I'm in need for extra hand hooks for my Whale 1/4 girl body (the old one). I need to modify them to fit a pair of hands, but I don't want to experiment on the working ones on my doll. Has anyone either found those weird question-mark-shaped hooks somewhere, or used other regular BJD hooks on that body and found that they worked anyway? I remember @Clementia needed hooks at some point as well.
Hi, sorry for delay of my reply. There is also a tool which creates any loops or hook. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beadsmith-One-Step-Looper-Tool/dp/B00BOZ79UO?th=1
So, last year, I ordered a whole bunch of extra hands and feet from CR to use on Candell (my Caroline). I had ordered all the extras for the doll herself, but I loved the Mantis hands and I wanted to get those, too. And because the new 1/4 body had just come out, I also bought the hands for that one (I think it's Whale Shark?), thinking they would work as well. I did not directly ask if they were compatible, so this one is my fault. The size on those hands is good, but the ball is sligthly larger, and on top of all, the resin rod on which the hook should catch is thicker. The Mantis hands on the other hand are perfectly compatible. Still wish they had sent me a couple extra hooks... I mean, I ordered 6 pairs of hands and ballet feet, it would've been appreciated. Today I got the hands to work! Spoiler: details of the DIY if you care about that I couldn't find hooks with the same measurements, and especially after it took me such a pain to mod the wrists to get any side rotation out of them, I think anything different would've brought the problem back. Plus I would've had to switch the hooks whenever I wanted to use those hands. So I decided to go the other way and sand the rod to fit instead. I took a piece of fine-grit sandpaper and cut it lengthwise into thin strips - as wide as the rod so about 1mm - with a utility knife. This ate through a couple snap-off blade tips. I threaded the strip of sandpaper into the gap in the ball and pulled one end and then the other. This sands all around the rod and doesn't touch anything else. I went about 6-8 pulls before checking the fit with the hook. I could not wet sand because sandpaper so thin would inexorably break when wet, so even if it's a tiny amount of dust I used a mask and then ran the hand under a faucet to wash away the residue. At some point the hook would start to click on, after then another 2-4 passes for an easy fit. It's really just a sliver of resin, so I doubt the integrity of the pegs was compromised, but if anything cracks I'll report back. Sadly these hands don't have a lot of mobility because of the different shape of the ball, but they're so pretty. I love the long nails. They're not blushed yet hence the color difference.
