1. It has come to the attention of forum staff that Dollshe Craft has ceased communications with dealers and customers, has failed to provide promised refunds for the excessive waits, and now has wait times surpassing 5 years in some cases. Forum staff are also concerned as there are claims being put forth that Dollshe plans to close down their doll making company. Due to the instability of the company, the lack of communication, the lack of promised refunds, and the wait times now surpassing 5 years, we strongly urge members to research the current state of this company very carefully and thoroughly before deciding to place an order. For more information please see the Dollshe waiting room. Do not assume this cannot happen to you or that your order will be different.
    Dismiss Notice
  2. Dollshe Craft and all dolls created by Dollshe, including any dolls created under his new or future companies, including Club Coco BJD are now banned from Den of Angels. Dollshe and the sculptor may not advertise his products on this forum. Sales may not be discussed, no news threads may be posted regarding new releases. This ban does not impact any dolls by Dollshe ordered by November 8, 2023. Any dolls ordered after November 8, 2023, regardless of the date the sculpt was released, are banned from this forum as are any dolls released under his new or future companies including but not limited to Club Coco BJD. This ban does not apply to other company dolls cast by Dollshe as part of a casting agreement between him and the actual sculpt or company and those dolls may still be discussed on the forum. Please come to Ask the Moderators if you have any questions.
    Dismiss Notice

Restringing for the First Time...

Jun 16, 2017

    1. Alright everyone, I finally got the guts to restring my doll (who had grown super floppy) after putting it off for 3 years. She's strung a bit too tightly now and it took me a pretty long time to do it, but the results are still much better than what she was like this morning.

      Do you guys have any funny or interesting stories about the first time you restrung your BJD? Any horror stories?
       
    2. I've got a great story about the first time I restrung my doll.

      It was my first doll.

      I'd had him for about an hour.

      I accidentally unstrung him in the first ten minutes. :)

      I'd been so nervous about his stringing--he was on a Bobobie body, and at the time they shipped them loosely strung to prevent damage. I knew this, and I'd been recommended how to easily tighten the strings, but I was still a bit nervous, and I guess that might be what caused me to, while retying the elastic after tightening it up, accidentally let go of one end... and since BBB bodies (at least then) didn't have S-hooks, that meant there was really no way for me to restring with that elastic. I carefully tied his foot and leg back on, went out to get some elastic from JoAnn's, and looked up a guide on how to restring a doll when I got back.

      Let me tell you, though, after that experience? I haven't been nervous about restringing any of my standard-type dolls since! (I'm a bit nervous about my Eudora and Rus, mostly because quadruped stringing is a bit different from biped stringing, but I'm still going to do it. :) )
       
      • x 2
    3. Okay, so my most recent doll has a jointed.... package, right? And it's held together with its own loop of elastic.

      So I take my boy apart to put him back together, and when I get to his junk, its....loose. So I'm finding with resin junk for like ten minutes before I realize....I'd used the arm elastic instead of the Junk eleastic.
       
      • x 2
    4. The first time re-stringing my very first doll was both exciting yet annoying when I look back at the experience.

      Long before I got my doll, I had decided that I was going to try my hand at a feceup and body blushing. I read plenty of articles and watched any available videos.

      When I unstrung my ResinSoul Feng. I made sure to take step by step pictures. I also took video, I separated pieces by left and right side, I labeled the pieces for each side. I placed pieces in separate containers...

      I mean, I was absolutely paranoid!

      The funny thing is, I ended up not needing any of the extra steps I took. Re-stringing my first doll became kind of an intuitive process because Resin Soul bodies are pretty simple and straight forward.

      Later though, my struggle came when I began switching the pieces to some of my Iplehouse dolls, or I had to figure out the correct way to set it. :lol:

      Now a days, I'm more comfortable re-stringing, even when it becomes a real pain. ;)

      You know, I only have one doll with a poseable penis, my Ringdoll Kirin, and I feel so silly adjusting the extremely thin elastic.:XD:
       
      #4 Lady Alexiel, Jun 17, 2017
      Last edited by a moderator: Jun 17, 2017
    5. Horror story? Why, yes. (edit): It was the first restring, I remembered wrong. She remained unstrung for quite awhile so it felt like the second time. Taking her apart was the easy part so I thought putting her together would be, too. I tried using a wire to pull the string through a channel and it got stuck... so I yanked... and yanked.. (obviously should have clued in at some point) until it finally gave way, really, really quickly. The wire pierced all the way through the tip of my finger that was holding the leg. In one side, out the other. I don't even think it hit me what happened, I just kinda stared at it for awhile and then the panic sunk in. O_O So yeah. Lesson learned the hard way. Nowadays I stick to only using ribbon or threads, and it's alright. :P (sorry if that was graphic, but you asked for horror so there you have it)
       
      #5 Monaudious, Jun 17, 2017
      Last edited: Jun 17, 2017
    6. Oh my goodness, all of your stories about restringing are so entertaining, thanks for sharing everyone!! And tbh I actually had no idea that doll junk could be strung so that's.. interesting - I guess you learn something new every day!
       
    7. I need to restring my doll she has a leg that jumps up randomly. I'm SOOO nervous about messing up or worse breaking her. These stories get me so nervous lol. I'll get to her at some point. 0_0
       
    8. Two quick stories:

      Ok, so this first one is not technically re-stringing, but I'll let you be the judge of that. My RingDoll guy has strung junk, so when I went to blush him earlier this year I tried to remove the elastic, but the damn thing just would not come off the little hook inside the body. So I ended up spraying him with MSC and blushing his torso piece entirely strung...he was uh...standing to attention the entire time. :lol:

      Second story happens at a meet where a friend his complaining her doll is kicky on one side and totally floppy on the other. I said it's likely a knot caught in a joint and asked if I could take a look, she said sure and that she's never restrung a doll before so I can go ahead. So I pull apart the doll...then realise I didn't have my stringing kit with me to get the doll back together. So using several pieces of cutlery, a pen, my own fingers (R.I.P.), and a hair tie, I put the little guy back together. Given I was surrounded by doll people I kind of forgot were also in a public restaurant, and passers by were utterly mortified.
       
      • x 1
    9. OMG, my very first time was horrible, I was restringing my Unoa's arms and her torso escaped from the elastic while I was holding her arms. It escaped, hit my finger to finally fell to the floor. In the end, I almost broke my finger and my Unoa torso....
       
    10. I'm not sure if it's gonna be funny, interesting or horrible... but wow, a Dollstown 18yrs took me one and a half hour to restring, because the stringing was so unusual to me! I mean, I do LOVE maintenance things like stringing, hot glue sueding, cleaning, but all dolls I've disassembled had hooks on their feet, so I started from neck to feet. This body had no hooks on feet, so I had to start there and go up to the neck. It was actually the first time I needed someone else to help me with pulling strings, holding body parts and all. And in the end I was like "I'm queen of restringing", so proud and all XD
       
    11. I am not sure if this was the very first time I restrung a doll, it was very close to the beginning of my hobby.
      So, I received a second hand doll in the mail. To save on shipping, he was taken apart and sent unstrung. I open up the package and take out all the parts, all excited to put my new doll together. Then I realize, they have not included his elastic in the package and I don't have anything on hand. Ffffff, I have to wait until I get more elastic.

      When I finally got the elastic, I measured it out and tested the length, and it seemed okay. I start pulling the elastic through, but when I get to the head I just can't seem to pull it enough to get the S hook in place. So I enlist my GF to help me with the pulling. Then we are both holding this doll, and pulling and pulling, and it just won't budge another cm. SO, we get long piece of nylon twine, loop it through the elastic, and tie the twine to a heavy table. With the table on one end, and the two of on the other, we played tug-o-war until the elastic gave a little and we jammed the S hook in. You'd've thought the doll would be good to go, but sure enough he still managed to be a little floppy. >_<

      I remember reading on DoA once that someone managed to shoot their doll's arm out of a second story window while restringing for the first time. Glad it wasn't me! haha
       
    12. My souldoll girl came to me strung so tightly that her hand shot across the room when I tried to bend the wrist joint.

      Followed by the rest of her arm landing in my lap.

      I managed to get her restrung, but she's still too tight to keep her arms straight. I'm a bit scared to try again...
       
    13. I remember when I first restrung Mio (minifee Chloe) was telling my mum how anxious I was and she was really against it all the "what if you can't put her back together " but I thought she's not much of a good doll to me if she can't pose, possibility is a priority to me as I'm really hands on.Anyway I remember using string and a bobby pin forgetting that the parts had an R for right and a L for left and doing it all wonky, not to mention the string I used wasn't long enough so I cut my fingers pretty bad trying to pull the body parts from the string to the elastic, anyhoo I eventually succeeded and don't regret it one bit for me its all part of the bonding experience.
       
    14. My first time restringing was a nightmare, and poor Johnny is still reeling from the fallout...literally. I don't have a proper tool to help me pull and hold the strings so I had to use a crochet hook and a shoelace. Shoelaces are not bad for pulling, by the way. Then the knots were off-center and refused to pull through Johnny's skinny neck, so that was a problem. THEN I discovered that the string was tangled and making one side too tight, so I had to take Johnny's head off and do it all over again. The whole time I was terrified that I'd either break my doll or lose my grip and pop myself in the face. It took an hour and a half and even though the AC was going full blast I was dripping with sweat when I was done. To top it all off, I didn't get an internal piece placed correctly and I have to fight with Johnny to get his back straight. Y'all undoubtedly know about kicky joints; usually it's arms and legs, but Johnny has a back that's kicky now. I wish I'd left him alone, because he didn't even need that restringing to begin with!
       
      #14 RagingMoon1987, Jun 19, 2017
      Last edited: Aug 20, 2017
      • x 1
    15. It was about two years in the hobby before I ever restrung a doll. It seemed so scary and complicated and what if I broke one?? Well, one day my friend came over and told me that we were going to restrung Loki because he was so floppy, he couldn't even stand up. So she showed me how to do it on one of my dolls, then walked me through it on another and....it was ridiculously easy. I could not believe I stressed over something so simple for so long!
       
    16. I am a coward, nine years in the hobby, and I have never re-strung a doll. I make doll clothes for a friend who re-strings my dolls for me.
       
    17. I recently got my hands on a centaur doll had to string on the legs myself when it arrived...It was an absolute nightmare! The hooves didn't have hooks and instead just had this weird notch you had to slip over the string, which didn't hold it in place at all. It was just me sitting there for an hour struggling to fit these things in without them snapping off. :shudder Once it was done I swore to never unstringing that doll again....:abambi:
       
    18. The first time I restrung one of my dolls went just fine - in fact, I felt a bit silly for putting it off as long as I had. The first time I restrung someone else's doll? Not so much. A girl in the local comm had a floppy boy she was afraid of restringing herself, so I volunteered to do it for her. He was a kicky, floppy mess. I was taking him apart while trying to hold a conversation with a friend when he managed to pitch a foot, which bounced off my dining table, ricocheted off the wall, and ended up somewhere under the couch, terrifying my poor cats in the process. Luckily there was no damage, and the friend who observed the whole thing was sworn to secrecy. I did not think kind thoughts about that doll!
       
    19. I had experience restringing antique dolls long before BJDs came along. The elastic thru channels mechanism of articulation was borrowed from 19thC. French and German dolls. I do think BJD cam be harder to string though. They require/will tolarate much tighter tensions to hold poses better and are solid aside from narrow stringing channels unlike antiques which are basically hollow so your range of stringing tools is much narrower.

      I did break the crowns off my front teeth once restringing an antique doll once. And I've split the skin on my index finger open a couple times pulling on BJD elastic!
       
    20. My first restring was last month, I was scared but finally I won...
      But my doll is know too string ! :x and so she kick me *_*