Hot Glue: Fast, Easy, and Cheap Sueding Alternative

I think kicky requires loosening, sueding just helps hold poses if the stringing's not really the main problem. Mine have a very thin layer of glue, just enough to add a bit of grip. Maybe wiring her legs might help a bit more?

Besides, a hot glue gun's always a handy thing to have on hand!

 

I tried this out on Naoto (Delf Chiwoo) last night. It worked really well.

I used a low temp glue gun from my local fabric store. It was cool enough to work with and I did his arms and legs. The only hard part was keeping the glue thin. Especially at the knees. It's really easy to peel and try again though.

I'm definitely going to try this on my other dolls as well.

 

Hi dear, you mentioned Sueded...is it the same as "felt"? Like putting a small piece of felt in between the joints?

 

Okay, so I went and bought a "duel temp" glue gun. It has a high and a low setting, and came with "multi-purpose" glue sticks. I'd sent my Dark Elf Soo head off for a faceup, so her body was in pieces so I figured I may as well clean her off and glue her joints. But since I sent her hands and feet with her head to be blushed, I can't put her back together until the rest of her comes home again.

Anyway, I gathered my courage and took apart my elf Chiwoo, which I've never done before, glued all his joints using the low setting (which seems to be fine; I touched the glue and it was hot but didn't burn me), put him back together (boy, that was a trip), and stood him up, and it worked! He can stand all by himself now! No more kicky legs! And I can sit him on his knees and he won't flop over! And his arms will go up and stay there! His hands will stay bent, too. And since I glued his waist joint and under his neck mechanism, his head and waist don't snap, and will stay positioned how I put 'em.

I got really brave and did the same thing on my tanned Dark Elf Soo. Now, I didn't have quite as spectacular a result as I did with my Chiwoo elf, but I think that's more because her stringing is a bit loose. She can raise her arms, but sometimes they droop a bit. She can stand, but isn't quite as steady as Chiwoo is. But her head doesn't snap from side to side anymore (or her waist for that matter). I think if I get brave and attempt to tighten her stringing, she'll be even better.

Ah, now I can't wait for my other girl to get home so I can put her together and see how she stands! Finally, no more floppy Luts dolls!

 

I think felt will stain.
I remember in school that felt would stain if any glue got on it (we used to use hot glue& PVA (white glue) ).
The PVA and HotGlue would turn the same colour as the felt.
A cold melt glue gun would be best to use

Like others have said, she could be too tightly strung.
Take the string out of her and raise the knot, or just use new string.
What I do is, stretch the string a bit, before putting in it my doll, it loosens it up a bit, whilst still being tight .
Remove all the hot glue, and redo & restring her .

 

I had previously tried to suede my doll using pliver and I really didn't like the result so I removed it. Then I decided to give the hot glue sueding a shot. I was also worried that I wouldn't like the result.. but it was so easy and it made a huge difference. I'm very happy with it
Now I'm just a bit worried about weather or not I can get the hot glue off later if I need too.
I did a test on the head cap and didn't come off as easily as I expected it too. I bought a low temp glue gun but it still seemed awfully hot.. so.. I guess we'll have to see!

 

OK, I am now a hot glue convert. The only thing that wasn't 100% wonderful about my Delf boy was that he was floppy, and i don't just mean loose, I mean totally ragdoll floppy. Like, i would pick him up and his legs would hang in different directions. Restrung him twice with only a slight improvement. Standing him was out of the question.

But i read this thread and decided that since I already owned a low-temperature glue gun, why not? and holy smoke! It took about 20 minutes to do his joints (even with a couple of "peel off and re-do" moments) and he's actually standing! not just leaning but standing square, and he can even hold something in his hand while he does it!

I can hardly believe this problem had such a quick and easy fix

 

Haha, like everyone else that's been posting I /too/ am amazed at how big of a difference this can make! I just did my Super Gem body and I must say I like the end result. He could stand better I guess but it's a biiiig improvement on how he stood before! Which wasn't very good at all. ^^;; It took a few tries to get the hang of spreading the glue, I bought the lowest temp one I could find, and it was drying TOO fast, anyone else have this problem? XDD

 

I hot glued two of my dolls today- unfortunately I didn't read this whole thread and ended up smearing hot glue around the inside of the joints =__= still, it worked! My girls stand like a charm now, and Aziza was completely floppy before- like, utterly impossible to pose or stand, and now she can stand with a leg bent! And Peitan's legs don't kick anymore- which is a miracle. She is definitely strung too tight, but eventually I'll fix that.

 

I was thinking of hot glue sueding my girl.
What kind of temperature is safe for resin?
Is this one safe fore resin?

If not which brands are safe?

Sorry for the Noobish questions- better safe than sorry lol

 

I'd say it's save because it's low temp. I used one with 110°C and it didn't harm the resin (as far as I know). ^^

 

I went to a discount store and bought the cheapest low-temp glue gun I could find: less than $5 US. It works just fine! As Lanilu said, as long as you make sure you're buying a LOW-temperature gun (and then buy the proper glue sticks for it), nothing else really matters.

 

I tried this the other day, and I have to be honest, I wasn't particularly impressed.

Perhaps there was some fault in my technique, but I found it a bit frustrating (constantly having to manage the stringy glue), and it made only a slight difference to Elijah's poseability.

So I unstrung my 'Lij again, put some Scupltey wire in his arms and legs, and now he can hold any position I want.

So whilst I'm glad that this technique works for so many people, I'm going to say that I won't bother with it in the future, and will stick with wire instead.

 

Is there a photo tutorial for this? I'm a visual learner and I REALLY want to do this for my girl. Her joints are clicky and she likes to lean off to one side.

 

I just hot glue sueded my doll and it works magic!

 

I've seen several tutorials explaining how to suede a doll using hot glue, but the methods required that you unstring the doll. Would it be possible to (carefully, of course), suede the doll while he or she is still assembled?

Thanks for the help!

 

yes actually it is I do it all the time (hate having to resting them since my cat tries to help and run off with body parts and string). All you need to do is just pull on the arm or leg to expose the joint and just try not to glue the string it's really rather easy hope that helps

 

I never unstring my dolls to suede them either...I don't think it should be necessary unless your doll is strung suuuuper tight, to a point where you can't hold the joint open, or get the tip of the hotglue gun in... ^_^

 

If you don't want to unstring your doll (which is a total PITA imo) you could always use forceps and do one area at a time, as long as your tension isn't too tight. I would be afraid that a tightly strung doll would have a limb snap back into place super fast, which could cause severe damage.

Forceps are very affordable and you can get them from many of the doll websites, or perhaps even a local medical supply store.

 

I've never unstrung to glue-suede, since one of the things you need to do is check out how much clearance you have in any given joint (i.e., even a thin layer of glue at certain points and the joint won't seat properly any more), as well as note which parts of the joint don't touch anything else as the joint moves (no need to add traction where there's no movement of piece against piece).

I just up-end my poor humiliated crew, expose the joint, and drizzle the glue around. Some joints like shoulders, you may have to do in two passes, so you have a place to rest the cord while you do the other half of the "bowl" (concave part) of the joint.