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Who inspired you to collect?

Mar 16, 2017

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    1. I feel like hobbies, especially unique hobbies like this one, are seldom borne out of nothing. Which leads me to ask, who inspired you to collect?

      Although she never collected BJDs, I was inspired by my great-great-aunt. She was an avid doll collector who passed her passion on to me at a young age. I'm pretty sure she would've loved ball-jointed dolls if I'd ever had the chance to show them to her. Regardless, I likely would've never even considered the hobby if she hadn't encouraged my interest from the time I was small.
       
      #1 Pinkrose064, Mar 16, 2017
      • x 1
    2. I unfortunately cant remember the name of the deviantart user back in '07 but her dolls inspired me to start looking into the hobby
      and now I finally have my own.
       
      #2 MayoJay, Mar 16, 2017
    3. Oooh that's so nice!
      I had a classmate in highschool (ouch, I feel old!) and one day she started criticising a girl who had a super dollfie, "because they were creepy, and omg did you know she spent more than 500€ on a doll? that's so stupid!" Then I said "whaat? that's insane! but what are these dolls anyway?! now I have to know!" Then she showed me some photos and thank god I was not a suggestible teen because I decided I wanted to have one of those dolls. At that moment I said "OMGGG I want one!! I NEED one!" and we laughed a lot because that was so unexpected to her. She stopped criticising them because she knew I liked them, but she still thinks that spending that much on a doll is crazy. We still meet from time to time and when we talk about these stuff it always goes like this "Omg with that money I could have bought so many shoes and purses!!" - "You spent how much on those shoes!? I could have bought a full costume for my doll with that! shoes included!" It's pretty funny, to be honest :XD:
       
      #3 Naisha, Mar 16, 2017
      • x 7
    4. Two friends of mine had dolls and when I first visited them I fell in love with these beauties! My girlfriend also has dolls and when we moved together about five years ago I always lend her dolls and took pictures of them and now last year I finally made enough money to buy me some dolls for myself. Since about six years I adored them haha...
       
      #4 Zomboi, Mar 16, 2017
      • x 1
    5. I first found out about them in 03/04 at my college. Saw how customizable they were and fell in love. Fell out of love at the price. Went back to it 8 or 9 year later when I found more affordable dolls and a good paying job. Can't say anyone really inspired me so much that I saw them as extension of characters or possibilities and also better art mannequins then the wooden figureless faceless ones
       
      #5 Kraftykitt, Mar 16, 2017
    6. Nobody. I've been a collector all my life. The only one in my family as far as I've ben able to make out.

      BJD's are jsut the latest twig to sprout on the doll-and-bear collecting branch of my tree of collecting.

      Teddy
       
      #6 Teddy, Mar 16, 2017
      • x 2
    7. Natalie from Milkshake Melody. I was really into customizing Volks 1/6 dollfies when I was younger (2005-2006ish) and I was aware of SDs but kinda unimpressed. She had a Unoss Aika, though, that I loved. It ultimately led to discovering BJD companies other than Volks and falling hard.
       
      #7 mustbemissa, Mar 16, 2017
    8. I became interested in them on my own, because I've always loved dolls, but back in.... sometime between '03-'05? I ran across photostories by @tenshi_no_korin and @llamajoy and it totally blew my mind. :lol: "You can make stories with them???" Plus all their tiny sets and props... it really helped me understand what being a collector in this hobby might be like.

      By chance, I also met a wonderful fellow collector in my city at the time, @Jessen who let me handle her El before I got my first doll... I credit her for giving me the Luts bug. She inspired the shape of my collection in a lot of ways.
       
      #8 redfeathers, Mar 16, 2017
      • x 1
    9. None of my friends or family collect dolls but since my very first Barbie I always loved them. Around 2006 I started reading doll collector's magazine and started seeing those mysterious asian ball jointed dolls and couldn't understand why they were taking up so much editorial pages away from fashion dolls. But during a stay at home recuperating from surgery I started researching them on the web and fell hard, especially for the dolls SDink painted. It wasn't long until I managed to snag a beautiful boy that SDink had painted. I've been hooked ever since.
       
      #9 DominiqueB, Mar 16, 2017
    10. Nobody.

      I stumbled upon the hobby in 2003 by searching for Japanese paper dolls which I also collect :) the first dolls I encountered were from Volks and Bluefairy.
       
      #10 ShadowLink, Mar 16, 2017
    11. I have collected for most of my life too, but I got it from the great-great aunt I mentioned. She made it a habit to give me a new doll for Christmas every year. Some were for play, but others were meant to be collectible. I really wish I could've introduced her to BJDs!

      Since I didn't mention this before, the first time I ever saw a BJD was when I was researching Lolita fashion for school and there was a photo of a girl holding her doll and they were wearing matching outfits. I instantly thought it was cool, but didn't have enough time to look into what they were because I had put my project off until the last minute. ^^; I looked into them later and was interested, but thought that I could never afford one. Then I came across a BJD vendor at a local con last year and took the plunge since I had money saved up.
       
      #11 Pinkrose064, Mar 16, 2017
      Last edited by a moderator: Mar 16, 2017
    12. Nobody inspired me. I found BJDs on my own back in 2004. I first encountered dolls from Volks, then found Luts a couple years later.
       
      #12 Selenae, Mar 16, 2017
    13. I found these dolls by accident while looking for unique OOAK dolls, but at the time, I couldn't justify (or afford) the price. When I was finally ready, my sister inspired me because she had been to an anime convention and seen some BJDs in person. She told me about them and how cool they looked, and it made me rethink that mayyybe they were worth it. We've both collected various dolls all our lives, and she helped me realize that if I could spent $50 on holiday Barbie or special edition Bratz doll, or $100 on an American Girl, I could definitely save up $200 for my first BJD! She got her first a week after I got mine. :)
       
      #13 CloakedSchemer, Mar 16, 2017
    14. No one inspired me to collect. I have always loved doll and toys and before I knew it my doll family had started before I knew what collecting was.
       
      #14 lillievon, Mar 17, 2017
    15. Billy Boy's book Barbie: Her Life and Times.

      It had never occurred to me that adults spent love and time on collecting new dolls, not antiques, before that. And it wasn't too long until my Barbie collection expanded into larger fashion dolls, and then my little Choseol, my first bjd--and from them on I was hooked.

      It feels like getting some of the magic of childhood back, but not being dependent on other adults paying for stuff.
       
      #15 autumnrain, Mar 18, 2017
    16. @bakayaro onna Lol, me and many others.

      I met her in a college class about anime as literature. I started hanging out with her at anime conventions, where she brought her DollZone Megi and Iplehouse Soo Ri. Oh, they were so wonderful! (Still are!) And, if you've ever met her, you know, she's super nicr. She had no problem with letting me play with them. Fast forward eight years and there is a huge BJD scene, including a mini convention and marketing. Finally, being able to afford a doll and having easy access to one drew me in. Onna is responsible for a lot of doll owners in our area. :)
       
      #16 bluepita, Mar 18, 2017
    17. I found out about BJDs on a pet sim site about 9 years ago. A few users had started a discussion with pictures of their dolls and I was stunned at how gorgeous they were. They were so phenomenal. I'd been lingering and lurking for years before finally getting my own doll. I just got my second a few weeks ago... and I can't wait to get more. I think I'm hooked now.
       
      #17 Aayden, Mar 18, 2017
    18. Pinterest

      Although I did come across Andreja while
      looking at pullip faceup tutorials :whee:

      Ayer finding out about them, I realised I had a doll pattern magazine with BJD patterns on the front lol.
       
      #18 balljointedgirl, Mar 18, 2017
      Last edited by a moderator: Mar 18, 2017
      • x 1
    19. Nobody, when i got to know and fell in love with the hobby collecting them naturally came to me.
       
      #19 Ella_Nicole, Mar 30, 2017
      • x 1
    20. My sister is the one who got me into actually collecting BJDs, when she got into the hobby, but I had admired some artist's dolls online before that-- I think Bishonen House's... maybe Tyler? was the very first I saw.

      Doll collecting sort of ran in the family, though-- my late grandmother collected both porcelain and fashion dolls, and after she failed to really interest me in dolls throughout my childhood, I think she was pleased to learn that my sister and I were both embarking upon not only collecting dolls, but learning about the art of painting their faces and doing costuming for them and all these things.
       
      #20 Anneko, Mar 30, 2017
      • x 1
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