing the vast majority of their wardrobes but won’t hesitate to purchase something on occasion that I might find special and interesting. And as for the dolls themselves, I have a healthy mix of company and second-hand purchases. For me, it’s all about finding the character I’m looking to shell.:)
       
      • x 4
    19. I'm mostly "just a collector". :XD:

      That is to say, I'm not an artist trying to realize a vision with my gang. I'm just an old chick who likes pretty dolls.

      I do play the "character game" to some extent, and a few of the crew absolutely were chosen with that in mind... Kestrel and Cardinal, Shonokin or Nemissary, for instance, who are all resin avatars for favorite roleplayed MMO toons... But that's typically not my primary focus for the collection as a whole. If a doll reminds me of one of my tabletop RPG or MMO characters, or something about them seems to suggest an idea, I'll go with it. But as often as not the primary reason why that particular sculpt or individual doll was added was just because it appealed to me. They don't need to be characters to end up with me.

      Given that, and the fact that I have very little talent for doing faceups myself (and honestly don't enjoy the process AT ALL-), I'm just fine with having other people handle that bit of doll creation, rather it's the company or an individual.

      I do sew for my dolls, and usually manage to make a passable job of it.... but I collect doll clothes almost as much as I collect the dolls themselves, so there are also a lot of full set, one-off, ready-made and commissioned outfits in the collective wardrobe. The funny thing is that when I buy a full set. it's very, very rarely the doll who came with an outfit who ends up wearing it. Almost without exception, it ends up on somebody else. :lol:
       
      • x 7
    20. I buy blank dolls because I enjoy customizing them, using dolls to express myself artistically is a big part of what makes them "worth it" to me. My first doll did come painted already though and I love her as-is so I don't plan to paint that one myself. There are some full set dolls that I have seen and loved everything about (ex: coral reef Caroline) but I think I would have a hard time justifying the purchase to myself if I didn't "do" anything with the doll otherthan display her
       
      • x 3