This month, I’ve sewn a lot for my dolls.
Especially for my FanFF VS body whose head is currently being painted by Komorebi Dolls. Komorebi has become my favorite faceup artist. Not only does she do beautiful work, it is also consistent and therefore a known quantity. She is however pricier than other artists who are perhaps less established or in demand. I think if I had joined the hobby before the pandemic, I would have considered more seriously commissioning international artists because there are some styles that Komorebi does not specialize in that appeal to me, like hyper realism.
Though at this point, the number of dolls that I need painted are dwindling. I sent my ATS Doll Auriga out to Komorebi to paint, and then there are the last of the Rugged Realism boys from the Rites of Passage preorder. I don’t know what I want to do with them as they were more buy to figure out later, but a year later have remained in my box untouched. Maybe I really just love the bodies more, or maybe it’s that I like the Alphabets series better?
It’s hard to believe I’m only waiting on one doll, so I haven’t purchased any new resin this year, which I hope to keep up through the rest of the year. I do know that there will be some temptations along the way though. Mr Cho of Fifth Motif is working on a new body, and I just know that I will likely cave if he releases it this year. But one doll a year is not a fast clip compared to the many that I’ve acquired in my 4.5 years in this hobby.
One of the things I’ve done is started to cultivate more restraint and self imposed rules. I must sell a doll to make room for a new one. This helps with gauging how much I actually want this new one. A lot of wants are fleeting, and if given a cool down period, the heightened desire fades. It is very easy to get caught up in hype, as we live in a hyped up culture of consumerism. I just know that it’s temporary, and as I’ve had more dolls that don’t inspire me, I feel some regret in buying them in the first place. The goal is to limit that feeling.
There have been dolls that I have pined for many months, and finally made the commitment to get when the opportunity presented itself. Those types of dolls I cherish in my collection. If I try hard, I could probably scale down to 5 dolls: Neoma, Saffron, Seacan, Rai, and Aubert. Not that I wouldn’t lament getting rid of my other dolls, but those are the characters that I reach for when it comes to photographing or taking on trips/meetups. The time for that is not now, but maybe in the future a culling will ensue.