Bonding and YOU.

Here's a link to a tutorial on how to modify a DD body, by the wonderful Scarlet_Hands, and I found it very useful when I did my own modification.

http://www.denofangels.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5178&highlight=

Also, here's a picture of the alteration I made in her method, due to the fact that my DD has a Kira13 head, so I NEED the S-hook to be in her head to hold the headcap (and thus the head) on.

http://www.angeltowns4.com/members/kiyakotari/images/temp/DDStringAlteration.jpg

Basically, here's what I ended up doing:


Fixing the Super-Arched Back

1) I stripped her butt-naked.

2) I took off her head, and pulled her arms off so that the string from her head pulled down into her body. I untied one arm (you have to take apart her elbow to do this - it takes a bit of pulling, but it WILL pull out of her upper arm) and took both the arms off her completely, but looking back on it I probably didn't have to do that. In fact, I PROBABLY could have left her head on while I was working with her, and had the same basic result. Her torso just would've been a bit harder to work with.

3) I held her legs/hips between my knees and pulled her torso up, to expose the knob that her leg string is tied to. I detached the string from the knob, and set her legs and hips aside.

4) At this point, I enlisted my dad for help. I had him take his dremel tool and cut away the knob, so that there was a nice hole where it had been. I hovered the entire time, begging him to be very careful and reminding him how expensive these dolls are, and how hard to get, etc. Scarlet_Hands said she removed the knob (and made the hole) with an exacto knife, so you could probably do that, too, if you don't have access to a person who's good with a dremel tool. But be careful not to stab yourself (points at scars on hands from model-making days)! My dad used the dremel tool to smoothe out the edges of the hole so the string wouldn't catch on them, but sand paper would probably work too, it would just be harder.

5) This is where it got more difficult - I had the changes made, now I had to put her back together. I put her arms back on, and pushed the loop of elastic between them back up into her neck (If you decide not to take off her arms/head, you won't have to do this). I put the S-hook back onto her neck elastic, to hold it up in the neck and keep it from slipping back down into the body with the next part..

6) Then I took a VERY thin and long pair of pliers with teeth on them (smooth needle-nose won't work, as they don't grip the elastic) and grabbed only one side of the elastic between her arm and her neck (hemostats would work better, but I couldn't find any). I had my mom hold her torso, and I pulled the elastic down until there was a loop coming out of the hole where the knob was. I took some cord (I used old parachute cord, but pretty much anything that's strong, won't cut through the elastic, and will hold a knot shoud work) and put it through the loop of elastic, so that I had plenty of cord hanging out on either side. Then I released the elastic, and pulled the elastic on the other side of her neck down the same way (once again with my mom holding her body). I took the cord and stuck one side of it through the NEW loop that was sticking through the hole where the knob was, and then once again released the elastic.

7) Next, I took the pliers and grabbed the elastic in her legs, pulling it up until I could thread the cord through it, too. I made sure I still had plenty of cord to work with (I reccommend starting with at LEAST 2 feet, since you can trim away excess after you're done). I took each end of my cord (and this is the HARDEST part, trust me) and did the first step in a square knot. Then I began tightening it by pulling on each end of the cord, with my mom holding the torso away from the hips and me holding the hips between my legs so I could see what I was doing. The tighter you can get it, the better. It took me about 15-20 minutes to get it as tight as I wanted, and my hands were KILLING me when I was done. It was very hard to tie the knot without letting it loosen back up, but that's what you have to do. Then, I checked the tension by posing her in a few different ways, and afterwards tied a few more knots of various kinds, just to make sure it wouldn't slip loose again.

8 ) Rather than cut off the excess cord, I simply tucked it all inside her hip piece, since I may need it later if I have to unstring her again. And that was the end of the alteration process! Now my DD's back was no longer held in that super-arched position, though it could go back into it if I wanted it to. She could also bend from side to side, and lean forward (though that looks a bit awkward, just because of how the DD is formed). However, I wanted her to be able to hold poses better, too (and sit up better!), so I decided to wire her part way.

Wiring the Legs and Torso

9) The next day, I went over to my local hardware store and bought 10 feet of solid copper wire in 12 gauge, that was coated in plastic. It comes in many different colors (I used tan, but white would be okay, too), and is only about $.10 a foot. I brought the wire home, and held it up to my DD, bending it so it was in the right shape to go from one leg (about half way down her calf, almost to her ankle) up into her torso to right below her neck and then back down into the other leg. Once I was sure I had the right amount, I cut the wire so the piece I wanted to put in her was separated from the rest of the wire.

10) It took a lot of work, but I managed to thread the wire down through each of her legs (those holes for the elastic in her legs are TINY!!) so that the bent part of it was sticking up between her hip and torso parts (I held her torso between my knees so I could pull her hips/legs away from it, but having a helper would probably make this easier). After I had that done, it was very simple to pull the torso far away from her hip piece and slip the loop of bent wire up into her body through the hole where the knob used to be. After that, I tucked all the excess string back inside her hip piece (I'd pulled it out to free up sorking space) and voila! She posed, sat, and HELD the positions, no problem.

So that's how I did the alteration. You don't have to wire her if you don't want (or you could wire just her torso and upper legs, and not down through her knees, but it will hold her torso better if you do, and she'll be able to sit no problem. She also stands REALLY easily now. Here are a couple pictures of Wren sitting and posing, showing off a bit of her new ability.

....Okay, maybe not. >.< My camera won't connect to my computer (yet again)! Grrrr... Stupid piece of...okay. Never mind. Pctures will come when I have access to a working camera....hmmm...that Finepix S3000 is pretty nice... **ponders uses of money I don't have yet**

 

You're VERY welcome! Did you wire her legs? What did you use to cut out the knob? The only part of her arms that you can wire is her shoulders, because of the way the elbow/wrist joints are made, but the DD wrists and elbows actually have a fairly good range of movement, so that may not be a problem.

 

WHAT?!?! WHY!?!?! **dies** Tell me everything. I have more than enough time to listen, trust me. I don't have school again until the 5th.

 

....Hmm....wow. That sounds like a tough one. Try this: Sit your parents down and tell them you want to talk to them. If they're too busy, then try arranging a time with them in the near future where you can talk to them. Show them that you're both responsible AND serious about this hobby. You used your own money for her, right? That's good - now, you need to build a base of 'this is important to me and it's a very good hobby for someone of any age.'

Once you have their attention, explain to the CALMLY that you do love your DD. Try to make them understand that this IS an expensive hobby, but a very rewarding one. Explain about how your earlier reservations about DD came from her posing problems, and how the custom work your and your father did on her had fixed that. Also explain that the DD is a sort of a 'test' or 'starter' doll, to let you explore how you feel about the hobby, so you don't just jump in and spend $$$$ on a doll that you'll later simply want to sell.

You could also try citing some of the 'parents who don't understand' threads, and possibly even show selections from them to your parents - I suggest printing out good parts and giving them to them on paper, because there ARE posts that might....ah...weird them out a little bit. Like mine. ops: But I've got a fairly unique case, I think. Anyway....I'm assuming from your posts - and the fact that you still live with your parents - that you're in your teens. Your age can play a part in this, too - a big part of the reason my parents don't like my dolls is that they tink I'm too old for them - I'm 19. Also, you could point out some of the common 'hobbies' for people your age (whatever that is) like drinking, drugs, partying, random sex, etc. Try to think up some fairly good ones, too - not just bad ones. If you ONLY point out bad ones....it could be taken the wrong way. But you could always use the "there are much worse hobbies that I could have taken up - that would ultimately end up costing me a lot MORE than dolls, and not just monetarily" argument to shore up your front.

I'm not really sure what else you can do - really, you just need to make your parents understandthat this is important to you, and do it ina calm, reasonable, well-presented and prepared way. They will appreciate both your honesty and your thoughtfulness - trust me. Other than that - all you can do is hope.

 

Out of curiousity - have you actually gotten any offers on Kira yet? If not....maybe you can point out to your family that it wouldn't be backing out of anything if no one was interested.