What's the Appeal of the Sleeping BJD?

I wonder this, too. I do know that people really like to modify the sleeping heads and open the eyes a little so that they can look coy or shy.

 

I didn't understand it at first, but then I got one. I love her. She is a lot more versatile than you'd think. She also can do poses and actions that open-eyed dolls can't do very well or natural looking (ie: reading a book, sleeping [of course], sniffing, looking disinterested, and more I can't think of right now). She's one of my favourites. And even though her eyes don't show much, I feel her gaze just like the others. In fact, she's more mischievous and plotting than the others, and the biggest doll dare-devil you'll ever know.

Sometimes it's nice to have a little variety.

 

I've wondered this, too!

 

What Aiko said! I got a free sleeping head as a gift and I was really surprised at how versatile and expressive it was right our of the box, no faceup or hair or anything. She can look so passionate in photos. I am eager to come up with a character for her.

 

Sniffing. Now there's a pose that never would have crossed my mind, but now my mind's full of all sorts of adorable sniffing poses, haha!

 

I find Sleeping dolls adorable, and people seem to find them less "creepy" or whatever. Plus, they're different, which makes them interesting.

 

Hi melora!
I've got 3 with sleeping faces, Lishe, Karsh and Chiwoo.
The Karsh and Chiwoo have true sleeping no eyes faces and are quite sweet. Good for whatever pose or story I'm telling myself I suppose.
My Lishe well... *giggles* she's a sweet little thing and just teases the heck out of me or anyone else with that Lishe face and SA eyes.

What made me get them? Well I suppose by default. Lishe was the special from Luts and I had no idea!!! i was getting heads and hands extra. Hey she was my first!
Karsh I loved the look on the website and same for Chiwoo: the Fairyland faces just make my toes curl and I squee like a teenager (which I am a loooooooooooooong way from being!).

I think for photographs it adds another element that allows me to "play" with their doll personalities.

 

I love them and wish I owned one. They look full of emotion to me. Deep in thought or lost in a melancholy sigh.

Someday...

 

I don't own any, but I really like them -- there's just something so sweet about them. I always admired the CP Sleeping Soony head, but never did get one -- alas there are some dolls that just end up getting shoved off the list.

 

I think I wrote this same thing in the previous thread about dreaming/sleeping heads, but I love them! I find that the moods they express tend to appeal to me more and they suit the more contemplative mindset I'm in when I'm taking photos. I prefer to have an open-eyed and dreaming version of the same doll whenever possible, but historically I chose the dreaming version first and the open-eyed one is secondary.
I do have one doll who has completely closed eyes and no alternate head. Once in a while I get the urge to babyshake him and demand that he pay attention, but mostly I like his introspective quality. I suck at setting eyes, so it's also nice to have a doll that doesn't require an hour of swearing at eye putty and wonky pupils.

 

I love sleeping faces, I wish I could have a sleeping version of the boy in my user icon! I also think it would be nice to have a tiny with a dreaming face, to represent a sleeping baby for the bigger dolls to hold.

 

I totally agree with Aiko-chan on the surprising versatility of sleeping dolls

My Coco Tribe Micah has fully closed eyes, but he's so darn cute he can get away with everything, even with his eyes closed! XD Honestly, I forget 90% of the time that his eyes are closed. I don't treat him any differently from my open eyed doll so far as posing for pictures goes, but obviously sleeping poses are his forte. Here's a link to his pics on Flickr if anyone was interested.

I like that a lot of the Fairyland dolls come with sleeping faceplates, too. It really allows for an awesome variety of photo styling/poses from the dolls if you have multiple faceplates, plus, like it was pointed out above, you can open the eyes a little for more variety.

 

I'm one of the only people out of my friends in the doll hobby who likes sleeping heads and has plans for at least one in the future. I find that sleeping dolls are no less expressive than their open-eyed companions, and to me it's the same concept as body language-- I don't need to be looking in someone's eyes to know when they are angry, sad, or happy. Like previously stated you can also have them do poses you might not be able to do with open-eyed dolls,. Also some people like to have a sleeping and open-eyed version of the same mold so that their dolls can sleep.

 

It feels soothing. Sometimes after stressful days I like to handle them or just look at them and I feel sleepy myself. And that means a lot to a frequent insomniac like me. :p

 

Hello. Sleeping BJDs have actually been my favorite from the very beginning. My favorite sleeping heads are often referred to as dreaming or daydreaming heads (eyes half closed or almost closed). And that's exactly how they look. For me, they always seem to be the most expressive and human-like BJDs because they aren't staring wide eyed like most traditional dolls do (not that there's anything wrong with that). They look exactly how a human looks staring off into space, daydreaming, or just about to fall asleep. It also seems more unique for a doll to look like that. Very open eyes SOMETIMES tend to look cartoony or less realistic.

Like many people on this forum say, dolls reflect their owner, so I think my sleeping dolls just reflect me and my tendency to always be off in the clouds.

I agree that open eyed dolls are also unique in their own way and I also own a couple. I don't think I could ever have just closed eyed dolls because open eyed ones also reveal such wonderful personality. All the positive comments you mentioned about open eyed dolls are true and to me it feels like their "souls" reflect off that shiny glass.

My first doll was a leekeworld Florence. I didn't realize she was a Blyth head until I got her (I personally don't like blyths very much). Blyths, to me, seem very fake and unrealistic (no offense to anyone!). But Florence is unique and expressive and I think that it's due to her eyes. I think that, if you were to compare her to normal Blyths, she can prove that sleepy eyes can sometimes create strong emotions and a presence that fully open eyes can't. Obviously she doesn't look like a realistic human...but she does look like a doll who came to life and is very expressive. Her eyes are so lovely I don't even mind her Blyth qualities now.

I think that if you're a good photographer and artist, you can create many different feelings and stories with the exact same doll, whether their eyes are open or closed. Often it depends on the colour, lighting, and angle.

When I receive my doll head with fully closed eyes I shall attempt taking as many different photographs as I can to try and prove how flexible sleeping dolls really are. It was actually a project I was planning on starting for a while now since my friend also doesn't understand the complexity of sleepy doll heads.

 

I would like a sleeping head just to open the eyes a little. Sometimes, it is nice to be in control of your dolls eye shape.

 

sorry for the repeated post!

 

The comment about different versatility hits home. I didn't understand their appeal either: "I love the expressiveness of the eyes! Why would you want to hide them?"

My first and only non-open eyed girl is DD Ryomou, who has one eye closed in a perpetual wink. Now that's interesting in itself, but when I looked at her in profile when one eye is hidden, I started to "get" the appeal of dreaming eyes--her left and right sides express completely different moods. I'm sold.

It's only a matter of time before I get a real dreaming head now. Which one...?