Restringing stories: how do you feel about the process?

I'll be getting my boy's body soon, and I cannot wait to restring him. Once I buy the body and everything else I need for him, I plan to buy some tools to help restring him, and the first thing I'm doing when he gets here is sitting down and taking him apart. I've been watching restringing vids anywhere that I can find them, and watching them only makes me all the more eager.

 

I restringed my Dollzone Faerie two days ago after cleaning off that really horrible face-up I'd given her. Never. Again. It took me longer than restringing one of my big boys! I guess that means that Buds will just have to do without restringing, at least for the next five year or so ...

 

I restring for profit, and I restring my own dolls. When I'm restringing for profit I get it done, and seem to never fail (i've only failed ONCE!). But with my own dolls, I can't seem to figure them out. At least with my iple girl I can't get her strung well enough to not have floppy legs.

I enjoy restringing a bit, especially when it's an easy doll with S hooks and no double joints. When it gets to needing twine, or resin hooks, I always find it a little bit harder.
I restring every doll I get within a week of owning it, it helps me bond!

 

Hellsing - How do you have your Iple girl's legs strung? And what size is she? My EID boy stands like a rock ever since I sueded his hip-joints and strung each leg on a separate loop of elastics.

 

I literally just finished restring my first doll O____O like no lie haha xD
For my first time, it was really fun! I was reading here on DoA that it was scary, hard, you may need another person and such. Turned out pretty well! I could have used another person but well, it's currently 1:16AM so they're sleeping xD

I restrung my LUTS KDF boy body and dang he stands like a statue!! I decided to restring him 'cause his left leg was kind of floppy. I ended up tightening both legs and now he ain't going no where I will say this though, my hands and back hurt! Hand from the ribbon and back from hunching over hahaha~

I've totally bonded with Zess (my boy)~ there's no way we are being separated!! And thank goodness for Hollywood Undead for entertainment hehe

 

Endraseo - I had a similar problem with my hands when trying to restring a Doll Love Yoyo (Yo-SD), except I was using wire, and the tension caused it to cut into my finger :/ definetly converted to ribbon now XD It's weird how smaller dolls seem harder to re-string, I've strung my SD boy at least 5 times now and he's easy 0.o

 

Honestly, I'm absolutely terrified to restring by doll. It's my first (puki Kanu) and I've had trouble bonding so people have suggested restringing. I get why, but seeing my doll in pieces and potentially not knowing how to get her back together, breaking something, or doing it rong just worries me way too much. Mods/faceups etc don't worry me since I've been artsy for years but for some reason restringing it a very unpleasant thought.

 

I remember when I first got into this hobby, the idea of restringing my dolls was absolutely terrifying. I suppose it's only natural. We invest a lot in our resin kids. Now I have no problem with taking them apart and restringing them in order to get them to stand like a rock! ^_^ I still get my fingers pinched from time to time, but it's to be expected. lol

 

I remember when I first restrung one of my dolls. He was a bobobie and really needed it, but I was terrified to do it. One day I shot a photostory that involved putting him in a dress. As soon as the story was done his legs fell off and I stopped having a choice about restringing him. I haven't put him in a dress since. :P

 

Just restrung my BBD! First time restringing since he's my first bjd. Thankfully I got a lot of help from my friend. I definitely couldn't have done it by myself.

 

I've got a girl on the way that will be in need of a restringing, since she can't stand on her own, lol. I'm a little terrified, but I suppose I can't put it off forever. Gotta start somewhere!

 

I actually just restrung my doll for the first time, by myself, tonight.
In the past I've always helped my fellow bjd friends by being there to help pull or hold something, but I finally achieved it alone. XD

It was really hard. I thought I could get it in one go from how much I've helped others, but I was wrong. I was trying to put her back together for 3 hours. Every single time I thought I was done, I either put a limp on the wrong side, or just couldn't hold the tension from the string. It was kind of awful. lol

I'll always remember it as a big pain, but in the end, I guess I do feel closer to her.
All the little curves and things on her are more apparent to me now. Never would have realized them had I not restrung her. So all in all, worth it.

 

Annelida-- Oh my goodness! I prefer ribbon ^^ even if it does hurt every now and then I do enjoy restringing my doll~ except for his ankles pfff

BarBGirl1999-- It's not as scary as you may think I mean, it's not a bad idea to have someone there to hold the body but it's not quite necessary~ Once you go through it the first time you'll be set~ YouTube helps lots too. It did for me o___o

Celestial Pocky-- Oh my o___o I kind of know the feeling. It took me about 2 hours to get mine apart then figure out how to get him back together. I kept all of the pieces together though for the right sides. I only restrung my doll for the first time a few days ago and it wasn't to bad for me
But yeah it is totally worth it!! ^_____^~

 

@endraseo; I'm sure it gets better as time goes on. Just have to keep trying I guess.
First thing I have to do is work on faceups though.

 

How do you know how tight to do it? Is it just trial and error all the way through?

 

I've had to un/restring all of my dolls shortly after getting them.. My first I unstrung because... ... I actually don't even remember why, I guess I just wanted to see how they went together, haha! I must have been sueding, but I did manage to give him a few chips around the hands and feet. My second was way too floppy so I tightened her up, and my third I had to remove her hands to get some armwarmers on. I would prefer it if I didn't HAVE to restring my dolls, because I'm really afraid of chipping the resin in the process and stuff, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

 

My first doll came to me unstrung, so I had to learn it the moment I held those foreign resin pieces in my hands XD It was a little daunting since I had never seen a strung BJD, but it wasn't that difficult. If I can string a Soom doll with fantasy parts with NO prior experience with BJDs, anybody can do it! To prevent chipping around the wrists, I just pull the hand out, stick a pencil in the loop of the string so I can release it gently, and the pencil will hold the string in place. This might not work if the doll is strung really tight.

 

I've only restrung my doll 3 times once wen i first got her because she was floppy and another time when her string broke and i had use a really thin string and i felt bad for the poor dear because she couldn't stand and the third time when my friend Ryuichi helped me out and thought me a really good way of restringing her. Even though Shetani does "fight" with me all the way through the process and does seem to get very annoyed with it because i like to take me sweet time with it, i feel very happy and calm when i do so. It gives me a chance to kind of mess around with her and i remember the first time restringing her and seeing her from the inside out it was just amazing.

 

For both dolls, I need new elastic before I can restring them again. For Emma, my DM Kid Flocke, after restringing, something got screwed up and her s-hook won't sit in the groove in her head. One of her hands won't turn - well, actually, it will turn, but it won't stay put.

I've restrung Emma two or three times because I thought that restringing her would help her arms and knees not be so sensitive and fling back without much help. It didn't, and I ended up making her too loose, so I had to go back in and tighten her string. I don't have a ton of elastic left after trimming it, though it's possible that I could do it again... but I'd rather get something completely new and start fresh.

Stephen, my BBB Apollo, is just in need of thick elastic. After I found out how floppy he was, other BBB owners said that the usually need thicker elastic because this is a common occurrence.

I did have a scare with Stephen; I accidentally pulled one of his S-hooks into his arm, and it looked like it was stuck inside there. Luckily, I tried to push it out rather than pull it out, and it came out like a charm.

Overall, I like the process. It isn't really hard to do, either. I had always assumed it would be some kind of intense, super difficult thing. All it takes is knowing how the doll is put together and how the joints are arranged.

@feyheart: Yes and no to trial and error. Usually, it's best to find something to temporarily fasten things together (I'd suggest just holding it) and moving the parts around. If it seems OK, make the knot. If not, loosen it and try until you get it the way you want.

 

Hi Everyone

I have recently received my new Pupu Realpuki from Fairyland and she has some problems with the calf and ball joint. They have offered to replace the ankle ball joint and calf but I have no experience of restringing a doll and especially something so tiny.

Could someone with no experience be able to restring a doll so tiny. I think I am going to worry too much about it. I am not sure what the alternative will be, if I go back to Fairyland and say I am unable to restring myself.

What are your thoughts.

Thank you

Val xx

 

I've never restrung a doll and I am not in love with my Migidoll Cho's body. I was once upon a time but now it's like he needs a restart. Since I can't afford a new body and I feel like I would have a hard time selling this one I thought I we restring him. However, I've never done it.

I was wondering if I would be able to reuse his string since all he does is sit around since I haven't had a chance to bond and play with him.

Can I reuse his string and if not what kind of elastic would be appropriate to use? I am terrified of trying but it must be done.

 

If his string has the proper elasticity/tension, I can't see why not.

If you have to replace, use the one meant for dolls. Normal string don't have the exact right tension/elasticity, even if I does, it wouldn't last very long like doll string because it'll be under constant tension.

 

Thanks that's really helpful!

 

My poor fingers feel like they are about to fall off after stringing the legs =( I have no prob with the top half.

 

In the beginning I was fairly scared of restringing my kids. But owning RS dolls means you have to do it at some point. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought, but omg, my fingers hurt >_<

I found the best method is keeping a spare husband nearby to pull the strings tight and to help with tricky parts like legs. (I've found that leaving them to their own devices means you'll get a doll with legs facing the wrong direction.... When i was fixing my Fabian, I asked my husband to do his legs for me. When i came to check up on the progress, there was Fabian, in all his glory, with legs and feet facing two different directions... It was so funny!)

Also, its good to have a diagram to work with it your new to it. Also, when your restringing its a great opportunity to do some suedeing.

 

When I first got my bjd I didn't know how to re-string her because I thought that's why she wouldn't stand.
There were a lot of tears and a battle scar.
She has a scratch on her 'wrist' that I haven't sanded down.

 

I haven't had to restring my Pukifee yet, but because of all her pieces and joints and such, I think I'd be afraid to. I don't know if I'd feel more bonded with her, or if I'd be left cryin' with a dolly in pieces and tied up in elastic.

 

I've restrung all my MSDs except one. I actually kind of enjoy restringing the MSD crew. I thought it was going to be hard, but it turns out that I'm a 10-minute restringer lol. At least when it comes to the 1/4 dolls, anyway.

I have also restrung my ResinSoul tiny and my Serendipity Cookie (tiny). Restringing tinies is hard, but not as problematic as I expected.

It was restringing my Elfdoll 65 cm boy that left me in tears. It took me about 90 minutes to restring him. I found the arms the hardest, and I somehow managed to bend the S-hook in one of his hands. I was literally crying by the time I was done restringing him. I was so relieved to be done that I just sat there in my dining room, hugging my bald, naked resin boy and saying "thank you" out loud to no one in particular. hahaha I hope my next door neighbour wasn't looking out her window at the time.

 

I attempted to restring my doll last night using the ribbon technique....the s hook for his foot is stuck inside his calf my fingers turned purple from pulling the ribbon so tight and they're all sore now. i have to buy that restringing tool thing - its the only way i can get the s hook back out i think. anyways, i think its pretty safe to say that im traumatized and will never attempt to restring my doll again!

 

Just finished my first restringing, of my first doll, Flea, an Fdoll Amber. I decided to restring because I wanted to try hot-glue sueding and her sockets are too tiny to do it with her all together. It actually wasn't too difficult, granted I've been thinking about doing it and reading up now and then for a couple of months. But I used thread, because I forgot to pick up thin ribbon--next time, I definitely need ribbon, as thread hurts! But overall, I'm really happy with the change in her posing, especially her arms, and I would definitely encourage anyone thinking about restringing to go ahead and try it!

 

I'm totally fine with taking apart and restringing. I use a pipe cleaner as an elastic-puller and it's alright. What i have issue with is understanding how much elastic is the optimal amount.

 

Restringing is much easier once you get the first one done. It only depends on the elasticity being a pain in the butt when it refuses to stretch. When I was restringing my friend's SD, since I didn't have the metal pulling thing, I used thick thread like I always did with my dolls, to loop the elastic and pull the elastic out of the neck. And then I promptly got thread burn on my fingers.

 

I can safely say that I will NEVER restring my EID boys - simply not strong enough. It's really hard for me just to take their heads off... If necessary I'll pay somebody. Cause I'd likely break my fingers or chip my dolls & it ain't worth it...

 

I restrung my boy and IslandDoll girl a few times. I find it easier to have someone else help especially with the putting on the feet. My LoongSoul girl I had a near heart attack experience with her feet. I wasn't restringing her since she doesn't need it I just have the high heel feet for her and I wanted to see how they look on her. Boy are those feet are a pain to get. LoongSoul S-hooks are really tight and the notch in the foot is so narrow it takes around 30 minutes to fight getting them on. While I was fight with putting on these feet I lose grip of the elastic and I thought I lost the foot S-hook. I looked everywhere since I swear I saw it fly over my shoulder. I kept thinking she's going to be an amputee now that I lost an S-hook. While went to retrieve the elastic and I found the S-hook in her leg. So someone else there with to help you is always a must with me.

 

Recently I had my first restringing experience when my Iplehouse SID boy came back from repainting.

I took a lot of pictures when I took him apart, but the pictures wouldn't upload from my camera and I couldn't see them well enough on the viewscreen to figure out what went where. Also I had ordered extra elastic (for the restringing process), but it arrived... and it was way too big to help, larger even than the elastic I was using. And I had ordered a restringing tool which hadn't arrived, yet. I also had hemostats but I didn't know what the **** to do with them. I even looked here on DOA and couldn't figure it out.

So I took apart my other SID in order to figure out where all the parts went. After hours of careful restringing I finally got them both back together, but my hands were burning and I was sore all over.

The biggest problem was getting the last leg restrung. The most helpful thing to know (besides how to properly use hemostats - clamp it to the elastic for the second leg before you string the first one, and use chopsticks to prevent it from damaging the resin) would have been that you can use TWO LOOPS of elastic, one for each leg, they don't need to be connected! I wish I had seen that tip before. It makes so much sense.

But now I know, and I won't be afraid to string my Soom Mega Gem boy when he arrives in pieces!

 

I just restrung my hybrid girl's DiM body - it was the event package and I had to play dolly puzzle just to get her together, so I knew (from trial and error ) where all the parts were supposed to go. She had gone really floppy, and she needed a hot glue treatment because the DiM resin is so smooth the joints get no grip when un-sueded, so she was her royal kickiness. That's a lot better now - I can put pants on her without her trying to curl up into a ball

I'm not sure if stringing exactly helps me bond, but knowing a doll "inside out" definitely makes me feel more secure when handling them. Doing their faceups helps me bond, and so does modding - to the point that even if I should end up re-shelling her character, this adorable little frankendoll will never, ever go.

 

My F60 Miyu was a PAIN to restring.. ugh.. but yea I definitely bonded with her more. I'm not as afraid of handling her anymore but, I don't wanna restring her any time soon haha.

 

When I first re-strung Avalon for the first time I'll be honest I had no idea what the hell I was gonna do..No photo tutorials helped me so I had to guess and I sat there for maybe five hours trying...And I pulled up a tutorial on Youtube on how someone re-strung the exact same doll I have and it helped. I also had crochet hooks and my mom willing to help me with certain parts. Once I had that first leg done I knew it was gonna be okay....And the next time I re-strung my boy I didn't look at a tutorial I watched Highschool of the Dead and it only took me so long cause doing it alone causes a lot of back pain and HAND pain. XD;; I was leaning over my boy in pieces as I did it.

My mom helped me which was a bonus. XD;; The only hard part was I lost one of his S-hooks so I had to look around for it. I found it thankfully.

 

I hate restringing! I always get the strings either too tight or too loose.

 

I haven't restrung my DC Bella yet so can't say if I have found the process difficult yet, but am planning to restring her in the next few weeks if there is time. ^^.

 

The first time I ever restrung my girl was an emergency. The s hook fell off her foot and lodged tight in her calf. I had to take her completely apart and literally dragged two people around my apartment by a resin leg and elastic trying to get it out again. Despite all that mess, the actual restringing was really easy (much easier then I thought).

 

i have a routine with my doll. 4 times a year I give my doll a bath because I play with her alot...so I have to practice and learn how to restring her constantly...so I restring my doll at least 4 times a year.

at first i was worried as hell because I was afraid that I would break her and my BJD friends tell me not to worry because resin is a durable material and she's of great quality. as time went by, i got comfortable restringing her and not afraid of breaking her

 

I've been really nervous about unstringing/restringing my dolls.
My MSD came strung too tight, so I'm worried that if I restring her, I won't have enough elastic to loosen her. (does that make sense?)

I'd really like to try this soon, since I want to seam sand them both.

 

FRUSTRATING. UURG. But it feels really accomplishing when you're done and you do a good job :'D

 

Enjoy restringing? Oh my no! Leads to ribbon burn, calloused finger tips, and broken nails. Human beings were only made with so many hands... Will go out of way to avoid! Unstringing a bjd is fine, and in a sense, satisfying to dismantle.

I got my first time restringing on camera because the ringdoll body came with a massive O ring, and I wanted to put Tristan's head on his body right away. Being inexperienced, and armed with a ribbon and crochet hooks, it was a very frustrating, learning experience. Overall it's not too complicated, just a tedious avenue for pain. I will unstring when I'm in a good mood without really thinking about the consequences. I quickly tire of the actual restringing process, then run low on blood sugar from the stress and physical exertion. It inevitably ends up being a miserable, desperate battle with resin to the death because I'm too stubborn to leave the doll in pieces. It is always guaranteed that I will put something on the wrong way round and not realise till I think I've got my beloved doll back to normal.

I just unstrung and restrung Colin in a hope that I could loosen up his kicky self. It turns out that this was impossible without putting in new elastic - which I have yet to acquire. The real kicker is that the whole ordeal made him tighter, urgh!

 

The first time I had my doll restrung was by a new local friend -- I was worried she needed it, and he (having been in the hobby a great time longer than me and being known locally as a dolly doctor) agreed to give it a go. This was my first doll and I had had her for maybe two, three months or so...watching my doll fall into pieces was mildly terrifying. xD But when he went to unstring her arm elastic -- SNAAAP! She was strung so tight that yanking on the elastic broke it. But, more elastic was had and we got her back together with ease. With lots of nervous laughing and "OhmygodI'msosorrythishasneverhappenedbefore"s. ^^

After that, he taught me to do it myself and with much fear I managed to...now I kind of consider it a bit of a bonding experience. Spending time maintaining the dolls, to me, makes them a little more 'mine'. When I got my Rosette, I had to restring her 4-5 times within the first three days of owning her, because apparently when their arm elastic knot isn't perfectly centered in their torso, a hand gets limp-wristed...that became a bit of a pain, sore fingers and all, but anyway! I find it fun and enjoyable until it gets to a point like that, and as other posters have pointed out, the feeling of accomplishment of having your doll back together, standing/posing/whatevering even better than before, is a wonderful one.

 

Im terrified of taking my bjd's apart. I had to take Fawn's head off to try out her new eyes [they didnt fit] and nearly cried the entire process. I suppose when I get everything figured out and know how to restring I will be less of a scardy cat. *sigh*

 

I know for sure that I physically CANNOT restring my big boys (EIDs & Idealian). I barely managed to put my Hyperon's hands & feet on (Soom sends them unattached).
I have restrung the smaller dolls. My Dollzone Mo was pretty much a breeze (MSD) and getting him all cleaned was nice.

 

I avoided buying a bobobie for ages because I heard they were loosely strung (the one I eventually bought was PERFECT) and I was TERRIFIED to even change the eyes in my dolls LOL - I never even took the headcap off my first doll for months incase I broke it! Then I got an impldoll harley tree/boy - and he was a tree for a while, then I decided I wanted a YOSD to dress up, so had to face it and RESTRING HIM Because he came with human hands and legs as well, so there was always that option. Well I looked at some vids on youtube....took a deep breath.....and got started! Was OK until one of the plugs was stuck tight in his tree trunk leg - I tried everything, jiggling, poking - nothing would shift it! The only solution, as I had no spare elastic, never having planned anything this mad and reckless, I had to cut the elastic in his leg, then whilst holding him all together, shuffle across the room, find my sewing box, thread a needle with one hand LOL - I might have been swearing a bit by this point....and stitch the cut ends of the elastic together inside his leg! But so far it's held well and you'd never know he'd had tree trunks for legs - phew



useful tools I had were of course a long length of ribbon, a darning needle with an eye big enough for the ribbon, and a long black metal hook which I got off a nursery fire guard of all things - it's absolutely essential to have a long, metal hook, for pulling up the S-hook in the neck when you put the head back on - very difficult to do with fingers unless you are super-strong.

So, emboldened by this experience, I decided to restring my 90cm AoD Bo *tuts* what reckless insanity! I reckon they must use a machine to tension these big boys - NOBODY is strong enough to do it that tight by hand surely! I bought some proper doll elastic but totally FAILED to restring him - he just fell apart as I didn't tension the elastic enough, and his body parts weigh a TON, so he ended up in a small box in bits for a few months, while I plucked up the courage to try again! Which I did just the other day - and this time I cut the elastic shorter and pulled with all my puny strength to get it as tight as possible - and hooray he doesn't QUITE fall to bits when moved, although he is a lot harder to control now! I've got some thicker elastic on order from ebay - doll elastic's not strong enough for a 90cm doll....so I guess I'll be doing it all again next week - or whenever I pluck up the nerve!

 

I've tried restringing a doll once, and that was a Leekeworld Khal because both of his arms randomly fell off one day. He was sitting at the doll sized kitchen table I bought for him and suddenly his arms and hands hit the floor. **totally panicked**
He actually stayed armless for like...7 months because I was scared to restring him.

Anyway, I eventually tried to restring him. I had hemostats and ribbon and all, and unstringing him was partly a breeze....but I couldn't do it all the way because the string is screwed into his feet...like literally. You can't get a grasp on the screw or the string :/
So me and my best friend did our best to put him back together again...he is still super loose and needs new elastic, so we're gonna have to fight with the feet to get new elastic on and the old stuff off *ugh*

Something else super frustrating is that his hands are magnetic and always fall off, but also that the hole in the wrist isn't nearly big enough to put string into. Leekeworld actually tied dental FLOSS to the elastic and then through the wrist hole. I was so disappointed. And the way the resin is, if I were to try to make the hole bigger, it would break the wrist completely. When the floss snapped must have been when his arms fell off *cry*

So I'll let everyone know how my second attempt goes with new string, and some pliers for the feet, hehe.

 

I have yet to do a full re-stringing. I have re-done where leg pieces are missing, and to re-attach hands, but a complete, not yet. It is coming soon, though.

 

I'm actually terrified of restringing Ophelia right now. I know that she really needs it. I've had her for 4 years without ever having been cleaned or restrung, but she is soooo little that I'm afraid of breaking her. I've only ever done MSD sized before, but she's a YOSD and that makes me nervous. Maybe tonight I'll dive in and do it... T.T

 

It's definitely not fun but it doesn't seem too bad. My Migidoll's Domuya body used to be a floppy mess and I found why when finally took him apart. He'd been strung all wrong by whoever had it last! But I've never tried anything smaller than an MSD. I'm not looking forward to trying to figure out how to put my mom's Camellia Dynasty Wong (non-anthro cat) back together when his elastic gives out. x.x

 

The first thing I do when I get a new doll...is dismantle them. Then I put them back together. I treat the process like a mechanic would. Lay the parts out in order of how you took them off. Make notes if you have too. If there isn't an "L" for "left", I will use a colorful band or something to differentiate left from right.
I have a Soom Silt and a Harley Ent that were real easy to fiddle with. Both boys had their fantasy feet at the time too. Nicky was my first SD, A Souldoll Yurr.

:I I pinched my fingers so bad! It wasn't the fact that it was hard, it just hurt so bad when I got a finger pinched/stuck. Limbs kicked and slapped me too.... o_o' I was all...this sh*t's dangerous. LOL

I'll continue re-stringing by myself though...I'm not close to people so I sort of have to do it myself. I have planned for the Ringdoll Frankenstein that is being released again...so I am prepared to mess with him.

 

I don't like restringing my dolls... but I have found that with the right tools it's not so bad. Also, having a second person helps immensely and so I usually do it when I have help.

 

I would quite enjoy it... quite ! I did it with my feeple65 last week, and her body is much more complicated than my previous doll (limhwa half elf). It was a challenge just to figure out HOW I would take the string away... In the end my hands were numbs, but I found it funny ! There is nothing to be afrraid of, just remember how the parts were (and the knot of the elastic), take a ribbon to pull the elastic and it should be alright

 

I think I have become quite good at restringing over the last few days. I've restrung four MSDs and had a lot of fun while doing it Using a ribbon to pull the elastic makes the whole process quick and easy and my dolls stand and pose like a dream

 

I haven't done a full re-stringing on any of my dolls but I got a little unexpected lesson in it about a month ago.
I was fiddling with my Delf Claus's foot and it popped off.. the elastic shot up into his leg but thankfully not up into his body. (Delfs have a resin nub instead of a hook. The main reason it popped off was because there was a thin bit of left-over resin underneath the nub so the elastic wasn't sitting correctly around it.)
I ended up having to step on his leg for stability (on a soft surface) and pull the elastic with a piece of ribbon.
Many attempted pulls later, my boy has his foot back on... but has a tiny piece of ribbon sticking out of his ankle. ......

Never playing with my doll's ankles again. owo;

 

When I got my first doll, I think I had her in pieces within the hour of her coming out of her box. One of the things I find so fascinating about BJD's are the ball joints and the way they are put together.

I restring my girlies all the time. My fingertips have developed more durable skin in places that I need lol, since it is kind of a pain and really, I only have so many hands/fingers to hold things. I've really considered buying one of those tools (I've heard they save your fingers a LOT of pain) but haven't gotten around to it yet. Overall, I find it to be a very VERY frustrating experience but I also really enjoy it because every time I restring one of them it's mostly for tightening or loosening for different kinds of poses and I love to try new poses and such with them.

I probably restring my girls 3 or more times a month for various reasons. : )

 

Did my first string replacement last night! It was great to get EL apart and clean out old hotglue from previous owner.
The only issue I had was trying to figure out how long to make new elastic since the stuff in him was the
wrong size and waaay too loose. I ended up having to hold him with my feet(!) to stretch the legs tight enough,
and my finger was bleeding - but it is a GREAT learning experience-- Oh and I found that previous owner
had reversed his arms!