WORST Doll Experience EVER

My worst doll experience? Shipping & Parents. Actuarry is TERRIFING to wait for a doll when it's in Italy custom... the risk they destroy-lost-stolen dolls or you get a very expensive custom fees, is very terrifyng...

And my parents... they are even more terrifying thing ever... if they will see I purchase one of these ... brrr... I don't want to think about it................ U_U

 

I must say, I'm very glad dolls don't get smacked with customs fees in the US. That stuff would drive me crazy! Sorry to hear about your parents, geez some people need to chill out. D:

 

Yeesh! This isn't exactly a feel good thread, is it???

(WARNING! If you are squeamish, do not read the following story!)



My worst dolly experience was mostly my own darn fault....I was trying to restring my IMPLdoll Aaron, even though the s-hook on his foot would not stay on. Rather than trying to fix it properly, I went ahead and put his leg together. Turns out I put the right calf on his left leg...and only noticed after I'd got his broken foot on. After some muttered swearwords, I tried to remove the foot so I could redo it, only to have the s-hook come off - and lodge in the quick under my thumbnail.

Umm...ouch.

Luckily, I managed to scream (and it really was a scream) for my parents. They came running. I don't remember much after that, because I kept passing out from how much it hurt! I fainted 3 times, and when it was over, my mom had been forced to cut his elastic into pieces just so she could get the hook out of me. My mom later said that I'd been howling "like a wounded animal."

As for the doll, even after he was restrung and stuff, I just never felt the same way.

 

*shudders* That is just awful, thank goodness there was someone around to help you! I've had no bad experiences yet, touch wood, but that's just put me off restringing for a while longer!

 

Worst experience ever -

When my two Migmas (demon + Human bodies) were shipped from Soom in a huge box somewhere along the way it must have sat in several feet of water, it arrived completely waterlogged and falling apart, the box had sagged and was about 6 inches shorter than it should have been - I nearly had a heart attack when I saw it, especially as the 2 dolls has cost around $1600.

Thankfully Soom packs REALLY WELL, all the clothing, wigs, papers, faceups were dry and undamaged, I was able to dry out the resin doll parts OK (thankfully not body blushed) but the inner boxes were completely destroyed. I am grateful that Soom packs really well and they were OK but I have no idea how the carton got so soaked - I mean it was sent express mail $$$, the package should have been much better handled in transit!

 

I know that the people on that show are sick, and they need the help, but often times I can hardly believe how callus some people are to the hoarders on that show. I'm a knitter, and I saw one episode where they basically forced a woman to donate this huge box of very expensive, damned good needles, the kind of needles that we knitters collect slowly over the years as we need them and use them forever. I about had a heart attack. I don't have any dolls yet, but I really wish people would learn to be more respectful. In the episode you were referring to, she agreed to sell some, but they needed to be sold at a reasonable price for what they were worth. ::le sigh::

 

Yuck. I had that happen with my LS Emily. I was trying to take her hand off and lost my grip on the hook. The hook shot down and pinned my thumb against her wrist socket. Unfortunately, I was home alone, so I had to save myself (and I think I would have thrown a grade-A hissy fit if anyone had even suggested cutting Vesper's elastic). I couldn't pull the hook up, so I eventually just ripped my thumb out of the pinch and I lost a pretty decent sized chunk of skin. (and yeah... I almost did pass out after I was free. Oh my god... it hurt.)

The hook snapped down into my doll's wrist and got stuck; I had to take pliers to pull it out and now there are some deep gouges in her stringing channels (had to switch to smaller hooks after that to keep them from getting stuck again).

Moral of the story: When restringing - always use chopsticks to keep the elastic from snapping.

 

D: Geez!! These are the kind of stories that make some newbies petrified of restringing.
Stringing a doll is normally pretty relaxing, but Ive had a few times due to old elastic and bad tension where it was just hell on my fingers. And of course I had a hook slip and gouge an arm, lol.
Stories like that make me realize the importance of a proper restringing tool, and maybe a friend to lend a hand. No more using string and chopsticks for me! I'm gonna invest in the good stuff lol!

 

Worst overall experiences? Oh, the first time any doll gets even the slightest ding or scratch in his faceup... either from a facebubble (bubblewrap can slip during transit no matter how carefully-wrapped), or from me not being careful enough while posing the doll & having him hit himself in the face with his sharp hands. I hate that hollow sick sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when that happens! ;; Fortunately it's a minority of the dolls who've suffered this, but I still feel like it's battle-scars on my conscience. *heh*

The little things can make life so much easier. Those restringing tools they sell at VolksUSA are great-- I'd never be without one-- and it's totally worth investing $13 out of your doll fund! Think of it as trading a pair of good acrylic eyes, for a lifetime of less-stressful stringing. ^^ And if you have a hemostat clamp, no more need for chopsticks ($15-20 at VolksUSA, but you can get way cheaper clamps pretty much anywhere online).

The worst restringing/reassembly experience I've had was a wicked blood-blister, right on that sensitive webbing between thumb and forefinger. Owwieeee. It was my first EID... I was changing his hands, and I had no idea how strong he was! What a pinch! Did not faint, but there was a lot of swearing. Very, very, very powerful swearing. And saint-summoning, and extreme blasphemy. Oh man was there a lot of swearing.

 

I think it's a toss up between the time i was at a meet up and asked a girl that was looking at my Hound not to leave him standing on his own, as he doesn't stand solidly. She did it anyway and he immediately fell over and broke two fingers. She looked at me, shrugged, and walked off. I suppose it's my own fault for letting someone else handle my doll, but I like to share with people. I've never been able to fix those fingers permanently no matter what I do and I was never able to get replacements.

The second worst is a a sculpting accident where an exhaust fan fell on top of the clay original for Machina Alpha and completely obliterated her face. I cried, stomped my feet, and then decided if I'd done it once I could do it again. And I did. I can't even remember what the original face looked like. XD

And then there's all the times I've stabbed myself with pins or needles, especially under my fingernail, when I sew doll clothes. :X that's always terrible.

 

I would have grabbed that girl's shoulder to keep her from walking away and ask her: "Do you have the money to fix my doll?"

But as far as fixing the fingers maybe get some of the jointed hands DIM makes?

 

Hmm...
I'd say when I ordered an SD boy from a lesser known company, through a person working with the company. I was a lucky one and actually received my doll, but I know others didn't and the seller went MIA. D: However, when he arrived, his head was against the cardboard of the outer box and it was just such shoddy packaging. He arrived fine, but I ended up selling him. He just wasn't the SD for me.

Also, nosedives. I don't care if it is my doll, a friend's doll, or someone I dislike's doll. It kills me every time. XD

 

That is so true!
I plan to invest in all that stuff.

 

I am happy to say that in all my years in this hobby, I have only two bad experiences. One involved commission work with a client who changed her mind about what she wanted repeatedly, causing me to buy fabric I didn't need or want, and make and remake the same outfit . Then she could not pay when asked, and I had to wait months to get paid for my work. Then I had an overly picky buyer who kept asking me to change little things, it seemed they were never satisfied with what I produced and wanted something totally different from my usual style (so why not just commission someone else??) ... Luckily, most of my clients are wonderful, but it seemed last year I had a spate of flaky transactions that has really soured me on taking commissions. That along with a crazy work schedule has ended my commission business.

tTe other bad thing was just a few weeks ago... one of my grail dolls, an SD16 Kira (head) with a beautiful default Volks faceup, was getting a little dirty. I broke out my trusty ole Magic Sponge to clean her and--- GGGGAHHHHHH!!!! --it wiped off half her blushing!!! I've used the same Magic Sponge on other dolls with no ill effect; all I can think is that for some reason she was not sealed properly.... I ended up having to wipe her lovely faceup entirely and give her a new one. She is still beautiful, but I really miss that soft Volks face.

 

It's really not that bad Just read up on it and have the proper tools on hand, and you should be fine. Accidents do happen, but they are not very common. The worst injury I ever had from re-stringing is a small scratch on my finger.

 

Oh wow, some of these are scary. D:
I've only been in the hobby since December of last year, so not much has happened.

Although when I got Jezabel, who is a Dollzone Ying...
Well, I never did a box opening vid for him, he was a big deal for myself and a close friend, so we opened him over web cam together.

Everything was peachy, we're celebrating, we're happy, and when I'm turning his head a little...
I hear the most awful snapping noise, and his head pops right off. The snap was his S hook sliding out, and cracking a small chunk of resin right out of his neck. So I popped open his head cap to see wtf...
Well, the nice little spot on either side where the S-hook should rest... On one side it just wasn't there. There was barely anything to hold it in place. I had to dremel it out a little bit, and build up around it, to MAKE a place for the S hook.

I would have contacted Junky Spot, since Emory would have probably helped me get a new head from DZ...
But it's Ying. I got the last one Junkyspot had, a few months after Dollzone stopped making him.

So, that's my worst incident... And you can seeee the chip in his neck when he looks up.
Beh! Well, he's fine now, and it stays in place. But it was sucha malformed mess inside his head. O.O

Needless to say, all my fears involve bad things happening to Jezabel... It may sound awful, but I hope if any disaster befalls my boys, it befalls Florian. He's an RS boy. At least HE can be replaced easily, and in a timely matter.


*shudders*

All these stories of destroying dollies make me nervous. xD

 

Having something go wrong when you get your doll home is the worst feeling ever!
You're sooo happy then suddenly you're upset. Luckily no dolls have arrived with issues for me yet. *knock on wood* I guess my problem was that every doll I ever bought seems to come out of the box really kicky.
Ive never had a doll that just stood right out of the box.

 

Me worst would probably be when I sent my first doll for a faceup. The artist did a lovely job with it just just the whole thing was a hassle.

First he went missing in action for like half a week-- 'delivered', but not in the hands of my artist. I was so scared, I'd never shipped a dolly head, and he was an iplehouse doll so it's not as if I could simply purchase another head for him.

Then on the way back to me there was a terrible cold swing and it messed his MSC coating up. After having him for so long without a faceup, stressing, and then having him arive with the faceup damaged... I couldn't take it. He was lovely but I no longer say the things i liked before in his sculpt, so I went ahead and put him on the marketplace.

Second worst was deciding I could shorten this gorgeous wig-- really lovely in color and texture, but far too long for the character I intended. I thought trimming it up wouldn't be hard. I absolutly ruined the wig. And at the time I had no spare wig for him to wear at all. Luckily today I replaced my butchered attempt with a lovely wig form leekeworld that looks absolutely like what I wanted.

 

My worst experience was a faceplant onto concrete - except it was me doing the faceplanting. I was on my way to a meeting to discuss face-up painting with a woman who's starting up her own doll company, and I had a few of my dolls with me - three in a carrier over my shoulder and Marius, my Hound, in my arms. I figured he was perfectly safe as I've carried him to doll meets countless times over the 6 years I've had him with no problems.

Except it turns out I have a form of epilepsy that means sometimes I abruptly drop with no warning beyond the same weird visual aura I get before a migraine. So halfway up the road from the train station, I blink and suddenly I'm hitting the ground - and so, of course, is Marius.

I had several very kind businessmen & an American tourist come rushing over to help me to my feet, all expressing surprise that I didn't trip or anything - I just abruptly dropped with no warning, so it wasn't as though I had been clumsy. I should have been concerned that this had just struck out of nowhere, or been more worried about the fact my nose was bleeding, but instead all I could think about was that Marius' nose had chipped.

I've gently sanded his nose, and I've been put on anti-epileptics to prevent any further drop attacks like that - but I've not taken any of the dolls out of the house since then, and in future any excursions with dolls will be done with them in a carrier.