CP Delf Discussion Part 13

Aw omg thank you!! ♡

Edit: here's the pic finally!
Peachpink by Emily, on Flickr

 

Feather got a cute hello kitty backpack! She also got a new dress today which I will share soon!
DSC_0798~2 by Emily, on Flickr

 

Apologies if this has been discussed already, but does anyone know where to get clothes that fit CP Delf boys? I keep forgetting that modern SD’s are massive 65cm+ slabs of man now and bought my Moon this frilly, fancy shirt that I was excited for and it looks like he’s playing dress-up in his daddy’s clothes… I’m sure you can get things straight from companies (LUTS), but I think the more popular dolls skew larger and the second-hand market reflects that.

 

I get my boys things from BEARS BJD STUDIO Taobao in size 1/3!
They also fit TATABJD in 1/3 too, sometimes store will list SD13 - that can sometimes fit also.
Normally size "uncle" is for those that are 65+

 

In general I stick to "SD13" size. "1/3" usually means that size, but I have seen it be larger when I checked measurements. If the maker also offers "uncle" size (which is ~65-70cm) then "1/3" is definitely Delf-ish size. It's not a perfect sizing system and I've had some SD13 boy clothes be too big (usually pants). Also I have some SD16 girl clothes that fit my Delf boys perfectly :3

It's definitely harder to find good clothes for them these days due to the popularity of larger dolls.

 

I buy most of my clothes from etsy, the f60 and smart doll clothes fit pretty good on my lishe, but I don't know much about boy dolls. I hear Nine9 is good for them?

DSC_0778~2 by Emily, on Flickr

Here's a pretty photo of my darling Feather ♡ I'm really feeling more dolly excited again!

 

I had a question, I'm unsure if I should restring Feather, as she's quite old and might have a small crack in her ankle joint, so I'm wondering if resin gets more fragile with age? Feather is 12 years old, so I'm sorta unsure about my delf body and continuing to use it or if I should also buy a second F60 body for Snow.

 

I just purchased a second-hand Delf Lu-Wen who’s arriving unstrung, so I guess I’ll find out for you. Bear in mind, he’s been through at least three owners already and is also at least 12 years old (as are all CP Delfs as of this year). This will be helpful to know for me, too, because my Moon’s arms are very floppy and I don’t think wiring will fix them. Hopefully boy bodies aren’t much different than girls’.

 

That'd be great! I wish you luck on stringing! I hope he turns out good! I have a Lu-Wen girl as well!

 

Thank you so much! I’m excited! He’ll be a project doll for sure due to some chipped body blushing and tattoos I might remove (and, you know, being the first-ever doll I’ve strung together). Other than that, though, he seems to be in great condition!

It’s so crazy to see CP Delfs being rehabbed and fixed up like they’re antiques; last time I was in the hobby, they were so cutting-edge and everyone had them. I’m grateful to have the means to acquire more.

 

That's so awesome! I've never strung a doll either, I had my girls packed away for about 6 years, but that just means less damage! I've only sorta noticed the crack or maybe a seamline, and shes soooo floppy, lol, but I'm getting Feather a f60 body and hope to maybe give Snow my delf body or buy a luts delf body.

It is so crazy! I remember when delfs were everywhere! I love that i was able to get mine as well! ♡

 

These minions of ours don't get more brittle after a few years... After a hundred years? Maybe. No one is quite sure how they'll fare over the really long haul yet, but at twelve? You should be fine to restring any of them.

My oldest minion is a Volks Sweet Dream Lucas from 2003... so, 20 years old this year.... and he's held up just fine. I actually restrung him completely a couple of weeks ago without issues of any kind. A good friend has a pair of Volks SD girls from 1999 and 2000 and as far as I know they've never had brittleness troubles, either. Granted, Volks resin isn't CP's resin, but they're similar enough that you shouldn't have to be worried over regular handling and maintainance.

 

I've restrung my type 1 boys a few times (They're quite old) and they're like bricks - infact i damage myself restringing them more than them getting any damage.

Nice to give them a clean and some new string every now and then.

 

i have second (or third or fourth?) hand vamp shiwoo from ...'04 and lemme tell you you could probably knock somebody OUT with his thigh parts, he's a sturdy lad. Feather will probably be fine, but if you're worried, just take it slow. The nice thing about dolls is they can't complain if you leave them in pieces for a while.

 

Her pastel aesthetic is PERFECT!

 

Omg thank you!! That's so nice ♡

 

Thank you for all the restringing help! I plan to restring Feather in July! I'm going to take it slow and I have help! It's going to be great!!

 

The weather was nice so I took a trip outside to take some photos of my Juri05 Nova's restyle!

 

She looks so good! Such a classic style.

 

Nova's beautiful!!! @DessyChan she looks great!

 

I think the brittleness issue mostly affects other types of ageing plastic that use plasticizers. As they age, the plasticizers evaporate and the once pliable plastic becomes brittle.

 

Thank you so much everyone!!

I hoped to liven up the delf thread again, does anyone care to share some summery photos of their delfs? I'll start! Today we had a tea party and it was very fun and cozy in the cool night air!

Tea Party 1 by Emily, on Flickr

 

@SacredMonsoon I hope to join in, soon! I scored a Delf El head just this morning and I have a Lu-Wen waiting to be strung back together…eventually. I also need to get the hang of going through Flickr to post photos, since I’m so used to sharing on the fly.

 

Congrats!!! You're the one who claimed the one on the marketplace? I was too slow haha

Happy to see the Delf thread alive. I can share photos of my 3; the old Delfs still capture my heart in a way new dolls just haven't

 

Dante and Loki (both use aliases for the most part) hanging out together in my new doll cabinet!



And my Elf Yder who doesn't seem too pleased with his current accommodations

 

@Lady Gemini ooh congrats!!! I can't wait to see them! Flickr is pretty easy once you get used to it, its just annoying with how many photos you can have without paying for it! Lol

@Serraphym ooh your crew look so cozy on that couch! I love their outfits! I agree that Delfs are just special! I'm saving up for a F60 Moe body so that Feather can pose more, and my Luwen Snow is getting the Delf body once I restring her! I'm so excited for Christmas because of this! Lol

 

Yay - exciting! I just got a F60 Moe body for my F60 shushu and it's definitely different to have a newly engineered body compared to all the old dolls I have haha. I like both though; there's something comforting about the slightly floppy single joined bodies too

 

Haha i bet it'll be new for me too! I've only ever had Feather and never seen other dolls/bodies! I'm really excited! I definitely agree! There will always be a special side to Delfs and I will always love having one of my own! ♡

 

I went to a convention and couldn’t help myself when I saw this head, here’s my new Nanuri07. Thinking about putting them on a feeple70 male body but I’m not sure if the proportions are correct, can anyone confirm?

 

Congrats on the find! If I recall, nanuri'07 is one of the smaller heads; that said, the feeple70* body is pretty much the delf body with longer legs, so the torso part will look the same. If that looks fine to you, then the proportions should be alright

*I haven't followed close enough to know if there's a new feeple70 body, but the one I had from my Anu was like a delf body

 

Thank you that’s super helpful! Now the hardest part will be finding the body itself…

 

I was just looking at measurements - the shoulder width is 13cm for both, but the feeple70 body may have a slightly longer neck and a thicker waist at 21.5cm vs 20cm

Unfortunately I don't have my body anymore to take photos. I think that it comes down to preference though in that my nanuri'08 that came with my feeple Anu is definitely too small for my preferred proportions, and I put him on a modded female body instead. I think his head/face is smaller overall than nanuri'07, so you may be fine there. There may be some old hybrid photos floating around DOA

:Edit: I found a bunch of useful comparison photos by @LupusDarkmoon in a different thread (not sure if I'm allowed to post links to other's posts) and delf nanuri'07 is muchhhh bigger than '08 so I think you're good

 

Everyone of my crew at the moment are getting new wigs and clothing but i just had to take a picture of Glimmer my Jess today because he was being grumpy on the shelf

 

A Jess! Glimmer is adorable

 

I have a bit of a tricky question that I'm not sure where to ask -

I recently got a fairly yellowed WS dreaming lishe head (one of my dream Delfs! Thanks to @LupusDarkmoon for selling him to me I'm so stoked!) and am hoping to put a body on layaway in the next few days while Alice Collections has their sale going on. I'm debating if I should get a WS body and attempt to restore / whiten / blush him, or if anyone has ever matched a yellowed WS head to a NS yellow body by a Chinese company. I'll probably do the faceup myself so I can do a bit of color matching in the process, and was going to do some light sanding to even out the yellowing which may end up lightening his head.

Any thoughts? My reference is my breakaway who is also WS, but he's actually quite a bit paler than the lishe head

:Edit: I'm thinking it through and the WS probably still makes sense because NS will be too dark regardless, and the match would still be off

 

I feel like those two options are equally likely to give good results and equal the amount of work, so it really depends on which you'd rather do, I think! For me personally, I have sanded dolls and I have dyed dolls. Both processes stress me out, but the sanding definitely stresses me out more. So in this case I would go with the dyeing. The reason I find sanding stressful is that it's permanent. (Dye sounds permanent but apparently you can scrub it off using the right materials.) Sanding is hard to get even on dolls like Delfs because of crisp sculpting details around the lips and eyes, it's hard to get sandpaper in there without oversanding the area around it. And finally, there is a small chance that the yellowing is deep, and sanding will not improve the color much.

I do think dyeing is the preferable option if the head is severely yellowed and almost as dark as NS, and all you need to do is tint the color. But if the head isn't too yellowed, it may be a little less work to sand it. You can also use a highly pigmented white soft pastel to minimize the yellowing, too. (I use Panpastel)

 

Thanks - this is super helpful! Parts of the head (chin, head back) are much lighter which is giving me some hope that the resin underneath may still be creamy, but that's a great point about sanding. I'd definitely use very very fine grit if I go that route, and was thinking a layer of panpastel white too.

Dyeing terrifies me lol. I literally painted and blushed an entire body to match luts RS with CP NS before just to avoid dyeing, but it's inevitably a future project for sure now that that head has yellowed

 

I thought about blushing a whole doll to match a faceup but chickened out and dyed the whole thing instead. It was really easy!… but it was also modern resin and IDK if something old would hold up to it.

My CP Delf Breakaway is really evenly yellowed I think? But I love the faceup I did too much to wipe it and try to change his resin color when it really doesn’t bother me.

 

Oh he's lovely, and his coloring does look very even! And I definitely understand the unwillingness to wipe a faceup -- I've kept my Breakaway's faceup since I bought him in 2006 and will never wipe it if I can help it!

I find CP NS ages very well. All of my Delfs are type 1 so I'm guessing they're pre-2007(?) Shiwoo is a nice peach, while my Elf Yder doesn't seem yellowed at all and matches current FL NS. My 2008 FL Nanuri actually has yellowed more than these older Delf heads

I also have a NS Moon on layaway to add another point of comparison

 

Quick question! What would cause a turn-key mechanism in a Type 3 body to not turn? Being strung too tightly, or incorrectly?

For context, I *finally* strung my Lu-Wen after receiving him unstrung a month ago, and I went to go put his head on aaaand…the turn key wouldn’t budge. I can move it with some elbow grease, but it shouldn’t be that hard and I can’t do it once the head is actually on. My Moon’s turn key moves like butter and I don’t remember it being an issue even when he was brand-new out of the box 12 years ago. He’s a Type 3 as well.

 

The fact that it won't budge at all makes me think the elastic is too tight. Could you unstring him to the knees and once the pressure is off, see if the turnkey works? It's also possible something is preventing it from turning, like the elastic knot. But I think if that were the case you'd be able to turn the key at least a little.

 

Okay, I did just that (thanks for the suggestion!) and it’s not the elastic. After further inspection, it looks like the issue is the neck piece itself…the parts of the turn-key do not fit perfectly for some reason. I just messaged his previous owner and she responded that she does recall it being tough to turn, but that she never/hardly ever took his head off and assumed all LUTS dolls were like that. It’s so weird…

 

Wow!! My Delfs' (and Feeples') turn keys definitely vary but I've never had one that was actually difficult to turn Maybe a little but of sanding to loosen it up?? That's such a bummer!

 

Yeah, I plan to sand it and it shouldn’t be that difficult to fix. I have one Delf and two Minifees and none of them are hard to turn, though the latter two are a bit squeaky. The previous owner was apologetic and I don’t blame them for being unaware, since they did no customization on him themself. Otherwise, the doll is in perfect condition and has mellowed beautifully!

From fixing/stripping body blushing, to needing multiple baths to get sealant off, to this issue, he’s proving to be a very high-maintenance boy. I’ll have to show him off once I’m done with him!

 

I need some restringing help, what size mm string is appropriate for delf girls? Also i know lots of places sell elastic but i was hoping to buy from eluts, do they sell elastic in the right size? I couldn't find a delf size one, just a one size 5mm.

 

I think 3.5 or 4mm should work? I'm about to order some elastics to restring as well, and this is the size I saw being suggested on Coolcat's website for Delfs.

 

Thank you! Dollmore has 4mm so i will order that soon to restring my girl!

 

My Moon is out after being in storage for a while. I missed his cute little face Here's Saturn!



I got into the hobby around the time when Moon was released. A couple of my friends collected BJDs so I was aware of them, but didn't really think they were worth the money. When I saw Moon, he changed my mind So when I look at him I have a lot of fond memories of my early days in the hobby

 

I love CP Delf Moon! Yours is really lovely :3 I like his under-eye eyeshadow :3 :3

 

@overlordu I had the exact same reaction when I dipped my toe into the hobby and saw Moon. I remember scrolling through the CP Delfs on the LUTS site for the first time and seeing him smolder. I wound up finally getting one in mid-2011, so he was likely among the last few batches made. I actually really liked the way he was styled in the company photos, so much that I actually modeled Sebastian off of them when I revamped his look this year.



**So I was totally going to include the company picture(s) under a spoiler to compare, but it just further emphasized how Y E L L O W my boy has become... so if you're curious, just go see them on the LUTS website (because they're STILL THERE for some reason, 12 years later showing as "sold out").

 

I'm loving all of the Moons! I have one on layaway too who will be the brother (hopefully) of my dreaming lishe. I'll be stealing his type 2 body for my Shiwoo though so poor guy might be on a junk body for awhile.

I've been able to make progress on my Lishe restoration -- boiled and then sanded away the dents, and have done a round of sanding that has lightened his yellowing by a few shades! I am pondering some very slight mods, but grappling with the guilt of permanently modding a discontinued head (Not that that had stopped me from opening the eyes of my Vampire Shiwoo which made him perfect for my character, I suppose)

 

@Ashel Thank you!!
@Lady Gemini Aww, Sebastian is definitely reminiscent of the official Moon photos All Delfs are old now so don't worry too much about the yellowing. Mine are yellowed too but I just edit my photos so you can't tell HEH
@Serraphym I applaud you for doing all that work on your Lishe. I can do some maintenance like that, but I get burned out on it pretty quick It's definitely nerve-wracking to mod a head that isn't made anymore... I have mixed feelings about it, but ultimately you just have to do what will help you enjoy your doll, y'know? I have a rare Soom head that I want to mod, but I've put it off for years because I feel guilty about it

 

Yeah, I end up leaning into the camp that the dolls were made to be appreciated however we like rather than kept as a collectible item. It's definitely so hard when it's a discontinued or rare / limited doll because there's this innate desire to preserve, but I do believe the true value of a doll is realized when it is so truly loved by its owner (and in my case, it's when I see my characters brought to 3D life in their little resin shells)
That said, I think I'm going to chicken out of truly visible or permanent mods. If I still want it done in the future, maybe I'll find a professional

 

My type 3 breakaway is like this. I can't turn the turnkey with my fingers. I have to use pliers. I posted about it on here equally baffled because I was sure he wasn't strung too tight! (it did explain why the turnkey had so many scratches on it. I guess the previous owner was also getting a toolkit involved haha)

Aaaand because I'm here and he was the last one I photographed, have a picture!

 

Aww thank you!! I bought a bunch of scarves and hats second hand and this one is definitely my favourite!

 

Moon used to be my least favourite, but as I've gotten older of course my taste changed. I think his low set brows are what make him so charming, and I still consider it pretty distinctive. Especially back when Delfs were pretty new, I don't remember seeing a lot of sculpts with that kind of feature. Now you see it a lot more, but I feel it's mostly in 70+cm range. Most faceups don't have very brows drawn very low on dolls either. I would love to see it more often.

 

Moon was my first bjd too! He’d just been released when I joined the hobby and I picked him mostly because the whole turnkey thing seemed pretty simple and I wanted simple. lol

I do have a Fairyland doll with a difficult turnkey though. Or was it my Delf type 3 body…? No I think it was my original F60 muscle body. I have to take a pair of pliers to make it turn because it’s so tight. But then I found the pliers grooves were leaving little gouges in the resin! So I’m looking for something that won’t damage the resin. Or maybe I’ll just wrap the plier ends in tape to cushion them a bit.

 

Summer Breezes by Emily, on Flickr

Happy Summer everyone!! Here's Feather for the weekend

 

So pretty @SacredMonsoon ! I love her bunny necklace.

One small note - I just restrung my Breakaway with new elastic from Volks, and realized that one pack from them isn't enough (granted, I strung very loosely because I prefer floppiness to kickiness). Fortunately, I'm a bjd supplies hoarder who had more elastic squirreled away, but if you haven't ordered elastic yet, it might be worth it to get an extra pack for backup