What do YOU consider 'Playtime with Dolliehs'

[OkamiKodomo]

So I was posting a reply in another thread, and as oftentimes happens, my brain went off on a tangent, and I started thinking about how we play with our dolls. When it all boils down to it, BJD are dolls, meant to be played with, in one way or another. If your version of playing with your doll is putting on white cotton gloves, and setting up elaborate photoshoots where every fold of fancy silk and starched lace is perfect, then you go right on ahead and more power to you. If your version of playing with your doll is toting him or her around with you everywhere you go, splashing in mud puddles, and getting twigs and dirt in your hair, that's great too.


I like to sit a doll in my lap sometimes. Having their little resin (or vinyl or ABS or whatever your little darlings are made of) selves nearby is a comfort, and makes me feel better when I'm down. I do most of their work myself, from face-up to clothing, and now venturing into the realm of mohair wigs, so seeing something beautiful that I created... it really is a good feeling. Currently, I can see five dolls sitting around me without even turning my head. If I do turn just slightly, I can see two more. If I do a 180, there are yet another two, and if I open the cabinet to my left, there are still more. My MH Casbah Clawdeen that was a gift from my girlfriend is right next to my computer monitor and my Casbah Abbey is next to her computer tower, (though they're still defaults) my RS Jun, Rune, and her AoD Rao are on top of said tower, and my DZ Mo is on a chair on top of her desk.

I enjoy making stuff for them, re-doing face-ups, and taking cell phone pictures. I also like setting up photo shoots, but I really haven't done much in the way of photostories. I plan on changing that. I have a small camera that has some nice settings, and we're getting a super macro lense for Myrretah's Canon Rebel soon, and we will be able to do light painting again, and take pictures with fiddly little details. Sometimes I'll just pose them a little, moving arms and tilting their heads. Some of them need to be touched every day.

I'll also haul them out with me to go to craft stores, or a restaurant. If I'm going on a long road trip, I like having a doll with me. I've brought a few of them to work. I've plunked resin butts in trees and on stone walls, stood them up in front of windows at the airport, and let them take up a seat of their own on an airplane.

I feel comfortable saying this here, because I really feel all of us at DS are in the hobby because dolls make us happy. That, I feel, is the critical difference between the Sanctuary, and the Big Forums. We're here because we love our dolls, not because they're a status symbol, or because we want to be part of some special club. That's why we're so accepting here. At least, that's what I think, and what I've observed from the group as a whole. Yes, there are a few people that prefer the expensive dolls, but it's because they genuinely like their sculpts better, and NOBODY here judges them for it, nor do they judge those that like the less expensive brands.

So, how do YOU enjoy playing with your dolls?

[Iwa_Hoshi]

well. I sew and buy stuff for my dolls since I like tapping into my resource of video games, books and movies for ideas. I treat my resins a little like my 1/6 that I refer to them as very huge action figures.....

- the regular and simple comb their hair, change their clothes and repose them on my table and random shooting
- set up a simple diorama in the living room and have them work it while I shoot
- take them outside for their project shoot. I don't have enough space at home so the great outdoors becomes my diorama. Found some great places for repeat shoots
- string the 1/6er to a laundry pole/umbrella and swing them around extreme nonsensical shoot. Hey when faeries gotta fly, faeries gotta fly.
- Keep a 1/6er in my work bag and see if I pass by interesting places after work. I work in the historical and artsy district

Unfortunately this playing thing meant that 3 of 1/6ers broke their hips and have to wait for spare bodies.

[VirgoVertigo]

the way I play with my little pullip, natalie, is that i pick her up and move her joints around and look at her, and feel around her ball joints and her facial features and stuff. it sounds terribly, terribly creepy, but it's just me getting a better feel for what she is and how she's built. i admit that sometimes i treat her like a stuffed animal, hugging and booping her ... she kind of brings out a more motherly part of me. i even have a little bed set up for her on top of my fire box.

and i know i'm not alone in that i say little tidbits to her sometimes. is that wrong? like, sometimes i just say things to her. vent frustrations, tell her she's pretty (she needs it, she's a broken thing ...), or just a little hello before i zip out. i don't know. maybe it's weird. but playtime with my doll usually involves a lot of hugging and squeezing ... no wonder she's in bad shape!

[AnnetheCatDetective]

In general, lap-sitting, hand-holding resin/plastic cuddles is one of the ways I like to 'play'-- just moving the angle of a head or a wrist or ankle while we watch TV together...

Setting up photoshoots is another way, as is making little things for a doll who's sitting with me while I work.

And sometimes I set dolls up together without the camera-- in terms of actions I take, it's no different from photoshoots, I'm posing and adjusting and manipulating them the same way. I just do it to make me happy and don't always take a picture.

Changing clothes, for some of my dolls more than others. Stroking their little wigs. Talking to them (or for them) for fun... And sometimes, I set a doll next to my little area so that while I'm working on my computer, I have a little cute face to look over at.

[zirconmermaid]

I like setting them up with props, books, games, toys, changing their clothes (some more than others) and wigs, and making up stories about them. I tend to pair them off too. I like to take them to movies and travel with them. Hazel sits on my lap on planes, or in her own seat if there is room. My husband plays too - he has been taking lots and lots of pictures of them! I enjoy sewing and crocheting for them. Some of them just stand on a bookcase or display and look beautiful. Others get muddy (Hazel). I really enjoy all the details and creativity. Hazel is always where I can see her in the living room, or with me when I am on vacation, because she is the special doll, the dream doll, but each of the others is wanted and admired too, from the tiniest to the largest. Sometimes I just touch them or talk to them. Usually Changing outfits is a bonding time. Many of them have their own furniture, although they don't get to use it all because it takes up too much room! Plus I love coming here and other doll forums to share and talk to other owners. I really enjoy doll meets, because I get to see dolls in person that I would not necessarily own, but admire a lot. And the people that these dolls have introduced me to are now life-long friends!

[richila]

I always have a doll with me. Currently it is Myri, she is 5.5 cm tall and has a travel tin/room that fits in my purse. She gets her clothing changed almost everyday and has a tiny bedroom set up on my nightstand. I love making things for my dolls, doing face-ups, making wigs, crocheting, sewing. Most of all, I love taking pictures. I take cell phone pictures most of the time. I like to make photostories, but haven't done as many since I started using my cellphone for pictures. Mostly, I like having a doll to hold or look at with me wherever I am. Their little faces make me smile.

[SetsunaKou]

I'm strange in that I don't really 'play' with my dolls at all. I like to make them, paint them, create their clothing, then put them in a perfect pose on a stand, carefully place them in a curio cabinet and.....never touch them again.

The 1/3 bjd get a bit more attention where I don't put them in curios and I do change their pose every so often, but still, once they're 'perfect' I tend to try to leave them that way. ^^ I don't talk to them, and I don't hug them. I love to just look and admire and see how beautiful they are!

My sister is completely opposite---she's always hugging or redressing or reposing, moving, carrying them with her to lunch and dinner, etc. She talks to them and just 'loves' them.

I love my dolls, too, but in a different way I guess. We've always been this way since childhood. I never played with my Barbies, just posed them around the doll mansion and never touched them. I looked at them and admired.
M sister---she changed their clothes, cut their hair, brushed them (Ack! I would NEVER even brush my doll's factory styled hair) played with generally, made them 'talk' to each other, and made them 'jump' down the flight of stairs like gymnast, knocking off their heads much of the time.

So, our prior habits are still shining through, it seems. ^^ :laughs:

[kenaiqueen]

I do like to sew for my girls and then take pictures to show off their new threads. And I have a MH Lagoona who poses by my computer. I like to move her pose around every few days. I occasionally take a doll out with me to shop for fabric or trims, but I'm too scared someone would steal them so I don't take them out often. Finally, I have a couple toddler Disney princesses who like to sit on my lap when I'm on the computer. Little Pocohontas has such lovely long hair to comb and fuss with! That's pretty much the extent of my doll play.

[ShortNCuddlyAm]

When I was young, playtime with dolliehs was all about the enacting of stories - they were exploring dozens of undiscovered or forgotten worlds in the rockery and walls of my nanna's back garden, camping in the wilds of the lawn and longer grass; and exploring the rivers and lakes of the bath. When it was too cold, wet, dark, early (very rarely - I've never been an early morning person) or late (more often than I think my nanna ever knew) to play outside, my bedroom did almost as well.

Now I'm considerably older (in age if not mentality ) the thing that has mostly changed is that the stories take place more in my head than in the back garden. Playtime is still mostly about creating the stories - be they in picture: dolls discovering an abandoned temple in the snow, the Makies having barbecues on holiday, taking a random doll to work to explore, and so on; or completely in my head - such as creating the backstories of the dolls, imaging what they get up to and so on. It includes a bit of the occasional fashion shoot as I am fascinated (in a very uninformed way) by fashion photography (I did have some Barbies for a while who were my fashion models, but I got fed up with their lack of posability and perpetual tippy-toe feet - I had no idea about BJDs or Obitsus back then!). Sewing, making stuff, collecting props and so on all ties into the story angle. I do have conversations with them, mostly in my head. When I sit them on my shelves I do try to make it look like they've just been caught in the middle of something - one of them currently looks like she's about to leap off.

I very rarely brushed my dolls' hair as a child (mostly I cut it short). I very rarely brush it now, either - I just tend to make it even worse. I don't cut the wigs quite as much though...

[Qrinta]

I'm definitely more of a "pose them just right and leave them be" person. Though I do talk to all my dolls at times generally in my head. And I am having fun taking pictures every now and then when I have time. Even brought Ariadne to the dorms with me and set up a little room for her. I'd love to have the space and set up a makeshift dollhouse eventually.