Wires, s-hooks, glues and such.

I've gotten to the point of doll construction where I need to concern myself with s-hooks,glues and such and of course I'm running into issues. First of all, I'm using wooden balls/beads for my joints (and sculpey for the rest of the doll) and I want to know what might be a suitable glue or epoxy that I can use to attach the currently loose joint parts to my sculpt. When I was scouting at the store earlier I saw some J-B Weld two part epoxy, contact cement, and of course super glues. Does anyone else have any experience gluing wooden ball joints to sculpey? Or any glues to recommend?

I was also planning on using the joint method described in the Yoshida Style book for constructing the ankle and wrist joints, meaning I wanted to use a wire in the joint for the s-hook to link onto, however I cannot find the wire they suggest in the book, which is 16 gauge stainless steel. Are there any other tools or wire types that would work for this? Or is there a place online where I can order the wire that it doesn't come in an ungodly quantity?

I am also having issue with s-hooks for the hands and feet. In the Yoshida Style book they make them out of 18 gauge stainless steel wire, which I also cannot find. I ended up buying a pack of zinc cotter pins to experiment with and I found I was able to bend them into the shape I want, and they hold under pressure, but they are kinda ghetto IMO. Does anyone else fashion their own s-hooks for the feet and hands? If so, what materials do you susggest? Also, I know you can buy s-hooks from Kemper Dolls and other doll supply shops, but they kinda look too big in the pics. If they work fine that would be nice to know too, or if there are places online to order s-hooks that will work for the feet and hands.

Well thanks for reading my ramble, I've just had a very vexing day of trying to find supplies and successfully finding nothing. :p

 

You know, I would have never thought of that! I have a bunch of large paperclips lying around here. I shall have to experiment with them. Thanks for the tip!

Oooh, thanks for the tips on the super glue. I shall avoid it then.

That hardware store in my town had some galvanized wire in 2mm and also 1mm. I'll have to go back and have a look. I do remember though that I could only buy these big 100ft packs of them, but they weren't too expensive. Thanks for the tips!