Am I alone in this?

[Greyhaunt]

I suppose "bonding" is in the eye of the definer. Do I bond with my dolls? In the way that I bond with another human being - no. In the way that I bond with my dog and my cat - no. On the other hand, a doll either works for me, or it doesn't. I anticipate enjoying it and developing it into a character when I buy it - if, however, I get it and nothing i do seems to make it fit how I had hoped it would be, then I have referred to that as "not bonding". I suspect I use the term more because it's common in the hobby than because I feel it is totally accurate. It happens to me pretty rarely because I'm usually a pretty good judge of whether I really want a doll or not.

Then there is always that superglue thing... yea, that's happened a time or two (or nearly happened).

On the other hand, do I think the are alive and have souls...no. They have the "personality" that I create for them and the "life" they have is simply the story and the play that I give them, nothing more.

[delbelcoure]

Great topic, I'm glad you started this thread

I suppose "bonding" is in the eye of the definer. Do I bond with my dolls? In the way that I bond with another human being - no. In the way that I bond with my dog and my cat - no. On the other hand, a doll either works for me, or it doesn't. I anticipate enjoying it and developing it into a character when I buy it - if, however, I get it and nothing i do seems to make it fit how I had hoped it would be, then I have referred to that as "not bonding". I suspect I use the term more because it's common in the hobby than because I feel it is totally accurate.

That's a pretty good summation of most of how I feel about bonding. Successful bonding to me is more about how much I am inspired to sew for a doll. The more I sew for them, the more I am sure they were a good investment of resources. I will sell dolls that don't inspire me to sew and keep ones that do. That's my version of bonding.

On the other hand, it does seem that my dolls have individual personalities, for lack of a better word. When I make an outfit an for a doll, sometimes the doll just doesn't look right or comfortable in it. I can't just dress them willy nilly in whatever pleases me - the doll does seem to have preferences. People in my art doll club have voiced this experience as well. An artist will start to make a doll with one idea in mind and the doll itself seems to have a different end goal. It can be frustrating, but most people agree that allowing the creative process to flow results in a more eloquent piece of art than stubbornly sticking to the original plan.
I think people bond with their dolls in different ways. My daughters dolls are much more alive to them than mine are to me. Their dolls have fully fleshed out personalities and by comparison, mine have just ghostly whispers of personality. We all get great joy from our dolls though so that's all that matters to me in the final analysis.
Susan

[DinobotDen]

An artist will start to make a doll with one idea in mind and the doll itself seems to have a different end goal.

Oh how true that is. I have one headspace resident who has gone through about five different incarnations before she and I finally came to an agreement about her appearance. Then there's Nijika, who is happy to be the tribute to the character in the series that she's named for, but she's told me more of what interests her besides just what I knew of the character's interests.

[skookum hime]

i think dolly bonding is uniquely to each owner. I know I have bonded with my doll when I look at them and I possibilities. Like a child I give them personalities, aspirations, backstories and more. A doll that has none of that won't last in my "world". I take a very child like stance with my dolls I suppose. I don't see them as alive, but I do feel bad if I neglect one doll over another. I do sew more for some than the others but mostly because some dolls want things I can't make!
There is only one doll I own whom I believe is utterly, and completely attached to me and I to him. I spent years saving up for his resin from from his 1/6th form, and he survived the fire out of all the dolls I owned. He was the only doll I pined for to have again before I found out he was intact.

[absynthe1972]

I hate to see it but my resin family has become more of a photo shoot opportunity for me. I've collected all sorts of dolls over the years (rag doll, yarn dolls, corn husk dolls, porcelain, vinyl). I've weeded out the collection over the years and various moves from one place to the next and lack of storage/show space.

I like them a lot as the resin dolls have given me an opportunity to express myself in ways that go beyond just photography. My husband says they're just a cheaper form of therapy. lol. He may be right, to a certain extent.

I dunno. If I find another one that catches my eye, I'll put away the money and buy it...and then do all sorts of photo shoots and stories, although I keep changing their personalities and their backgrounds.

[Itsaiya]

Hmm. I obviously don't think they're actually alive (that's called schizophrenia), but they're more than just blobs of plastic to me, and I do bond with them, though I tend to become attached to inanimate objects. They really do seem to have their own unique little personalities to me.

^ This is the same with me xD;
I get attached, but I don't sit here and think "Oh no, if I insult <insert doll's name> or drop him, he'll get mad/sad " (though I swear my DZ Yuu's expression changes, sometimes....). It's attached in the way it has some kind of representative meaning to me - usually a character I identify with, or a style/look that I find particularly awesome. Hito / My DZ SFYuu is a big representation of "I can do anything I put my head to" - when I came from a lot of "You can't do anything"/"Only other people can do or get good things" and living in a cave. It opened doors... lots of doors. It was later backed up and reinforced by my ED Red, that I can do it again. It's hard to describe.
Like Grey said, I either bond or I don't - the bonding comes from how much I can see them doing... if I have a mental block when I try to photograph them or try to stick a character to them.... then I'm not bonding with it That situation just anthropomorphasizes into "It's not telling me it's name" or "it's not wanting to play".

They also kinda give me a new outlet on creation (cause I have issues on stopping myself from creating new characters and story lines >_> It's like I'm obsessed with creating) and ways to further define favorite existing characters. But probably as much as one would while cosplaying a favorite character from an anime, manga or video game.

As for some others, I think there may be the psychology or internal clockwork of the "surrogate children" void that they may be unintentionally filling - and maybe a method of expression (as like psychologists use on some children/adults who have hard times expressing themselves so they use dolls to express themselves or their emotions and/or situations).

But I don't think they realize that. roflmao.

....

and then some are just crazy. =x;;