What was the worst mistake you made when you first started the hobby?

my big mistake was not researching enough and being impatient, I ended up buying a doll that was actually just a cheap plastic bootleg BJD, so I way overpaid for what I got and I couldn't get my money back because technically they never claimed it was a proper resin doll (never thought to look up what PVC meant ) and I didn't realize till many months after I got her.
Thankfully I know better now and I love my small collection

 

I didn't wait to develop my taste and started buying dolls on purely impulse. I got caught up in limited edition hype and bought a few based purely on the fact they were limited. I wrote off one of my (now) favorite doll companies because the people around me told me they were overpriced and overrated.

 

I think my biggest mistake going into the hobby was not researching on the background/reputation of the company I was buying from (i.e. actual lead times - not the one that companies claim; customer service quality; actual product quality; political affiliations).

Whilst most of this has nothing in relation to the actual doll itself, it can bring about a lot of unnecessary anxiety and/or guilt when you go in blind and only find out shortly later. I still love my boy to bits, but depending on how much these factors matter to each individual, it can be a source of regret. It may be better to find out anything and everything you can before diving in, so you know what exactly you're getting yourself into

 

Not using proper respiratory protection for my first faceup. I can't remember what exactly I did to attempt to protect my lungs, it may have been just holding my breath every time I stepped outside to spray another coat (yikes!). But I definitely didn't have a suitable mask with the right filters (I was a poor teenager and it seemed insane to spend so much money on a mask when holding my breath was free, LOL). Sometime between my first and second faceup, I read this tutorial and it thankfully scared me into taking respiratory protection seriously from then on.

 

My first doll was a Dollzone msd, but I wanted the single jointed Body because of money reasons and because I thought that double jointed bodies are too difficult to handle for me as a beginner. Huuuuge mistake
Nowadays I check the dolls for their mobility before buying them xD

 

I made a lot of hybrids that I ended up not liking and bought really random floating heads and parts that I ended up not wanting later on. Over time I’ve refined my collection and it makes me feel a lot less stressed than I did then.

 

Mine was not seeing dolls in person first. I saw IRL photos, but until I actually had my first one had no idea what they felt like or the posing abilities were. Also how hard clothes can be to find. 15 years in hobby and still learning.

 

It wansn't a huge deal or anything, but I did underestimate how dificult face-ups were. I am absolutely one of those who thought "I can do flat paintings, I can paint table top miniatures, how hard can it be?" Turns out that just because you can paint the nails of a 28mm tall orc that doesn't mean you can make a neat 1:4 scale eye brow...
I did learn, though. It just took longer than I thought. I am still no master by any means, but I can paint my own dolls at a level I am not too embarresed to show off to the world.

 

My biggest mistake was in underestimating the importance of character in this hobby. Someone bought me a doll of their choosing in exchange for my face-upping a few of their dolls. I did their dolls, and when it came time to do mine I knew exactly what I wanted her to be: the classic fantasy elf. So I gave her the perfect faceup, made her the perfect wig, and sewed her the perfect elaborate fantasy outfit complete with jewelry. And she was perfect…TOO perfect! When I was done, I remember standing there looking at her for a long time as the realization slowly sank in that I’d never want to change a single thing about her. She was the exact embodiment of my artistic vision, untouchable, unchangeable…and I might as well have put her in a frame like a two-dimensional painting or in a plastic display box like one of those fancy Barbies. She was just a bjd form of those plastic or vinyl-type dolls I’d grown up with and NOT what I’d come into this hobby for. Needless to say, I sold her immediately because I realized there was nowhere I could go with her. And I learned my lesson. My next doll was one of my own choosing, and when I worked on her, I kept a multi-faceted character for her in mind…one that could change and develop and grow. That was in 2006, and I’ve been slowly collecting and happily creating in this hobby every day since!

 

I don't consider it a mistake because in the end it helped to learn what I wanted but my choice for first doll was not right. I chose this doll that was in my budget but I hadn't done enough research. Also I ordered her bald, no face-up and no clothes so when she came home she was eerything but appealing when compared with dolls I had seen in person. It took me some time to save enough money to dress her and send her to get a face-up but I did end not liking her as I was supposed to.

 

i tried to do an eye opening mod on my first floating head....the kinfe flew out of my hand and chipped part of the nose and scratched the cheek...they eventually got repaired but i lost them in a move...thats another thing always keep track of ur floating heads.

 

I learned the hard way that the accessories are more important than the doll. It felt like I was being smart by setting aside my money for the next doll because it was more expensive, but instead I ended up with a shelf full of half-naked dolls, not bonding with any of them. It made me feel like I was too poor for the hobby and that I'd never be able to enjoy it like everyone else. But it's not because I didn't have enough money; I was just not budgeting for the right things. A smaller collection of dolls with personality is a lot more fulfilling than a large collection of dolls that aren't fully realized.

 

This was me as well. I was also an artist who painted figures and I still struggle to do faceups. I also did costuming professionally and was a little surprised at the learning curve for sewing and scaling proper fabrics for these little people!

But my biggest early mistake was using acetone instead of alcohol to clean a face-up off of my light coffee Resinsoul Song and BBB Sprite. They still have ashy spots behind their ears.

 

I bought a few of my early CP/Delfs in white resin rather than their normal peachy color. Including the one that I had an extensive ear-mod done on...

'Turns out I really hate the color CP's white resin turns with age.

I've managed to replace most of my white resin Delfs with NS versions of the same sculpt over the years, but there's not a darn thing I can do about poor Nightengale. His mods make him impossible to switch easily and he's one of the infamous "Beauty Green"s to boot.

The person who originally did his mods would also probably murderize me if I said "Hey, wanna do those Ears-from-Hell again?"... and I wouldn't blame her. They were a beast and a half to build.

 

Mine biggest mistake would be not reading the information on a doll fully. I had been looking for an ebony skined doll and had found some on iplehouse, except I though the FID dolls were the same as JID dolls for some reason. I end up ordering a FID doll which had a terrible small head compared to my other dolls. I hated it the moment I opened the box and it took me nearly 2 years to sell her on at less than half the price I paid for her. Lesson learned: ALWAYS triple check the measurements and what you're ordering exactly, maybe even look up pictures of sculpt before hand.

 

When I first got into the hobby I was way too excited about how *customizable* they are. So I bought too many strange wigs and weird eyes that I ended up never using. Turns out my doll taste is very mundane.

 

My mistake was didn't do enough research and bought my first doll impulsively. So it turns out the doll was not my style at all.