Dollieh Sanctuary

This week's Dollieh Question from our list. (viewtopic.php?f=41&t=6677)

26. What do you look most for in a doll?

How well they can pose and (sometimes) if they fit in with any of my other dolls.

Good posing is a must but the pretty face is essential. That's what makes or breaks a doll for me. It's the reason why I love my Souldoll Asen to bits even though she can't pose at all

A cute and fairly 'neutral' face. I do love highly expressive dolls with big smiles or melancholy eyes, but in the end I want a doll that can express different emotions and moods depending on what I decide to do for them.

A certain look that allows a doll to fit in with my existing bunch. If a doll can't fit in, it can get tough to work with them to the point that they fade back to headspace.

I look for a good looking face.

While good posing is important, the overall look is more important for me. It's all about striking the balance between aesthetics and well-engineered joints. Articulation is necessary for me as is customisibility. Since I've gotten into BJDs, I can't imagine getting a doll without a minimum of 8 points of articulation.

I love making my dolls my own by customizing, so I look for dolls I can do that with. I usually look for dolls that can convey multiple expressions and who also will fit in with my existing dolls. I have two dolls that break my own guidelines: Smiley, a vintage doll that belonged to my Granma, and Emmilinda, a Bradley doll on a music box. All the rest are BJDs.

I look for someone who fits in with one of the characters I want to shell.

If a doll doesn't touch me emotionally or artistically in some way it usually stays on the shelf. I've often been asked why I'm so particular about which version of a doll I end up getting. Why I don't get some versus others. That's why. Some dolls just talk to me more than others. Most of the time I just plain like them and want them but sometimes it's far more than that. There are dolls the ones I feel I "must" have and that's a whole other thing. I can get totally obsessed over dolls that hit me just like that. I have a few dolls I've gotten by chance that I'm not all that into, but not many. Most of my dolls are well loved which is why you almost never see me selling or giving one away. I'm just too attached to go there. They say you can't take them with you but I think I would take some dolls with me if I could, lol..

The head sculpt - if the face doesn't give me ideas (or in the case of Drax... just look awesome) then I don't really want to know - posing etc is secondary but it's always nice when they're good at it

The face is what catches me at first. Then the look of the body and the posing. My dark tan Mei is my most beautiful doll and the worst poser. For Cordie, I was entranced by the Nano Haruka face and It took me four tries to find the right body-beauty and posing.