September '26 updates

'Soft Reboot'

Let's start with the big one!

Recently, I’ve bought a new doll and also a head from my 'leftover grails' list: Lillycat Lilas and a Soom Dokkebi Garrion head. I was so lucky and feels satisfied. I now have so many beautiful dolls, and nothing is really left on my wishlist (except Old Bermann and Orijean from Dollshe, but they are close to unobtanium and I'm not serching them deliberately).

And then Garrion triggered something I thought for a long time: a desire to wrap up my collection and settle it at a lower number permanently. Have I simply exceeded my ability to handle so many dolls, or did this new head somehow reshape the whole crew in my head? I’m not completely sure. Anyway, I’ve decided to downsize quite drastically.

It felt like the right point to do it, while I have the energy and vision for the process. I have very little hobby time and want to spend it with the most favorite dolls I have. Last time I've done some decluttering in March. It helped for a while, but now I need to do another one, but with a different approach.

Approach

My plan is to return to a more compact collection and rethink the way I play with it. For the last few years, I’ve been very focused on established characters and fitting every doll into a fixed role. And then, you know, a character needs side characters, and so on. Now I feel like I want to loosen that a little and pursue a 'doll-first approach'. Instead of deciding everything about a character in advance, I want to see what 'grows' naturally from the doll itself.

Rules

For the refining process, I use my favorite Marie Kondo method, which I've used a lot in other areas of my life, with a very careful approach. I also have a few rules that I've made up myself sometime during the summer.

Here they are:

• Doll sparks interest to make art with
• Doll is enjoyable to handle (not too heavy, too big, can pose smoothly)
• Doll is enjoyable to display
• Doll requires a reasonable and manageable level of maintenance (I can restring the doll by myself, suede, wire, etc. with no helping hands)
• Doll 'tells a story' 
  

Where I Am Now

I've already been sorting through my crew over the last few weeks. I learn to enjoy the refining process, even though letting go of beautiful dolls I've put a lot of time and effort into can still be difficult. I’ll give myself a month or two to think carefully about who stays and who goes. I’m not in a rush. To memorize:  I have at this point 28 dolls, 4+ floating heads. 

"Limbo Dolls"

What's interesting is that when I've begun to sort everything into piles I have actually 3 piles, not 2.

dolls and parts I'm selling,

dolls I'm keeping and playing with,

and then, also - some unlucky dolls in between.

Like, I want to keep some heads or spare one body but absolutely don't want to play with them. I don't know why that is, but I think keeping a few heads just for collector's satisfaction is also okay. This pile will be the most difficult part, and I'll go through them in the last round.

That's all for now with reboot. I hope it will bring some fresh air into the hobby for me, and maybe some new inspiration too.

. . .

What else I've done in September:

Spending Time on a New Doll Forum

As Den of Angels is gone, Lovely Everyone is a new doll forum where I'm spending some hobby time. So far, I'm really enjoying the experience. The forum is still young, but it's a promising project, and I've been happy to invest some time in it as part of the community. My nickname there is InnerNorth. 

Installing the UV protection for doll room

I've bought and installed UV protection film on the windows in my bedroom (where my doll display stands). I've used the SolarScreen CLEAR 1 UVC film. It blocks 99% of UV up to 385 nm but still lets about 90% of visible light through, so the room doesn’t get noticeably darker.

The installation process was a bit challenging, but the result is nice. I didn't have any major issues! Hopefully it should help slow down UV-related yellowing.

I now feel more confident about leaving my dolls on a desk or occasionally letting them 'wander' around the room. To borrow fellow hobbyist Vega's  term for her own dolls, mine are now partially 'free-range dolls' too.