10 years in the doll hobby!

In 2009, I bought my first doll, a beauty white Luts Dreaming Lishe boy.
He arrived on 30 Aug 2009, and I named him Gabriel, although I mostly call him Gabby.

I was excited. Elated. And so so so happy. 

He was the only doll I had for a while. 

I bought more over the years, and sold some. 

Through all that, somehow, even though he's not exactly my current aesthetic, 

Gabby still brings me joy.

Today, Gabby is 10.

And with his birthday, 

today also marks the 10th year

that I've been in the BJD hobby. :)

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I got a little cheesy writing the part above (^ ^ ^). But really, it's rather amazing to think that I've been in this hobby for 10 years now (I'll be 26 this year). And that Gabby, my first doll, sitting in the middle of the photo, is 10 years old. One thing I learnt since then is that beauty white skin is not a skintone I like on my dolls, if only because it yellows faster than I like. But also, I've gone through quite a few different phases in the hobby and I guess 10 years is a good time to reminisce a little. :)

So, first things first, this is my full crew now, as of August 2019. I have 5 SDs, 1 mini, and 1 YoSD. I also have 3 SD floating heads (not shown in the photos). Earlier this year, I read Marie Kondo's book, "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up", and decided to apply her method not just for my regular stuff, but for my dolls as well. I put up quite a number of dolls on sale, and the bodies of some of the (now) floaties. It's pretty drastic, especially when I compare it to the me 8-9 years ago, who would have been all "more, more, more". But I guess with age and less time in general, I've learnt that it works better for me to have a little less dolls so I can spend more time on each of them.

I think the other big transition is realising what my aesthetic for BJDs is. I like dolls which have a bit of weight, who feel solid in my arms. Their joints must be smooth (no flesh pinching elbows!), and the resin should not be too shiny. I don't really like my dolls to be too tall, 65cm seems a comfortable size, and also, the 60+cm that I've always had, from when I first got Gabby. Pebbles (my Unoa) and Cypher (my Fairyland Pong Pong) are kind of the exception to the norm.

Over the years, I've also graduated from glass eyes to silicon eyes, to now urethane eyes. Wigs wise, I've gone from brightly coloured fur wigs to more natural tones and grey-green fibre wigs. I'm sure there are more things that have changed over the years, but these are the ones off the top of my head.

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Currently my crew consists of (left to right):

1. Sion 

[Migidoll Miho on Volks SD17 body. NS]

2. Parker 

[Kanadoll Adrian on Little Monica Harmony body. NS]

3. Pebbles

[Modified Unoa Chibi Sleeping Lilin on Unoa 1.5 body. WS.]

4. Gabriel

[Luts Dreaming Lishe on Delf Type 3 body. WS.]

5. Cypher

[Fairyland Littlefee Pong Pong. NS.]

6. Joe

[Distant Memory Peroth on Dollstown 15 old body. NS.]

7. Alfie

[Switch Waseon on Switch Attractive body. NS.]

And the floating heads which are not pictured:

8. Dennis

[Luts SDF Bliss. NS.]

9. Caillen

[Modified Migidoll Cynical Ryu. NS.]

10. Freddie

[Volks Olivia Morgan 2nd. NS.]

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I have doll plans, but there aren't that many dolls on it. Mostly I've learnt that I really enjoy doing faceups, so that is something I'll try to do more of. Taking photos aren't that fun for me but I enjoy the end result and having pretty pictures to look at so I suppose that's something that I would still do. And some things I do want to get back into are making clothes and jewelry for my dolls. :)

But dolly plans aside, I'm also trying to remember that I already have all these amazing dolls that make me happy, and that I can just have fun with them as it is, even if it's doing nothing. I think sometimes, I have so many wants and desire, that I forget the things right in front of me. So I'm taking this opportunity to take stock, and be grateful for the time I've had in my 10 years in the hobby. I hope the years to come would be as amazing, if not more, and I hope you enjoyed reading this post. :)

Happy 10th birthday to Gabby~ :D

Happy 10th year anniversary in the hobby to me~