BJD restringing, using ribbon threading techniques

galatia9 submitted a new tutorial:

BJD restringing, using ribbon threading techniques

Read more about this tutorial here...

 

Now that I have shortened the elastic, it's time to put him back together. The leg elastic has to go back up in the neck. Loop a ribbon through the both loops of the elastic. You can see I have put the stringing tool down through the neck. Make sure it doesn't interfere with the arm elastic before you pull the ribbon through.



Grab both ends of the ribbon with the hook and pull the RIBBON only up through the neck. Make sure it goes NEXT to the arm elastic and not through it.



Remove the stringing tool from the ribbon, and pull the ribbon to draw the elastic up through the neck hole.



Put the s-hook through the elastic, and remove the ribbon.



Pull the elastic downward, so the s-hook sits in its groove properly.

I know the ribbon seems like an extra step, BUT... when you get down to stringing the feet. the tension of the elastic will be much tighter. I prefer to NOT have a metal wire inside my dolls under tension. Instead, I pull on the ribbon, which won't damage the resin or the elastic.

PLEASE NOTE: If you prefer to restring each of your doll's legs on its own piece of elastic instead of BOTH legs on one piece, you can estimate the length of the elastic the same way, but use a single loop of elastic. Also, you don't have to use the clamping technique (shown later), since each leg has its own tension. But you will have TWO knots in the torso instead of one.



Adjust the elastic so that both loops are the same length, and the knot is in the top part of the torso. Stretch both loops, and adjust them until they feel even.



Loop a ribbon through each leg elastic.



Use the same ribbon threading technique to draw the leg elastic down through the lower torso. Here, you can see I have finished one leg, and am ready to draw down the ribbons in the other leg.



Even out your leg elastic again.



Clamp off one leg elastic next to the thigh socket. This will keep the leg elastic tension even while you string the other leg first. If you are worried about scratching your doll's resin with the hemostats, line the edge of the socket with a bit of masking tape.



Use the ribbon threading technique through the thigh...



... and the calf.

 

From here, it is the reverse of what you did before. Clamp off the elastic at the ankle, so the tension is off. You can put on the s-hook again...



...slide the ankle ball over the hook, and reattach the foot. Unclamp the hemostat. Now you have one leg restrung!!



Now... clamp your finished leg between the thigh ball and socket. This will hold the tension even again, just like before.



You will notice that when you release the other hemostat, the elastic will stay in place. ;D Now string your other leg!



All done!! And lookin' FINE, Akone!!

IMPORTANT: Again, I am showing pictures of leg stringing because it is more difficult. But BE SURE to restring the doll's arms first, because the knot might not fit through the arm holes!! Arms are strung on the exact same principle you saw above. The elastic goes from wrist to wrist across the torso, not up into the neck. When restringing, even the elastic coming out of each arm hole, and clamp it off in one armpit. Restring the opposite arm, reclamp in the same armpit to keep the tension even, and restring the other arm.

PS: This tutorial is for personal use only. I wrote it and photographed it for people who have requested assistance. If you wish to post this tutorial or parts of it somewhere else, please ask me first. Thanks so much!

Linda S.
galatia9

 

Here are a few pics to show how to string arms, and also how to use the drawstring puller.



Here is the upper torso and the lower torso. The leg elastic is looped around the s-hook in the head. The red thing is the drawstring puller, but you can use the long thin piece of wire bent into a hook. The wire doesn't need a handle, because you'll be pulling on the ribbon, not on the wire.



String your doll's arms first, because the knot might not fit through the arm holes. Put the ribbon through the elastic loop, and then reach into the shoulder with the paper clip. (At the bottom of the picture.) Draw the ribbon out from the inside of the torso, using the unbent paper clip, then pull on the ribbon to draw the elastic out the shoulder. (I like to leave the elastic knot in the center of the torso so that the knots aren't in the head getting in the way when I want to change eyes. But if you want to be able to shorten the elastic later without unstringing the whole doll, leave the knots in the head.) You can't see it here, but the drawstring puller is threaded through the other end of the elastic and keeps it from going inside the torso. When you have the elastic in the torso and out of each shoulder, position the elastic evenly out of both shoulders, with the knot in the center of the torso. (Sorry, I didn't show this!) Use the forceps to hold one arm's elastic at the shoulder socket, then string on the opposite arm and hook the hand onto the elastic. Then put the other arm on except for the hand, and pull on the ribbon as far as it will go. Release the forceps, pull on the ribbon until the elastic comes out at the wrist, and hook the other hand on the elastic. Two people come in handy here! (The upper arm has already had the ribbon and elastic drawn through it in this picture.)



Here's a closeup of the ribbon threading technique. You can see the paper clip reaching through the forearm to grab the ribbon.



Draw both ends of the ribbon through the limb...



and pull the elastic out. Pull on the ribbon, not the wire. You can use the forceps here to hold the far side of the elastic loop at the shoulder socket while you hook the near hand back onto the elastic. Draw the ribbon out of the elastic after the hand is back on. If you accidentally let go of the elastic, the ribbon will let you draw it back out.



Here, I use the drawstring puller to put on the lower torso. See how the ribbon is looped through the leg elastic? The puller goes up through the leg hole.



thread the ribbon through it...



and draw the ribbon through the lower torso.



Pull the ribbon to draw the elastic through. Again, keep the knots in the torso. This way, they won't be in the head getting in the way when you want to change the doll's eyes. Put the legs on the same way you put on the arms. The drawstring puller is most effective when stringing really LONG legs. IF YOU ONLY HAVE ONE piece of elastic for both legs, please use the procedure shown above in the previous posts.

Linda S.
galatia9

 

Hints for glue sueding: Have a little bowl of ice water and a small towel handy while you hot glue. Have a ceramic plate or dish to set your glue gun on, so you don't have to set it on its little feet every time you put it down. In fact, I cut the little feet off mine, because they got in the way when I was trying to put glue in the thigh sockets.

Before you hot glue: Take the two pieces you are working on (for example, upper torso and upper arm). Examine carefully how closely the upper arm fits into the shoulder socket. If it is a very snug, precise fit, just use glue around the hole in the socket. If it is a very loose fit, you can use more glue to fill more of the socket, wherever the ball and socket make contact. But I have found, especially with Luts/CP dolls, it is better to glue only near the hole, where the elastic pulls the pieces tightly together. When sueding the knees, especially Luts/CP: Look at the knee ball and socket, and see how they fit together. See how the socket has "wings" on either side that go snugly around the ball? Don't put glue in the wings, or the ball won't fit in the socket. Put glue only around the hole in the knee socket. These are the kinds of things you have to look for as you're glue sueding your doll. I check the fit of each ball and socket before gluing.

When hot gluing: Apply a thin ribbon of glue about 1/3 of the way around the hole to start with. Quickly put down the gun, dunk your finger in ice water, and flatten down the hot glue. This will keep your finger from burning and will also cool the glue so it will harden quicker. I keep the towel on my knee so I can dry off any excess water. I do about 1/2 to 1/3 around the hole at a time, so that the glue doesn't cool off too much before I can flatten it. I also use the hot tip of the glue gun to smooth out the glue if there are lumps in it, or if the doll's limbs fit together very closely and the glue has to be very thin. You want the glue to be as flat as possible, so that you don't have unsightly gaps from the thickness of the glue in the joints. Also, if you put down too much glue, you can remove it with your fingernails if it hasn't been on too long. The more gluing you do, the easier it gets.

I have found that sometimes glue binds very quickly and tightly to the resin, and other times it can be peeled right off. I'm not sure if this has to do with the type of resin, or if the joint is clean or dusty. Precleaning would probably help it bind better. But I don't mind so much if it can be peeled off right away, because after I restring the doll, the elastic tension will keep the joints tightly together with the glue in between.

Hopefully all of this makes some kind of sense. If you have questions, let me know! I'm glad to help however I can, even if it is from across the ocean!!

Best of luck and have fun,
Linda S.
galatia9

PS: This tutorial is for personal use only. I wrote it and photographed it for people who have requested assistance. If you wish to post this tutorial or parts of it somewhere else, please ask me first. Thanks so much!

 

Thanks, everyone, for all the kind comments!

That's what I like about it too. I can't remember where I picked up the tip (must have been here at DoA!), but I prefer it!

Linda S.
galatia9

 

I haven't examined any REALLY tiny dolls, but I believe they are all strung the same way. But instead of s-hooks, hands and feet are attached directly to the elastic with little bits of non-stretchy string. And you will need different tools to aid in stringing. I'd look around on the forum here to find special threads on stringing tinies.

Good luck!

Linda S.
galatia9

 

Using this method, the ribbon is NEVER under tension while it is being pulled by the restringing tool. The ribbon is ONLY under tension when you are pulling the ribbon with your hand.

If for some reason I put a hard object through the elastic itself, I use something that will not break, like a rigid plastic pen barrel. I never use wood.

Linda S.
galatia9

 

It sounds like his arm elastic might be twisted, which might be why his arms are being flippy. It's possible you can't pull the arms out very far because of the knot inside is catching on the elastic for his legs, or it may be pulled up against his shoulder.

Unfortunately, I don't know anything specific about the new DZ boy 72cm bodies, so I can't give any advice about the torso. Some dolls have an abdominal insert that goes up into the chest that has to be glued in, and it sounds like that's what you have. If you find that when you take him apart, I would definitely glue him back together. Hot glue isn't permanent, so I think that's a good idea. You might try to contact other owners of this doll body too, if you can.

Best of luck with working on your boy! I'll help if I can.

Linda S.
galatia9

 

I have two of the old original SoulDoll 60cm boys, and SoulDoll uses really heavy duty elastic to string their dolls' legs. That's all I know. But maybe you can find some other owners of the SoulZenith boys by looking in the BJD database thread?

Linda S.
galatia9

 

Oh good! SoulDoll used really thick elastic in my boys' legs, and the hooks in their feet are super heavy duty too. Glad you have him sorted out!

Linda S.
galatia9

 

You'll have to retie the knot closer to the ends of the leg elastic. Or, if you'd rather not restring the entire doll yet, try placing the doll in a kneeling position, and safely support her on the sides with pillows or in a box. Leave her there for a few hours or overnight. This can help stretch the elastic out a bit so it can "relax".

Good luck!

Linda S.
galatia9

 

Congratulations! I think that having another person there to help makes a big difference.

I'm not familiar with the Soom dolls, but it's possible that hot glue sueding will improve her standing. There are several threads on glue sueding here that should help, plus I put a lot of tips in this tutorial, too.

Best of luck!

Linda S.
galatia9

 

The hemostats shown in my picture are from 5-1/2 to 6-1/4 inches long (14cm and 16cm). I also have one with a curved tip. All of them work fine on any large doll, but the longer ones might be more convenient when clamping down over a wide thigh socket. I've used them on very wide strong elastic (4mm) with no trouble.

I found them for sale at my local family-owned hardware store, believe it or not! Best of luck in your search, and with your restringing.

Linda S.
galatia9

 

Hello, Kurolli, I've used the exact same technique on my MSD boys (and MSDs belonging to other people), and it works fine. You'll probably need a paper clip or piece of floral wire with a tiny hook bent in one end to get the ribbon through his small limbs, though. A friend of mine also suggested using a tiny safety pin pinned through the ribbons and dropped through the limbs.

Best of luck!!
Linda S.
galatia9

 

Thanks so much, cate, Havra and Fairlight!! I'm glad it was helpful to you.

Linda S.
galatia9

 

Thanks so much for letting me know!! Glad it helped. I have two MSD boys, and the bent paper clips work great for restringing them.

I love the earlier DollZone sculpts too, somehow I have acquired six of them!!

Linda S.
galatia9

 

Hi MissEmily,

My Bobobie Weylin arrived with very limp weak elastic, he couldn't even sit up by himself! I tightened his elastic and it helped a bit, but finally I sueded him and restrung his legs with 3.5mm elastic that I bought from coolcat-coolcat on ebay. I've also used SoulDoll elastic and Volks elastic on other dolls. All of these elastics have nice spring-back qualities. My Weylin stands like a little soldier now, though I don't think he likes it!!

I also put small s-hooks in his hands to increase his wrist posability. coolcat-coolcat has those too, though the ones I used came from an Iplehouse YID girl that I no longer had. (I had replaced her hooks with others that were a little bit stronger.)

Good luck!
Linda S.
galatia9

 

KarieChaos, thanks for the tips. I've found that my Jo-Ann's doesn't have the large round elastic, only smaller sizes. I haven't tried to purchase from them online, though. And I did get some s-hooks at my local hardware store, but they didn't go as small or as thin as I needed.

Thanks, PinkyDolphen, you're very welcome!

Linda S.
galatia9