How many dolls are enough?

My collection just sort of happened. I actually went years having only one doll, believe it or not. But I don't see my dolls as numbers, I see them as beings. Odd as that sounds. They came to me for a reason, and in turn I've given them life through my OCs.

I don't think there is any number that is the best number of dolls. I think it all depends heavily on the person collecting them.

That being said, I can look at dolls and appreciate them even though I never intend on owning that specific sculpt. I often lurk and enjoy other's dolls and what they do with them. I think that keeps me from constantly wanting to buy more. I'm happy with what I have, but if more come to me so be it.

 

My limit comes when I realize that some of them aren't being played with.

If I'm redressing a doll putting it back down and jnot picking it up again for weeks (and then only to redrerss it again) then either that doll isn't right for my collection, or I've gone over my limit and need to cut back somewhere so all of them get played with.

The limit does change - it's higher over all now that I've realized that I play with my really tiny dolls in a different way from my bigger dolls. But I'm curently at the limit imposed by space and really do need to spend some time making sure I get together all the outfits and accessories I have planned for the dolls I alreadyd have before I even consider adding another doll to the mix.

Teddy

 

I rarely pick up or ‘play’ with some of mine. Partly because some have company face ups & I’m terrified of damaging them, partly because some don’t have a character attached and some are bad posers or can’t stand.

The bad posers will get new bodies eventually, so that helps. But I accept that not all my dolls will be played with equally or taken out as often. I’m okay with that. The ones that get most interaction also get damaged most, but they generally have wigs & faceups by me so I’m not as bothered by the prospect of wiping & redoing them!

 

I set a limit to myself, maximum is 10 dolls. Some dolls cannot match my style or i cannot take good photos with them. Then i will put them on sale list and search for new doll.
Recently there are too much newcomers, i spend very limited time to take care them. I am planning to review if anyone should be given up.

 

(I haven't got one yet)
Honestly, because I have lack of space and time I decided to get four or less. I also don't like too much because I wouldn't like to get bored with them by the time.

 

I prefer to stay around 13 or fewer, but my personal limit is to stay under 20 dolls. More than that and I start getting overwhelmed and don’t enjoy any of them. I want all of my dolls to look nice and have their own wardrobe, and it’s just too expensive and difficult to manage with a ton of dolls.

I don’t think there is any such thing as too many or too few. It depends entirely on the person. I say go with whatever works for you.

 

That's a very tricky and personal question, I fear.
In my case, my resin family has been stuck in 5 dolls for a couple of years. I am interested in some sculpts but I don't feel the urge to buy them as I felt with the ones I already own. I think that is the trigger for me.
Plus now that I'm a grown-up I have to pay bills and whatever and I feel more guilty about spending my money on dolls xD

 

I kind of got carried away and got 6 in a short period of time. Mainly because I initially ordered 2 tinies I had to wait months for, and got impatient. Then I ordered 2 resin soul minis from Denver Doll, so I was able to get them right away. Then I found a couple specific dolls I was looking for second and third hand locally and at a fair price, and so the story goes.
I do like doing the face ups and the body blushing, and designing outfits, and shelling characters. But I’ve been collecting all types of dolls for years and have some who are older than I am. So, I’ll probably stop after I find a body for a Sarang minifee head, that came on a body I got to use for another head. The hobby can be a bit addicting

 

I used to have a constantly revolving group of anywhere from around 3-8. If I'm being honest it drove me nuts, as I like things fitting in aesthetically and none of them ever seemed to go together.

Nowadays I pretty much have just the one doll, and it's been freeing to not stress out over such a silly problem as the dolls not going together! Granted, I don't have a hard rule that I'm only allowed the one, I just have yet to find another doll that would feel right/fit in. Maybe someday, maybe not.

 

I don’t have a limit. But, I haven’t felt strongly enough about any of the new dolls to get another. Most of the newer dolls I love kind of remind of ones I already have and love. It would feel like I’m getting the same doll all over again. I’m not that kind of collector.

Well, aside from Tiny Delfs anyway. Tiny Delfs are my weakness.

 

Setting a limit or rules is what made me sell dolls that I regret having lost. It's too much overthinking, get what you like.

 

I think that the optimum time to question your motives for getting more dolls is when you realize you're doing it either out of greed, as in you don't really want to bond with your dolls, you just want to have an impressively large cast of them, or (this ties into the first point) if you become largely motivated by wanting your collection to appear cool to others.

BJDs are a luxury product and it's nice to sometimes remind ourselves that, if anything in life is not integral to our survival and should be appreciated and celebrated purely for its beauty and uniqueness, and not its abundance, it's our little resin friends. ♡

 

I originally only wanted one vampire male doll, but when I discovered these dolls there were not a lot of options readily available for what I was looking for. So, as I got a few more dolls, and with the slow change in aesthetics over the years, I said I would never get more than ten full dolls, and I currently have five after more than fifteen years of knowing (and sometimes purchasing) these dolls. I don't feel the need to own more. Floating heads on the other hand.... having said that, I haven't purchased any new BJD related doll or accessory for them in almost tend years now, so I'd say I'm doing pretty good so far. (:

 

I haven't set a limit. As long as I ave my bills paid, I will continue getting more. I do feel a bit bad not playing with a doll for a while, but even if I'm not playing with them, I still love just looking at them. I would say space will stop me, but it hasn't stopped me in any one of my other hobbies, so I doubt it will stop me in this one. If I can find room for a 55 gallon fish tank I can find room for one more doll.

 

I haven't set a specific limit, but I found that as I've been in this hobby over a decade now, my interest in collecting a ton of new dolls had lessened naturally. That's not to say I don't still buy new dolls, as I have a couple floating heads I still intend to buy bodies for, and every one in a while the most perfect tiny decides it needs to come home with me, but for the most part I'm pretty satisfied with my crew. I lose track of the exact number, but I think I'm somewhere around the 20 mark (not counting pet dolls) and I feel pretty comfortable with that for now.

 

I’m like you on this “I always said I'm happy with less dolls.
I don't want to have too many, otherwise I can't worship all of them equally.”
Is better to have less and take care of them that having a lot and leaving them around without care. I don’t get really excited about other dolls since I don’t have anything planned.

 

I don't buy on impulse - but setting arbitrary limits isn't my way of collecting, either, because I don't want to regret missed opportunities. There are some truly beautiful and unique sculpts out there, with more being released constantly. I have everything from teeny Realpukis to realistic 75cm boys - and few could take the place of others, because many of them have little in common other than being BJDs. (Several are not even the same species, lol.) I'm interested in these dolls as a category, not just in a single aesthetic...but I completely understand that way of collecting, too. If I only wanted cute, mini girls with button noses and wearing frilly dresses, for example, I'd definitely have a much smaller collection, showering all of my love and attention on just a couple of dolls. But for me, there is no such thing as 'enough' or 'not enough.' I will just keep on buying the occasional new doll until the day that nothing new sparks my interest anymore.

 

Why limit yourself? One doll or a hundred, however many you have is right for you. It can also change. Right now I have one doll that I've bonded on Krazy Glue levels with. I won't say I'll never get another doll, but right now one is plenty for me. Chaeri's certainly spoiled enough for at least three dolls.

 

40! I’ve sworn to my husband I’m making a hard stop at 40 for all 1/6 size and above (of course he just rolled his eyes at me in response.) But I really feel I’ve finally reached my limit now that I’ve ordered my last few remaining. characters. Certainly this seems like a very high number, and I don’t have any idea how this happened over the years. I do like doing the face ups and the tattoos, and designing outfits, not to mention creating characters...so I blame my own creativity for bringing it all so far. But to me, each one is like a friend and I enjoy just having them around, so they won’t be going anywhere. But even I can sense when enough is enough, and I’m very much out of room these days. Anything super tiny though (1/8 or 1/12) is still a possibility however.

 

I don't really have a limit either. My current plans will get me up to 10 dolls and after that we'll see what happens.

My dolls are more display items and models than characters at the moment so I don't really have the limit I see a lot of others here have. I'm fine with having multiple dolls in need of ...practically everything. I'll get there someday and fortunately the dolls aren't complaining about the wait

 

I currently have 15 dolls, consisting of 13 full (almost) and 2 heads, and I’m happy with that number, but I’m hoping to shell a few more OCs yet! I think that’s my biggest problem, I don’t have space atm, but I have so many OCs that I love and I want to shell so many of them that physically I have to have a limit for now, but ideally I’ll go as long as I happen to go. Maybe I’ll end with 20 dolls, maybe 30, possibly even 100, but as long as my OCs keep growing, I’m not letting my love of shelling them stop either

 

I personally don't have a limit. If it feels like "too many," I'll find a way to cut back, but currently the only reason I sell a doll is because, for one reason or another, it's just not working for me. Numbers don't play into it. For me, the joy in it is in the customization, and I have all kinds of ideas to realize that wouldn't work well if I had any kind of "hard cutoff."

 

when i first joined the hobby i felt like i would never own anymore than 10, but now that i've been here for 2 years i feel that there isn't a specific limit i could set for myself. eventually i know i'll reach a point where i feel like i have enough dolls, but until then i'll just keep collecting to my heart's content!

the only real limits i have at this point are space... and money.

 

"All the shine of a thousand spotlights
All the stars we steal from the nightsky
Will never be enough
Never be enough
Towers of gold are still too little
These hands could hold the world but it'll
Never be enough
Never be enough"

 

That answer is different for everyone. My own limit is less a hard number and more of a, “Will it fit in the cabinet without me having to sell someone?” I don’t like the collection to get any bigger than what I can put behind glass away from inquisitive kittens.

 

I think that is so different for everyone. I have a few characters I want to shell, which realistically is what got he in this hobby xD, but I also don’t have space for all of them that I want. Luckily, thus far, I need an oc in order to get a doll. I have yet to see a doll and just want to make a character for it. So I guess that time will come when I’ve shelled maybe 5 or 6 of them! But I don’t plan to limit myself. I might make some in msd as well as sd, the possibilities here are too endless to set a strict limit I think!

 

I totally agree with you. My limit is the space I have in my room. I have more than 40 dolls, not only BJDs. Sometimes I think that are too many and that I should sell some.
But when I look at them one by one I like them all and I couldn't get rid of any. I love to enter my room and see them all although I can not always spend the time that I would like to have them all as I like

 

So far I've only bought secondhand and in-stock dolls. Maybe someday I'll take the plunge and have a doll newly made just for me, but while I love looking at new sculpts and features and trying to either come up with characters that would fit them or see existing characters in that sculpt, nothing has 100% clicked yet. (I have learned to never say never in this hobby, though!) A lot of my collection has grown because I see a doll that I think might work as a friend/sibling/someone else in an existing doll's world...but sometimes I get that doll and they don't fit that "role" at all. I seem to have the easiest time bonding with my secondhand dolls, even if I have yet to figure out who they might be - something in them planted a seed of creativity in my mind, though some of them grow and develop more slowly than others. Some dolls I've had for a couple of years now and am still figuring out who they might be, or reinventing who they might be, but that's okay! I do become overwhelmed when I have too many dolls without ideas. That prompted me to rehome some dolls since I had learned that while they were nice dolls, they weren't for me.

I guess you could say that "enough" to me is less a number and more an instinct.

 

I don't have a limit just keep aware of money and if I really love them. I would own much more dolls if dollar wasn't so expenssive.

 

I truly don't know anymore. I once thought I'd stop at 20, but I kept getting more and more home as the years passed. I'm not too bothered if I don't regularly pick each one of them up and do something with them, I enjoy just as much simply sitting/standing looking around the room they're in and just marvel at them all. I think, but not sure at all, that I will stop when I hit triple digits. I think.

 

No present limit, but I'm thinking maybe 6. That's the number I've got currently, and I say that number because there's not a lot of room where I am presently and they're sitting around [I wouldn't say 'ignored', though].

I am looking at refreshing my collection this year and next, actually. Moving on a few that just don't gel with the rest and bringing in one or two that I really want. I do want to thin out my collection as well, so I can concentrate on a few and share my time equally. Maybe, one or two of each main size; SD+, MSD, YoSD. Possibly, a boy and girl in each of those sizes. SD+, I'm sorted with my Dollshe Saint and Impldoll Azalea. I've got a BJD Gravity boy on layaway, and he's likely to be my only doll this year for financial reasons [unless the situation changes and I find I can afford a MSD girl of similar size to go with him]. Then, perhaps, a pair of YoSDs next year. We'll see...

If I'm honest, I do find my current collection [consisting of 5 SD+ dolls and an MSD I just haven't connected with] a little overwhelming, even for the minimal amount I have. The dolls are a little big, even though I do enjoy the comfort in their weight and size. I've kind of gone back to the Barbie-size dolls this year, with the release of Mattel's BTS line, and I do like the smaller feel. It takes me back to my childhood of playing with Barbies. I don't feel confident in taking the bigger dolls out with me, but an MSD [and especially a YoSD] would fit easier in a backpack that can be slung over my shoulder, and I could go to the beach or the park with them for cute photoshoots. I'd feel happier going to meet-ups. That's why I bought the MSD I have, but I just didn't gel with him when he arrived. So, he's been chilling in his box for the last few months.

Who knows, really! I might finally find that I really enjoy the dinkiness of YoSDs and end up with an army of them, as each of them won't require as much space as an individual SD would on the shelf!!

 

I will have reached my limit when I have gotten all the dolls on my wishlist and I stop falling in love with newly released dolls and I do not see that happening anytime soon.

 

I used to want a small amount of dolls, and then I decided to shell characters from a story I wrote ASIDE from just having my whimsically put together dolls, so now... I'm at 14 dolls, if I count floating heads and dolls on the way. I can even see my collection growing in years to come. And I'm okay with that. Sometimes I give more attention to one doll than the other, but they're all well loved.

 

Well, I have been in this hobby for about12 years. I have 20 full dolls, 6 floating heads and 4 full dolls and a floating head (darn those Dollshe sales) on layaway. There are still more on my wishlist. So, I guess as long as I can find room for them they will keep coming home.

 

I'm happy with my soon to be five. My three bigger ones(lol bigger, my biggest is still a tiny) don't get played with as much as my puki's. But I see them everyday and they make me happy.
I also tend to play with my bigger dolls in the summer. It snows a lot in the winter here and I don't have indoor set ups yet.

 

Like most people here, I don’t have hard limits. I’m happy with my two - soon to be three, less soon to be four, contingent on actually finishing Amara. But I’m sure I’ll find other dolls to fall in love with over time! I suspect it’ll eventually become a problem, because I never get rid of anything, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

 

It is a difficult question, and I asked my self but got no answer...I guess my answer to this question would be " no limit". Currently i have 8 big boys and I am planning for some boys in this year. I don't know for sure how many I will add to my family, at least 2 I know. Now I still have 2 bodies to be matched with heads which I am still looking for. Maybe I will sell one body, I don't know...

I felt my thoughts are all mingled. In a summary, I will see how things are going, hahaha, with some financial controls.

 

I have decided to only shell eleven of my characters from my story, and currently, I have four at home an two on layaway.
But I've decided that my total hopefully will be twelve. I want a cute non-character girl, who can wear big dresses that I could never use for my characters.

 

As many as you want, are comfortable having, can afford and have space for. It's that simple.
For some people that might be one doll, for others of us it could be an entire small tribe.

 

I really feel like I have enough up until I see a new sculpt that is absolutely amazing,I just plan to stop soon when all of mine are paid off.

 

my limit depends on how much money i have haha. for now im ok with 2 dolls.

 

When my group feels complete, I will have enough dolls. For me, that may be 25-30. I might want fewer if I don't only have tinies.

 

I have zero control. I see a doll I like, I buy it, whoops I'm out X amount of money haha

So no, no amount of dolls is technically "enough" as long as I keep finding sculpts I want.

 

I don't want to give myself a solid number for how many is enough. I know without a doubt that if I do that I will surpass said number quicker. I will likely keep acquiring until I die or fall out of the hobby. I feel like roughly 10 to 13 I'd tell myself 'ok time to let go of some' but that's probably not true.

 

I have a self-imposed limit of four large dolls. I have cats and there aren't many display places they won't bother, so space is limited.

That said, I'm at two and I'm eyeing two more... we'll see if the limit sticks.

 

I remember when I first started the hobby, I think I told myself that I would only have one girl doll and one boy doll and that would be it since this is an expensive hobby and I could always buy them new outfits if I wanted to change things up. Then it became only to have enough dolls that fit the doll sized chair (~3 to 4). Now I'm at the point where I think maybe I should stop at 20 if I get one or two more Grail dolls. I'm afraid to think that I might end up being one of those married couples that fills a room to a house full of dolls just because BJD making technology is getting better and face-up artists are also getting better as the years go by.

 

I dont think I can put a limit on things. I have 3 of my own, a couple on layaway and kinda claim my mother's dolls too since they're always with mine. I can see myself being the kind of person that hoards dolls, but i can also see myself selling a doll if I dont bond with it as much. So I guess my group can and likely will be ever changing.

 

I feel like currently where I'm at in life I'd like one doll, or maybe two- I can see myself getting more if I'm still interested when life settles down, but right now I want to keep my collection small and manageable for moving around!

 

I don't really have a limit. That may chance if I move to a smaller house, though.

 

Whatever is sustainable I say. Pay your rent, eat good food, so you can customize happily.

Though I will say 0 is not enough.

 

for someone that’s been in other hobbies regarding collecting, if you think you can still buy the things for the hobby without sacrificing basic necessities like rent and food, there’s rlly no limit

 

You can never have too many.

 

In my opinion, I’d only have so many dolls as I had shelf room for. While it’s tempting to buy a lot, if they aren’t being played with or displayed, then there’s no point having them. I think my personal limit would be at max 5 before I’d start thinking about whether I really needed more.

 

Yes that's me for sure. It helps if they have a good layaway plan.

 

I didn't set a limit, not yet at least.

30 dolls would be too much for me. I wouldn' have enough time for them and space, too. I suppose I won't ever have more than 15. 10 is an ideal number for me, but I might change this opinion, of course. A very important factor is how many characters I would like to shell in the future -- that's quite difficult to predict -- and how quickly I will work on my doll projects. So far, I'm really slow.

 

One thing I *try* to keep in mind is having My dolls not only FINISHED but also with extras if I want to change their look. I would rather have fewer dolls with more eye, wig, and clothing options than a bunch of naked dolls without wigs or shoes or something.

 

Currently I have 3 dolls at home and I'm very content with my collection. I've noticed that I get overwhelmed once I own more than 4 dolls, it just feels like I can't focus on the individual character anymore and it's too much of a hassle to get every doll their fair share of a variety of clothing and accessories