It's All Geek To Me: My Expensive Hobby

I've always liked dolls. Growing up I had about 4 Barbie dolls that I played with all the time. I also collected the Christmas Barbies (although recently they aren't as cool as the older ones I have, so I haven't bought one in a while). And *gasp!* I take them out of the box to display them! Why have them if you can't have any fun with them? My mom, dad and aunt bought me a few porcelin dolls. When my aunt moved to Las Vegas, she couldn't take her extensive around-the-world doll collection so she gave it to me. And it is wonderful!

Enter BJD, or (Asian) ball jointed doll. The moment I saw one, I knew I had to have one. I went to a bjd forum and researched the dolls. They're so cool! You can change out their eyes to be whatever color you want, and they don't have rooted hair so you can get lots of different wigs for them. To my dismay, they're very expensive. They are all had casted and strung, they cannot be mass produced. Some companies are more expensive than others. The Chinese companies tend to be the least expensive; my first doll is an MSD size (about 17") and she is from a Chinese company called "Bobobie." I paid $128 for her, and she didn't come with eyes, hair, or clothes. Some dolls will come with eyes and ocasionally a wig.

As soon as my first doll, Paige, arrived I was hooked. I knew I had to have more! I got a little tiny one (5" tall) from my ex-mother-in-law for Christmas. I saved up for a boy doll. I even got a little nekomimi doll that was 5" and very delicate. After the divorce, I had to sell my little doll and my nekomimi doll. I was fine with selling the little doll, as I just didn't like her as much as the bigger dolls. It broke my heart to have to sell Catsy. My boy doll and I haven't "bonded," as the doll community calls it. Really he's just not what I thought I wanted. So he's for sale right now.

The BJD you really, really want more than anything is usually out of reach because it's too expensive, or maybe it was a special edition. This is the doll that you call your "grail doll." I have about 3 grail dolls on my list. It was 4, but I found one of my grail dolls for sale for an amazing price that I just couldn't pass up. And I couldn't be happier with her.

I used to sew for my dolls, but after I got divorced my sewing machine went to storage and I didn't sew for quite a while. I have my sewing machine back, but I've lost my touch. Also, there aren't a lot of patterns available for these dolls, so you have to make a lot of your own. Which I'm not very good at. But sometimes you just can't find the right outfit for your doll. So you either sew it or find something else.

It depresses me when I can't buy things I want for my dolls. I work 24-32 hours a week at Walmart, so there's really no extra money. *sigh* Some day I will be able to afford my $700 grail doll!

Paige, my first ever BJD. Why yes, I did make the dress she's wearing. Paige is now living with someone else because I had to sell her to pay bills.