Hot glue sueding

I really need to pluck up the courage and just try this ^_^;
It's really the re-stringing afterwards that freaks me out.

 

I, too had a glue gun that was high-temp but said "10 watts"~I just brought it back to JoAnn's to exchange it for the lo-temp gun to be on the safe side. I'm very happy the OP posted this, as my Micah has become my labor of love and needs sueding something fierce. Looks like he'll be able to pose like woah by the end of the night! (....followed by him demanding I sew him a new outfit, I'm sure...)

 

Success!
Micah stands like a rock now~I am so happy I tried this. I did not unstring him, simply pulled each piece outstretched and proceeded. As for using paper, I actually just used my finger to spread the hot glue with little to no discomfort (however, I also take scaulding hot showers if this is any indicator to my pain level and heat).
To anyone who might have doubts~just try it. You can just peel the glue off once it cools if you feel you've made mistakes. And if you are worried about unstringing and re~stringing, try pulling an arm or leg taut and see if you can do it like so before taking your doll completely apart.
Truely worth it!

 

Okay, I know this a thread from '08 but I have a question. You see the holes that the boddy haves? I mean, where the elastic goes through... You should cover that 'hole' with the glue as well? I'm kinda confused...

 

No, don't cover the holes. You need the elastic to go through them still. You just want to cover where the resin sits in the joint so that it can grab onto something.

 

Omg that's cool..demo I'm not brave enuf to do anything like that to my girl..dose it make posing easier?

 

It makes certain poses possible, actually. With a lot of dolls, they can't hold their arms up, for example, because there's no friction at all so the resin just slides around in the joint.

 

dose it help with standing too?

 

Yep. My YID girl was floppy as a rag doll and with some sueding in the knees and thighs she's able to keep her legs straight for standing.

 

Does anyone try to use craft glue instead of glue gun, just curious because it does dry and give the same smooth texture like the hot glue one and you can peel it off as well or it just the chemical that will damage the resin??? just curious though :P

 

Good question. I would like to know too. If one wants to try, I would think that select the glue that states it's safe to be used with resin. Again, I have not done this so I don't know but this is interesting.

 

Absolutely. My Resinsoul Feng couldn't stand at all. After this and after restringing, he can stand a long time without falling down because his joints lock in better without slipping and sliding.

 

This makes so much more sense. I love tutorials!!!!

 

Great tutorial... very helpful! I've been wanting to suede and wire Shaylin... I may go ahead and try this out on her!

 

Oo, good tutorial! Will be trying this within the next couple of days to get my Yao to stand. If that works, the AoD is next!

Question: How well does the glue stand up to water? Say, if I wanted to soak pieces in soapy water during the cleaning process, would the glue stay on all right or would it just peel off? Not that I'll begrudge having to redo the sueding, but if I don't, well, that's good, too. XD

Re: craft glue> You're talking Elmer's or Tacky glue, right? I'd imagine those wouldn't do the job. They dry hard and smooth as the resin, so it would be kind of counter-productive. The hot glue dries smooth, but soft with a slight rubbery give to it; that's what gives the joints enough friction to hold in place.

 

Mercedes: I soaked my doll head in alcohol for several hours and the hot glue in her neck hole is no worse for wear. If it can stand up to that, it can stand up to water. The glue doesn't come off that easily, both fortunately and unfortunately. ^^
Though if you're using hot water you might have an issue.

 

ZennoSaji> Perfect! Thanks so much!

 

Oh, thanks! I need to do this to all mine!

 

I tried this method on my breakaway 08 kicky legs, it would work fantastically for a few days, then as the bits would come off it would work less and less. Only re-stringing him and adding kips seemed to help me. But I which others luck!

 

This still scares me, but thank you for the helpful pictures and the paper idea. That seems like it would be easier to control that trying to smooth things out with the tip of the glue gun!

 

My glue gun is 10 Watts, but says it is 380 degrees. That sounds too hot to me...is this what temperature yours was?

 

This was great, definitely going to bookmark it. I had heard about this but didn't know exactly what it was...
(I'm a newbie) Your pictures were very detailed and helpful. Thank you for posting.

 

This helped me so much! I finally got my BBD Waltz to stand after using the tut I'd restrung him three different times and he still fell back down until this!

 

The photos are super helpful! This whole time I kind of thought there was only a little bit of glue, or little dots.. Gives me hope that I can do it myself if needbe!

 

Thank you for a very helpful tutorial

I hope sueding will help my Dollmore girl.

 

Thank you for this tutorial! I kept wondering what exactly it meant to hot glue sued, and now I know. Bookmarked for future use.

 

Wow I would have been so paranoid about the idea of hot glue on resin, but it looks like it works wonders.
I'm going to have to keep this in mind for future use if posing ever becomes a problem. Thanks for the great tutorial. :3

 

thanks for this it is sooo great that you did this

 

What a great tutorial, thanks for making it available!

My glue gun is hiding from me at the moment >.< I'll try one more sweep of the house before breaking down and buying a new one. Hope it doesn't come to that..the Michael's by me just closed down and it's a treck to get to the other! But these are desperate times for my dollies. I've re-strug them three times already and now I'm thinking that I'll have to replace the string because it doesn't seem to want to stretch anymore! I'm hoping that hot-glue sueding will help.

 

Thank you so much for that tutorial ^^ It will be helpfull (when I get my body xD)

 

Thanks for this good tutorial, hope it help me.

 

I wonder if this works on a porcelain doll?

 

That was really helpful, thanks a lot! I've done this for my minifee. She stands and poses great!!!

 

thank you

 

Thanks so much. Getting ready to do my dolls this was very helpful

 

This is very helpful, thank you!

 

I am still slightly afraid. D :
My doll is a DF-A Yanji and I tried what some called a simple way to suede him with moleskin.
The mole skin stuck to the inside of his joint and I had to spend a hour getting it out.
Jasper is my very first doll and I don't want him ruined D :
Is there a extra step I can take to make sure the sueding comes out right?

 

Whoa I should try this for sure! Thanks for the nice tutorial!

 

Awesome! Totally doing this asap! Thank you very much

 

awesome and realy realy helpfull
gonna try this on my girl as she is too smooth everywhere

 

thank you very much! helpful photos!

 

Ohhh WOW...this is just what I needed to understand how to do this - thanks a lot for this great tutorial!

 

You are amazing! I just finished suedeing my Resinsoul Ming and he poses so much better now! I was even able to get him to stand on my bed for about 10 minutes! I also got him standing on one leg for a bit(hard wood floor). I was really nervous about suedeing him but it's the best thing that I could have done for him!

Thanks!

 

Thank you - I too was a bit ignorant of sueding and glueing - it all makes sense now. I will definately give it a go as my SID doesn't pose to well either.

 

I was just looking for a tutorial and clicked on the customization forum to see this at the top! Thanks a bunch, I'll try it out soon

 

....and I really thought suede was involved. =S nice!!

 

Thank you for your lesson! That is exactly what i was looking for=)

 

Our Hot Glue gun doesn't have a tempature button so i'm so so so afraid of melting my dolls so i've been messing around incredibly and burning my fingers before i had it done...but it worked (I was really happy that i didn't have to be all ninja anymore when i left her standing on her own and she would try to face plant, she actually just stood there...).I now tried to actually suede them, have to say that that feels better for me (the glue also started to stain my doll, it got the color of the clothing and the glue would just smear out each time the joints get moved and get visible). My boyfriend is kind enough to get me silicone disks to put between the joints of my SD lady to see how that works... =)

 

Thanks so much for the pictures! I understood the concept before, but it made much more sense with accompanying photos!

So I spent the morning sueding and re-stringing my dear Phineas (Bobobie Weylin), and he poses awesomely now! When I first got him and put new elastic in, he did great, but yesterday he was just flopping all over the place I'd just bought a $3 low temp glue gun too, to build a clothes rack for him, and it was perfect for this!

I ended up just using the rounded tip of the gun to get the glue as thin and smooth as possible. I'd just put a little drop, then smooth it around, and another drop, and smooth, because my glue would harden way too quickly to do it any other way.

I did have to re-do the bits on his knee joints, because they weren't thin enough and the knee piece wouldn't even fit in, but it only took a minute and its perfect now! He can even hold one leg up in the air! I haven't tried to balance him that way yet, but still! And he can touch his head! Can't touch his face with his single jointed elbows, but I couldn't get his arm to stay up near his head hardly at all before!

 

Wonderful! I'm going to have to give this a try~ No burnt fingers for me!

 

I just hot-glue sueded my babe Allora but the lo-temp cheap blue gun I have dries literally to fast for me to smear it with a paper or my finger. I just used the tip of the gun. It's not elegant, smooth, or nice looking, but at least it's functional...

 

I often heard about the "hot glue sueding" process but I didn't really understand how to make it, so your tut was very helpful to me. Thank you very much ^^.

 

Thanks, this is very helpful!! I am still new to sueding my bjds. I always tend to make it too thick and doing it quick makes a lot of sense. I love picture tutorials that are step by step!!!

 

This is really helpful! Thanks a lot!

 

Thank you very much for this helpful tutorial ^^
I made it already twice for my own BJD..and even once I helped my friend with her BJD ^^ and it really works pretty well ^_^

 

I just finished sueding my doll today with your tutorial! I had been scared to do it for years, but I finally worked up the courage because you made it look so easy. XD I'll be doing the other two soon, but so far my worst poser turned into my best! I thought Souldoll bodies were just hard to work with, but hot glue fixed it right up. Next up is Volks!

 

Thank you so much for the tutorial. I just did my old soom yosd body and my delfs arms. It works so well. Im so happy!!

 

im afraid lol but since i know how hot glue works and what it does lol its a good thing :3 thank you

 

Wow great tutorial, makes it look easy enough
I've got an MSD that needs a bit it sueding done, I'm not so afraid about going ahead and doing it now! Thanks!!

 

Oooh, I've never thought about using paper before... I usually use the gun its self or my fingers. xD;

I like this idea much better! Thank you very much for sharing this!