Display anxieties and blah, blah, blah

Alice Display, originally uploaded by alington.

Talking about Alice has gotten me thinking about display issues. See how poor Um of Umbridge is squashed in her display case? She's totally outgrown her display space! I'm currently working on two projects of late that has be dealing with some display problems. Plus, my collecting is in a morphing phase again. Let me explain:

Project #1 - There is no time like the present to announce I am in the editing phase of my first book, dear readers. It's all about how to choose your first ball-jointed doll. I'm writing it as a coffee-table style book, filled with full color photos, hoping it will be beautiful to read. It will be filled with information on BJDs, how to budget for them, how to decide your aesthetic style, how to order them, basic tutorials, and how to get connected to the online and real-life community of BJDs--all in a warm, friendly, conversational way. I hope you like it. I'd love to have it finished by June 1, but we shall see.

Display issue: I have received permission from Peak's Woods to use my photos of their dolls in this book. And I currently have a lot of large 58 cm (23") dolls in my display case. My cats seem overly friendly toward these dolls (much unlike Mr. Winky), so I keep them in a glass case.

Project #2 - I have started on another project involving Steffie-faced dolls. I haven't quite decided all the details of this project yet, but I have been quietly accruing a few Steffie faces of late. Well, if you read my blog, I haven't been all that quiet about it. But since I haven't decided on the project details yet, I won't go into it yet.

Display issue: I've never in my life owned this many Barbies before. And never this many Barbies about whom I've felt quite so sentimental. My goodness! I think I may need to add another display shelf. I can't stand the idea of putting the dolls away in a box. I need organizational help here! Or maybe just a valium.

Collection morphing: I was recently able to acquire a grail doll of mine, Pink Splendor, at an extremely affordable price. She was a very low Buy-It-Now because of her torn box. But she is complete, and I adore her. Now, she has me looking for a few other dolls I thought I'd never be able to attain--just because I thought she'd be too hard to find.

Display issue: Need I mention it? The dress sizes. What am I going to do with these huge gowns? I'm already starting some sales on dolls--and I have to list the others I have for sale. But setting prices and the like is the hard part. What to do?

My theory is to not ever have so many dolls that I can't display them all at once. I know a few of my girls will be hitting the road after some of these projects move forward. In the meantime, I have to get off my butt and start selling. More importantly, maybe if I didn't feel so much anxiety about the dolls, I'd work on my project(s) a little more quickly.

I just wish I felt more like a collector sometimes. Is this normal?

In doing a little more research... I found this post from three years ago. I was a much more confident collector then, it seems. Check it out. There's lots of display ideas in there.