Discussion thread for Limhwa Limho Mano

To know for sure, knick out a small patch inside one of his arms or legs or inside his torso or head cap. There are a lot of places on the inside of him you could do it so that it wouldn't be visible. You shave off a piece to see if it goes through.

 

Nanyalin, I did scrape off some shavings from the insides of the channels in my Tan Mano's elbows & thighs... to widen them for the elastics... and I didn't see any different-colored core underneath. But I didn't scrape down very far at all, just thin layers off the top. So I don't want to swear that it's solidly tan, & would stand up to real modifications. Still, if it IS different colored inside, then the tan layer is at least thick enough that a small nick won't show up too pale.

Maybe Catrina can get a firmer answer about this. ;; I had the same thought as you, I wanted to mod him by thinning his cheeks a bit; but I've decided to leave his face unmodded for now. (Not the least reason being that I'm a huge coward, & would rather have somebody else take the first chance at sanding that lovely resin. )

 

First, NEW PICS UP!
http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?t=194648

We are officially opening the new order and have posted pics of the tanned Mano and new Eva girl that Limhwa styled for IDEX. You will see "Rock Star," as he was nicknamed during the show by many attendees. He's wear ing a cool black satin lined coat, and has striped dress pants that fit him perfectly. The black leather shoe- boots zip from the back and are by LUTS company. They fit perfectly.
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Next, the tanned resin is through and through, however, there are always warnings about sanding it because light reflects against the roughened sanded parts, making them look a little lighter. You might try your particular sandpaper inside the head, to see how it goes.
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I don't have any problem standing my Mano, and *gasp* at IDEX you won't believe, he stood in the display without a stand for three days! I had a table behind him, and he just did his manly studly thing, with his back to the table. I felt a stand would ruin his clothing or body line, although I did bring a saddle stand for him. He seemed very solid.. I have never left a doll without a stand but he didn't seem to need it. The good part was, so many people came up and I was able to hand him to them ... and they loved it! Big smiles!


Choxies for everyone...

Catrina

 

Waa~! Mr. Rock Star must be psychic-- he has the same pinstripes that Stavros picked out of my wardrobe box. He's wonderful! The man is really workin the rhinestones + the fabuloid satiny dress coat. His faceup is great. That's one stylish couple.

If your boy stood up for three days, then I guess stabilizing him must be possible! I'll check out having him wired. Thanks for the tips about the resin, too.

 

Thanks a lot, Catrina, Jenny and FunnyLori! That's all that I needed to know ^^, if it was dyed resin with the pygmentation in the matherial, or it was airbrusshed mold with the pyment only in the surface. I know that the resin will lighten a little, and I will have to proceed carefully (the darker the resins are, the most noticeable it is), but I trust in my experience as a customizer... I will proceed carefully and will tell you later, jenny!

 

Hee hee.. I did take a butt shot of those pants, figuring everyone would like to see the fit of them. I'll try to find out where Limhwa got them. They just snap twice perfectly.. tight but not a struggle.

Generally, he is very stable. It seems like the bigger dolls have a more difficult center of gravity, IMHO. Anyway, I also wonder if the outfit provided him with some stability too... along with pumping up his ego big time.. with the lovely rhinestones and lace top. He can sit in the pants, so they are not too tight for posing. It's just a great-fitting outfit he arrived with.

Catrina

P.S. Jenny, that belt is truly delicious and gives him a hotness quotient off the charts. And gee, where'd you get all that great jewelry, LOL? It's so exciting to see all the new Mano boys, and they look really really handsome. Congrats to all.

 

Too right, a pair of tight pants DOES really help a doll stand up better. Yes, taller dolls naturally have a higher center of gravity, & are a bit harder to balance in general, especially those with long legs. Mano's proportions are good for standing, but Stavros still has a persistent leg-rotation problem, in the hip/thigh joints.... I feel that his balance will be fine once those legs stop rotating! Hot-glue improved it a little; perhaps tighter pants will help more. Actually, I think tighter pants on men is always a good idea, but that's just me. ^^

The belt came with the pants (Volks), and the wooden beads were a gift from a friend, but the other jewelry is from Orangebabydolly. A jade donut pendant with jade beads, & a meteorite-finish silver ring. With those incredible hands & lovely strong neck, this smoldery guy seems to require jewelry. That is a lot of man to adorn! I'm glad you like him.

 

For me it's abit of a combination of what appears to be uneven lengths, slight rotation in the legs and unstable ankles(slip'n'slide feet too). Anyone else besides me abit unhappy with the sanded flat bottomed feet? I suppose flat feet should make standing him easier, but I think it could of gotten away with alot less sanding. Theres no lovely arch to his feet at the bottom thanks to that.

Yeah, it has been said that loose styled ones(such as cargos) can be put on him. I'm just thinking of a more fitted style.

I wish I had more doll clothes in general, but I have not been able to spoil any of my three boys much. I just have acouple pairs of SD10s and the recent Marsh Mano sized trousers/jailbait shorts.

My Mano needs a sexy shirt and some boots/shoes.

Yes, I too have that problem with the elastics. >.<

 

Luminaire, I was a bit disappointed to see the flat-soles of Mano, after
all the incredible and gorgeous detail his upper-feet and hands have.
I did thought it could be so that he would stand better, but my Paris
stands like a rock, and his soles are perfectly rounded, so maybe
flat bottoms are not necessary.

As far as the slots for the elastic being too narrow, I found that it is
because they are so narrow, that they allow Mano to do incredible poses, and
hold them there, that would require double joints otherwise. Like posing his
arms, and legs in certain positions, or next to his chest/face, even placing his hands on
any part of his face, or actually touching it, like his lips, the narrowness of the slots
"locks" the limbs in place, in that pose without any help. At least that how it
has worked for me so far.

I have a question to other Mano owners. Does yours have uneven surface?
Is his resin very rough (heavy uneven texture) in some areas? I keep wondering
if it's only mine, in a paranoid sort of way. It's nothing sanding can't help, but I still wonder.
I wouldn't even mind otherwise, but I have this obsession now for blushing my dolls. ^____^;;;


- Enzyme ^__________^

 

Hi Enzyme ~

Luis has over all very evenly textured resin, which I found was really great to work on when doing his face-up and other detailing. He also poses and stands very well. He does, of course, have factory seams, but those are quite minor, and don't bother or distract me (which is good, because I hate sanding. ^-^).

best wishes,
earth.spirits

 

Thank you earth.spirits!

I don't like visible seam-lines, even when they are small,
I feel tempted to sand them down at least a bit. ^____^;;
My Mano had very bad ones, I thought I had gotten rid of them
all, but apparently, I didn't do a good job. I also didn't notice how
uneven some of his surface was, before I blushed him, now he looks
like he has a rash in some areas ^^;; so I'm going to have to sand
his whole body again. He is such a gorgeous sculpt though, and his
resin is such a pleasure to paint, regardless of a few problem
areas on his body, his head is gorgeously even and still has
some tooth, I like that quite a bit (forgive any grammar/syntax errors,
I seriously need to catch up on my sleep!).


- Enzyme ^_______^

 

Yeah, I had a strong sense of being let down when I saw they were like that. After all the detail in this incredible sculpt down to the littlest ridges on the hands and feet...I expected perfect soles too. Its abit of a slap....I don't think it fits the rest of the doll at all. If she ever sold some new feet that weren't flattened on the bottom. I'd buy them in a heartbeat.

Thinking about it now it could also be about fitting into shoes/boots since the artist was kind enough to worry about that with the chest when she designed the original. Of course she then found out that many of us would prefer the muscle one anyways. XD

I have to admit when I first touched my Mano and discovered how rough feeling his resin is I was shocked for a moment. XD My two SD10 volks boys are so smooth and soft feeling. Then I realized it's because he wasn't sanded overly much, just in a few places where the seams must have required it.

I find that I don't mind it, I guess I even put it down as a manly thing. XD

 

... a manly thing. Yeah, that's the ticket!

The slightly-rough resin texture is definitely a shock if you're used to Volks resin, for sure! Different formulas, different molds, probably a whole lot of variables. I don't mind it either, and in fact I like the way it feels. It also helped the pastel-powder to stick more easily when doing the faceup, and the paint to apply evenly to his fingernails. His seams are quite minimal, at least to me (I don't mind seams).

But Enzyme mentions that the resin's roughness would get in the way of body-blushing. Thanks for reminding me before I try. ;; Even the roughness of the face presented me with that problem when I blushed his temples & forehead; blending/cleanup was tricky, and required the help of a cleaning-sponge. I'd like to blush my tan man, but I will experiment with watercolor washes instead of powder blushing first, before I go as far as sanding the tanned resin.

The flat bottoms of his feet I don't mind either, since the boy does need to be able to stand & wear shoes. I just wish I knew what was making Stavros's legs rotate and wobble around like that, since other editions of Mano stand up so well. Perhaps this tan batch came out cast slightly different from the other colors/types that came before? His knees lock perfectly, his balance is fine, and his ankles were easily stabilized with glue, but the hip-sockets have me stymied.

That is somewhat true, now that I think about it... At least, I find it works OK for the arms, so I didn't shave down their channels too much. For the hips, it was really getting in the way of him sitting/standing ordinarily, and it was getting really intrusive to have to twist & dig at his elastics every time I wanted to bend his legs. Now the elastic still has some of that "grip", but it slides more easily.

I added hot-glue into the elbows & shoulders anyway, for more control over the posing. Ah, those arms/hands are so expressive and poseable! J'adore.

PS. @earth.spirits, thank you for another gorgeous photo of Luis in his cozy rainy romantic valentine way. He's so wonderful.

 

I actually prefer a rougher textured resin, so I was delighted when I discovered Mano had a bit of 'tooth.' More skin-like to the touch, I think, than the perfectly smooth resins, which I find feels a little too plasticy sometimes. And, for me, a rougher resin makes blushing easier, if anything, (then again I'm a sucker for toothy canvas when I paint too so...).

Jenny-Emile's legs have a tiiiiiny bit of inward rotation as well, usually when he's sitting, but it's defiantely there. It's never interfered with standing though, (he's like a rock!), and I find the inward angle a bit endearing, though I can see if it's extreme that it could cause trouble posing.

 

Yikes so much feet unlove! I don't really mind them, I don't really think its too much of problem unless you need to take pictures of the bottoms of them, I can see how it'd be a thing that would be a nuisance personally. I've never had much of an issue with posing my boy. I wish the best of luck to you guys trying to get him in working order.
I like his rough resin it makes him less shiny (which I find a bother) than smooth resin dolls I own.

 

Just wanted to interrupt and say hi - I am buying MelissaS' tanned Mano and I'm so excited! I've been reading this thread over and over again.

 

Hey I saw he left the US 2 days ago, he's on the way!!!
-Melissa

 

I appreciate everyone's comments on their Mano's resin
texture - It's not an issue, or an "ugly" thing, just something
I was worrying about because I do enjoy blushing my dolls.

The feet don't worry me too much, although I would love to own an
optional pair with round soles, just for completely nude photo -
shoots at least. I am wondering what I'll do for shoes for him,
I am a vegan, and for my other dolls I had been relying on DollHeart,
but they don't make shoes that fit Mano, so I am worried Hombre
will "walk" around barefoot for a while. ^^;; Unless of course, I learn
how to make shoes, or DollHeart decides to make shoes for the
big guys.

I am enjoying this thread very much, I hope the Mano love keeps
growing, and that more owners share their experiences, so we can
all learn a bit more about what works for our guys!


- Enzyme ^________^

 

*chuckles* You're right JennyNemesis.

I do love his feet Yuu-chan I just don't like the flat soles. XD I've taken acouple pictures of his bare feet next to my Sd10 boys' bare feet and it really shows how unpretty the flatness is in comparison. XD Other than aesthetics reasons they're fine.

I took a ton of photos of my Hikaru recently so I'm going to post acouple of him standing. He's the same as when he came out of the box. I haven't added any suading or wiring, nor done anything to his strings.

Please excuse the quality and the scenery(I'm not sure about taking him out into the snow! *lol*), I'd also meant to take them at a better time of day, but it took so long to get the last batch of photos off my camera card.







I do have some lovely ones of him from this shoot, but I'm going to save them for a gallery thread. XD
Oh and these are pants and shorts by Marsh. ^^ I do believe Manos should be seen in shorts often. Those drooltastic legs..yum.

 

Regarding the flat bottomed feet... that is something Limhwa does to make them stand a bit more solidly. If you look at her high heeled feet for girls, you see she can make arches and other pretty. All of her dolls have this flatness, except these high heeled feet.

Lumiere, I loved seeing your boy again, and his legs are truly hot! That is one of my favorite things about Mano. He's got the most graceful legs... kind of like a runner, ...so shapely. Personally I like that over "muscle man" type legs. He's so hot in shorts
Limhwa looked at kick-boxers to style Mano. She wanted him to look agile.

Catrina