Maintenance Re-stringing Dollshe 18M Mystic pose+

Hello all - I received my (so beautiful) Arsene on a dollshe 18m mystic pose+ body this spring from bjdivas and he came unstrung, as that's how we was shipped from dollshe. I used the elastic he was sent with to string him and it was obviously way too thin/loose for the body (he was miserably floppy, especially in his torso) so I purchased new, thicker elastic and restrung him tighter. I also sueded (with suede, not hot-glue) most of his joints including his shoulders, torso joints, and hips. I didn't suede his elbows or knees because I didn't think I could fit the suede in and still be able to put the joints back together.

His pose-ability is much improved now, but I still have issues with his elbow joints (though these are manageable) and his legs - which simply will not stay positioned straight with the knee locked, it pops back to a bent knee. He looks cute sitting but I really want to fix this so I can position him standing.

Does anyone have tips for this body? I'm not sure if the issue is that he is now TOO tightly strung, or if he still needs to be strung tighter, or if I need to find some way to suede his knees.

 

Oh - thank you - I hadn't thought of wiring as I've never had to do it before I will definitely give that a try - did you use.a 12 gauge wire?