What part of the doll customizing process do you DREAD?

I always dread the faceup stage... I can't do them myself, and it's often a whole process to find a reliable artist who charges a fair price (not necessarily a cheap one) and has a style that I like. Plus the artist usually has to be open to doing extra weird stuff, because I always have a specific idea in mind. Since I had a really bad experience in the past, I don't ship my dolls out of the country for painting if I can help it, so that narrows my pool of choices down even further.

I know a lot of people just learn how to do it themselves to avoid these kinds of things, but I've already taught myself a lot of skills for this hobby, and the time and money it takes to learn another major one isn't something I have. Plus I don't want to practice on my dolls... I just want them to be done lol

 

I had to think about it pretty hard, which I would say is good, but I dread wiping faceups. Specifically my faceups. Company faceups and airbrush faceups seem to be extremely easy to get off but faceups with aerosol sealant can take a lot of effort to remove to my satisfaction (like new with no residue around eyes or lip crease if at all possible).

 

For me, I think it's finding shoes. lol I HATE searching for shoes. Most of the time the shoes that I do get... I end up hating because they ruin the aesthetic I was going for (ex: it makes my doll look like a child because of how thick it is). I just gave up and everyone is either bare foot or have socks on. lol

 

Yes, this is very much one of the more annoying things. One of my dolls has shoes that match her current outfit but the toe box is very large and the impression is more Kingdom Hearts than the intended '90s anime. Shoe shopping is so very time consuming.

 

I hate restringing a too floppy or tight doll. I'm afraid of chipping, not putting them back together right and the strength it takes sometimes. Always glad when it's done and it works so there is no need to suede joints, cuz then you have go do it again. Ugh!

 

Faceups, I feel like I make mistakes and have to start over like 10 time before I get something I'm ok with, not even love just not hate. So my dolls usually are here a While before I get one done.( also I have way too much anxiety to trust the post office mailing them to someone else to paint).

And shoes are so difficult to judge the proper size to buy on the internet.

 

Honestly- I’m scared to do faceups but I dread sanding.
The ball joint of the resin soul jointed hands was very big, I’ve seen people sand them down but it’s very difficult to get the desired smoothness, finally getting some mobility back after the most recent attempt to finish the job
Which is why I keep making wristicuffs

 

I feel exactly the same!

The thing I also really struggle with is the wigmaking process I often have specific styles in mind and its often hard to find someone who is able to make the styles that I like. I have a doll here at the moment who I am dreading finding a wig for and I think I will have to make my own.

 

I dread a lot of things because I suck at a lot of them, but I still enjoy doing most -- I got into these dolls because of how much I could customize myself (or at least I thought I could). I love painting from when I was a young child, and have a traditional art background which didn't really prepare me for painting clean lines on tiny faces. However, I still enjoy painting my own face ups and doing body blushing. I love the latter the most, and though I prefer subtle body blushing for my own dolls, I have a hard time stopping myself from overdoing it because I love blushing things so much. I dread wiping it off the most, even more than removing face ups -- more so on my larger BJD, it can literally take hours. I also dread sewing, because I suck so badly at it. But I am cheap when it comes to most doll clothes; I never learned how to do it properly, only started sewing when I got my first large BJD hybrid, and I was already in my early twenties. I still suck at it, but I still do it if I have to.

Doing eyebrows and eyelashes is the part of the face up I dread the most, because I suffer from extremely shaky hands naturally -- not quite tremors, or a medical condition but you would think I had five cups of coffee just by looking at my hands (I don't drink coffee or caffeinated drinks, I'm an insomniac as is). It hasn't gotten better with old age, but I still enjoy painting my dolls and I can't do a face up with no brows, I wouldn't be able to look at the doll and not laugh -- I rather not do that (I dread wrinkles IRL, even at forty, I'm not ready for those yet!). I also make wigs for my dolls and I like that I can potentially control hair bulk, and do the style I really want for my dolls, but I suck at it as well! I am terrible at making the wefts, both sewed and glued ones. As much as I want to keep the hair bulk to a minimum, I always end up making wefts too thick! I don't know how, but I am terrible that way. I guess it means I don't have an edit button IRL; maybe I've spent too much time on the computer, and my brain thinks I can just hit the undo keys, but there's none and it's too late when I actually realize it. Lol! (:

 

I'm with you on wigs... I've basically given up on making them myself, but even shopping for them is a bit of a hassle since the unique ones are all pricey, the wrong size, the wrong fiber type, or too long for me to tolerate.

I think otherwise for me it's actually what I imagine most people LOVE about doll customizing... the clothes. I wear almost exclusively black irl because I can't be bothered to figure out how to put together an outfit. Most of my dolls are similarly monochrome, but I think I'm getting better.

 

I looove dying dolls, I’ve dyed around five of mine so far and I have plans to dye more eventually. But I never look forward to the un-stringing/re-stringing part of the process. Also, all the prep-work that comes with dying can be annoying, such as tediously tying a loop of string to every piece.

 

I personally only do face-ups myself, so everything else I either need to buy somewhere or get made.
I think what I usually dread the most there is definitely wigs, since I prefer angora wigs (expensive) and short, head-fitted hairstyles for my guys. Which means I either need to hope I find a wig maker that has the head at hand, or I need to send out my head. Which is the reason I became a face-up artist, I didn't wanna have to do that!

Eyes are probably a close second, because there too I tend to gravitate to specific looks and it's a big hit or miss whether a pair of eyes will look nice in the doll later. Especially when you get them custom made.
Even though I dislike making eyes, I started doing them because for some dolls buying them custom made would have been ridiculous/not possible. I really don't like doing it, but at least for some dolls it was the best choice. I am glad whenever I can skip that hassle though

 

Sending them out for faceups. Between finding a faceup artist, the fact that the post office is open at EXACTLY the same hours as I work, and I can't easily leave early, and the fact that I'm never sure if I adequately explained my vision for the doll, getting faceups is anxiety inducing.

 

Sealing faceups because I'm mostly at the mercy of having the time to do it and the weather being good enough. I live in a very humid place so it's not optimal for sealant spraying. I made an indoor spray booth but it's not my preference. I'm also super impatient waiting for it to dry so I can move on with the faceup.

I also dread restringing. Mostly my centaurs.

 

I hate removing face ups too, it takes forever and I can never seem to get off that last bit that gets stuck in the crevices of lips and eye corners. The face up itself is fun to do, but then gluing in the eyelashes definitely gives me a major headache.

 

Tattoos are by far the part of customizing I dread the most. I absolutely love how they look but all the fine lines and symmetry drive me crazy sometimes. I can get away with a little asymmetry sometimes but pieces that need almost perfect symmetry take forever. Though realistic wig-making is a close second. Trying to make a wig 2-4 hairs at a time is borderline painful but the results are amazing.

 

shoes scare me. I've never tried to make any yet, but it looks complicated, and I don't do well with projects that take time and patience... yet I'll have to try it in the near future, because I need sandals for a doll whose feet don't really fit normal shoes orz

I also hate sewing stretchy fabrics. It always go wrong somehow (mostly because I never remember to change the needles), and it's a little tricky to do hand-sewing for it, which makes it harder to have certain part look nice, and... I just don't like it