Re-shelling... Are they the same?

Please delete if in the wrong place

How do you feel about reshelling one of your dolls?

For instance, if your first doll's character is one you are very close to, but the body itself is terrible at posing, and is just a hastle to work with. Would you have any regrets/objections to buying a new, more agile body for the doll?

(When I say doll here, I mean the character the doll represents. Body and Doll are not interchangeable .)

Tell me your thoughts here, DoA...I'm going through a crisis .

 

I had this problem with a doll of mine. She is supposed to manage poses beyond just plain standing/sitting, but is single jointed, because I got her the body perfect for her character and not specifically for posing. Wiring and hot glue helped, though. I didn't have to re-shell her. I think I couldn't do that with any of my dolls, since I grew so fond of their bodies despite their flaws. ^^

 

I've already tried wiring, and hot glue sueding, and she is currently strung with SD string even though she is an MSD. The body was the first one I ever owned, but it is also very damaged (staining, scratches, which are from the previous owner).

I used to think I would never do this to my dollies, but I'm begining to have a change of heart.

 

Oh, well stains and scratches are a different matter. :/
Personally I'd try to find a solution for that like baths, sanding, filling and the like. But when you already consider reshelling it might be for the best. I don't know. :/

 

I do believe there's a thread simillar to this but ehhh...
Personally, I don't mind posing too much (all I want from my dolls is for them to be able to slouch). That said, to me it is only the head that matters. The bodies can come and go if they get old/broken/anything, really ^u^ if someday I'll want all my dolls to have the best posing, I'll just buy them all new bodies

 

I have no problem with it at all ^^ If I've tried every option to get the body the way I want it and it just hasn't worked, and there's another body out there that offers more possibilities... I'd go for it!
I had this same problem with my Selkie's body. He was on a JDF body which is properly badly engineered but looks really cute and is aesthetically perfect for him. I ended up modding almost all the joints in his body, carving them and sueding them, then restringing him, and next I'm going to try wiring him. We're getting there the reason I haven't sold is becaused it's a really cute little body and I haven't tried all the options yet! He poses way, way better than before so I'm onto a winner I think.

 

I have reshelled one of my dolls from a Dolkot Yun/JID hybrid to a smaller Latidoll Blue Rei/JID hybrid, and so far it has worked out wonderfully! I think it's all about what specific thing holds the character of your. For some it's a certain facial feature like slanted eyes, for others it might be a certain pair of eyes that can turn any doll into their character. For me, the dolls personality was definitely in the buff JID body, so changing heads was not a problem at all (although I must say they have similar pouty mouths). I was also able to get the exact same color of eyes in a smaller size and could simply take in his fur wig, and there he was again! But I think reshelling it to a non-muscular body wouldn't work for him, so if I am ever going to upgrade him from MSD to SD I know what to look for!

So, in short, try to think what makes your character. Is it the eyes? The wig? Certain clothes? Then looking for a similar mold or just a mold with the same 'feel' might be a bit easier. Another tip is not to sell the original doll yet so you can always go back, but that might not be possible financially.

 

I've done this a couple of times and honestly, it's worked most of the time. My Lucifer has had 3 different shells so far and I just sold his third so I can buy a forth, and every time with him, it's worked perfectly with no problem. My Beelzebub has been through 2 different shells and is currently waiting to be bought so I can get his third. Both Beelz and L were two big in their last incarnations so I really had to scrap trying to love the EID size and move back into something I'm more comfortable with.

ANYWAY I'M RAMBLING.

When this *didn't* work was when I tried to reshell my first doll. My homme Ducan has been through a lot, but I was in love with him from the start. When he arrived he was too pink and too heavy and too X, Y, Z. So when the opportunity came along to pick up my LLT vincent, I jumped at it. Put it on a RS body and spent the next year trying like hell to fit the old character into the new body with no luck. Despite him looking more like said character, he just didn't fit. Thankfully I still had my Ducan and now J is back in his old body and I feel like I have an old friend back.

 

i'm actually going to be doing this for the first time pretty soon. i had an AIL Elijah boy who i absolutely loved. but his character, Augustine, i love more, and i felt it was time to for him to "grow up". also, the AIL sculpt left out a lot of what his character seems like to me, so i'm hoping his new shell will be more "him" and allow me to expand his character more...

the way i feel about it, is that Augustine's "spirit" lives in me, since he is a person from my imagination. and while augustine awaits his new body, his spirit just kind of hovers around me...but when the new body arrives, i'm hoping he'll just sort of take to it right away. sounds a lot like possession, but you know. i think of it as a good thing. ^_^

 

I'm kind of playing with the idea of re-shelling my current doll. When I first saw her she was completely perfect for the character I had in mind. Large eyes, a bit slow looking and really adorable. At this point I wanted her to be child-like and have a kind of innocence about her and she displays that perfectly.

I absolutely love my Crobidoll Marisol, but I'm wondering if another sculpt would work "better" for my character. However, I've had this doll for two years and still love playing with her even with the few things she has, so I'm not discontent with her current shelling, I'd just like to see something a bit more realistic. I'm considering getting an Iplehouse JID Amy in light brown.

I don't think I'm going to sell my Marisol though because she's just right as a more cartoony, animated version of my character. Plus there's no guarantee that Amy would work out, but I'd at least like to give it a try, especially since I think the Amy sculpt is absolutely adorable.

When people re-shell do they always usually sell the first doll? I guess it would make sense in that it would potentially help pay for the other doll, but are there individuals who have been content with their current doll, but just want to try out something completely different and have kept both versions?

 

I have re-shelled quite a few now and I try never to use the sale of the original doll to fund the new version. I just find it more stressful and I second guess my decision. It's much easier to let the first version go if I can sit the two heads next to each other and consciously pick the new one as the best choice ( or not, as has sometimes been the case).

 

I usually sell the first doll/head/body if I'm sure it's not working out for me and I don't want to keep it. I also usually only reshell characters when I feel their current shell isn't working and I wouldn't go back to it anyway if new shell isn't working out either.
For one character I bought two new dolls to try something different, but in that case I was completely happy with his first shell, so I kept all the versions I liked.

 

I've re-shelled several, but if I love the first doll as well, I keep it and change the character to something else. If I don't love it, out it goes.

 

I think the character presents the face of doll. Body is second and less important. And it is almost always hidden under clothing.

 

I started out with Obitsu as well. One by one each character has been reshelled but only after I look forever and a day for the mold that matches what I want for them. If I can't find it then I leave it be. My first Obitsu to be reshelled was Si'or. He went from obitsu to ssin then finally to the ws breakaway he was meant to be. My characters have a tendency to evolve rather than grow so for me it is easier to reshell then use the previous shell as a child of theirs perhaps.

 

I tried reshelling a couple times and in the end it never worked out for me. I just ddnt feel as attached and the character didnt seem the same to me anymore. It was odd and I haven't tried again.

 

There's one doll/character that I reshelled several times.

As I got closer to what I wanted aesthetically, I found I also grew more distant from the character. So in the end, I guess I'm in a situation where I totally still love the doll itself (much improved from what I started with), but the character has more or less "checked out". I'm not all that bothered by it, since for me the hobby is more about the dolls and less about the characters in there.

 

It's no problem for me, because I don't see the dolls as the character, but as a representation.
At the moment I've reshelled Gerda, who used to be a MiniFee Chloe, now she is a Napidoll Chesi. She is out for face-up at the moment, so I can't say how I feel about it yet, but I think I'll like her more in this new size.

 

I have considered re-shelling my first dolls an Iplehouse Tatiana (who was a bit of an impulse buy) into a different dolls, most recently I considered an Onlydoll (don't remember the sculpts one was MSD the other was SD) and I can't seem to bring myself to do it. I just feel like I won't have the same connection. Perhaps she needs a new new face-up.