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Why are dolls so meaningful to you?

Apr 23, 2016

    1. Well, I wanted dolls because they are cute really... but I got my first doll during the worst time in my life. My entire world was falling apart and I was still just a teen so I had no control. Being able to buy dolls gave me something I could look forward to when I didn't even want to exist. They also gave me someone to talk to when I felt like I had no one, and while I knew they where just dolls, I never would have talked to myself as much as I did to them. They helped me a lot, I learned so much about myself though interacting with them, they made me smile when nothing else could and I don't know if I would be here without them honestly.

      That being said it seems odd to some that I'm now selling those same dolls. I'm not the same person anymore, I don't even feel like that was me, so I can't feel the same attachment. They simply remind me of those awful times, so I can't have those same dolls around me. I guess it's me finally letting go of my past, because they are the last thing left that I owned back then.

      I'm getting more now though, because I want to get into designing clothing for them, and I know I can't handle the idea of having no BJDs around. I also have an issue with getting extremely angry with myself or panicky when no one is around, so the dolls help to stop that, because like with other people I don't want to give them that negative energy so it's easier to control my emotions. They help me to stay calm, talking to them keeps my mind in order and helps me to figure myself out, therefor improving myself so I'm a better person for the people in my life.
       
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    2. I was eleven years old when a couple of older siblings - much older siblings, they were in their 20s - joined a crank cult religion. It was old testament based - basically it followed the ancient Jewish religious laws, ten commandments, holidays like the Sabbath, Passover etc.

      One of the ten commandments being "thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath," one of my wonderfully religious siblings took it into his head that dolls were graven images. He was totally convinced I would go to hell for playing with my dolls and he harassed our parents about it until they finally gave in and made me give up playing with my dolls.

      So my dolls mean so much to me because I am making up for lost time. It's not like I'm having a second childhood; I'm taking care of unfinished business from my interrupted first childhood. I'm reconnecting with the childhood that was ripped out from under me.
       
      • x 3
    3. Ah, I make things. I draw and paint, and work in leather, and wood, fabric, metals, sculpey and.... um, stuff. The other day, I had to rush next door to show my best friend the delicate little crown I had made from a tiny little wild grape vine I found growing behind my house. It looked so right on my Iplehouse Lahela. I might have been a bird in another life, because I am always finding strange stuff and bringing it home to my nest. My BJDs are, hmm, kind of hard to explain, the focus of my obsessions. I sew them clothes, and paint their little faces, I make them jewelry, I finally made a kind of successful wig (my first attempts were dire) I have yet to master shoe making, but I keep trying.... I have a laid back job with a little too much free time, so I spend eight hours a day on the computer, mostly looking for you know, stuff, for my dollies....furniture, tea sets, a fan, an umbrella, a shopping cart, a suitcase, a pirates chest, and yes, more shoes.
       
    4. Dolls give me a reason to stop fretting over myself. As someone with unseen hindrances, I find it difficult to keep the focus off myself and keep myself from feeling sorry. My boys make me feel so very happy and soothed whenever they are around. They give me something to take care of, and they are simply beautiful. I can stare for hours at my dolls' faces. (In fact I have.)

      Having something delicate to take care of is therapeutic to me. That, and for some reason I love the feel of sealant-covered resin. :huh?: So there's a stimulatory factor there that makes my dollies even lovelier than they already are, and makes me want more and more. :D
       
    5. Why would you collect dolls?

      I think that my dolls have provided me with an excuse to pursue the type of craft projects that really work for me.

      1. I can start and stop projects at will (when work or other things make me too busy), unlike other hobbies, which are time-sensitive

      2. I am encouraged to try a wide variety of different projects (soldering, sculpting, dremeling/carving, sewing, wigmaking, shoemaking, painting, writing, etc.)

      3. I can do things I wouldn't do for myself (metal sequin-encrusted clothing, crazy hair colors, etc.)

      4. I can challenge myself with engineering/improving existing dolls or hybridizing/making my own

      There are probably more reasons, but these are the ones that stick out.
       
      • x 2
    6. I think that the first thing that attracted me was the beauty of these dolls. I wasn't feeling right towards myself and the oportunity to reflect who I wanted to be was irresistible.
      Besides that first thought, as I love to write, I found on them another way of telling stories. The idea of having one of my beloved characters in my hands was awesome so that's the reason why I finally got my first one.
      When time passed and I gathered a couple more dolls I discovered more reasons like improving my skills on different subjects (photography, sewing...).
      And by developing a bond with them I have noticed they help me to remain calm when I'm feeling stressed, angry or depressed, so they are somewhat therapeutical.
       
    7. For me, dolls are a way to bring life to my characters. I'm a very creative person, for better or worse; even when I should be doing something else, my brain is going triple time to make characters and decide stories and everything like that. Making characters and stories is my favorite thing, and helps me through tough times. Unfortunately, I wasn't gifted with any creative talent beyond writing, like drawing or sculpting or anything like that, so dolls help me bring my characters to life without those kind of things.

      My characters comfort me, so having a doll for a character is like having a physical comfort there. It's so gratifying to come up with a character and them be able to bring it to life in that way. I love being able to interact and bond with them.

      (I also just think they're cool and pretty. :lol:)
       
    8. Nothing fancy or interesting here, I just like them because they're pretty and cool and I love to customize things and be artistic
       
    9. I do not feel lonely, I have a loving family and a really good friends around me, so the dolls are not a friends for me, I would say, they are part of me, something what I do not have, bu would like to have, or how I feel inside, the girl in me. Or I feel to the almost the same what I feel to my cat! And it is always remindes me, that every day I have to make something creative, some Art! Love that feeling!
       
    10. I love customizing them, and the little stories I’ve daydreamed up since I got them! I also love the artistic aspect of them.
       
    11. I have wanted a bjd for 10 years. When I bought the first one, Dolkot Yuna, I felt serenity. I thought my life was stable and I could buy a doll. She means this to me: my new life.
       
      • x 2
    12. Doll are my escape from anxiety. I love being able to focus on creating things for them and developing their characters instead of being too embedded in my everyday problems. Not only this, I find that even just being around and holding them help lessen my stress so I carry one with me when I have to do something I find stressful. Dolls make life better.
       
      • x 2
    13. Dolls are meaningful to me by being an escape from rl. When life gets me down I turn to my dolls they calm me and make me happy
       
      • x 1
    14. My BJDs are a combination of many of my hobbies. They themselves are beautiful, I look for tiny things that can be props for them, and design and make furniture and clothes for them. I also write stories about the characters I create for them. I've struggled with depression since I was 12, when I lost a close friend to lukeimia. My dolls make me happy and holding them and making things for them help pull me away from the downward spiral of depression. So they're a form of therapy too.
       
    15. Dolls are important to me mainly because they are the physical repsentations of comic characters I value so much that I have created in my life, trying to make something of myself, reminders of things I have successed at.
       
    16. Honestly this might be silly but I sort of see them as a step into learning to stop caring what the world thinks and pursue things that speak to me.

      Honestly, I've loved dolls for a long time but I never collected any because the world around me wrote them off as useless junk, creepy old woman/kid/nerd stuff, something not worth spending time or money on. So I looked on from afar, saving up my money almost obsessively for practical things.

      Now that I'm out of college and in a stable low-stress job, I'm starting to realize that in general the world doesn't know shit about what's best for me or anything in general. You only live once, so I'm going to treat myself to the harmless things I like. So my dolls are art projects, cool tchotchkes that inspire me, and a big f you to my bitchy stepsister in high school who chided me for getting a neat little keychain as a souvenir because it was "useless".
       
      • x 1
    17. I like to dress dolls. I dunno, they're just really pretty? I like to write and my doll certainly inspired me to do some short stories involving her. I can't quite put my finger on it. Dolls are just nice!
       
    18. They're toys you can play with without being childish!
       
    19. I have loved dolls as far back as I can remember...

      It was always something that connected my sisters, my mom and I.

      We all have various doll collections.

      My mother loves porcelain dolls and Barbies...

      My oldest sister loves all kinds of dolls and her husband spoils her rotten!

      My second oldest sister loves Barbies most.

      My youngest sister doesn't have a large collection but she admires ours from afar and still adds to hers every once in a while. She has two daughters so she's always playing with theirs as well.

      I have gone through every possible stage of dolls starting with Barbies, porcelain, Reborns, Azone and now BJD's.

      It's always comforting for me to go into my doll room and see my dolls there.

      I am a very creative and crafty person and all my artwork revolves around dolls.

      I could not imagine my life without dolls.

      I used to be weirded out by people who carry their lifelike reborn babies around but I take my kids to the store or to a restaurant, especially on road trips.

      I'm never embarrassed about them. I adore them to pieces.

      I think most people would agree that dolls are simply a way of life...lol

      I have my husband whom I love dearly, my beautiful boy and my dolls.

      What more could I possibly need?:3nodding:
       
    20. First, nobody has ever openly asked me or scrutinized me about my hobby ever. People around me have been seemingly open with my hobby so I am thankful for that. (oh except one person, my mom, but let's skip over her) I've always been drawn to dolls so that is one factor. Another thing is the aesthetics. Dolls give me this ability to imagine them as something I want them to be, may it be character wise or outfit wise but i'm leaning more on the latter. And that alone makes this hobby even more meaningful.