I haven't done any BJD Addicts prompts for a while, so here's three more!
BJD Addicts Written Prompt #4 - Favourite Brand/Store
This is an easy one - Volks!! Firstly I can't emphasise enough how important good customer service is for BJD companies selling on the international market. With Volks you know that your concerns won't be ignored and they keep you updated easily with shipping and tracking information. I have never had a problem with Volks and that's one reason why they'll always have my customer loyalty.
Lots of people complain that Volks sculpts are boring or too conventional...and I guess if your thing is the Soom fantasy dolls or the ultra mobile Feeple 65 or MiniFee, you have a point there. However, there are over 70 different FCS heads to choose from (the Volks Full-Choice doll system, creating a doll just the way you like it!), and as for limited dolls, at the last count there were well over 290! So even if Volks' standards don't appeal to you, there is going to be one out over 300 dolls that will.
Volks dolls are occasionally let down by the plain sales pictures but I like that they are plain. I can definitely see what I'm getting in the doll and I'd rather a clear, plain photo than an overly photoshopped one, or one where the doll's wig and clothes obscure what the doll really looks like.
Volks resin is consistent from one batch to the next, so you can be sure that when you're hybriding parts of Volks dolls your doll is still going to be all the same colour. The resin has a nice density and texture, a Volks doll feels so solid and stable when you touch it.
Aside from the dolls and the customer service, Volks has a great range of clothes, tools and art supplies. There's so many reasons why they have been the best in the business since the advent of the modern Asian Ball Jointed Doll hobby (pioneered by Volks) and I would not hesitated to recommend Volks to anyone.
One of the other common complaints about Volks is that their dolls are expensive. Protip - if you think you can't afford a Volks doll, check out Mandarake (it's one of Japan's largest seller of second-hand hobby paraphernalia and they do ship internationally), a perfectly good Volks SD10 body was recently for sale there for £150! Second-hand heads can be picked up for similar prices depending on their rarity.
BJD Addicts Written Prompt #14 - Favourite Commissioners?
I don't commission a lot for my dolls, but when it comes to face-ups I do (because I've tried and although I enjoy doing them, there are others who do the work so much prettier than I can ever hope to.)
My favourite person to commission is Caroline of Viridian House. Her work is truly lovely and really brings out all the sweetness in a BJD sculpt. She's painted Mafonwen, my Megu, and Morideryn, my School B. I know that whenever the next doll needs a new face-up I'm going to be booking a slot with Caroline. I just adore her work. She's a great person to commission too, she owns dolls, so she is in the hobby and understands dolly people foibles about keeping in good contact during the commission and she really knows the medium. Her paints and sealants are all resin-safe and her background in illustration is brilliant for understanding the requirements of the face-up and the 'look' that the owner wants to achieve with the doll.
BJD Addicts Written Prompt #20 - Selling
I've sold a few dolls now and sometimes it's easy, sometimes it's difficult. I firmly believe that if a doll isn't working out, you should let it go. It's easier on you to try and find something else that works for you and in a way, it's also kinder on the doll - someone else will get to buy it and enjoy it. The hobby should be fun, so if you have a doll that drives you mad (a bad poser when you want them to be a photography model, for example), you aren't having a fun time with the hobby.
I've only found it difficult to sell a doll when I still love it. Usually when I decide to sell a doll I've made a conscious decision to stop thinking of it as mine and I've already started the separating process, it makes it so much easier to think of it as someone else's doll rather than keep calling it by the name you chose for it, etc. Sometimes I've had to sell a doll because although I still like the doll, the associations the doll has are upsetting. That was difficult, but I also knew that the buyer was really into the doll and that did help me make my decision.
The only sale I've ever flaked on was when I thought I should sell Rupert. This was not long after I got him and I knew that boy dolls weren't really my thing. I thought that because he sat on my shelf looking pretty all day I wasn't playing with him and I should probably move him on. I had a buyer all ready and I tried packing him up and I just cried. I just couldn't let him go and I had to apologise profusely to the buyer. Thankfully she was understanding. It was then that I realised you can still enjoy a doll without having him or her on your lap all the time or dressing them up and photographing them. I haven't photographed Rupert in a year, but every time I go to my bookshelf he's there and beaming, so I know I made the right decision.
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