Too Tight or Too Loose? Even tension? Getting it right!

another homemade version is to use a crochet hook to lift the S-Hook a bit and sit it on the head

maybe you can check if there's some meeting in your area soon, and ask if somebody can help you restring your boy?

 

Okay, I'll play with him a while before tackling the head. I don't know why it wasn't attached...but at least it didn't get damaged! When I do attach it, I'll use your pliers method reeree. Thanks!

Izayoi, thanks for the links! I'll add them to my bookmarks! I've got two other stringing tutorials bookmarked as well...but I hadn't planned on jumping into that so soon. *is scared* LOL! Hopefully he'll loosen up after a while and I won't haven to worry about that until much later. *crosss fingers*

Thanks very much everyone! I was so stressed, but now I feel much better!

Edit: siruveru, thanks for the crochet hook tip. I don't have one of those, unfortunately, but I do have pliers and those should do the trick. I'll have to look into meet-ups in my area...though I don't know if I'll have any luck. We're kinda out in the boonies here. LOL!

 

Can I piggyback on this discussion? (And should it perhaps be moved to the workshop?)
When my Soony first arrived, she was awful kicky. I learned to deal with it, and once I got her standing, she always stood really solidly. When I unstrung her to do some bodyblushing, I loosened her elastic a bit, and now…she’s still kind of kicky, but it’s also very hard to get her to sit up straight! Is this just a problem with Delf girls? I’ve heard they can be bad for kickiness, but this seems silly! She’s so loose now that if I leave her sitting on her own for more than about five minutes she invariably lies down, but the legs keep going… I can still get her to stand eventually, but I’m not sure I’ve actually improved the situation!

(advice???)

 

I have one doll, a Machina Alpha, and my thus extremely limited experience suggests that there are some dolls that just need to be strung brutally tight and sueded before they will stop flailing their legs around and trying to curl into a foetal position. Dong these two things solved all my problems. Note that large portions of Alpha are basically solid resin with just enough of a hole to fit a stringing tool through; don't apply this principle to dolls with thinner resin that may warp from the tension!

 

To pull the S-hook through on my doll's head I use a crochet hook. Well, I think it's a crochet hook. Found it for $3 at Michael's in the yarn and knitting department. I have no clue what it's called.

It's a small metal hook with a small catch on it that flips down onto the hook and a wooden handle, and about five inches long from end to end. I find it easier to use than pilers, although I haven't tested to see how well it works for stringing the doll.

 

Delf girls are kicky.. reguardless it seems of how you adjust the elastic. I suggest tightening her back up.

One of my girls was too loose and I could not do anything with her until I replaced her elastic (she was secondhand and it had worn out), but I have never seen had a doll so loose that she could not sit.

I find I have to use fairly fresh elastic in both my delf girls as when the elastic looses its pullback qualities, I cannot get them to do much of anything.

 

Neyjour, grab his torso in one hand and his hip in the other.
Now pull. Approx how many inches would you say it pulls out?
I've restrung an IH Aaron, and originally, I managed to pull him apart 6-8inches at least.
After a total restring(which isn't totally nessessary), he now pulls about 3inches.

To attach the head, put the head over the S-hook. Now get some strong ribbon, loop it over the s-hook.
It might be handy to getsomeone to hold his body, or just hold it between your legs.
Be strong for this bit - pull up the s-hook, with the ribbon, push the head down, and manipulate the Hook into the groove inside the head
Now re-attatch headcap and you should be good to go

 

callum91, thanks...I already managed to get his head on, so I'm all set now.

I can pull him about 1 inch apart without too much trouble...close to 2 inches if I really force it. Think he'll loosen up eventually to where I'll be able to pose him properly? I really, really don't want to have to re-string him.

 

Ah well, it'll make do for future reference

Really? He's probably tight enough then, maybe a bit too tight.
I actually have restrung my 2 IH girls atleast 15times combined, and now, their stringing is near perfect for me
Yeah, they can't stand on one leg , but thats because they're torso heavy and skinny calfed

He'll loosen up over time ^^

 

FYI it's the tool is a latch-hook, used to make latch-hook rugs. You know the kind where you take yarn pieces and knot them onto a backing that looks like giant sized needlepoint canvas.

 

Thanks for letting me know. I've never tried to knit, clearly. The latch hook does make an excellent tool for popping my doll's head on and off though.

 

I also have problems finding out, if the string is too tight or too loose. I have read all the posts here, and I still can't find out.

 

Hiya all! I just got my cute Canime today from D.O.D and he wont stand! I know i was most likely going to have to restring him but I'm not sure if he is to loss or to tight. When I try and stand him his hip parts move making him fall but moving arms they pull towards his chest. Like say you put with arms up palm up. they fold up towards chest.

Anyone have goo pic tut to restring? I don't want to break him. D:

 

Hello,
Yuo can watch a bjd being re-strung here, maybe this will help.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnqmNIANTfc

 

...Do you think I'll need a restring tool to restring him? D:

 

Was there not a care booklet in the box with the doll? Usually they come with instructions for
re-stringing, etc.

 

Thank you!

But I'm not sure if he is strung to tight or to loss....

 

when I restrung my first doll I just used some wire that you'd use for jewelry or something (it was a thick wire though, can't tell you the gauge) simple and cheap ;3

 

^.^ Okay! I got stuff like that. I was using the string that was working good.

But still dose anyone know if its to tight or to lose?

 

Is he floppy or stiff as a board?

 

Well..ha...kinda both! The hip joint area is a bit floppy. when I try and stand him that parts goes all floppy. His arms seems a bit stuff and the legs too. ._.

 

You will need tools to pull the string thru and something like a pencil to hold the loops
until you place the hooks back on the strings. This link shows pictures on how to re-sting a bjd.

 

O_O Thats confusing.

Like I know how to string the doll but I don't know howwww much tension should be in each part to make him pose nicely.

 

i don't think there is an EXACT tension...
but it sounds like your arms are too tight
and the other is lose...

 

Okay. Thanks.

How do I make it losser or tighter?

 

loosening elastic isn't really possible.... you could possibly try strechting the arms elastic by strechting it far out and holding it like that for a while?
And maybe his legs are floppy and strung too loose, than you can just shorten his elastic for a bit to make it tighter and restring him... but instead of restringing, you could also try (hot glue) sueding! ^^

 

Okay! I think I might try making it shorter now. Yesss!


THANKS ALL!

 

Hi~ I just saw this. I have a DOT Camine who came the exact same way as you are talking. Mine's hips weren't really floppy so much as just....slippery. I ended up sueding all his joints with hot glue and he poses much better! I really need to do him again though, but you may want to try that before you take him all to pieces.

 

I have a better suggestion. How about you take the time to learn how your doll poses and what its idiosyncrasies are before you start trying to mod it like crazy?

When I get a doll whose body type I am unfamiliar with, I sit down and I play around with it for at least an hour. I don't expect it to stand right out of the box! There's a trick to just about every doll out there, you just have to learn it.

I will say that Dream of Dolls are the most hinky ones to work with, outside of the Petsha body (which to make stand, all you have to do is straighten her, lol!) Before I got good at this sort of thing, I jury-rigged my old-style Leya with wires in her limbs so she would stand. My U and I had dozens of arguments about how to stand and pose until I figured out how she worked. Now my Leya doesn't need the wires anymore (although she still has them so she can do ELASTIC-DEFYING POSES!) because I know how the old DoD body works.

Play with your doll first. THEN think about glue-sueding and restringing if you realize the problem really is too much.

 

I'm agreeing with Ophelia - DoD bodies are a bit odd.

Since you were concerned about him being too tight or too loose, here's a tip: Pull on him. Hold his lower torso in one hand and pull his thigh away from it with the other hand. If it pulls out more than a few inches (I say 2-4, usually), he's too loose. The same with his arms, but the elastic should stretch no more than about 2 inches. In my own experience, the DoC's come very tightly strung; I'm not sure about the DoT's. If the elastic doesn't pull out at least two inches on the legs, he's probably too tight, and you will need new elastic to restring him.

If you do end up restringing him, you don't need a restringing tool. You need two long pieces of 1/4 inch wide ribbon (like the spool'o'ribbon kind from Wal-Mart) and one or two pieces of 1/8 inch wide ribbon. You can use the ribbon to thread through the body parts and pull the elastic through.

Edit to add: I would recommend playing with him some before you restring him. All dolls (even within one company) have their own quirks that make standing or posing them difficult or challenging. The best thing to do is learn to balance them and find their center of balance. You can't just straighten them out and set them on the table and expect they'll stand. Start by straightening his legs, and holding him by the torso with one hand, use the other to hold his feet down until you find his center of balance and can make him stand on his own. Also, play with him naked - clothes can interfere with you being able to see how he works. When I get a new body, I (like Ophelia) take at least an hour to play with it and learn it's quirks.

 

Hi just a quick question about stringing.

My Soom Gem it strung great, apart from her legs, they are really swivley and don't sit in the sockets right. I only want to restring the legs, it is possible without taking all of her apart. I have never strung a doll in my life. I looked at a diagram of the string inside her legs and it runs all the way through her body. :/

 

The stringing in the legs should run in one continuous loop up through all of the torso and into the S-hook/locking system/whatever soom use in their necks to hold the head on with. So basically, if you want to re-string the legs, you have to re-string the whole body, but not the arms which will be strung seperately.

It's REALLY not a big deal, there's a world of tutorials and even videos on youtube showing you how and it's a skill that comes in really useful in this hobby since EVERY doll will need it at some point

 

Thanks Lulu. I attempted it last night. It seems that the string in one leg was much longer than the other. I tightend it to an extent, the knee lock now but the hips are still swively. :/
I feel a lot more relaxed about it now. I have confidence that I could string a whole doll if need be.

 

As I was removing a shoe from my new Kid Delf, his ankle popped off, and all the rest of his leg pieces came off. So now I just have the elastic loop coming out of his hips. LuLu said above that to restring the legs, I'll have to do the whole body. Is that true for my case? I was hoping to just find a hooked wire and pull it down through the leg pieces .-. I really hadn't hoped to be doing this only hours after opening him.

Also, his legs don't want to lock well for standing etc. They are constantly bending, especially on the leg that is missing right now. Is that normal?

 

You should be alright. As long as the other leg is fully strung and you dont think its shifted up within the headcap. Afterall when restringing the legs its usual to do a leg then the other leg. Just pull the elastic back through again carefully and should be fine ^^.
If one leg is floppier than the other however you might need to do a full restring. But my GuaiGuai's foot likes to fall off (disassembling his entire leg) quite a bit and I just do that. he stands and sits fine :3

 

Heehee, I recognize you from the waiting room!

Anyway, according to the booklet I got with my Bory girl, Luts actually uses two pieces of string that run from the head to the legs (most companies seem to use one piece that is looped).

That said, you should be able to pull the elastic down through the rest of the leg pieces using a stringing tool or something similar.

 

Thanks ^^ I successfully restringed his leg, and he seems to be working fine, if not better than before. It's a two person job, but at least it's done c:

 

I've noticed many people have questions about how to string to prevent swiveling and joint slipping. In my experience restringing only solves two problems. A floppy doll that can't stand needs to be tightened. If you can pull the lower leg away from the thigh gently and see string, that may be too loose. If you have issues with arms slapping against chests or kicking legs, the strings may need to be loosened. Also bear in mind knots should be in the head or chest area or they can get lodged in joints and limit posing.

Sueding is what solves other problems. Swivling legs, arms that won't say extended, knees that will only pose straight legged or raised as if doing martial arts. Both hot glue or suede glued into the joints gives the string something to grip to make those in between poses possible. Also, smooth string can slide around on smooth resin and make holding a pose difficult. Hot glue or suede in the inner joint sockets catches the string lightly and makes a world of difference.

Most of my dolls are hybrids so I never have the perfect string tension for my dolls right away. I've also learned the strings aren't usually the issue with posing. XD

 

So I have a dollmore kid girl that kicks and hits...what should I do?

 

Well, I know my Allura is strung a little too tightly--See, it used to be that her left leg would kick incessantly... So finally, after having her for many months, I decided to restring her to even out the tension...
Lucky me, now BOTH her legs are kicky *sweatdrop* Logically it doesn't even make sense. XD
I've considered sueding, but Allura is so small I just have no idea if it would work.
Regardless, it's not THAT much of a problem for me, so I don't worry about it too much. XD

 

I've just been taught a lesson with restringing - Don't do it too tight
I took my girl out of her bag and her foot had come off!
The S-Hook was in her knee , and after managing to remove the Hook (by cutting the string, my last bit of string !!!) comparing it to the other hook , it had bent out of shape!
It's quite comparable too - Only 1-2 mm out of shape, but it was enough to make the hook to slide off the foot bar

My girl was quite a good stander too - I thought the stringing was perfect - I guess not
*sigh-New String and Foot-Hooks are needed now*

 

My minifee Lishe leg has suddenly been kicking back..I was initally going to suede her hip joints(?), but it turned out that it didn't do so well. When I restrung her suddenly her entire right leg was loose, while the left leg was perfect. When I restrung her again, but of her legs were kicky.

I should note that I was using the same string she came with, and its a little frayed...can someone tell me whats going on ?_?

She's also an older minifee, as in when LUTS still sold them. dunno if it makes any difference..

 

I think my Super Senior Delf might be too tightly strung in the arms. His legs are perfect and he stood right out ofthe box without flopping or kicking, but his arms just want to curl up. He's slapped himself in the face so many times I'm afraid he'll hurt himself. He can't hold any position with his arms unless it's completely bent or straight-locked. One of the hooks in his wrist looks like it's bent, too? Can too tight elastic bend the hooks? The other hand is fine, and he seems to have loosened up a tiny bit with playing, but I'm worried about the hook and him hitting himself in the face. I never thought I'd have to say "Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself!" and really mean it!

I've never diassembled or restrung a doll before, but I'll have to take him apart to sand and blush anyway.

 

I have an AOD Mo Lan and one leg is weak and buckles, the other kicks back tightly took the S hook off at the top but the ankle S hooks do not seem to be real S hooks. They look like sealed loops and I can't remove the feet! I took the S hook off the top and the top of the torso and undid the string at the small double hole piece at the torso, I did not undo the feet and legs from the torso, and have pulled up this piece.When I undid the S hook the small piece attached to this piece in the torso snapped so I had an extra piece of elastic and am threading it through there, The problem now is getting two fat puieces of the strong elastic through the small neck joint... Sigh Any suggestions? I do not have the stringing tool

 

Hi, so sorry if this thread has been done. Please refer me to another thread if something similar has been done because I really can't find the answer to my question.

So, I'm a total noob. It's my first time having a full bjd so I don't really know if my doll may be strung too tight or if this is how a bjd doll is supposed to be.

So how can you tell if your doll is strung in too tight or if it's just right? My doll likes to get into the sitting position when he's not standing and sometimes even when he's standing, if not careful, he might collapse into the sitting position. I don't know if this is normal...or what.

So I just want to know how can you tell when the doll is strung right, not too tight, not too loose.

His body is a DollFamily body if that does any help.

Thanks in advance !!

 

It's really a matter of preference. The tightly strung dolls will pose certain ways more easily than the loose strung, though loose strung might give a more natural post for the the poses they can do. I have two opposite sides of the spectrum right now. The loose string makes it easy to make more natural poses, though it's hard to do things like make him sit up straight. His limbs also tend to rotate to where they want to go.

The tighter one stays in poses better, but if he doesn't want to be in a certain pose he'll snap back with a vengeance (I'm very cautious when making him stand), possibly biting you in the process. It's also extremely vicious trying to move his eyes or to take off his head for any reason (took me an hour to get the damn thing back on!). He looks extremely uptight all the time... in other words he's a straight poser. No slouching for him.

Also, keep in mind strings loosen over time, so if you think it's too twangy just give it a little time and see if it improves.

 

I would suggest taking/posting pictures of him and the
posing problems?

edit: this is also the wrong place to post your thread
so the mods might move it.

 

Thanks SuperDuckyWho ! It's good to know that the strings will loosen up. ^^ !!

Yes, most of the photos I have is just him standing straight and sitting because he just wants to sit all the time. I'll try to post some pictures later.

Also, I have no clue where this would belong so if the mod wants to move it, they're welcome to. ^^.

 

I got the same problem with my Luts dark elf Soo. Ever since i bought her I can only make her sit. I was thinking of restringing her but also it might be the string itself that has problem. And also every time i tried to straighten her legs into standing position it will snap back. Its very frustrating. ~____~

 

My Souldoll is tightly strung too. From what I've been told, certain companies do that. It takes me 10 minutes to get my guy to stand in a natural and stable position cause his legs are so tightly strung. I end up taking sitting photos more than anything.

What you can do is either pose your doll a lot and stretch the strings out, or restring them. Working with your doll would take a while, but you'll probably get a better result. I can't really say much, since I'm fairly new to BJD myself, so I'm just passing what little knowledge's been passed to me. xD

 

im having the same problem, but i will try to make it tighter.... she just dont want to do as i want....

 

Bit of a late second reply here... but just wanted to add... if you do decide to restring him be very careful. Tightly strung dolls really have a habit of flinging their bits everywhere if you don't undo their old strings in the right way.

 

Personally I prefer my dolls strung tightly, but if it bothers you you may want to try leaving him rubber banded in the fetal position overnight. This should loosen up his stringing without having to take him apart.

 

Thank you so much everyone . I 'll assure everyone I'm not going to restring him. I'll just hoep his strings will untighten. Lately I've been posing and playing with him and he is standing better. I am hoping his strings will loosen overtime. Thanks again everyone!!!

 

I'm having the same problem with my tight-strung boy; he doesn't want to stand and his arms snap right up to his chest like he's just too shy.. I've been working with him, trying to stretch him out, since January, and still no luck.

About how long would y'all say it takes a doll to loosen up on its own?

 

To make sure the stringing was right for my 60cm doll, what I'd do is hold the waist in one hand(make sure it's got no clothes on first ), and a thigh in the other hand.
Pull apart gently.
For my doll, the gap between the thigh and the hip joint was about 1-2inches. And that was good for me.
Double it up with hot-glue sueding, and it should all be good

 

Hi, I'm curious, how tight should the string in the body be? Because when I first received my the body, it was so tight that the S hook was digging into the resin of the neck whole and every time I move the arm or leg and place it in a position it'd snap back to straight. Now I restrung him and when I pick him up by the chest his bottom half would be heavy and it'd just pull down and you can see the string and all. If I'd pick him up as well and hold him on his back his legs would automatically just flop down. He can't even stand. His legs would bend forward or backward. I don't know. How tight does the string inside have to be?

 

Sadly I think the only thing you can do is guess because every BJD is differnet- you said at first it was too tight, now it's too loose... try tying it in the middle of those two?

If there is another/easier way, I'd love to know this myself!

 

depends on how elastic your elastic is, i think. the elastic i have in my cp delf is only about half the length of whatever it's holding. meaning that if the leg is about 60cm from the neck, the string is about 30cm, not counting the looping length.

 

This is really a personal preference thing, as well as based on the engineering of the doll, and whether or not the doll is sueded or wired too, mind you.You certainly don't want any of the parts of the doll to fall away from any other part so much that you can see the elastic in between each segment.Some dolls are just naturally kicky because of their engineering, it might help for you to tell us what doll you're talking about so people can give first hand experience on said body type. My experience is mostly with Luts/CP dolls.

When i string my dolls, any of them, I usually lay all their parts flat and as "connected" as possible to eachother, and then take my elastic with the S-hook hooked the way it would be once it was inside the doll, down both legs, and then i stretch it so that it stretches maybe 3 inches or so longer than the length of my doll's body, that might be too loose for some people, but I find it's good for me.

I don't feel like i have to panic about resin cracking from the tension. i like being able to unstring my doll without breaking my fingers :/