Maintenance How can I remove fans and feet?

hi! I don't have an AOD doll, but what you could try is:
- sit your boy with his arm outstretched and directly facing you
- hold on to the ball joint on his wrist with one hand whilst pulling his hand part towards yourself with your other hand.
- see if there is a groove on the inside of his wrist ball joint
- twist the hand 90 degrees such that the S-hook is securely lodged inside the groove
- remove the hand part

usually a groove is present on the inside of the wrist ball joint for easy removal of hands. you can check if your AOD boy has that, and see if that helps!

 

For all dolls without a quick change system: see if you can pull out hands/feet far enough to insert something into the string loop, f.i. an s-hook big enough not to disappear into the arm/leg. Basically something strong enough not to break under the string pull, but not so big you cannot pull the sleeves and trousers legs over it.
Then pry the hand/ foot loose by its own s-hook or hook, change clothes and replace the hand/foot. Hold on to the hand/foot, pull out whatever you used to hold the string and let the hand/foot slide back into the joint. Presto^^

 

Also with most outfits you shouldn't have to take off the hands or feet, and unless it came with paddle parts for dressing it, you risk the doll coming fully apart.

 

Yeah, you should be able to wiggle his hands/feet through the clothing.
Otherwise, like @Mandagore said, pull his hands/feet out enough to slip something sturdy and small between the strings so you can remove them without the string shooting back into the body, or you'll have to have a crash course in restringing. xD

 

I did this the first time I tried to take a hand off and...boy was it a lot of fun!! I also nearly punched myself in the face with the doll as it like...shot back toward me. So definitely use something, anything, to avoid doing that, like the "Doll Stringing Tool for BJD" a lot of online shops sell. It's like a little hook to hold the elastic with a handle that stops it from going back all the way in, so you can use it to replace the hand/feet/any other part. They're very useful. Some people use clamps, but it's just a little more expensive and big. It might be easier to hold and pull the string though, depending on what you prefer.

Forgot to mention, I think big beads are also useful for this. Use any thread or ribbon to slide it through the bead (big enough to not go inside the doll's arm/leg ofc) and the elastic.

 

When I have to do this - which means the clothing is skin tight or if I am changing the feet/hands - I use a clamp to hold the elastic while I undo the S-hook/body part, and then I tend to slip a long ribbon through the elastic and hold onto that. That way, the elastic is still held, I can guide the ribbon through the sleeve/pant leg, then tug the ribbon to get the elastic back out, then clamp it again, and put the hand/foot back on. But that's just me.

Most clothes SHOULD stretch over feet and hands. You might have to go slow but if it is a skin tight design and the hands/feet aren't magnetic, you gotta find a method that works for you.

 

Others have already answered your question about how to go about removing hands/feet, but in case it's not a matter of the clothes being too tight but the fingers/toes getting caught when pulling them on (I had a terrible time with that with one of my dolls, where taking off her hands felt like it would be simpler ), you can also try putting little bags over the hands to keep the fingers from snagging inside the sleeves!

 

Crochet hooks work great, especially in the G - J range. A knitting needle would be longer but would also work. A chopstick works great, even the pointier Japanese ones. So does bamboo skewers that they sell in the dollar store. Even if you break them in half, they're still long enough to not get sucked up into a channel.

 

I have a PILE of chopsticks in a drawer and it never occurred to me to do this! Thanks for the smart tip!!