Looking for doll no-buy buddies

@Kynthiamoon - don't be too hard on yourself for feeling tempted! I think there's always going to be a bit of yearning in this hobby one way or another and if you know you won't slip and buy anyway, there's really not much harm in daydreaming sometimes. One can follow their doll goals to the T and still feel interested in other dolls but thankfully those whims tend to be temporary, we'll just need to know to ride them out.


It's Wednesday! No-buy fail - the stuff I got for my only big girl is stuck in some transit warehouse and will take a while longer as the courier is moving spaces. Those frustrating news of endless wait made me buy an overpriced pair of shoes somewhere else just to have something for her to wear finally - it's so silly but somehow it's annoying me to no end that she's still only hanging out in socks and having a Missing Thing is making me very tempted by other things I should certainly not be interested in buying so I figured it's better to have a little relief now to avoid stupid spending later.

No buy win - after many unsuccessful tries of making shoes for my minis, I managed to make a few pairs for my 1/3. They are not great! But they are fine enough to tide me over until something better arrives so I don't find myself in endless loops of shoe listing browsing again and again. For a long time they've been the thing I had given up diy-ing but now I'm much more optimistic about my capabilities and know that I can just make something within 90 minutes instead of looking for something fitting my idea that I have to wait forever to ship to me.

 

It’s Wednesday, and my no-buy win is that I’ve been sewing up a storm this week for that impulse-buy head I found in the marketplace and hybridized a couple of weeks ago. I gave her a faceup pretty much immediately, and I am so enamored with her character that I’ve been happily working on her wardrobe ever since. I’m having so much fun with her, proving that this particular impulse was truly a wonderful decision for my collection after all.

And I haven’t even looked at a doll for sale ever since!

 

Thanks everyone. I'm trying not to "beat myself up" for slipping. Somedays I might cheer myself I got my bookmarks or favorite lists down, and others I just have a fun time adding to them.

Paper dolls are wonderful! I have been trying to go that route if I'm feeling really in the wants. It's been helping a lot. Plus my dollfie dream head actually has a sized copy of the chimikko body out of cardboard I reinforced with a screw to attach her head. It's nice for trying to get an idea of her size, and even put clothing on.

For a late for Wed but a Saturday win instead: I decided to take the plunge and try my first mouth modification on her and cut her open. The win so far is I'm liking it! It's keeping me from looking at more heads, though I might be changing her look around a bit more. Another win was I made a pair of eyes for a girl I just didn't have the right pair for yet. I'm also going to redo some parts of faceups I'm not happy with. (Started with that mouth mod)

 

I'm parking myself in this thread to make myself accountable. No more dolls until I go over to Japan in October!
I'm trying to sell some dolls and parts that I don't feel any urge or inspiration to work on, or that aren't to my taste. If I look at something and feel I'd trade it for something else I wanted without hesistation, then it's time for it to move on.

I've just gotten some more art supplies to do faceups, but it's winter here (southeastern Australia) so the weather isn't often conducive to doing faceups, so I've also been sewing for my dolls.

I've also put myself on a fabric no-buy: I have tubs full of fabric ready to be used, and unless I've made a draft version of a garment that I'm satisfied with and want to use a specific fabric on, I must resist the temptation of the fabric store! Thankfully, the nearest fabric store is an hour and a half away, but I have to resist the urge to browse whenever I'm in Big Town.

 

I'm hoping for the best for your family and the new job @Kynthiamoon .

I saw a picture of the shoes and the result looked really good to me. Maybe the change in scale will lead to success. I always hear things how some things for smaller dolls are harder to make. (I have yet to try making anything for any of my dolls.)

Congrats on the successful hybrid and face-up. The new wardrobe is the best welcoming present.

The FOMO never stops for me because most of them are all so pretty. I think I want them all! Wait...I already failed at getting all of them. I still like them for now, though. But, there isn't room for all of them. I still don't have an aesthetic.

I had fallen for this one 70cm doll and part of the reason I can't buy him is because I told myself last year, no SD guys this year because I impulse purchased "Little Guy".
I've fallen for the sculpt, like I'm a child. I look at it's face and I think he's ADORABLE!

Spoiler: SKIP!

I want to dress him in all types of things. His vibe is young master, tends to walk around with a scowl because he looks like he's 12 but he's really 19, and he's fancy. I just want to hold him. I don't think that the artist makes many minis, but there might not be a mini version. And, something tells me that a mini version would not seem as funny / ridiculous / edgy. He's a limited sculpt. (Already cast.) He's now on sale, too. I can't afford him now and I don't know what else will come out this year. And, the no buy win is that it's hard to choose to buy other things that I like, instead because I'll miss out on something else that's pretty.

I missed out on buying "Little Guy" his twin sister, again because I'm trying to stick to no buy.

(Oh, ...that head I bought? Yeah, that doesn't count toward "not buying a large boy this year". That's in the floating heads category, where I made a rule that owning more than 4 with no ACTIVE plans is bad.)
It's ridiculous that I've been waiting way over a year for one mini doll that I don't want. Which brings me to my "No buy fail", I preordered a mini sized doll head.

Spoiler: story on that

There was a 1/3 head that I wanted, but I think it might've needed a 78cm body. So, I decided to pass on it. Later, the chance to buy the head came up, again, but this time it included an option of a 1/4 version. Since the head needs a body anyway, I was thinking of testing how it fits with the body of the mini doll that I don't want, which will probably take 2.5 years to get to me. Every doll release that that company makes has the same face, so my anger at my purchase is renewed EVERY two weeks. (NO, I am NOT exaggerating! I still don't have Maria's legs and they were BOTH ordered through the same dealer! The dealer said that they have her legs. But, they're still not shipping them. So, I decided to relax about the legs because maybe my floating head will be in stock soon.... It would be the first character I would shell. But, he doesn't have much of a character.

I got curious if buying a new head would save me a lot, when it comes to this. Just wasn't sure if I am better off planning to sell a brand new doll at a steep discount, over trying to salvage it. Is there anything else I should've done? There's a guilt with this because I think I could change my mind about mini dolls in general. But, I think that the new face next to one of the floating heads (that I am waiting on) might look cool together.
Yes, I am also the person that says don't buy something because you're curious.

I think I'll cave and start making a list of sculpts I would like. My strategy before was if I could not recall a sculpt, then GREAT for me. But, there's still yet a handful of minis that I want. And, there's another limited head sculpt that's been on my mind for half a year already.
But, more important, I've noticed that I've put too many dolls on the back burner, to work on. They have no time line or "to do" list. This is more about getting away from the "okay, I will try that" mentality. It's worse than being wasteful. I need to start considering that most of my future buys will one day be like Sujan and Maria. At least those two were already cast. But, the sculpts I like [as new casts] that ends up as things that nobody wants, really isn't good. I'm not sure if this will sway what I will collect. Should I be asking people about "what to buy" from now on? This sounds more complicated, than fun.

 

Don't look at me for help in staying strong, I just bought my second Re Ment set of the month and bought Halloween decor shelves to put it on.

I have to figure which of my dolls not only knows my card number and log in but has internet access because I don't remember putting the electronics in the dollhouse yet, and none of their appliances are "smart". lol

 

The Heisejinyao Ziyulinglong doll is a Ao Ze Tian. He actually does work for the character Alistair, with a few minor changes to the character. Alistair was supposed to be an adopted uncle type that looked after the teens who lived at the Elysium Palace Hotel, now he's an adopted older brother type that looks after the teens. I am happy with him. He is far prettier then his original sales pictures. The HZ Doll outfit he came with is amazing. He managed to replace a doll. I was worried for nothing.

I got my money back from PayPal, and that will go toward my last doll of the year. (supposedly).I have my eyes on a Volks SD girl. Originally I was going to get an Angel of Dream girl. But the Volks girl will also make a great 'Emily' and I had to switch up the brother so why not?

This should be my last doll of the year, unless I see a Mystic Kids Qing Chen FOX hopefully full set second hand. He is the last doll on my wish list. Like completely, final wish list doll. I also am not sure about getting him right now with the male anatomy thing going on, and the tariffs, So, he is on indefinite hold.

Spoiler: PayPal Claim / OT Company

I had to file a PayPal claim against Aolingshi, they never responded. They stopped responding to me exactly on June 1st, which is six months from the original order date, but lucky for me not 180 days.

Sadly, I think they stalled me in May, with their emails of 'just wait a few more days' and I believe that they stopped the emails in June because they thought my PayPal claim was up. I waited over a week for any response after June 1st, and even sent a nudge email, all I got was silence, then I filed the claim.

They also did not respond to PayPal and just let the refund go through. I did like the look of their dolls, but I will never order directly from the company again. This experience kind of made me not want to get any of their dolls.

All of you did very good this week!

@cobaltconduct I am glad that you were able to make some shoes! I've been getting better at that too, mine also aren't great. But may we both become better cobblers in the future!

@PoeticSoul I am glad that you are having fun with the hybrid doll. You do amazing work when it comes to sewing.

@Kynthiamoon I've never been bold enough to do a mouth modification. I'd love to see how she turns out!

@castironteapot I need to put myself on a fabric no-buy. I probably have more fabric then I will ever need, and somehow it's never the right one for my latest project. I need to stop fabric collecting as well.

@tinyflame I'm sorry that you can't get the little young master he sounds adorable. A list of sculpts that you want does sound like a good idea. You are right, if the doll sculpt and company can't be recalled while making the list, maybe you don't want it that badly.

@DollyKim Those Re Ment Halloween décor shelves do sound really cute. I've never bought any of the Re Ment stuff, but I love looking at it. Some stuff I won't let myself buy in the first place, because I know I'll get hooked.

@aihre I just want to say I like what you said about 'passion following commitment' I think you are right. Sometime you have to do something and just commit to getting it done, even push yourself a little, but somewhere along the way you find passion in the project that you are working on. Then you can enjoy the commitment that you made to the project in the first place.

 

Well well well did karma cash in - ordered something quick because I was impatient for another thing to arrive and the damn thing doesn't fit T_T I've found I have quite a bad luck buying my dolls accessories lately where things just don't fit in real life or don't look as good as I imagined, so I have to pass them on after the long wait of overseas shipping. It's become a bit of an annoying cycle so if that's not a reason to enforce a stricter no-buy on myself, idk what is. I've gathered quite a bit of stuff for my dolls over the years and can DIY a lot so I guess other than a few more pairs of option hands I'm waiting on, I don't actually *need* more to enjoy my dolls the way I want to. I just need to sever the "shop=dopamine" bit somehow, I feel like it's making me less prone to making things myself as well. I have to remind myself that the temptations aren't there if I don't look for them

I hope you manage to start working on those backburner dolls! It can be paralysing when there are too many things incomplete, but the only way out is through, and it'll probably be much less overwhelming to welcome new dolls later on if they don't have to end up in a long queue of other dolls waiting for attention. Of course with limited or rare releases it's trickier, but new dolls will also be there later, when buying them doesn't feel like a stressful or unsure decision. Sometimes it's hard to get the ball rolling but with a little bit of work or help it certainly will!

@RabbidBunnies - I'm so glad you like your new-to-you HZ guy and that he was a good fit after all! Sometimes it's worth letting go of the wishlist and taking another chance instead

 

@cobaltconduct It's hard to stay on the creative dopamine cycle, the (much easier) shopping dopamine cycle is forever tempting. Cold turkey is probably the best way to kick the shopping habit, as annoying as that may be!

Maybe it's cold comfort, but if that doll accessory doesn't fit Dott, it's not necessarily your mistake. I don't know what the situation is with 1/4s, but the 1/3 space is a jungle of different sizes and fits, it can be tricky to navigate. Not everything that's labelled "will fit such-and-such doll class" is necessarily true for your doll, OTOH your doll may not fit that well into their supposed class, in one dimension or another. And trends change over time, some classes within 1/3 are more serviced than others now. (*laments in 65cm boy*. No, "fits SD17/Popo68" in China actually means "fits Popo68 only". Yes, a SD17/65cm boy can wear it... because it's too big!!!!)

Was it Dott's shoes that got delayed in transit for you? If so, maybe having 2 different pairs of shoes will give more clarity as to what kinds of product listings will yield the right fit? I recall that my previously-owned Ariadoll's 14yr body does fit 58cm girl/Volks SD shoes, I wonder if Dott's EverPurple body is the same. I think one gets better over time at gauging what actually fits one's particular dolls, but it may involve some trial and error indeed.


@RabbidBunnies
Well done! I'm delighted that Ao Ze Tian worked out, Alistair is in your crew now, and that you're happy with him! Imagination really is generative and finds a way through challenges. I think one just has to give imagination -- in other words, give yourself -- the chance to play and explore with curiosity, no judgment or guilt. I'm glad you allowed yourself that space with this doll.

I learned about 'passion sometimes follows commitment' when I was rediscovering my art and drawing (after being stuck in artist's block and perfectionism paralysis for over a decade, to the point I'd given up on ever drawing again). The first step always takes a bit of commitment because you're starting something brand new, doing something you've never done before, learning or reviving the motions of creativity. It is hard to do! But once you commit and get going, it becomes easier for actual creativity to spark because you're already doing the motions.

I heard the author Leif Enger say this on a podcast interview: "Persistence is the landing strip for the muse. We never know when she's overhead, circling, looking for a place to land." I wrote it down in my notebook of creativity quotes, and I've found this to be repeatedly true for me - I hope it becomes true for all of us.

 

@aihre I agree - cold turkey is what works, "I won't check xyz but will still look at yzx" is just setting up oneself for failure I've convinced myself to delete my proxy's app and empty the balance once I've received the last things from the warehouse, at least I won't be able to casually look at accessories which tends to be my biggest slipup.

The shoes that have been stuck somewhere are still yet to arrive (but seem to be moving now, at least) which I actually assume will fit better, but I ordered a pair of loafers from AliExpress that should have fit measurements-wise... only that they were not high enough for the foot to slide in, which I could have not foreseen. But no harm no foul, AE offers returns and refunds. Shoes are also the same type of pain with 1/4 dolls, squeezing my Volks MSD into Chinese-made shoes is always an effort and a half, and while Volks shoes would fit well for both Dott and Nonoo, seeing how they disintegrate from second hand listings on Mandarake, I'm just not happy to spend the $$$ on them. I guess making my own has become the way of least hair pulling in any case, or perhaps they all just have enough anyway

All in all, the new size did come with the curse of having to figure out what fits them all over again, and my bubble for "1/3 girls are so much easier to shop for" has been burst. Maybe one day small 1/3s are favoured by trends again!

 

@RabbidBunnies The shelves aren't by Re Ment, I got them at Michaels craft store. Last year I got one shaped like a cauldron, this year I got a haunted house one and a black cat one. I initially got the cauldron for my surprise ball potions ca4ae878e54b2f33c67a3f18b785de63e2b3cb75.jpg and realized I needed another for the rest of my tiny spooky stuff.

And for you blind box kids when it comes to Re Ment you want the carton because it has a full set, no duplicates, what's on the box is what's inside.

Altho I've had to go cold turkey on enough things because of what life has thrown at me it's not something I could purposely do to change a habit. What helped me was a combination of distracting myself from the unwanted habit by doing something else that occupied my time and thoughts, we'll say doing something with or for dolls I already have, and then having a set amount of time I would be allowed to just look at other dolls but I wasn't allowed to buy any of them. Eventually I'd be too busy with the dolls I already have and their projects to remember to look at other ones.

 

@cobaltconduct Yes, I have noticed that Volks pleather shoes are notorious for degrading quickly. I suspect that Japanese climate is not good for pleather preservation, and a lot of shoes on Manda/Dolly are sold untouched in airtight packaging, which exacerbates deterioration too.

Well.... it depends on which small 1/3 girl you're shopping for. If she's in the SDGr girl class with heeled feet, she'll be spoiled for choice on Taobao for clothes and shoes both. If she's in the SD13 girl class with flat feet? Watch that thicker waist circumference, and one may be safer shopping on Mandarake/Dollyteria -- and be limited to whatever styles of clothes and shoes are popular in Japan. And if you're Syr on Dollstown's 15year girl body (61cm tall), she was tough work to shop for back in 2011 because she was too big, and she's still tough work to shop for in 2025 because she's both too big (for SDGr and SD16) and too small (for SD boys and "big girls"), for clothes and shoes both. So she's a tomboy and wears some boy's clothes, and I learned how to sew for her sake.

As for measurements, yes, it's entirely possible to buy shoes that should've fit the doll's foot length/width measurements on paper, but the foot is sculpted in a way that can't fit in.

Spoiler: My problem children...

Syr and Hayk are my problem children. Shoes that matched their foot length/width on paper and should've fit, didn't fit because the balls of their feet are sculpted too realistically to get into the shoe toe boxes, or has a rise/arch that's too high to squeeze into the uppers. The sculpting is the issue and there's nothing I've been able to do about it short of hybriding different feet to them so that they can wear shoes (Hayk wears Gael's flat feet; I can't hybrid Syr's feet because of her ankle sculpting). Or they make do with whatever they can fit into (Syr is severely limited), or they just go barefoot all the time (Hayk again). Girl, you get two pairs of shoes and - sobs - no boots; boy, you get one pair and nothing else. I'm done with trial and error, so I'm gonna finesse your characters to love those styles of shoe or even not want to wear them at all. Well, I did choose this life of having everyone on different bodies.

@DollyKim Yes, same thing happens to me too - if I'm doing things with my dolls my eyeballs aren't wandering and window-shopping. As for a set amount of time to look-but-don't-touch, I think the "washout lists" on my blog are serving that aim. Instead of a wishlist, the "washout list" is my list of dolls that I liked or was tempted by, but decided not to buy. I blog about what I loved about this doll, so it's my space to admire and gush over them. I also write down my reasons why I chose not to buy them, which is accountability to myself. I got a chance to appreciate that doll! but that window of time is over, and now I can go back to saying No to them and do stuff with my crew instead.

 

@aihre - one would think it's a hobby of customising your dolls to make them unique and yet we are in the whims of trends all the same - no escape from this even in a niche hobby it seems! I think shoes are at an especially difficult spot because they are not easy to make (and need special equipment and shoe lasts that clothes or wigs don't) so offering them for less popular sizes hardly ever makes sense from a business standpoint. They are also a thing so hard to DIY - unlike how it is with clothes, every small imperfection is super visible and they'll never be "as nice". I can see why dollmakers don't also want to become expert shoemakers but I also wish they offered at least a couple options for the dolls they make.



On a completely another note, I came across this article on blind box collecting and thought it might be interesting in this thread as well: link.

 

I love this cauldron shaped shelf. It looks like a little apothecary. This is such a diverse collection of tiny little bottles. It looks so magical.

This was an interesting read. "five stages emerged including: impulsive purchase, anticipation and fantasy, mystery revealed, repeat purchase for collection and ending reflection." It's amusing because two of my three blind box dolls were impulsive purposes. As well as the "I'd be happy with any of them." Because I did only choose dolls where I would be happy with all of the outcomes.

They have impulse buying nailed! Thankfully, I don't want a full collection of any of them. All of mine are from a different collection.

I have watched people on YouTube in particular go crazy to try and get a full collection of these things. Not just the blind box BJD's but other blind box dolls as well. "Awe, I got the same one twice-three times, I'll buy a few more next week." And they keep buying them until they eventually break down and buy it from someone selling it that opened it already and got it.

"All participants declined to stop at buying just one item, developing various collections of blind box collectibles." This is really interesting to me. Not a single one of them stopped? I've never thought of something like this as an addiction, but I suppose for someone that could get addicted to stuff this is very much like gambling, and they are looking for that 'big win'.

It reminds of that scene in 'Squid Game' the 2nd season. The man offers street people food, or a lottery ticket. Almost all of the people grabbed the lottery ticket over the food, even though they were starving because the possibility of winning big out weighed their own hunger.

It was a very interesting read. Thank you for putting up the link.

 

Aw that's a bummer about your experience with aolingshi @RabbidBunnies. I'm glad the doll you did get works out so well for you instead though!

My impulsive spending lately has been more on craft supplies xD I've bought many different bead things just because the ones I had didn't have the "right" shades of pink I wanted to make like...2-3 bracelets for my girl, so now I have a butt load of seed beads lol. I did also start a layaway for an off-topic doll, though. I seriously debated it, which is more than I can say for some of my other doll purchases, and it'll be nice to have one in a scale that I think will have more clothes or patterns readily available and that I can just dress up however, assuming i don't let her sit there not being customized for years like the last time I got a doll with no set character in mind.
Right now, I'm mostly trying to decide if i'm going to go to nyc dollcon again next year now that they announced it and the ticket info. I wasn't planning on it after this year's, and things with my job keep getting more and more uncertain (they just announced that they're going to be looking at programs and headcounts and restructuring units, including letting people go in order to save money). But I didn't go to any of the meetups or get cute pictures of dolls this time (didn't have any dolls with me), and it would be nice to be able to do that. And it sounds like they'll have more vendors and possibly panel options. But with my workplace being so uncertain (and demoralizing tb. They're currently the biggest employer in the area that pays decently and has benefits) and the fact we want to try to look into getting a house next spring again, I feel like I shouldn't. Even if i go with not spending much in mind, just food down there is pretty expensive. I have been debating selling a couple dolls that I just have kind of lost interest or motivation for customizing though...

 

Aside from the scientific beakers that are wide at the bottom and narrow at the top and all but one of the skeleton bottles all of those are from the Harry Potter potions surprise balls. I've accumulated a full set, including the rare ones, which are the empty bottles, and all the colored ones are extras that I played with. If you don't want to use resin then regular school glue or acrylic sealer will work. Some of the sparkles and bits are from my other resin crafts. If you're on a budget or space constrained the room making set has a nice batch of supplies. Horizontal stripes are just letting the layers dry between sessions, vertical you have to lay the bottle on its side, some I put color in the lid and just let it drip.

If that was the only batch the cauldron shelf would hold it all but I have the Honeydukes, soon to be three full Re Ment sets- witch house, school of witchcraft and wizardry, and black cat antique shop, along with who knows what other spooky minis to ass to it. The stuff fits any play line 1/6 or smaller, it might look a bit out of scale in the hands of a Yo-SD but will suit the 12cm and blind box mini critters fine.

 

So, the body for my project doll finally came today. ( not sellers fault, the post was slow for what ever reason). came unstrung, witch gave me the chance to se quickly if the beast leg and body match, and it is so close . in both color and just joint engineering.
So now I don't know if a scrub and wash is enough or if I need to paint the whole body and legs... have 6 week to vacation, so I time to think about it
(picture of the lover beast leg and thigh in question: 588cc5d4-58d4-41ce-a55a-e41304968314 hosted at ImgBB 978b9877-4c49-438b-8659-294b5bd0fa9d hosted at ImgBB)

Not a buy, yet. Just some thoughts.. Last week a body I have given up on finder to a head I have, came for sale ( the body cannot be preorder so have been looking secondhand) .. I got another body for the head last year, but have never been compete happy with that body. Now I'm torn about whether I want to buy the body that came for sale or not, mostly because of the steep price for it. (quite above the sale listing originally)
Have you find a better match (body or head) later for a doll, but maybe have waited for the price to drop or just bought I ether way now, for the fear of missing it, if it is rare?

 

Wednesday win: A hard to find doll on the wish list came up for sale. I thought on it and decided not to even worry about it, since I'm happy with my barbie odile mermaid in that size. Wishlist doll is resin. I did try to repaint a barbie (playline odile) and things didn't click at all so sold her to a friend. It helped me think twice on the resin gal. (Though I'm just now remembering I have a action figure gal on order for October. Yeah, definitely good there.)

Rement sets and fabric have been my downfalls in years past, but I'm good there too. If I don't have the fabric in my stash, I just go "shopping" in my friend's stash. Almost twenty years working at Joann's has left us both with very robust fabric collections. We just really need to start cutting into them.

Fails: I still REALLY want some just released blind box dolls, and there's another set in production I'd really like...

 

Two small wins: The last doll I will order in the foreseeable future arrived. The eyes she came with are the size and color was thinking of getting for her, so one less things to buy.

I also organized my Volks twins' clothing box. They have outfits in abundance. I'm now morivated not to buy or make anymore outfits for them, excepting what's on the queue and already in the fabric stash.

 

Umm...I'm not going to post my win-fails list since it's mostly about "pending failure". I have a question, that probably shouldn't be in "no buy". Is there any such discount that gets to the point where it could entice a person to buy a bjd for the wrong reasons? And, why haven't it YOLO'd on it, yet? In fact, it's WEIRD how calm I am about it. Should I BE this calm?? (Yes, the young master sculpt.)

And, I thought that I was doing well for the last few weeks. My like for it seemed to make me turn down other sculpts and to move forward. I wanted to buy Mr. Destin some clothes. Now, the sale changed from x% off to and "How much percent off now??". (Let's say that it's from somewhere between 15% to 45%.) My reaction is "Please keep it out of my reach, for now. I need to think".

Maybe I'm calm because of the heat? Or noticing that "Little Guy" might've greened? (He's been in box and he's a year old, now.) Maybe it was because being jolted awake from a dream of seeing one of my bjds, before I ever saw the new discount.

Spoiler: It's wrong to like him, right?

"No one exactly needs ANY bjd. You're adorable, I want to dress you in all of the things, and you're fashionable enough to be the new Maria. But, you're smaller than the other two guys! And, I just bought a floating head. If I buy YOU, then it'll be like a boy band thing here. And, both of us know that your grumpy face says that you hate boy bands. You'll need your own wardrobe and I can't sew. I wanted to possibly buy another floating head or an outfit or a body for a floating head, yet THERE you are. The moment I buy you, the other sculpt I've wanted will re-release. You're adorable.... So, why the heck do I want you in my presence? Your promo pictures made you look pretty, but what if you're TOO PRETTY? You're scrawny, and a tad short, and you're grumpy looking and seem a bit introverted. You're a stronger point of view than the other two guys and you don't care if other people like you. Jerk."

Of course the new price put me at "Maybe I should consider it, now". I haven't figured out if he is on the scale of "being just a pair of eyes" like Sujan and "Stop everything, I think I love it". (Sujan's mesmerizing to me.) Or IF that should the scale, to bump him off my crazy radar? What are the standard reasons of: why you want to buy it for the wrong reasons?, again?
Example: Wanting to buy a doll because "Little Guy" having THE twin sister only makes him cuter. That could be a wrong reason to buy her. (I think the two look like twins, they might not have been made as twins.)

I remember that buying it because of how a mass of other people feel about it, could be wrong reasons. I really wish a mass of people felt the same way that I do about a couple of sculpts I like. Hahaha.)

 

I have bought things so they would stop bothering me. My basic criteria is if my bills are paid, my general needs are being met, and I have room for the thing. Of all of those room is the biggest consideration to keep me from hoarding, and I could fall in to retail therapy if I'm not cautious.

Sometimes the universe puts it in your way for a reason or the timing is just right and you just got to scoop it up and tell it that it lives with you now.

 

Caveat: this is purely my own opinion and experience.

I've had similar experience to DollyKim - I have bought things so that something or someone will stop bothering me. Usually this is a seller who is trying to persuade me to buy something I kinda liked but was on the fence about, and the amount spent is inconsequential (in my perception). In this case, the object I bought wasn't the thing I was truly buying. I've gotten better at saying No to being pressured into buying something so that the pressure goes away: because making up my mind, settling myself, and walking away from the entire deal without spending any money, would also make the pressure go away.

In general, when it comes to resin BJDs... when I was a newbie, I was buying dolls partly to assuage a certain pain in my life -- the object I bought wasn't the thing I was truly buying. I was aware that dolls wouldn't solve my pain, but I still tried to make them do it. I recall being rather unemotional about this whole process -- there was that rush of buying something, and hobby highs here and there, but there was more frustration and "meh", and I was never truly happy with my collection. Of the 8 dolls I bought in my newbie days, only 2 still remain with me (the ones I actually loved).

I've resolved that pain in my life now (had to step away from the BJD hobby to manage this), so I don't buy dolls to fill a need in my life anymore. I'm glad about this, because I'm now buying dolls for their own sakes, so I'm enjoying my collection and the hobby way more.

If you're not enjoying yourself? I figure this hobby is all about enjoyment and pleasure (as all hobbies ought to be), so if you're enjoying your process and your dolls, that's wonderful! you're doing something right and should keep at it. ^^ There's absolutely nothing wrong or bad with loving the popular dolls, if that's what you enjoy! But if you're not enjoying your process or your dolls... perhaps it's worth trying something different, see if you like that more, and then following those pleasure signposts and see where it leads you?

But sometimes lack of enjoyment has other origins beyond the dolls and the community -- as it did for me as a newbie. In my case, the dolls weren't the source of my angst, so they couldn't help me get out of it. I had to go resolve those other things before I could come back to the hobby, buy dolls for their own sakes, and fully enjoy them and myself.

 

@tinyflame You have been wanting the young master for a little while now. If wanting him is stopping you from enjoying other aspects of the hobby, maybe you should get him? The extra sale price sounds like a sign. The twin idea sounds adorable. Maybe I am defeating the purpose of this thread, but it seems like you really-really want this guy.

I'm not sure if there is a right or wrong reason to get a doll.

I once bought a doll, because I didn't want to see the price of it drop any lower. It was silly because I went to sleep thinking about that doll and that the owner must need the money to keep relisting it at lower and lower prices. When I woke up I had intended to get it, and the doll was pulled, then I found it relisted again at a lower price. I just bought it immediately. I couldn't stand to see the owner lose any more money. Who knows the owners real story, or why they wanted to sell the doll so badly? I honestly don't know. For whatever reason. I don't regret buying the doll.

There are other dolls I've walked away from. One doll I still think about. I almost bought it several times when I was first gathering characters for my story. The doll would have fit a number of roles. But for some reason, I just never hit the buy button. I even lost sleep some nights fretting about the doll. Should I get him? What if someone buys him first? Silly thoughts. I walked away from him. Now I am just wondering if the doll will ever sell? It's an instock doll, it's been in a clearance section for years now. I still think the doll is cute, I just no longer want him. I don't know what made me walk away from this doll. Other dolls just seemed more important, I guess.

Sometimes, you just have to get the doll.

 

I suppose a "wrong" reason could include getting one because everyone else has one but you don't really like it, like what ever the latest craze is. With dolls and toys being what you would consider ugly is a great reason not to get one.

A reason I can give for selling no matter the price is the doll just has to GTFO. About 20 years ago I had a major purge and 3 of 5 of the "core Barbies" I spent a majority of my childhood with were sold because they just had to go. One was replaced with the same doll, she just wasn't the particular one who absorbed the bad vibes almost cursed personal object territory if you know what I mean. They just couldn't live with me any more. Other times you just don't have room and know that someone else is going to enjoy them more than you and trust the universe is going to connect you no matter the price.

 

@DollyKim I like that cauldron shelf.
@Dothea congrats on the Project doll! With the body that you have been looking at, for the floating head, would not know what to do. And, I would probably have to suck it up and let it go for being way out of my price range. It being a rare piece, I would probably make a stupid decision, in hopes that I could buy it.
@Kynthiamoon Great job on deciding to let go of a sculpt.
@saraquill congrats on the last doll arriving safely. I'm also glad that the extras you received compliment the doll. And, now that the twins have a full wardrobe, that means you have extra time to style and pose them with the new member to your doll family.


After giving some effort to Maria, to the point where I didn't like one floating head I received because I kept thinking about fixing Maria, was when I started telling myself that this style of hobby and myself does not mix.

I was trying to figure out which of my dolls were on the backburner. UGH, cataloging. Turns out, ALL of the dolls are on backburner, minus Sujan. (Her face is always falling off; gotta fix that.) Wait at least one more year before starting on any of them? Only two of the dolls I ordered were finished products: Maria (she has no legs) and the fullset doll that probably got punted into the ocean.
Most are unpainted heads and no bodies. I've been more hands off with all of them since the incident with Mr. Destin.

I keep having nightmares. So maybe I should take a small break, August. I'm sorry that my silly mistakes are clogging up the no buy thread. I understand that you and everyone here has had some tough times, even before "no buy". I want to thank everyone for being here for one another. It's nice here. (Also, it's really tough to self diagnose why one keeps buying, on their own.)

Oh, it's worse. It made me stop ALL of my buying plans. To stop everything, and yet be so calm about making a decision. The reason I'm grumpy is that I know buying him will destroy my plans AND I have to make special accommodations for him. It's hard enough to resist my want to spoil "little guy". I remember "there IS NO reasoning and I HAD to have it" when I bought "little guy".
Anyway, anything that can make me stop editing my plans is "bad for business". Why does HIS grumpy face have to be adorable?
I even went back through promo photos of other bjds I would like to buy and I don't understand why my brain chose this.


This year, I have seen some people's bjds [online] that make me smile and laugh. They bring me joy. Maybe I haven't designed what's charming about my bjds because they're blank? I even think that I have a name for "Little Guy", but I don't want to try it out until he's painted.

Mr. Destin needs a pair of hot pants!! Sorry, I saw a pair of real leather hot pants for bjds. It's summer and I think that it'll look great on him. There HAS to be a free pattern to make a pair, somewhere. Is cotton or stretchy fabric better? Ruching? I don't know anything about sewing, but I do know that he has a Dollzone butt.

 

"Life is what happens to us when we're busy making other plans" said someone else. But nightmares are definitely your subconscious and body telling you something is wrong. Taking a break from this hobby and looking at every aspect of it and having good long thoughts of why you're in to it sounds like a good idea.

As for real leather on BJDs- NO! The little bits and pieces will get in to every joint and crevice, stain, and never come out. For beginning sewers I a non stretchy fabric that is mostly cotton, think something that feels like a bed sheet (or old bed sheets), or muslin. If you're near a craft store some remnant pieces will be cheaper to practice with. Think of your first sewing projects as pancakes. If all you have is a box store then plain handkerchiefs or flour sacks for tie dying are good fabric to use.

Now when it comes to having a favorite and spoiling one over others, they're dolls and really don't give a ****. I spoil Xavier and allow him to have anything he wants but in return he has cultivated very picky tastes which has helped me. The other dolls don't care, those who go out tell everyone else what they saw. Sometimes a particular doll is the best for a particular situation, ask Rian, Dad, and Tamzyn.

 

I just glue fabric to the inside of anything leather I make for my BJD's. Or more leather, depending on what it is and how thick it can be.

 

@tinyflame it's ok to change or stop your plans if something else seems more interesting! It's just a hobby, not a job where things have to follow through certain pre-set checkpoints. Sometimes it's best just to clear the queue altogether and start again from the top (or just let the list be empty for a bit). It sounds like you're interested in a doll that outweighs others, maybe it's a good trade-off to get the one you really love instead of all the planned ones.

Having nightmares doesn't sound good - if the hobby is stressing you out and tampering with your sleep, definitely don't wait to take a break. In case the catalyst is the unclear status of your pending orders, checking in with the seller/dealer would also probably ease your mind a bit. If it's because of the backburner dolls, putting all buying plans on hold while working on them one by one would probably be the least overwhelming way through it (or at least this is how I would go about it but YMMV of course).

In any case, dolls can always wait! Make sure you take care of yourself first

 

For hotpants, I'd suggest a stretchy fabric. It has the benefit that you won't need to hem it, and you can also use a piece of it to make a waistband, so you won't need elastic.

 

@tinyflame thank you. I must say that at the moment I have not fallen for the FOMO. I have started to ask my self if the body I have is not good enough. So I will probably let this sale pas, it is as you said it is too expensive

 

I did it. Last doll of the year has been ordered. The character Emily is secure in a Volks Honoka. She was instock on Volks U.S.A. so the wait will not be long. I'm still waiting on Sinjin - Dragon Doll Piao Chiyue who was ordered in March. This will conclude my doll purchases for the year.

Time to save up some money. I have more pictures to take, stories to write, do unfinished sewing projects, work on a furniture Idea that I have... not sure if I can pull it off, but I want to make something like bleachers, so I can get a lot of dolls to sit in a single picture at different levels. I've been collecting weird things to make this.

It feels nice to have cleared my wish list for the year. I had to trade some dolls, for other dolls, but the character roles are filled. Only one doll remains, and I don't see getting him for awhile. I was going to get him next year, but not so sure about it now because of Chinese tariffs. He is not crucial for the story and I really want the fullset version. I'll just keep him on my wish list. I'll only jump if for some reason he gets on a discontinued list.

 

@tinyflame Please don't kick yourself. Take a break, do what you need to for your peace of mind.

 

@tinyflame Seconding what other people have said – if bjds are causing you so much stress that they're giving you nightmares, maybe taking a break from the hobby might be beneficial? The dolls will still be there when you decide to come back


Weekly Wednesday report in:

I managed to go to Big Town without acquiring any fabric, just sewing machine oil and a washable fabric marker.

I've been casually searching for a body for my Angell-Studio Hua Rong, and the current leaders are the Dollzone NB56-001 and the Maskcat 57cm girl body, which is in the middle of being redesigned.
I'm in no hurry to give her a body, as I really want her to have one that I like. I could give her a placeholder body, but I feel no interest, even with Angell-Studio bodies available secondhand, so I think that's a sign to wait.

 

My Wednesday win is that I’m still completely focused on my new character, starting on some more outfits to make for her and planning a little decorative enhancement to her faceup. Looking back on my little “impulse slip” of buying her head, I now realize that it was this specific character that was determined to break through (and not just a wanting-to-buy-for-the-sake-of-buying-something slip.) It was the perfect head at a bargain price, put together with a body I already owned so it didn’t increase my numbers…and I’m positively thrilled with the result. I’m currently awash in creativity for her!

And not only that, but all this creativity has suddenly spurred a desire to update the faceup and body blushing of another of my dolls (to bring her look more in line with the “White Rabbit” connection in her storyline.) This necessitated buying her a new white wig, and a small collection of quaint “Anne of Green Gables” print fabrics to enhance her wardrobe…but hey, it wasn’t really all that much, and it’s a cheap price to pay for an entire summer of creative fun!

 

Didn't even realize yesterday was Wednesday. Anyone struggling with feelings of their live and value as a human being depending on owning something needs to be at a store on the same day they get their restock of collectables, people had to wait in a special line, the collectables section was blocked off so the worker could stock the shelves, and they had to have a security guard. Or be somewhere with a collectables vending machine at opening time.

Look at the people, watch their behavior, wonder about them. Question yourself and your reasons if you feel you are getting out of control with your hobbies.

 

Win Wednesday came and went but regardless I feel like I've made some serious progress in my no-buy recently. After reading this study I also linked here last week and having a good convo about collecting and trendy blind box crazes with some pals, I felt something click in my brain regarding my buying behaviour in this hobby - mainly realising how purchase loops tend to happen for me and how they end up a lot about chasing some kind of a shopping high or ignoring some other problem which is not good for a) me b) wallet c) all my other interests, and how it all ends up being super distractive on top. I don't see a longevity in the hobby continuing like this so some changes need to be made but I feel somewhat sobered up which is quite nice actually!

I still need to ship what I have in a proxy warehouse but I'll put myself on a strong bjd-related shopping ban for a good while - some kind of half-baked sometimes something hasn't really worked well so far and I know I have no self control otherwise I also sold a doll I had been on a fence about for a while, and it feels like it was a good move to pass on something I wasn't quite happy with instead of pouring more money into trying to fix what bothered me.

A very silly way to go about it but to fully enforce the no-buy, I started a video game that will take me ages to beat so I want to spend all my fun screentime doing that and not looking at buyable things. It's working excellently so far, I can highly recommend

 

@cobaltconduct are they seriously writing clickbait titles for journal articles now?! Blind box mania is crazy. I do my best to stay far away from them.

It's good to take a look at your habits and the reasons behind them. Maybe everyone can't solve the true underlying problem, but there are definitely better and worse coping mechanism for them if you can't.

A couple years ago I discovered that dolls are not a good storytelling medium and that I would much rather be able to draw them. Let me tell you, a pencil and paper are way cheaper than resin. I still love my dolls very much (you can't hug ideas after all!) but I've been distracting myself with drawing rather than shopping. Right now if someone handed me $1k for doll shopping, I wouldn't know what to do with it. I have a small list but it's things that rarely pop up or need a rerelease. They're welcome to pop up anytime though!! I'm waiting!!!

 

@cobaltconduct I think blind box dolls are cute, but I really dislike the business model. I know it's been around forever, but it's just gambling. The primate brain doesn't care if you're gambling on money or dolls, so the effect is the same.
@nyaaain I don't have the will to commit to a real project anymore, but I still doodle a lot and my dollies have become the default subject. Helps with picking their outfits too

Finally I have started to make orders to service my current crew. Of course I thought of sneaking one of the heads I'd like to hybrid into the budget, but I did not cave in One doll at a time. I'll think about new ones only after Kana. Also I feel that something is going to change in my plans so this wouldn't be the right time to get stuck with floating heads for half a year.

 

I think the limited releases model a lot of companies are changing to is just as bad as the blind box addiction, tbh. And cheaper things for a limited time aren't good, either. The Luts anniversary event got me, and normally I would have had no problem just letting it go. When faced with the idea of it being "just a head" the temptation was much stronger. If they had just had a goodbye event and had a sale on full dolls, I would have been able to ignore it.

As for dolls, this 4th of July, I'm going to hopefully get some faceups and nails done. I've been doing faceups two at a time, and so far my energy is holding out. I currently have 5 more to do and then I'll be done! I have a big project list and if I keep going at the rate I'm going, I'll finish almost everything on it early. I also have to suede some dolls this year and I'm really anxious about doing hot glue sueding, as I've never worked with hot glue before. It's still exciting to do something new, though.

 

Yeah it's not as inherently exploitative but still pretty bad. Thankfully my favorite companies don't do this and just let you order off their catalog I don't care about exclusive or limited, so it's just a drawback to me.

 

You spend that $1000 on good art supplies, I tell you what. The moment you use something that isn't Crayola or Prismacolor you feel it. I can even tell the difference between student/studio lines and fancy lines with some companies. The story I could tell about someone who saw a set of pencils in the background of an influencer's video, finally "figured out" what fancy brand they were (instead of realizing they were staging props), then proceeded to whine that they were terrible and streaky because the perfectly fine techniques she used with cheaper very waxy pencils didn't work with more pigmented kind and have commentators who used them all the time take her to school.

A video game that's hard to beat, or a book, or a tv series, or a complicated project to occupy your hands sounds like a great way to keep one from mindlessly buying anything. And give those blind box critters and even limited edition dolls time to end up in the secondary market when the craze ends. It took us a few years but we have a full set of plushies and variants, all but the last one were found at a junk store, and it technically cost more to ship the last one than it did to buy them.

 

I agree, the limited release model in BJDs has become more prevalent, and preorder durations can be very short, which exacerbates the FOMO. I can understand that indie sculptors have to do it for logistical reasons, but some bigger doll companies have incorporated FOMO into their sales model, which I find rather pernicious. Floating heads are especially sneaky - a head isn't merely an option part, it represents a whole new doll. By delaying their body, the subconsious burden of bodying/servicing them can get heavy. It certainly does for me and it taints my enjoyment.

(Speaking of floating heads - I finally bought the body for my last floating head. I got spooked by the recent Chinese censorship drama over male BJD bodies, I wanted to secure this doll's body before anything worse might happen, so I decided to go for my original #1 choice and not wait for impending new releases. I'm happy with this decision, and I'm definitely relieved that the burden of bodying this doll has now lifted and he'll be completed soon.)

I want to avoid the FOMO cycle while still staying connected to the community -- there's WAY more happening amongst hobbyists than just buying resin, so I'm trying to focus on the areas of community that are doing things with their dolls, and less on the new-release and acquisitions side. It's been helping me stay focused on my dolls, which keeps my eyes from wandering to new dolls. And also find methods of breaking out of the FOMO cycle and window-shopping, if I happen to get stuck inside those.

So it's great to read about what other people are doing instead of window-shopping/buying! Please share how you're no-buying -- with your dolls, or away from the hobby~

Lately I've been drawing my doll characters, and it's helping a lot - I stay connected to my OCs, but don't think so much about servicing their doll forms. I've been trying to do more photography and just making do with taking pics at night -- I notice I've been getting rather picky about lighting my photos properly, and I should go back to being relaxed about things. Unfortunately sewing and crafting has fallen by the wayside. Sewing did help me to stay away from window-shopping last year, so I should try to pick it up again.

 

I totally disagree here. I do agree they're both bad, but you are at least being told upfront what you are getting and not having to buy multiple dolls to get the one you want. Gambling is what takes blind boxes to the next level. I would still do a lottery/limited order, if I was 100% positive I knew I wanted it. The blind box sales model is a hard stop for me. There's no winning because you buy things you don't want and no one else wants either.

@DollyKim The $1k is only for doll shopping in this hypothetical situation! I can definitely come up with something non doll related. In the end, better supplies won't make me better at drawing. I accept that they may make it easier, but I'm not even confident enough to color yet. Art supplies collection can also act as another good money sink as well as dolls. I bought a tablet 2 years ago and immediately realized I had no idea how to draw. I've barely used it because of that!

 

Art supplies got a strange collectoresque bent since digital art kicked in. I can't even tell the difference between Grampa's Rusty Wheelbarrow and Mars Seaside at 12 O'Clock, all I want is bunt sienna (PBr7).

 

boy does it ever >< I have SO MANY art and craft supplies I've barely, if ever, used. Part of that is the little shoulder devil that sees something cool and immediately goes "we can do that" and adhd doesn't help with that, because I'll impulsively get a bunch of supplies and put them in my closet or try something once, not be immediately amazing at it, and then never touch it again. I tried digital art for a while, but I've gone through a few tablets and art programs, and I still end up sticking to sketchbooks and markers. I have been trying to use my tablet and CSP for getting rough pose sketches done, that i can then print out and trace into a sketchbook to do the finished piece, but it still means I don't use my current tablet that much. My 2nd tablet i actually got a larger one thinking it'd be better, but I've gone back to the 6x4 size for my current one and like it a lot better xD Maybe if I had the display kind or something like an ipad and procreate I'd like the bigger size more, but for how I use it, a smaller one is fine.

 

Then for $1000 my dolls are getting the old playsets I used to have but good ones with all the pieces and not the $#@! leftovers.

With art supplies tho there is a certain level of quality you need to encourage yourself to practice and build more skills. If anyone if planning to get serious about art I can advise you to which colored and watercolor pencil sets should fill your needs and some papers to avoid. At least get Crayola, they have better quality control than Prismacolor, or if you have to have a "fancy" art brand Faber Castel.

Now let me tell you about digital drawing because manually I'm fantastic and would actually fight people about the quality of some of my better pieces. Digitally I recently replaced my tablet, found out half the non progress on the previous one was its age and surface, and in spite of regularly practicing I've only made one completed piece. I've shared some progress pics and understand what's not working, it's just going to take me awhile to learn how to make it all work. Meanwhile I'm not letting it affect my self worth or how I feel about my abilities. And I've possibly been at this longer than many of y'all have been alive so you can't compare the amount of experience either.

 

I don't collect blind boxes nor am I interested in limiteds and don't think it's the gambling per se that gets me - but I think also the saturation of constant new things coming out in this hobby, the very busy event and discount schedules and the abundant second hand market speak to the lizard brain very loudly. Such dangers lurk in all collecting hobbies these days and we all fall victim every now and then It's also fair to recognise that this is a hobby that has a lot to do with buying things as a baseline but ye maybe I don't have to crank the "small purchase" dopamine all the time.

@nyaaain - yeah, I also had a good chuckle at the title! Although I guess it has something to do with where it might have been pitched to, I have a feeling clickbait might help reaching the right audience here.

@cosmicakes - I've always found doing several faceups in a row quite nice because you learn so many tricks and can use them on the next face right away. I've hot glue sueded most of my dolls and it's pretty easy! I did mess up putting some in joints engineered to fit together super tightly a couple of times, though, in case you want to learn from my mistakes

@aihre - congrats on getting a body! I always find having floating heads like a curse that also lessens my enjoyment in the rest of my dolls as well, it's always nice to have the weight come off the shoulders.



I, too, bought a tablet in with a lot of enthusiasm a few years back - I was very eager to replace my ancient Wacom Bamboo that was no longer compatible with anything and grade up also - but it's been mostly collecting dust, other than using it for faceup mockups. I guess the medium just aged out for me over time, and it's easier to grab paper than boot up my laptop etc. Tablets are also really hard to sell second hand these days (unless for extremely cheap), in case anyone's been on the fence of getting one but not sure if they'd want to keep it.

I guess it goes for every tool - unless you feel like you really need to get something of a certain quality because you are feeling limited by what you have, it's time to get it, but getting lots of expensive art supplies can also feel intimidating and limiting all the same

 

I am still thinking about the girl I passed over at the BJD con.

Pros; I love 90% of her body, she's the right size, I love the face sculpt, reasonably priced, I want another girl
Cons: single jointed hips, I'd want to redo her faceup.

I know I'm not willing to carve up the legs of a doll to get the flexibility I want, but I am wondering whether I could just buy or make an alternate set of thighs and some peanut hip joints which would solve that problem . I'm not scared of redoing faceups, I just need to actually get around to doing them (and buying some new cartridges for my respirator). Although it is summer so it's the right weather for it.

I'm just dithering because I am a ditherer.

 

Ahh I'm so happy that July has arrived. I'm finally free to take care of my crew.
I've said it already: for how happy I am with getting a new doll in the mail, everything surrounding the purchase is dreadful to me. The costs, shipping, pending layaways - no matter how comfortable I am with covering them; the what-ifs, the completely random ransom fees (I paid twice what I expected for my last order), and the endless waiting are such a weight on my shoulders. I'm always so much happier when I'm buying things for the dolls. I'm late on this year's schedule but I think I can get everyone at least one nice new outfit and I'll try to squeeze an order for eyes or wigs in as well. I've got way too few options for eyes and the alpaca wigs I own have been shedding badly, so I'll need to replace them.
I avoid long layaways but I'm in no particular hurry to get the doll I planned this year, so I might delay or apply for a longer one this time.

This is definitely a collector hobby as a baseline, there's no avoiding it. But I have a special respect for people who just get the doll and craft everything themselves cause crafting can turn it into an art hobby and dolls become a canvas rather than a collectible. Not sure if I'll ever get there and right now I'm just buying, but I want to get into that side of things.

 

Ahhh there's an upcoming limited release I want so badly, but I'll have to pass. I knew about it, but I didn't think it would happen so soon.
I have sworn not to alter my plans any further, and my commitments are sealed. It's probably going to be expensive, and no layaway either. Maybe it's for the best, so I don't get tempted to cram another doll in the budget this year.
I know that my planned doll in December will be more than worth it, and maybe there will be another release in the future so I can still catch it?

 

Well, I had 3 large doll female heads with no body, barely anyone had face ups, only "Little Guy" had eyes, none of the resin that I was trying to sell was sold (at that point), there's been a few doll heads I've wanted since January, and I know that I still do not understand how expensive this hobby is. The "I want all of the dolls" is not a plan; it's not even feasible. Look at them: No eyes, no clothes, and no faces.
My nightmares aren't hobby related.
Now, I'm like "I want something pretty and I don't wish to pour myself into this thing". The reason why I feel "I don't wish to pour myself into this thing" is because of the subject matter of those nightmares telling me to not trust myself. I'm not sure if I can say much else, this is a no buy thread afterall.

The bjd in my dream was human, stooped down and watching me sleep, but he had no eyes.
I don't have the doll head, so nothing I can do. But, maybe the watching was an interpretation of a promo for some other doll. I haven't asked the artist about the character because I thought it'd be fun to make my own version of it or make a visual communication of it.
A character that might be blind in one eye. I haven't settled on why he visits the mistress, without notice. Or if there is a one sided romantic interest with one another. Do their poses change as they get to know one another? Does he only exist in dreams?

@PoeticSoul I love that you are getting so much inspiration from the new doll head. I can't wait to see the results for those two.

I will admit the FOMO gambling is exhausting to me, too.
I guess the business model of forcing FOMO reactions, by making most ordering periods limited, will either succeed or it'll backfire. I would think it'll only stop Joe-Schmo from making copies without permission. I am not sure if the model generates more revenue for artists.
Also, good thing that you found the doll body. This is already a note worthy year of the political climate affecting the history of bjd. I wonder if there will be a thread about how 2025 changed the story for a few bjds: delayed deliveries, crafting changes, second hand dolls that got re-homed faster, etc. I'm curious about what would become more available due to this.

I tend not to like blind box concepts. It feels like gambling and I'd say I have worse luck than most. That's why I try staying away from blind box.
Collecting bjd feels a bit like gambling to me, for now. At least seeing the amount of LIMITED sculpts that exist. It puts you on alert and you have a short time to make a decision.

 

My Wednesday Win is re-looking at my post in the “Doll Plans for 2025” thread and being utterly amazed by all I’ve accomplished already this year. I always keep that post properly edited (in bright purple!) with my accomplishments throughout the year so I don’t lose track of what I need to do for my collection. Of course, not everything gets done. But this year? Egads! I’ve been on a roll. Go me!

 

Seeing all the stuff about blind boxes and the interesting paper @cobaltconduct linked made me glad they don't appeal to me. I had a very brief dalliance with them about a decade ago and bought a blind box figure, but when I realised the odds of getting the one I wanted were low, I decided to quit while I was ahead.

Wednesday wins:

I've been through all my doll clothes and decided to clear out some outfits and accessories that I'm not using. Turns out I accumulated a lot over the last 3 years! I suppose it also took me some time to work out how I wanted to style my dolls, and when nearly everything has to be bought without seeing it in person, some misses are inevitable.

A limited doll I've been after appeared on the secondhand market in mint condition, but I didn't feel a need to buy her: she was twice her retail price, and I'd want option parts for her that aren't readily available, so I just closed the tab.

I just want to work on my existing dolls when time and weather allows, and now I have a replacement SD card reader for my camera, I feel motivated to take photos again!

 

Wednesday Win:
* Not going to buy clothes for Mr. Destin's first anniversay. No eyes, no face, no wig. So, no clothes. He has shoes, though. I never required him to be finished by now, anyway.
* Do I buy matching outfits for THOSE two? (I know the dolls aren't painted. The outfits may not be what I am ideally looking for and they might not fit.) Or do I buy an outfit for another doll? You know what, I will come back to this another time.
* I'm fed up with buying eyes. So, let's delay buying eyes for my one girl, again. I'll wait for the other doll head to come in before deciding about eyes, again.
* I finally am using Sujan to test soft cap making. A little nervous about it. But, this will prepare me for the next two dolls who would need this.

Spoiler: Um...let's pay a doll tax, WAYYY too early, so nothing to see here

Maybe it's a wigcap?? I tried.

Wednesday Fails:
* No to that cute doll, no to that doll head, no to moon lady head.... Delete, delete, delete, delete, and probably one bad idea.
* Everyone, back to the backburner. I'll get back to you dolls, Winter. I don't like that you all might be too cute to sell.

 

I'm in the process of switching all my pictures to imgbb, since I had mistakenly thought Neocities was OK with hotlinking. I decided to do away with the website entirely since I wasn't updating it that much anyway, so in the meanwhile a lot of pictures will be broken. Some will probably stay broken, I'm afraid, but from then on I'll manage more permanence. It's better if I do this early while I still can, cause I haven't posted a lot of pictures yet and the links to edit are few.

I also think I want to do a more radical makeover to my dolls. Mina and Leona's wigs are both shedding and getting bald spots because they're just badly made, and I hate Leona's custom outfit (her only one sadly). The person attached to these things is someone I want to remove entirely, so I'll redo the doll profiles once I've got replacements.
I really wish I didn't give myself extra work and think my dolls are "fine", but I admit the loose ends and subconscious annoyance have been spoiling my interest in the hobby. I think if I start over fresh I'll be way happier.

 

@lutke Sometimes a makeover is in order if there's something unpleasant attached to the way a doll is styled.
I've just wiped one of my girl's heads because I painted it at a bad moment in my life last year, and looking at her faceup brought back memories of that time. Fortunately the doll herself isn't associated with the memories, but her old look had to go.
I hope you're able to give your dolls a fresh start and remove those unpleasant associations.

It's a paint and paint removal spree around here – apart from cleaning off one doll, I finally worked up the courage to alter the corners of one of my doll's faceups because his mouth corners were going in complete opposite directions: smirk on one side, sad on the other (Volks, why?!).
I'm also prepping to paint another head, but that's going to be a whole project – he's ocean horror themed, so I've been experimenting with my new watercolour paints and creating raised textures with PVA glue for scarring.

I want to paint and seal while the winter weather here allows me to, and if I'm spending time painting, I'm not browsing for dolls or other doll-related items. At least right now, I want to work on the dolls I have instead of buying more to work on, so that's something in my favour!

 

@castironteapot It's strange that dolls get so charged with this sort of thing. If you had asked me before I joined the hobby, I would've thought it was silly. But I guess I might have felt this way in another hobby as well. I can't help but think I was simply targeted because I was new and I didn't know better. Thankfully it didn't last too long but there's enough damage done and I'm massively set back. There's no point looking back so I'll just cut my losses.
I still have to admit to myself that I'm going to have to waste this year on fixing things and starting over, rather than getting anything accomplished. I'm pretty salty about that. At this hour I would've had all my dolls in a decent state.

 

No time is wasted time. Fixing things is still accomplishing. I'm about to spend good doll money on something not doll related, and while I tell myself I should have bought it in the first place instead of what I got to make do when I made that purchase I didn't have the time or option for something else.

 

It is interesting how things can become so imbued with our emotions over time or through experiences. I keep stalling on working on a couple of my dolls because I decided to do some mods on one and it was such a frustrating experience that it's made me reluctant to do much with them at all, and there are some other things that I was dealing with around the same time that sort of cooled my initial excitement about them. I keep waffling on selling them though, partly because I know it'll be hard to sell the one with my amateur mods, and partly out of guilt because i bought all the things I'd need to customize them and frankly spent far too much money on those supplies :/ And yeah, it sort of does feel like if I sell them, then I wasted both that money and that time :/

@castironteapot ooh ocean horror themed sounds fun!! I'd love to see pictures of the progress or when he's finished!

 

Dolls like this have so much presence that it's really hard to ignore any kind of iffy feelings towards them I think. But thankfully bjds are also so easily customisable that if a previous look triggers something, it doesn't take a lot of effort to restyle them to look very different. I know it's disheartening to have to redo work you weren't expecting to but I hope you can also find some fun in the makeovers @lutke ! It can become a nice time to bond with the dolls again or a chance to try some things you wouldn't have if they felt more "finished". I agree with DollyKim that it's not wasted time, there's also lots of feeling of accomplishment in redoing things over and over again. I sometimes struggle with some dolls feeling "too done" so it's always a good feeling to see new paths and potentials in them (instead of.... buying new dolls to work on )

I felt a bit doubtful about Dott at first because the face reminded me of someone I didn't really want to remind myself of constantly, but a makeover worked beautifully in erasing that and I'm grateful I'm not constantly on the fence about her after that. While dolls might remind us of the wrong things sometimes, they are also very much our own to re-interpret if needed!




As for no-buy wins and fails for this week:

- I was so foolish and didn't pay for "packing rehearsal" using a proxy like I always do, which has slapped me with double the $$$ in shipping T_T it also took them way longer to ship out like that, which was the opposite of my intentions I'm so happy I'm taking a firm buy break after this because I'm making very unwise decisions it seems.

- having shipped my last loose ends and decided on ACTUALLY not buying anything for dolls for a bit, it's so easy to say no. Even when the craving is big, I still realise that "oh no, I'm not allowed", and close the window. Let's see how long the novelty lasts but I managed to kick my habits of mindlessly scrolling social media this year so maybe I have some hope here, too.