My first visit in a doll clinic

There are doll 'hospitals' around here. But, honestly? I would NEVER send one of my dolls to a doll clinic run by someone who had never seen or handled them before.
It sounds like your doll just needs to be restrung and restringing is actually VERY simple and part of basic BJD care. There are tutorials on this site that will help you through it and, the great part is, it's free And the next time she needs restrung, (and she will, inevitably, need restrung again in the future), you'll know how to do it yourself

 

There are doll clinics?!
I string Yourik myself, the person I bought him from taught me. He's very tight now

 

Wow a doll clinic, such a good idea! Id like to set one up for BJDs, so people could come and get basic maintenance on their dolls. Do people on the marketplace ever offer this sort of service? I know you can post your dolls for services like modding etc but has anyone ever declared they have a drop in base to do things?
The only experience I have had is in the beginning I hired a face up artist to come to my house and work with me as they painted my dolls so it would be exactly what I wanted.

 

Oh wow, I've never heard of someone doing that. Usually doll clinics seems to be able to paint and restore dolls, but usually I've heard of that being done with older porcelain dolls.

There are definitely a few around the Philadelphia area, but I don't think I'd ever use them for a BJD. Usually I can fix my dolls myself, or if needed, someone else who is more familiar and skilled within this niche of the hobby.


Have you ever needed a doll clinic?
Have you made good experience?
Do you repair your dolls yourself?

 

I've heard of doll clinics (like the hospital for the American Girl dolls), but I've never actually ever seen one. If something went wrong with a doll of mine, I'd freak out, then manage to calm down enough to ask my fellow DoAers for some advice and try to fix the problem myself with their guidance xD

 

I wouldn't be surprised if there was a facility that repairs dolls if you can repair other stuff like furniture or appliances. I have never seen a doll clinic/hospital in my country however, chances are they don't exist here. I hope that my dolls will never reach the stage that requires a visit to the "doctor", that means I'll have to send them overseas to be mended. @_@

 

I find it interesting how many say they would never let someone at a doll clinic who's never seen an ABJD work on their doll. At a doll clinic, working with, repairing, and restoring dolls is what they DO. They are professionals, and most people who run such clinics have been doing it for years, and are very familiar with dolls of all kinds, and typically specialize in dolls that are much, MUCH more fragile than ABJDs.

So they may not have seen a doll that looks like an ABJD before, but they would have seen several that work like them, and be very familiar with the mechanics behind them.

I would feel very comfortable letting someone who works on dolls for a living have a go at making mine work better.

 

I have never used a doll clinic, and although I wouldn't say I would never go to one I think most basic care for BJDs is pretty straightforward, in particular with stringing its a pretty quick and simple job so I would be reluctant to leave my doll there for a week or pay an awful lot for someone else to do it

 

Some people say oh the basic care of BJDs can be done by yourself...but when I started out I had no one to show me and it was a very scarey thing to say restring, hot glue joints, even cleaning...without feeling like you were doing something wrong or going to cause damage. To pay some one else to do this so you can watch them and put the responsiblity in their hands is something I found took the pressure off and I could watch and learn when i hired people to do things for me.
I imagine at meet ups people would be willing to help you out if you didnt know how to restring etc. If i was at a meet i would be happy to help show people how to do things.I think this hobby is all about sharing tips and ideas for me.

 

There are fewer and fewer Dolls Hopsitals in the UK - one service I used to use stopped accepting work recently due ill health of the woman who ran it. Luckily, I seldom need to resort to it as I've been picking up techniques for repair and restoration of all sorts of dolls since I was a child (when I used to help neighbourhood kids out by repairing their broken dolls where I could) so the basics like restringing were already familar to me from my porcelain doll-making well before BJD's came on the market.

Teddy

 

I let my four year old niece play with my Fidelis (AoD SD Boy Hybrid) under supervision. So honestly, a person who is highly skilled, who has probably dealt with thousands of dollars worth of doll in one sitting, and who could probably teach me a thing or two...

...I wouldn't mind having them fix my doll. If I needed them.

But I'm more of a hands on person who enjoys the learning that comes of the small freakouts inherent of BJD parenthood.

Did the arm pop off because the last owner used string and didn't actually string the elastic through it? (It was a tiny, I learned how to restring in the middle of the night.)

Did you get red ink all over your Kid Delf's hands because you thought it was cute to make him hold the pen and it had it on the sides? (Magic Eraser = WIN)

The things you learn through hands on work, such as how to open eyes, how to do face ups, how to tighten strings, how to put in eyes...they make the experience that much more worth it. Sure, they lose a little of their sparkle of "OMG they're breakable", because then you can fix them if they do break, but that means you don't have to be as afraid of dragging them around!

You can clean a scuff and buff out scratches! (Not that I've had those yet. Blankies and clothing are good ideas. XD)

 

I don't know of any doll clinic in my city, but sure wish I could found one. Right now all I have are online researches from BJD owners info and from youtube.

 

Actually, I do have experience with this. I sent the hand of my volks Yukinojo to a doll clinic/hospital run by a lady in Canada to be repaired when his fingers broke. I do not beleive she had worked on a BJD before ethier, her ususal buissness is antique dolls, although she had worked on many other kinds as well (including those made from polyurethane resin). There was a several reasons why I decided to use her instead of someone from the marketplace here. I was not worried about her working on my doll she has done many repairs, some of which are amazing. The result was very very good. Recently, I had to send the hand to someone on here to have the repaired air re-airbrushed and she commented on how beautifully the fix had been done .

A search for 'doll hosipital' on google brings back many results, including many here in the uk. But many seem to have long wait lists (some up to two years long!. It seems there is not many people who do this work anymore, but the skils of those that do are quite in demand.

On a different note, I never really find restringing dolls that easy. I do it now, and i've been able to handle it better after I purchased one of those 'tools' from fairyland, but I still don't like doing it and I often have trouble getting the tension right (how tight/loose)

 

While I have never used such a service I would not hesitate to. You folks think ABJDs are expensive, try some delicate, rare antique dolls! They can cost several thousand dollars! And ball-jointed dolls strung by elastic are nothing new, a good doll clinic or doll hospital should have had experience in restringing them.

 

Even if there was a doll clinic here, I'd still do repairs myself. It's also a way for me to get to know my doll better. ^^

 

The closest thing I've done as far as a "clinic" was sending my RS Lu off to be modded. Though it wasn't a clinic.

We DID send my sister's (off topic) American girl to the "hospital", and she came back looking great!

But with BJDs, I'd rather do my own maintenance. If the clinic guy seems professional and careful with your doll, I wouldn't worry too much. They aren't hard to figure out, so I'd hope anyone with enough doll knowledge to run a clinic would be able to easily figure it out.

 

Here too ._. Wish we did though! Sounds cool AND helpful!

 

Never in my life I heard of a doll clinic o.o I think it's a wonderful idea though I do repair my dolls myself(would that make me a doll nurse? ;P). I only send them away for face ups but I will start making their face ups soon so I I will have no need to send them away ever again. I change my boys' strings every 3 years and I restring them once or twice a year, depending how much I play with them.

 

You are very lucky to have a doll clinic! I never heard of one that is where I live