Yep, right here I have a three year old as big as a five year old with the attitude of a thirteen year old lol. He has severe childhood apraxia of speech, which is further compounded by his being insecure about his speech, and only has speech therapy three a week so the rest of the time I also double as a makeshift speech therapist. As for hobbies, I'm a writer and a comic artist first and foremost. My husband has been practically begging me to try and get my stuff published but that requires finishing something that I'm actually proud of and don't ditch immediately lol. I also collect Jpop, specifically Hello Project and even more specifically Morning Musume. Admittedly I've lost interest since Michishige Sayumi's graduation and Tsunku's necessary retirement -- the H!P of today just isn't the H!P I fell in love with in 2007 and as far as jpop in general I'm kind of exclusively only into BiS (1 2 and 3, yes) and the rest of WACK. Still pretty chuffed with my collection though, and still keep my wallet open for my kamioshi and secondary oshi despite them having long since left lol
I’m an Art teacher and enjoy making things. Sometimes I try getting my dolls (and other off topic dolls) into the art projects for the kids to see and model after (mostly middle school kiddos, some in elementary if the lesson allows). As for hobbies, I love Formula 1 racing and car stuff. Very different from BJDs, but still very fulfilling. I love working with my hands, so any kind of project that allows me to craft or create or fix mechanical stuff, I’m there.
I'm disabled and unable to work, so I don't have a job to take dollies to, but I do have one that goes with to every medical appointment, which currently is about once or twice a week. As for my hobbies, Dolls, bjd and otherwise, are probably my biggest hobby between all the things that go into customizing I guess you could include sewing, crocheting, who making and painting in there as well. I also enjoy drawing, rping, some writing, gaming and watching YouTube videos about games and dolls, making plushies, and playing with/caring for my cats.
I'm an accountant for work. I work for a great company. Outside of getting into this, I am a burlesque dancer and starting to get into pole. I knit, I sew, I am a HUGE Animal Crossing player. Fashion wise I am in to Lolita and pin-up/vintage fashions. I am also a Disney Pin trader. I am in to some expensive hobbies. Bless my husband for being so supportive.
I work at a well known game store being totally underpaid and overworked but I still somehow make it by and indulge in my hobbies! I also enjoy anime and video games! I don't watch a lot these days due to not having a lot of time/attention span though lol orz my main hobbies aside from games are also drawing, cosplay, and sewing! and now bjd!!!
Up until recently I was a full time Nanny, but the kid leveled up! Now I work at a bakery in the morning and spend the afternoons with my nanny family, doing school pick ups and such. I'm into so many things but I guess the main ones are music, photography, computer games and TV/movies. But I also paint and sew and do carpentry and woodworking and woodcarving and writing and cooking and the list goes on and on. I taught myself to sew because my nanny kids and I spent the pandemic playing barbies, and barbie clothes are expensive and none of them suited my style. So I got a few half yards of fabric and did the dang thing! I hope that these skills will help me out in the BJD customization realm!
that's so impressive! once in high school we had to make barbie clothes for a final project and that turned me off doll clothing making all together! (I'm a little more open to the idea now though....a little. I'm hoping once I get my doll my mind will change haha)
I did it all by hand because I'm scared of sewing machines I dont know if that helped or not. My roommate can sew really well, so I've got that going for me too!
Another in IT here! I'm the CRM/Salesforce admin at a company that makes consumer goods. CRM is where I like being and where I hope to continue my career. We'll be mostly work from home with some in-office from here on out, so my dolls are in my home office with me. Dolls are my biggest hobby, but I also like TTRPGs and writing modules for them (Call of Cthulhu, Starfinder, a few other odd ones), mecha musume plastic model kits, and board games. I also play a bunch of video games, my current rotation is Sea of Thieves, Deep Rock Galactic, and my usual digging around in Dwarf Fortress.
I work as a respiratory therapist at a children's hospital ☺️ Definitely not bringing my dolls to work, too many germs! I also stream on Twitch as a side gig but it's really more for fun than anything. Besides BJD's, I enjoy cosplay, video games, anime, and dance. I love making things--sewing, crochet, painting, and using my Cricut. I also collect a lot of different things, from anime figures to Precious Moments figurines. I also collect and customize playline dolls like Monster High and Barbie.
I'm unable to work at the moment, being disabled, but I do work on dolls when I can, and see that as my job, to some degree. I used to work at a Joann craft store, and I loved it so much, it was like I was feeding off the creative energy (does that make me a vampire?) and it was awesome, and the discount didn't hurt, lol. But the store manager killed that. (Longer, unnecessary story.) Besides dolls, I love sewing/patternmaking and have most of an AA degree in fashion design. I also love Dungeons and Dragons, and actively play in 5 groups, with 2 on hiatus, and run one weekly game as well. Besides that, I play Sims 3/4, with a tonnn on mods/cc, reading, and playing with my cats, and sometimes I play games like 7 Days to Die, Elder Scrolls Online, and Conan Exiles, when I can convince Husband to play with me, or he convinces me to play a different/new game. (My interest in games has gone down slightly over the past couple years, but I did build myself a beast of a computer to run them and 3D modeling programs). I also have a Cricut Maker, an embroidery machine, and three 3D printers, though the first two are not set up due to space and needing to rearrange. I used to be big into anime/manga, though that has be dulled as well, I still read some online, and catch up with shows like MHA or others that I'm blanking on atm.
I am a stay at home mom currently but I have disability from the VA (military related medical conditions.) I can work if I want to but it’s easier to stay home for now. Besides collecting dolls, I restore vintage dolls. Other than the dolls, my hobbies are mainly reading and watching tv/movies. I don’t have much time for much else taking care of the kids, husband, pets, and house.
What a nice way to get to know who your dolls friends are! I'm a Lead for a manufacturing company, and taking early retirement at the end of the year. I love sewing from scratch, painting, and creating.
I was a reading specialist for elementary school children. When our school district changed the job to more of a supervisory position than working with kids, I left and started substituting. Soon after came COVID and since I was doing a lot to care for my 84 year-old mother, we decided I would stay home and that's where I've been. This is when I started the this hobby. I needed something to do. My hobbies have always involved creating of some sort. I sew, dabble in painting and miniatures. I also read - a lot - mostly fantasy novels.
Video Gamer since childhood (my first games console, the SEGA GENESIS/MEGA DRIVE, bought for me just as they hit U.S. market in X-Mas 1989) and plastic modeler since early-teens;
Hi, nice to meet you^^, Im a 16-year-old high school art plus ICT student(pretty young compared with the other collectors). Im currently studying for exams. Got my first ever BJD last year. I discovered about BJDs when i was around 13 years. My talent is Drawing, water coloring. some just call me the "Art Wizard". My other hobbies are : Crafting, sewing, baking plus collecting ancient coins and stamps. I also love spending time on Pinterest.(I Post my art there as well). Here's the link if you would like to see them : https://pin.it/GNYQRsn. Im also currently working on a Daisy dress for my minifee chloe, here's the link if you would like to see that :https://pin.it/6viCCib. And speaking of taking your dolls to the public, well i would advise you to not unless you're sure about the safety. Once i took my bjd on a bicycle ride and ended up scratching her lip and nose. It felt really really bad, especially since she's my first ever bjd. but no worries, i re-painted her lips and her nose is looking fine Im still new to the community and am very excited since most of the members over here have similar interests to mine >w<.
Hello~ Congrats on your first doll! The daisies look so nice, it took me a moment to realize they weren't a part of the print! And you are a very skilled artist! I love Pinterest too and like gathering ideas for dolls and more. XD
I always hesitate to answer these "what are your job" threads because I feel like I'm perpetually switching jobs every few years. I've done just about everything in the food service industry (except waitressing, oddly enough), I've worked in a pharmacy, I've worked in a factory, I've worked in a group home; I've been a tutor, an office manager, a research assistant. Right now I'm working in a warehouse, and boy do I not miss customer service. My ultimate goal is to be an English professor, so I'm also in school a lot of the time. Working toward a PhD now, starting this fall if all goes well. I notice there's a lot of nerdy hobbies in this thread, which makes sense. I used to be really into anime and manga and video games, but now I just dabble. My main hobbies now, outside of dolls and doll related things, are creature costumes and vulture culture. So basically I make monsters and collect dead stuff (like the ram in my icon photo). I'm also a huge horror movie fan, and I love to read/write. Not that I've done any writing recently... cough... I've found that a lot of the time my hobbies will "bleed into" each other. My love of sewing for my dolls has taught me most of what I've needed to know for costuming, I display my dolls and deads together, and everything I do has a sort of creepy tint. Oh and everything gets a character. Everything.
I’m graphic designer and full time hand crafter who create anything that people ask for using paper, cardboard… I love reading, writing, videogames and toy photography
I'm an admin assistant for a university writing and language center, but I've been there less than a year. Before that i was a seamstress for a company that makes kids' clothes and cloth diapers for about 6 years. Hobbies are kind of a jack of all trades master of none situation for me. I like to draw, write, read, sew, doll customizing, and I'm figuring out paint pouring and resin craft stuff now. I also like taking pictures of cool looking mushrooms xD
I'm a data analyst irl! Like a lot of people on this thread, my other hobbies are artistic (drawing, making comics, making games), playing ttrpgs, etc. Bjds may be my least stereotypically "20 yo nerd" hobby haha
I work in a restaurant and my hobbies include but are not limited to: writing, drawing, video games, reading (mainly webcomics these days), and collecting the odd figure or plushie! My interest in each hobby tends to wax and wane, but I always have another to fall back on. The only problem is that they all tend to be a bit solitary, and I have trouble using them to socialize
For my job, I'm a Library Clerk at the city library. It's not glamorous, but being unionized, having flexible part-time hours and having pension is definitely a perk. For hobbies that I want to turn into a career - I'm an illustrator and writer. Currently I make a webcomic, but I'm also in the process of finishing up a pitch for a different project to take to a publisher (along with working on a couple novel manuscripts, but those are so far just for me). For "just for fun" hobbies... Ho boy. I like watching American Football (I have aspirations to try playing it with the local pick-up game group, but I need a functioning neck for that...), cars and rally racing, sailing (and racing), swimming, reading and book-collecting (mainly fancy versions of my favourite sci-fi/fantasy books). I used to play first-person shooters competitively (but that sort of died with the neck thing) and make cosplay outfits (the costs eventually got to me). Every once in a while I catch the anime bug and go binge a series but I do find myself fed-up with a lot of the tropes and the quality issues pretty quickly these days.
I am a student again after several years as a tutor, then a lab tech, then a dog walker. Hopefully going into biotechnology after this. As for hobbies, I have two tree frogs. I used to keep fish and garden but have not found as much time lately. Going to meetups, I have not found that my hobbies or interests tend to line up with other BJD hobbyists very often lol
I'm currently a student in university for theatre! But I work as a housekeeper for a ski resort on my summer and winter breaks. Far too many chemicals to bring my dolls to work.... School on the other hand, studio courses would be a no, but I suppose I could take one with me to a lecture, but I'd be too nervous for what other people would think. Hobbies: dolls obviously, art, music (piano and singing), anime, manga, manhwa, danmei novels, k-pop, being outdoors, there's probably a lot more ahahahahah
I guess it doesn't really count as employment yet, but I'm attempting to become a freelance digital illustrator. I decided I wanted to work as an artist back in high school, and was planning to attend an arts university, but wasn't able to, so I'm just trying to improve my illustration skills on my own for now while hopefully making some money from commissions. Freelancing is something you do from home mostly, so my dolls would technically already be "at work". If I got hired as an artist for a company I might bring a doll to sit on my desk, but I think it would stress me out too much to actually get work done. I'd be so worried about knocking it off the desk or curious people touching it and not having clean hands or something. As for hobbies, the main four are drawing, videogames, photography (mainly of dolls and/or nature) and sewing (specifically for BJD). I like fantasy novels a lot as well but haven't found the time to read them as often as I used to. Otherwise, I casually enjoy anime and manga when I can, and I really like watching horror movies and reading horror literature. BJD has also introduced me to some new hobbies that I want to try out, like prop making, diorama crafting, etc. It seems like most of my hobbies are creative-related or fantasy/gaming related
I don't have a job as I'm too mentally ill to work for now, but I'm getting better so hopefully someday soonish. My hobbies are playing video games (mostly on pc and MMO's specifically), drawing both digitally and traditionally, painting in acrylics and watercolors, reading, tarot and oracle cards, collecting crystals, crochet and trying to sew for my dolls.
I’m in college rn as an illustration major but I also work part time in a hardware store. Dolls have always appealed to my artistic side and have inspired me ever since I was little. I guess it’s only natural that I would join this hobby since I love all kinds of dolls
Oh, I'll answer! Right now I'm a team lead doing trusty and safety content review for social media. My other hobbies are video games (particularly Love Nikki and a couple of other mobile games) and drawing/painting or whatever craftsy thing is catching my interest at the moment.
I’m a marketer! (Or at least I think that’s the right word) Outside of BJDs I enjoy running, video games (any ff14 players on Ultros feel free to hit me up), music and I’m trying to get into crafting to make BJD stuff and maybe one day start an Etsy shop.
I work as a cleaner, specifically of office spaces. Of course I love dolls, am also finally wanting to get into modding and faceupping (the pile of blank dolls is becoming unacceptably large) and hopefully diorama building. I enjoy sculpting in clay, drawing (although I haven't done that in ages), and watching crafting/miniature building/doll customizing/sculpting videos and loads of other stuff on youtube. I love dressing alternatively although I don't have much opportunity to do so in my day to day life, mostly goth-ish but moving more towards pastel/kawaii aesthetic lately. I collect various things: I'm a huge Halloween lover and collect Halloween related figures and tea lights (ceramic and resin predominantly), mostly cute ghosts, jack-o-lanterns and the occasional bat or bat winged cat. I also love cute pastel things and collect those, mostly unicorn related. Lastly I'm a big fan of a certain Japanese all-male dance group and have been collecting their DVDs for years now (they are quite prolific...). All of that is semi on hold at the moment though until after I get my surgery (10 more days...) and the accursed disease hopefully stays away permanently.
Hi! I work at a retail plant nursery and it's far to busy to bring my dolls in. But I think it would be a good place for some photos. My biggest hobby is making small scale stuff an miniatures lol that's probably why I got into doll making in the first place
I’m in higher education administration, specifically advancement and development (more simply, I help the university raise money). My other hobbies are video games, (horror, rpg, mmo) illustration, true crime, board games, and anime/manga sometimes if something looks interesting.
I am really enjoying learning about all your non-doll lives. There are a lot of intelligent and creative people here. I have been retired since 2012. I worked as a costume designer/wardrobe supervisor for live theater for over 30 years. I also did some designing for TV and film. In addition I worked for Mattel during the late 80s as a design assistant in the Barbie department. I've also taught costume construction at a university. I didn't discover Bjds until I retired. If I had owned one back then, might have taken one to the theater with me. At that time I was making soft dolls, which I shared at work. My hobbies came to a halt after being treated for cancer in 2015 due to nerve damage from the chemo and radiation treatments. But before that I was into dollhouse miniatures, quilting, soft doll making, embroidery and sewing. I really want to sew for my bjds, but have no feeling in my fingers from the nerve damage. My pastor gifted me with a new computerized sewing machine for Xmas 2019 with the idea that I would teach sewing classes at our church. Then COVID hit and ended that plan. Currently dolls are my only hobby. Edited to add: does online jigsaw puzzles and watching fashion design shows count as hobbies? I love Project Runway and have rewatched from the begining many times I also geek out about fashion history
I'm a Starbucks Barista at the moment! I'm 10 weeks away from the end of my Game Art and Development degree program, so hopefully I'll have a video game design related job in the near future. I wouldn't want to bring my dolls to my current job because everything is always sticky and I don't think my co-workers would be too chill about it. My hobbies include playing video games, drawing/painting, playing billiards, running, and playing with my pug/ teaching him tricks.
When I was in college I worked as a part-time office assistant, gas station attendant, and as a student research assistant. I got my bachelor's degree in Spring 2021, and since then, I've worked as an education assistant/substitution teacher at a school. ^^ I work primarily with the high schoolers, but I occasionally work with K4-8th grade in the district, particularly the middle schoolers since I help run afterschool clubs! For other hobbies I collect a variety of other types of dolls (eg, 1/12 and 1/6 vinyls like azone and obitsu, 1/6 tbleague and other similar dolls, fashion dolls, and some rag dolls and stuffed animals) as well as figures/statues, drawing, reading, dungeons and dragons, warhammer, etc. Lots and lots of anime, video games, and board games too. :p I guess hiking and the gym can count too, since I'm pretty active, though I am not entirely sure where the boundary between lifestyle and hobby is exactly for that...
Well, last time I replied in this thread, I said I was doing freelance writing, and that a lot of what I wrote for pay was small pieces about autism as an autistic adult-- that writing got me gainfully employed! I now do clerical work part time for an office that specializes in adult autism diagnosis for... well, anyone who grew up masking or whose autistic traits were written off as something else. The office is committed to hiring neurodiverse employees, most of what I do is totally wfh (outside of when the office needs to mail things, there's nothing I can't do from my laptop), and I do sensitivity-reading and have the option to write a good portion of the new website's blog. My time is still really flexible for my personal writing (or outside freelance opportunities, should they arise), but I enjoy what I do and feel validated and supported by who I do it for, really appreciate that my office centers actual autistic voices first. (If I did have an in-office desk, I could ABSOLUTELY bring dolls to brighten my workspace up, it's a toy-friendly work environment and I'm not the only doll person on staff, it's just structured for everyone to work from home)
I work as a video game producer. Back when I worked in an office, I wouldn't have brought a doll to work (too much hassle to ferry back and forth with using public transit, and my desk was mostly taken up with actual work stuff), but now my Dream Valley Bor hangs out on my desk to fidget with when I'm in calls. For hobbies other than dolls: table top rpgs, pole dancing, professional fireworks, and baking are the big ones. But I dabble in a lot of types of art, crafting, and writing when the mood strikes.
Currently work as a data analyst. I've really enjoyed working from home - not looking forward to going into the office... whenever my first doll arrives, I'd love to have her sit on my desk at home while I work. My current main hobby is playing video games (sometimes a good story will just get me hooked!), though I've been meaning to get back into miniature painting once I get to a good stopping point. Originally started with board games and tabletop but have moved into display quality painting, working in bigger scales (75 mm+) and garage kits. I'm hoping the prior experience will help for my first face-up. I knit and crochet when the fancy strikes me, with the occasional watercolor painting. Recently I've picked up scrapbooking/art journaling - I think I just enjoy putting stickers on paper and gluing things lol. And of course, I love cuddling with my cats!
I work in healthcare in a hospital setting. My main things besides work are writing, knitting/spinning and running. I would really like to get back into drawing and I'd like to learn to sew but I need...to not need to sleep, haha.
I work as an Art Director at an ad agency that does key art for film and tv (we design movie posters/campaigns). Grateful to be able to work from home most of the time. My other hobbies include reading, playing animal crossing, learning to sew, and learning Korean.
I'm a chemist, and work in the Research & Development lab for an international pharmaceuticals company. As for hobbies...all the classic "nerdy" stuff, really lol. I'm a lifelong reader, vast majority is fantasy books. I got a Kindle over a decade ago, and have never looked back. It literally goes everywhere with me. I also inhale fanfic like they're popcorn, primarily in the Star Trek (huge trekkie) and Dragon Age fandoms. My partner is showing me One Piece right now (episode 400~ out of...1,000 lol), though I'm not the biggest anime nerd. I play video games (I was in the first beta for WoW, I'm old), I draw. Dabble in painting, sewing, knitting, crocheting, needle felting....basically, you name it I've tried it at least once lol. Animals are life. My two cat children are my children. I have one black and one white and I have come to accept that there will be visible cat hair on every piece of clothing I own and there is nothing I can do about it. It's the children's house I just live in it. I also have a ball python and 3 very angry murder-raptors (praying mantis) that would kill me if they were just a bit bigger than me.
I work at a t-shirt design shop. I'm surrounded by other artsy people, but no one that is into bjds. bjds are also my newest hobby. My other hobbies are squishmallow collecting, figure collecting, video games, drawing, and lolita fashion. I feel like a pretty average "nerd". I grew up enjoying anime, ttrpgs, video games and comics and reading TONS. Anything fantasy was definitely my jam and I feel like that reflects in the hobbies I'm attracted to.
I work in HR--mainly handling training, pre-employment screening, and paperwork. It's a pretty chill job, which is nice, so I can have energy when I'm off to put into my hobbies.
I'm an electronics technician with a focus on quality control. It pays the bills and feeds the hobbies. I enjoy video games, comic books/manga, anime, pro wrestling, a lot of typical nerdy dude stuff. I've also gotten into hobby grade radio control cars and trucks in the past couple years. I spent much of my spare time with my Enduro Trailrunner going into the woods during the pandemic times, and I still do a lot of it now. I also have some cars that I use for racing.
I work fulltime at a Library. I've been there for ten years and I'm really burnt out. Customer Service jobs or any jobs where I have to communicate a lot drain me and then I'm too tired to socialize. Hobbies? Dolls, faceups, photography, my pets, Kpop, ceramics, and thrifting. I have brought some of my dolls to my job, sometimes it's a little stressful because everybody crowds around to see what I've brought. I'm a rather shy person so the audience part is a bit much for me.
I used to be a library supervisor, now I work in retail. I like to read about history, write fanfic, and play computer games in my spare time.
I work in accounting/data entry (and a little bit in theatre - it's really lowkey for now, unfortunately, me lacking experience and the industry lacking opportunities). For hobbies, right now, it's mostly video games and reading fanfiction. But if I have a little bit more energy, I like to draw and generally mess around creatively (silly DIY projects, knitting, or whatever comes my way), or, if I'm very lucky, read actual books.
Currently, I'm a tube bender! Bahahaha! (Futurama, anyone?) (making air conditioners) Other hobbies include crochet, knitting, cross stitch, and stained glass. Just started learning chainmaille. Made bracelets for Christmas gifts.
I used to be a scientist doing biomedical research, but now I work as a science laboratory technician at secondary school. I also work casually as a sessional academic at a local university, marking undergraduate and Masters assignments. I've always bounced between science and education sectors. My hobbies are.... Art/illustration, both traditional and digital - at one point I was looking into freelancing as an illustrator, but have put that on the backburner for now. I also like writing fiction stories and creating characters and world-building. My main "screen activity" is playing video games; I don't watch TV/movies at all. I love reading and used to read voraciously when I was younger, but not so much now: books have been kinda supplanted by video games and podcasts. I enjoy trail hiking in the country - mostly day hikes, but the last couple of years I've started doing overnight hikes/camping with some friends and enjoyed it a lot. I've never been big on "collecting stuff". I'll buy the occasional merch/figurine/fandom toy but I definitely don't collect them in any sense of the word. The only thing I've really collected were books: in my voracious-reading days, I curated a library where I'd seek out and buy hard-to-find artbooks/graphic novels and special editions of novels I'd reread over and over. I still have my library, but I hardly buy any now. I suppose BJDs are my current collection of anything.
I recently quit bartending because of carpal tunnel, now I'm selling art! Paintings, inkworks, prints. Metal music is my favorite part of life and I play guitar. I love synthesizers and effects pedals and things that make weird sounds. I'm also really into ball pythons, and I'm trying to breed them. It's a much bigger community involved in this species than you'd expect! This post was a solid idea- it's so cool seeing the variety of lives being lived by people in this forum. I've yet to meet anyone irl that is into BJDs.
I’m in between employment - for a long time I worked in arts fundraising / nonprofit stuff. Now I’m considering returning to school. I love fashion and makeup, hognose snakes, my 3 legged dog, digital painting, some gaming and anime. Looking forward to spending my downtime pursuing more creative things.
i’m not working right now, because i’m a college student. i am majoring in cybersecurity and this summer i’m gonna be working as an IT intern of sorts. i am really into art, crochet, online pet sims, and dnd!
I'm what they refer to as Tier 4/Gold tech support at a corporate job. I get calls when all of the other tiers have failed to fix the issue. Our software is to do with payroll and taxes of big companies, so I get a lot of angry calls by the time they get to me lol. My hobbies are building PCs, video games, watching anime, reading, sewing, knitting, painting and playing Warhammer 40k.
I’m an engineer! right now I’m working on cursed platform/driver programming for computers. Accidentally got good at how threads talk to CPUs and I guess it’s my job now, nasty stuff! I am also into the fiber arts and I’ve put out a few novels on the web. So I guess when I’m not knitting lace out of wool thread or taking pictures of my dolls then I’m working on my next story pitch! I’m hoping some day I can just retire and focus on my little novels and comics full-time.