Who inspired you to collect?

My mother really nudged me into porcelain doll collecting for a long while and I always loved it. From there I moved on to Santa porcelain and Fabrice (which I still collect). I've had friends that were in the BJD hobby but I didn't encounter things very often until I lived with @Kyta and had a alot of time at home alone when she was at work to just talk to her dolls, and I did. I never touched them unless she was there because I didn't want to break them but being surrounded by them every day and seeing her own interactions with them caught my attention. I still didn't really want to get involved though I had been a lurker in the community for so long. I remember sitting in the living room with her one day and she asked point blank if I had concerned again getting a doll to which I said no but if I were I would not do the following:

1. I would not buy a 1/3 or larger size doll.; 2. I would not buy a male doll.; 3. I would not buy a hyper realistic doll.; 4. I would not buy a flesh tone doll.; 5. I would not buy with a layaway plan.; 6. I would not buy more than one.

What actually happened:
1. I bought a 1/3 and a 70 cm doll first.; 2. I bought two male dolls.; 3. I bought a hyper realistic head based on a realm person and a body with..detachable bits.; 4. I bought two dolls in different flesh tones I chose specifically for their shade of pink vs yellow to have a natural skin tone.; 5. I bought all three of my "first" dolls on layaway; 6. I bought three in total in a 2 month period.

When you fall into this hobby you fall hard don't you? Suddenly I understand why Kyta HAD so many dolls everywhere. And they were all so lovely and so well cared for and so beautiful. She's been my rock and my inspiration in my entire..sort of falling *into* the hobby XD She continues to inspire me. She's a wonderful collector.

 

My grandmother inspired me. She collects traditional japanese art dolls and vintage dolls like chatty kathy. I would always sit looking at them when I was younger and I'm pretty sure I broke one of her porcelains when I was younger after she told me not to play with it and I did anyways.

 

@Pinkrose064 Oooo cool!! Osaka is really really awesome city! I've never been there myself, but a few of my friends teach English there and love it! But I can understand never living by yourself can be kind of scary~ I would recommend inviting people over a lot or hanging out, and maybe bring some things to make the place feel more like your home (like, a picture or a fav. stuffed animal!) Culture shock can be a little overwhelming at first, but it's a beautiful country and lots of culture to check out! Plus if you can it's really fun to go looking for fun things to purchase while you're there (no shipping required!) :3

 

No one! I became aware of BJD dolls through figure model kit magazines and books. It was years after buying some before I met another doll collector.

 

I feel like it's a natural progression. I never really had dolls as a kid except sindys I shared with my older sister. I guess we kind of used them to re-enact soap operas etc but it wasn't a hobby then. While looking for videos on one type of doll I found others that led me to BJDs. Maybe I'm too easily influence or perhaps it's the direction I'm meant to take. Who knows?

 

I think if you already were collecting dolls (or for me, plushies ...) when you were a kid, you'll be dragged more easily in this hobby Personnally I first saw some pullips on a convention, and there also was a bag with a beautiful photo of a bjd on it ... I fell for the doll right away and when I got home I did some research... And a few month laters I had my first one xD

 

Everyone has pretty varying stories.
As for me, it's a somewhat convaluded tale. But in short; I've always been the sort of person who like to collect things.
While I've only really joined in with the hobby recently I have known about BJDs for a good number of years.
I follow an artist who makes their own BJD animals, and ever since I had a glance I became interested in BJDs more and more.
Naturally I started looking it up online, and I feel into a rabbit hole, and deeper and deeper I went.
The more I saw, the more I became interested.
And it was all thanks to that one artist I follow.

 

I first saw these dolls online in '05, though I can't for the life of me remember where. Maybe it was something connected to anime. But once I joined this forum I saw Brightfires' dolls and absolutely had to have one.

One other inspiration for actually having the guts to buy something so expensive was probably my grandmother who basically taught me to love what I love (she owned lots of weird things) and that if you can afford it, buy what you love.

 

Andreja and a few of the BJD collectors that I follow on Instagram! After seeing all of their beautiful dolls, and watching almost every collections video I could find; I decided I NEEDED one of my own!!

 

I had been following Elfgutz for a while on Instagram but had no knowledge of BJDs and I never thought I would own any! My best friend told me that she planned on getting one, so of course I wanted one too. This was around 3 years ago, and now we are both super into the hobby!

 

No one actually. Never cared much for dolls before happening upon BJDs, only having played with action figures as a kid dolls never struck me as something more than toys.
Some people in a chat showed me pictures of Volks dolls because I, at the time, wore a lot of Japanese Gothic Lolita/Aristocrat street wear, they thought I looked like a doll and hit me up with a few links. I found the dolls to be pretty awesome, having never seen dolls such as those, and for some time I thought Volks were the only company out there until I found a local community. It was my own curiosity that got me interested, that made me seek out more about these dolls ever so slowly.

 

In a way my nan she was a competition porcelain doll maker I loved her work but not enough to collect traditional porcelain dolls (tbh just didn't like the short chubby childlike look and size). when I saw bjd (random googling for dolls and Lolita) I fell in love it was so amazing and also a great reminder of my nan

 

Even though I discovered bjds before I met my best friend, she was the one to bring me in deeper than just photo surfing She pulled me down this rabbit hole and I haven't looked back! XD

 

I’d say my fascination with dolls started when I was a little kid. Aside from the Barbies I had, I also went with my mom and grandma to miniature shows. Grandma has a large dollhouse, and my mom likes putting together room boxes. So I’ve always had an affinity for small-scale things, and dolls are just something I’ve always loved My shopping habits were definitely influenced by those miniature shows though. Mom and Grandma were always very picky about what they would buy - if it wasn’t the right quality or perfectly in scale, they’d pass.

 

I was definitely inspired the most by the collection of Snow-kaguya on DeviantArt, or Kuina here. I found her when looking for owner pics of Ringdoll Qinzhe (the first doll I ever wanted to own) and fell in love with all her handsome men in these gorgeous ancient Chinese outfits. I decided that's the kind of aesthetic I wanted to aim for in my own collecting, though I still don't own that many hanfu type outfits yet.

 

Anne Pecaro, for sure!
I was watching some other BJD videos for a little while. Really I just enjoyed the way the person didn't talk and would just unbox them, change their eyes and try a bunch of clothes on them with a lot of artsy shots. It was a nice way to kinda let myself zone out an relax after work.
But then I ran out of their BJD videos and complained (more like whined, lol) to my roomate about it. So he told me to look up other videos and after like five minutes of joking pouting, I did.
And I stumbled upon Anne Pecaro.
Seeing how she was with her dolls and how much joy they brought her finally tipped me over the edge of ordering my first doll.
And now here I am, waiting for two dolls and already ready to put in an order for my third and even fourth.

 

I was vaguely aware of what BJDs were from randomly seeing pics on Instagram, but I ended up attending a convention panel held by a Louisiana BJD group over the summer. I was scared to even BREATHE near the dolls they set out for display, but I was still kinda like, “Hmmmmmm...”

I pushed that stuff to the back of my mind until I somehow found Swandzz’s videos about her dolls. She made them look a lot less scary to handle than I thought they were, and they seemed like so much fun that I had to have one. (It sucks that she’s out of the hobby. I really liked her dolls.)

Just a side note, maybe I was easy to convince because I’ve always collected dolls and figures of some kind.