Okay so....I am really really tempted to add a bjd to the family so to speak...but I've never seen one IRL and it is a lot of money for me to hand over if it turns out I am stuck with a doll I don't like.

So my question is where can I see BJD's in the flesh so to speak....pictures are great but you don't always get the right idea from a picture...as I know when I bought my Himstedt Dorle.......hated her!!!

I am in the NE of England....anyone have any leads for me....can travel a bit....York, Leeds etc.

TIA for any help you can offer.....I am driving myself nuts drooling over BJD sites!!

Hugs

Jo in the UK
JoLi Designs

Well... I can take you to Dolpa if you fly out to JAPAN!! I'm seriously considering going in a couple of weeks, but I think the one you want to talk to is wasabi_project (aka "H"). I'm sure she will be able to direct you in the right direction when she reads this.

Hi Jo,
Are you going to the Peteborough show or one of the Kelhams at all? I have a stall at these shows and will be talking all my BJD's along to show them to people. I have a very good range of sizes too so it would be great for you to be able to decide what size you want.

I just went to visit a Volks store a few days ago and that's the first time to see these BJD in real life.I did see BJD at different sizes but not many enough to see.These volks bjd really are beautiful and have great quality.Japan makes high quality stuffs.I wonder if the BJD from Korea are the same quality?
Flying over to Japan might be very expensive but you will see lots of BJD.Go meet wasabi_project should be the best choice.
Let us know what you decide.

thanks for the replies ladies.....flying to Japan would be lovely....but then there would be NO money left for a doll!!! LOL

Sadly don't think I will be able to get to Peterborough either at the moment......so still looking and thinking....but deffinately no spending on BJD's for a while yet then!

HUgs

Jo in the UK
JoLi Designs

Jessica the Korean BJD's are just as good quality and personally I prefer them to Volks, there is no quality difference as far as the resin goes and the Koreans have come up with some better joints on their BJD's where as Volks end to be quite standard, although they are still good a posing. For me it doesn't matter where the BJD is from it just matters that you like it. In all the time I've been into BJD's I've only ever seen 2 Volks dolls I want to own all the rest are Korean. But you don't have to worry about quality if you are looking outside of Japan.

Jo it's a shame you can't make it to the show, but I will be at all the Kelham shows and Peteborough aswell as many times and it comes round so maybe you will be able to make another date. It would be great for you to see them in person you don't realise how big and well scaled they are until you get to see them and hold them ^^

All I can say is that I wasn't interested in BJD's at all (thought they looked like weird aliens lol!!) until I saw one irl at Kelham and my immediate thought was WOW!!! They are 100% better irl than on screen imo

The bjd uk forums and den of angels have meets planned all over the uk, leeds, york, manchester and nottingham are covered (i orgainise notts meets alot).
It's a great way to seee loads of dolls and meet the owners.
If you want to drop me a pm i can give you links and info on the meets that your interested in.

Oh, I was going to say the same thing. Meet-ups are the best way to see some beautiful BJD's irl. And the best thing about them is that you get to talk to collectors about the dolls that they love.

And if you want to see some fabulous photos, check out Den of Angels. I also find the discussions very helpful.

I will probably have a few for sale at the Motorcycle Museum.

Cathy xx

I'm in the NE of England too Jo!

I've just sent for my first BJD, Pink Riding Hood from Dollmore. I don't know anywhere in the NE for bjd's, but there are plenty of online forums and Groups which have pics of the member dolls.

Angela