Hot Glue: Fast, Easy, and Cheap Sueding Alternative

this trick doesn't work quite as well on very small dolls >.>

 

The doll doctor used hot glue on my MSd old boy body...who couldn't stand. His legs would not lock. A few drops of glue around the bad joints. It dried and now my boy can hold a poise...and stand.

 

Do we have to go around the entire socket like when you suede, or will a few strategically placed drops work? This sounds great, I might try this on Radriel's stubborn legs.

 

I had a MSd done. It was 4 or 6 drops in a socket.

 

just a fair warning to all those who would put Hot glue on your dolls.....I've used hot glue to put my doll's Eyes in before, and the Hot glue can actually BOND with your doll's Resin. I've actually HAD it happen before....if it were me, i'd not use this method. It's risky. I'd stick to the traditional Sueding.

 

With that in mind, you would probably really want to avoid any heat from the sun. That could soften the hot glue a little, and make a bit of a gummy mess if you moved the joints.

 

hey all. i just tried this with Kodona- who couldnt hold his arms out at ALL. Now he can. This works unbelievably well, and it really does peel right off (because i redid mine several times since im anal about stuff like this)

I recommend it to EVERYONE! I give it an A+

 

I think there are two types of hot glue sticks, one is low temperature melting. That be the just the ticket! The higher temp glue sticks might be the ones bonding to the resin.

 

This sounds really good! I had thought about using silicone (from a tube) but that would take longer to cure and be more durable/harder to remove. I don't actually have a hot glue gun, but I'll have to invest in one and try it. I guess its a little like the silicone disks in Yuki's joints (part of the KIPS system).

 

Interesting. Sounds right. I have not had a problem with the hot glue they use for Volks eyes melting or getting soft in 100 degree weather.

I have to invest in a hot gun gun myself.

 

it actually has nothing to do with the glue sticks....it has to do with the resin....some resins are more resiliant than others. Some will warp and bend in your car in high heat. some won't. I've already talked to TWO people have had damage to their dolls by using hot glue on them. One had a CP boy, and one had a Volks doll.....

I'm simply saying be careful. I wouldn't run around using hot glue on dolls. Hot glue gets very very hot, and can BLISTER You if you touch yourself with it.....if it can get that hot, it's logical that it can also damage your doll....just be very very careful, and try not to use too much...personally, i'd rather be safe than sorry....for me, it's Suede all the way.

after seeing the damage it did to my Volks SD Megu, i will NEVER apply hot glue to my dolls again.

 

The heat from the gun also worries me.. I think the ticket would be to use the gun before it has completely heated up. I work a lot with hot glue, so my fingers are fairly used to it, but I know it can be very hot. I'm worried it will actually melt the resin..if it can.

I will likely try this with my Hound in his shoulder joints since he can't hold his arms up, but again I will be very careful.

 

I'm confused, I wanna try this with Taly because her right arm ALWAYS bends, but I don't quite get it... Do I put a few drops on the inside of the socket, or around the actual ball part of the joint? Does it matter WHERE you place the drops, like on the opposite side of where it bends or something?

 

Put the drops IN the socket, then smooth it out with your finger. It should only be a really thin layer, much less than 1 mm.

 

hotglue guns are cheap. I know the one I got was maybe 5 dollars and I got a huge bag of sticks for 2 at walmart.
it helped rion's waist joint some, but I'm not terribly happy with it still.

 

I'm not sure if a thread like this exists already, but...

I figured that since there are many doll owners out there who want to suede their dolls but don't necesarrily know HOW, the do's and don'ts, and the tricks of the trade, we could all chip in a little with some choice pieces of advice.




While I've never sueded a doll to begin with, I HAVE worked with hot glue on many... many occasions.
Many people seem to copmlain about hot glue (even on a low temp) burning their fingers while they work with it. While experimenting, I found that using a pan/cooking spray (such as PAM) when first applied to a paper cloth and then to your fingers works very well to reduce (or even prevent entirely) the burning of your fingers.

Furthermore, it causes the glue that attaches to your fingers to come off quickly and easily.

"So wouldn't it come off what you're gluing?" Of course not! Because what you are gluing hasn't been wiped or dampened with the spray. But you must be careful that what you are gluing does not come in contact with the spray (such as you spray it or dampen it purposefully and directly). A bit of dampness is ok, and should not harm the elastic in ANY way if you need to touch the elastic with your PAM'd hand.




So if anyone else has advice they'd like to share, please feel free to add it here!! Remember, this is for the newbies -- and for the rest of us who just might learn a thing or two!

 

My two somewhat useful tips are:

Gloves.

Well, I'm too chicken to just use my fingers. So I wear some latex gloves that are a little bit too big. This way, it is much easier to pick of dried glue, which will have to be done repeatedly, off of gloves than fingers :'D;;
Another problem with gloves though, is when picking off said glue to be careful not to rip a whole in the glove, just in case!

And, I don't know how much of a tip this is... but I got really lucky with my hot glue gun because its actually very old. This means it takes a while to heat up... Because when I hot glue sueded my musedoll, I would smear a line with the glue gun and then press my thumb against the glue really hard to get it as squished down as possible. Therefore, it was at a perfect temperature while it was heating up. As soon as I felt it would be too hot (by too hot I mean that I could just begin to feel the heat through the gloves, it wasn't anywhere near actually burning my finger,) I unplugged the glue gun. When it would get to cold again, I would plug it in again.

Those are the only things I can think of, hopefully they make sense! Hot Glue sueding is really just a trial-and-error kind of thing though!

By the way, Satoru... I love your avatar >3

 

I've done five dolls so far, 2 minifees. Took about 3 joints (not the smokeable kind) to get the hang of it, especially with knees. I used an Exacto knife to start the peel-off so I could redo the knees in question.

Especially with minifees (and I guess MSDs?) - do the front and backs of the joint cups, but little to nothing on the sides, because they sit very tightly over the bottom leg. Actually, you don't need very much at all on the smaller or lighter dolls. I just take the gun, squeeze out a drop to start and just start schmooshing it around with the nozzle of the gun (think of the white icing drizzled on danishes), squeezing out more glue as needed, and always smearing it around with the tip and edge of the nozzle.

On minifees, I not only do the inside of the hip joints, but the inside of the separate thigh caps. AND I also rough up with 220 grade sandpaper the top of the ball of the thigh. I am determined to win against kicky leg (even though it's fun to hold a nekkid MNF and watch their legs swing wide open to the sides. Such a perv...).

I don't unstring, so most joints get done around the strings first, then moving the strings and doing the area they had been resting on. The thinness of the glue means it dries really fast. If a joint is very small, or the doll is already tightly strung, especially for places like the tiny cups of the ankle and wrist joints, I either squeeze a dollop, and grab a toothpick (or bare end of a long Q-tip) and schmoosh. OR drop the glue onto the wood and spread. Whichever is easier. I do take the head off, and drizzle/spread some glue right around the topmost part of the neck, all around. I find it really cuts down on head-movement squeaks, and helps when a tightly strung doll gets the head "jerk" or angling tendency.

Hounds take a more even coating of glue, to give those heavy limbs and almost non-existent pelvis more stability. I also glue onto the inside of the pelvis upper part, where it meets the imfamous belly section, AND sand the part of the belly section that sits inside the pelvis joint. The Iplehouse boy body is in-between, as far as how much glue to apply, and the knees may look like you did a bit too much, but are still stable as can be.

Since I don't schmoosh with my finger, I seldom touch the hot glue, except to remove a glue-string, or anything showing on the edge of a joint, but by then the glue has done its fast cooling. About the only blister I've gotten so far was on my thumb, and came from using the ball of my thumb to do seam sanding. No glue injuries. I really like the low-temp stuff!

Ok, too much info? Not enough?

 

Ugh.... kicky leg. XP
I should really hot glue Shiwoo... some how.
Do you have to dissassemble them to hot glue suede them?

 

*pfffhht* I don't disassemble anything if I can avoid it!

I just fold open the joint, and hold the two limb pieces in one hand. Work over every area except where the strings are laying. Wait (less than 30 seconds) for the thin bits of glue to cool. Shift the strings over an already worked area of the joint, and do the last bit. MNF's are easy in this regard. I even did a layer of g-sueding in the hip joint, then shifted the thigh around and did another layer under the thigh-cap piece.

Only Orientdolls look like they're going to give me a problem in the ankle joints, since they have very little movement there, it seems so far -

Oh, since I was also doing some sanding - on the last one I did, I also took 220 sandpaper and lightly sanded the very tops of the "ball" part othe limb joints. Don't know if that will help or hurt in the long run. I have a feeling it may cause the glue to get worn down a tiny bit faster, but dunno.

Just remember, especially with the MNF knees - a very thin layer of glue, and don't glue into the side tabs - those projections of the thigh piece that will seat on either side of the "knee" of the lower limb. If you do, you'll get a leg that doesn't seat properly and has gained some wiggly-ness and loss of stability.

 

I don't see how anybody could burn their fingers in hot glue by sueding.. unless they were sticking their fingers directly into it...and why would anyone do that? :/

I use a melting pot made for hot glue sticks, I found it in the floral department of my craft store (its original purpose is to melt glue so you can dip flowers and leaves in there for flower arrangements without having to use the glue gun). I melt the stick in there, its hot but not scalding even though it says it can get really hot I think thats just if you keep it on a while. I used a thin stick, got only a little of it a time and spread it onto my dolls joints. The less you put on at a time, the more accurate you can be with it. It takes more time, but that way you don't have to worry about putting too much. If you do happen to put too much on there, the best way is to take an exacto knife to it and shave it down some. I tried using a dremmel (rotary tool) with a sanding bit to get it down faster, but the tool gives a bit of heat due to its speed. Even on low speed it will melt the glue and cause the bit to get gummy and ruin it. When you unplug the melting pot the glue hardens in it pretty quickly, so you can store it almost immediately. The cords on these things are pretty short, I kept knocking it off the table on accident. Luckily the glue is so goopy it doesn't really pour out, it all stayed in the pot. But I'd recommend not using it around carpet,etc.

 

I stick my fingers in it to smooth it out. ^.^"

But I lick them first so they don't burn or stick.

 

If you're too much of a weenie to touch the hot glue to spread it, use the tip of the glue gun, or the flat side of the nozzle. Since the nozzle is so hot, you can work with the glue as long as you like and it won't harden until you're done. I prefer my fingers, but I employ both methods, myself. I also advise an adustable-temperature glue gun. They're pretty affordable (got mine at WhoreMart for about $12) and give you some leeway.

 

Not sure if anyone said this yet or not, but I read that a not hot hot glue gun should be used. A cold hot glue gun? Ya know, COOL!!! The hot hot glue can mess up the resin. I've never done it myself (yet), but there is one doll I'm seriously considering trying it on.

Jen

 

Yup, not high-temperature hot glue, but low-temperature. ALTHOUGH - at Michaels recently, I only found high-temp and "dual-temp". No specific and solely low-temp glue was available. The dual-temp sticks, though, worked well.

Which reminds me of something else - the low-temp mini-glue-gun came with two sticks of glue, and I also bought a bag o' glue mini-sticks. If you get that same setup - use those sample sticks with some other project, and use the packaged sticks. It's hard to believe they could come up with a lower-quality glue, but they managed it. I could feel a difference as soon as I used the freebie sticks. They didn't melt and spread as easily as the others.

 

ACK! Don't use PAM! It's all oil and we all know what oil does to resin. PLEASE please don't use PAM!

 

Oh, yeah... Forgot about that!! Good thing I haven't glued him yet

 

I'm looking for pictures of dolls that have been sueded with hot glue/glue gun.
I want to try this on my new doll but I'm not sure how to and..
I'm a bit afraid for the temperature <


ty

 

I've done it to all 3 (Batchix did 2) of my girls and for SaynotoInertas girl. I'll see what I can do about getting pics?

Do you want posing? or pics of the joints???? Either way I know I have something. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. And if you lose a low temp glue gun you should be safe. I used low temp on my Petsha... worst thing that has happened is some of its peeling out already, but Franks and Georgie's is still going strong!

 

i would like pictures of it in the joints..
because i dont have a clue how to apply it.
im not sure if i have a low temp gluegun.. but i know are local hobby shop sels them got 5 euro XD

 

My Moon's body has been hot glue sueded, and it works great! No more floppy hands :3

 

I'm still on the fence on this. I've had horrible problems getting suede to stay in with resin safe glue, but I'm worried about long term damage.

 

Ive done some tests with resins
(i had some resins samples laying around for making a mold)

On page 1 a girl was telling about dolls getting damaged by gleu guns.
This depends on the brand.. rarely some have a bit of oil in them!
This makes the glue and resin fuse.
So it doesnt have anything to do with the resin in the end.
It can also happen if you didnt clean the surface! If they'res al little fat on it ,it can get the same effect.

Hot hot glue is simply a killer... i had one light weight resin and it melted right trough like Aline blood trough metal floors..
(looked co0l Tho)

The low temp glue was simply a dream.. it didn't do anything to the resin..only my finger -hurthurt-
Then i putted the resin with glue in the sun..
I notice with one brand the hot glue layer seem to protect the resin!!
The resin under the glue spot stayed nice and cool ;D

I will tell you i wont use it to glue the eyes in..
i myself only use acrylic eyes and i hate eyes i can't move around whenever i want.

For joints, i guess it's a good product to use...
other sueding methodes also damage..it can stain your resin so on so on.
Btw, if you sueded with hot glue in a good way thers no reall reason to remove it..
you will ownly need to replace it if it lets go...
which is a sign it didnt bond with the resin...


-sorry if the spelling is bad...school pc..no spelling check >_<-

 

I just finished trying it on my doll. It worked pretty well....He still has problems standing up, but I think that's just a major DoD problem. It worked great on his arms though! They can stay straight and out really well now! ^o^

 

I hot glued my girls, helped artemis more, kinda made athena weird, maybe since she was a pretty decent poser already. i haven't tried taking it off yet, but it's staying on pretty well though. the glue did hurt my fingers at first, but i learned to do it when it wasn't that hot, and when it did get too hot, i unplugged it to cool it down a little.

 

Oke,
normaly i would know right away how to seud...but with my new mnf girll..
i have no clue..
especially on her hips..
she has like double hip joint things...

So do i put glue on the inside of the hip...and the plate between the leg and the hip joint?
I also believe she has a plate thingy like that between her neck and head..and i also wanna hot glue sued her head..

Anyway i need some help with this o_o*
ty

 

I did Riku with it in the hip socket and in the hip plate socket and it worked beautiful. I tried the head, but it was a no go... Not enough space for the glue to make a difference. Be careful about the knees, though, as the ball fits in that socket so snugly that sometimes, if the hot glue is too thick, there is too much pressure for the joint.

 

I just tried this on my girl and it works like a dream!! I have a Angleregion girl Bada, and shes always had a hard time holding her pose. I had always wanted to sued my doll, but never had the time. This was quick and easy, it only took 30 mins.

Thank you so much!

 

Okay...the head piece is so much fun! I will try to explain it, but if you need me to I can take pictures of my boy later.

The double hip piece, you want to suede both pieces.

For the neck, pull very gently up on the head until you can insert a pencil between the neck and the head piece, through the elastic. Then slide a piece of thin ribbon in next to the pencil and pull up until you can get the s hook off the elastic. Then take the head off of the head piece. If you push down gently on the outside of the head piece, it should come apart; the 'knob' with the s hook attached and then an outer ring piece. Suede the bottom of the outer ring piece, let it dry, and then put it back together. Pull up with the ribbon until you can reattach the s hook, then remove the pencil and set the neck piece back in place and pull the ribbon free.

About the knee; you really only need to suede the top part of the socket; you don't need to suede the sides - the sueding will work if it's just in the top.

If you have any questions, please PM me. If you want pics, I'll pull out my type 2 boy and take some pictures for you!

 

I did it on my Ophelia within her hips and shoulders, though, her "hip-glue" is getting off, so I've got to re-do it.
It really works and I can recommend it to other people.
Just be patience and not afraid to do it and most important really wait untill the glue is COLD and then let the leg "go".

 

I need to do this on Chyou's thigh joints. He also will flop forward if you lean him too far because his upper body's heavy. XD

I'm surprised your dot is having trouble standing. That's one of the things dots are known to do well! X3 Are you sure his stringing isn't too loose or too tight? To keep this thread from becoming OT you can PM me if you want. :3

 

I hot glued sueded my Soony and Hewitt and the results are excellent, it only took 45 minutes for the two of them
Here's my boy climbing in a creek and actually holding himself there
http://picasaweb.google.com/shinkeichan/Leo/photo#5032684304418759938
and close ups of the glue in his sockets.
http://picasaweb.google.com/shinkeichan/Leo/photo#5032684188454642866
http://picasaweb.google.com/shinkeichan/Leo/photo#5032684188454642882
http://picasaweb.google.com/shinkeichan/Leo/photo#5032684192749610194

 

enn, I want to try the hot glue method. I think the hot glue can be sanding down even it get bond with the resin.

 

I finally plucked up the courage to hot glue my Dark Elf Soo Lily and she stands so much better now. Only problem i had was i used the low temp glue gun and the glue once it was inside the joints crumbled a bit and i had to keep putting more in. Hope ive done this right. She stands so im happy about that!!!!

 

I apologise if this question has been asked before but how do you know is the gluegun hot or low temperature version? I have one gluegun and I believe that it is the hot one but how can I make sure of that?
Hot glueing sounds so tempting though...

 

Low, definitely use low. My low temp is 120V 10W, if that helps at all. Also, since it takes hardly any glue inside a joint to be effective, this way you have a shorter wait until it's cool and you can move onto the next joint

 

Her legs are ridiculous. She's always in the fetal position.

I have some pliver to suede her with, but don't want to take her apart. The hot glue is a much easier solution. I will try it first.

Jennifer in Massachusetts
http://www.dollhabits.com

 

Ophelia had at her hip joints hot glue sueding.
Good lord, after half a year of screaming against the girl, she could finally stand normally.
Though, it's falling off again. How is this possible?

 

I've got the same thing, especially on her elbows, its almost completely gone already and I only did it two weeks ago.

I would say though, don't let the glue get too hot =/ I did her knees and went a bit over board and had to spend and hour scraping it all out again because the glue stuck too well

 

Sorry... for the weird title, but I heard my friend mentioning how she saw something on this site and others mentioning how they "hot glued" their dolls for better posing. What do they mean? Is it safe?

 

Check out the Chapter 3 in BJD_WTF, it has all the details. The link is in my signature.


p.s. your signature is too big.

 

There's a big sticky in the Customization subforum with links to helpful threads, too, including example photos and 'testimonials' from owners who've tried it.

 

The quick version: Dabbing dots or streaks of hot glue around the inside of your doll's ball joints to increase posing range. First, pull apart the joint...then dab the hot glue on the cup part of the joint...then let it dry completely....then let the joint snap back together.

 

YOU MUST DO THIS:

OMG...I am one of those people who is freaked out about doing any type of customization...however, my CP Tan Shiwoo was just strung crazy, he couldn't stand for longer than 30 secs.

I was kinda nervous when I did it, but I did!

My only regret is that I hadn't done it sooner.

I used a low heat gun, no burning of anything, including my fingers smoothing it out! Only, watch cause when you smooth the glue, it gets into the grooves of your fingers and can kinda pull on yer skin.

HE STANDS HE STANDS HE STANDS HE STANDS HE STANDS!!!!

You must do this, don't be nervous....AMAZING & SUPER EASY!

 

Yes, I remember all the trouble you were having, and even if it's coming off( prolly because of the friction of movement), it's easy to re-do again.
I've just hot glued my Odelia( because i was changing her clothes), and it's worked a treat, and SO easy to do.I'm going to Hot glue my flexi- bodies when they get here too.* her Glue gun*

 

Wow, beautiful!! My hound's been kicky for weeks (I think I strung him too tight...) And I just hot glued him... Marvelous!

Oh, and if you're having trouble with the high temp low temp thing...
forget the gun all together: Just hold the stick over a lighter or candle until it softens slightly then rub the stick in the spot you want. You can stick your finger in it in less than 3 sec. after application!

I just wanna hug Necross forever now!

 

So I decided to hot glue him first. ^^;

But instead of using a glue gun to heat it, I lit a tea candle and held the end of the glue sticks over the flame for a few seconds. The stick cools kind of fast, and I made a bit of a mess, but after I got a hang of it, I had fun. ^^;; Can't say the same for my boy, however. He did not dig being manhandled and spread-eagled, but I'll be damned if it wasn't pretty funny. XD

Anyway, the whole ordeal was totally worth it. ^__^ After roughly two hours of gluing (and constantly getting distracted >.>), he was standing on our coffee table barefooted, in his skivvies, all by himself. Now I can even poke him pretty hard when he's standing and he won't flop over. And no more kicky legs! *glee*