Some customs dolls we made back in 2006 came back for a visit on a recent vending stint on Granville Island.
Customs have been something we’ve been going back and forth on for YEARS! When I started making dolls 10 years ago customs were a great source of joy for me. I loved talking to the customer and then creating a special doll especially for their child. When I was at Granville Island a few months ago, Pammy Sue brought in her twin girls with twin custom dolls I made for them back in 2006. My heart just filled with joy – so sweet! Well, as the business grew I took customs in bulk form – so 100 orders at a time and done within 2 months – it was INTENSE and I really missed that one on one that came with doing them the ‘old’ way but with the incredible demand at the time, this seemed to be the only way to do it. The way I am I would stress over details to make sure the doll was just right – which is fine if you are dealing with a few, but 100 at once was just too much for me. So, to keep the joy in my dollmaking and not feel any pressure, I made the decision a few years ago to not do any custom dolls and solely focus on our Ready to Go dolls which we could create as we like.
About a week ago I’ve had somewhat of an epiphany with my business. It can be whatever I want. Sounds weird, I know, but for the past few years I’ve felt this intense pressure to create more dolls yet still keep the magic and love intact. So, decisions like to not do customs where made to keep the ‘magic’ alive. I felt this pressure from the super intense fast uploads, from the numerous emails of people so desperate to get a doll, all the dolls being bought and then resold for profit – lately all that seems to have subsided and this sense of ease has come. So, I’m cutting back the amount of dolls we are making so that we can work at a thoughtful and slower pace without any pressure of ‘more’. My markets that I’m doing are going incredibly well and connecting me with children again and the magic of a child/doll relationship. So, this brings me to custom dolls …
I want to try doing them again. I personally don’t have the time for the emailing back and forth like I used to (all those faces to sew on!) BUT Brooke, dear Brooke, who has been doing our customer service and upload listings for a long time now, does have the time. I also trust Brooke explicitly as she is organized and knows the ins and outs of doll specifics like hair colors, eye colors, etc. So, Brooke will act as a go between myself and Brandi handling the emailing portion of the custom dolls (and there is quite a bit). I’m going to try 3 a week and they will be put on the site as listings during an upload. Three a week seems managable 🙂 We will sort of take it as it comes, you know?
So, tomorrow, 3 listings (customs can be either a 15″ or a Sitting Doll), priced at $275. They cost a bit more then the normal dolls on the site because of all the time with organizing and emailing and stuff like that. I’m attaching Brooke’s guidelines for the custom dolls – you can peruse it if you are interested in getting one. Let’s see how this goes 🙂
xoxo
Christina
Custom Doll(1) Upload Specs!
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