Restringing Tales

Okay so I've only ever restrung a doll once and it was because i received him second hand unstrung- and long story short, it was a nightmare that I almost needed to get stitches for.

When I got the doll, I was so ready for the challenge of restringing because A) I loved him so so much and wanted to see him put together so very badly; and B) I had seen some videos that made the process look easy.

Okay. Easier said than done.

At first, I strung him quickly and everything seemed okay- had some complications at first because my restringing tool was too small so I had to switch to a makeshift wire thing + ribbon (which ended up being the best method anyway so hallelujah)- but then when I tried to put the s-hook through the neck, it wouldn't work. Like, at all. And I got so frustrated trying to pull the blasted thing through the head with no avail, scratching the resin almost in actual tears because I didn't know what wasn't working.

At first I thought the S-hook was too large. So I went to the store to look for a slightly smaller one and lo-and-behold, the store had nothing. So I went home, still frustrated and tried again- maybe there was another issue I was overlooking- not the s-hook size. So I tried a bunch of things, cross referencing my other doll chateau dolls (oh did I mention this was a doll chateau doll? Yes, skinny and even more difficult! But love him to death.) and finally realized that the knot was above the neck, so of course it wouldn't fit into the head hole.

So it was at the moment that I realized i would have to restring him again after already stringing him. Well this is where everything went south. Turns out UN-stringing the doll is way worse than restringing.

I was eager to get him strung so in my haphazard impatient frenzy, I grabbed the feet and just tried to hold the s-hook with my bare fingers while pulling off the foot (why... just why) and well what do you know- you should NOT hold the s-hook that connects the elastic to the feet with your bare hands!!! Use a ribbon!!! Because when I let go, the hook lodged into my finger and the tension on the elastic was so strong, it pulled right back into the leg, slicing my pointer finger right down the middle on its way.

I just stared at it and went oh crap oh crap this is gonna hurt so bad really soon. I was just so in shock at what had happened. It was basically the equivalent to if you had a fish hook stuck in your finger, and then pulled it down right through your skin. It hurt like crazy, but it didn't hurt as much as it was just so painful to watch happen. I just literally couldn't believe my eyes or think rationally at all.

I really needed stitches for the wound (the finger was cut seriously almost in half- or it looked like it anyway) but I DREAD going to the hospital so I just wrapped it up tight while screaming and kept it bandaged in a make-shift cast for a couple weeks. The skin reconnected on its own.

But boy did I learn my lesson to use ribbon!! Now, if I ever have to restring a doll again (I will avoid it at all costs though), I have a super safe and easy way using a mixture of ribbon, a wire that I shaped into a hook (wire is great because it's malleable and can can shape to fit through oddly shaped limbs), a wrench, chopsticks, and a whole lot of patience a rational thinking.

 

What are good tips to get the perfect tension? I have a floppy girl, but the last one I did she ended up kicky.

 

I hate to say this, but trial and error. I don't think there is a perfect tension? I have friends who like their dolls floppy, whereas if I pick my dolls up from a sitting position and they don't stay in that position they're too loose for me.
Dolls can be too tight - I saw once a million years ago that if you can't pull a limb out at least a cm (I usually attempt two cm just in case) the doll is too tight, so that's my general rule.

Also keep in mind, poor posing might not even be the result of string tension at all, it could be the size of the string is too small or too large, or the string is so old it no longer has any stretch to it.

 

Assembly required for my DV Bethel...I had to string in the wings. The string was bare enough to stretch so I can string both joints. I live alone so noone around to help. I had to lay the doll down on its side and with my foot, push against his back while I used one hand to pull the string and another to put a broken off paintbrush in between the string to keep it in place. I hooked up the other joint and pulled the paintbrush out and was able to put the wings together. That took...a while and never again!

 

I had a lot of luck recently with a bunch of makeshift tools the first time. I got some hemostats to help and used a pretty stiff cord in a loop to guide the elastic through. I looped the end of it over my bed post so I could just brace against the body part to get the right tension, and that worked out pretty well. I had a close call where I almost launched a thigh into my face, but it worked.

Of course, after I finished, I came to find that the elastic I bought was way too weak so I have to do it again anyway when the new stuff arrives.

 

One time, at a meet a good hour and a half from home, my kid delf cherry just... dropped a foot (into water no less). I tend to carry ribbon in my doll carriers in case I need to remove a head or something. Impromptu leg restringing with ribbon that was only barely able to reach, in the grass, with people watching was uh, interesting XD Thankfully Luts old kid delf bodies have a separate string for each leg so only one leg came apart on me.

I've had dolls draw blood before, I've had limbs go flying... I don't usually mind restringing a doll as long as I have the elastic for it, but sometimes I think the doll minds being restrung And for some reason I can never get the tension on my delfs right

 

Thank you, some very good insight...got to pull up the big girl pants and go for it ....

 

Can anyone tell me what size elastic I need to restring a Fairyland Little Fee. I bought some 3.5mm that is way too large, and don't want to do trial and error any more . Thank you!

 

I finally buckled up and took apart my doll chateau Diana so I can customize her...and it was a very traumatic first "restringing" process. I say in quotes because A) I haven't quite finished customizing yet and B) I'm so so scared to even try to restring her!!

I'm not sure if there's a DC doll out there that has smaller limbs/inner channels than a Diana (given, I've only ever seen my own dolls in person). The elastic that came with her was about as thick as said channels, and somehow they not only managed to double it up but ALSO get knots in the correct places...I was honestly baffled trying to take her apart. And THEN came the lower torso. I made the mistake of trying to go quickly and not using tools, and the elastic broke. No biggie, right? It'll make it easier to pull out! Wrong. So, so wrong. The frayed and broken knot got stuck inside of the extremely narrow channel of one of the thighs. And it was wedged in there GOOD. The only ways in were through one of the thigh channels or through the very long and skinny torso. It took me almost 2 hours of fiddling and tears to get the knot out, at which point I discovered i was WAY bigger than I thought, and frayed to hell and back. A HUGE mess, tbh.

I have some slightly smaller elastic for her though, and I'm hoping stringing her a little less tight than DC does will help in the long run...but I'm also hoping I never ever have to restring her again after this. Probably not the best first doll to try restringing tbh lol

 

I'm waiting on my first BJDs in the mail and honestly...this is the thing I'm scared of the most is the stringing. I'm pretty good at puzzles so I think I should be able to figure out even more complicated dolls *looks at DC Ela and sweats*
But its the idea of the tension failing or worse being too tight and snapping that I have a secret fear its going to do some damage. I know that when they're in my hands I probably will feel less anxious, but I'm glad I have a resource of everybody on DOA to check if something goes wrong

 

Ooo congratulations on your first dolls!! I have owned several dolls for a long time now and just recently restrung one. It was a lot easier than I expected! The hardest part was that its rough on my hands lol. Maybe start with a basic doll and work up to the complex ones I have a girl that came with high heeled legs i want to put on but they're so odd, I'm trying to research it more.

 

Agree with @BebeBjd, restringing isn’t as scary as it seems. Once of the first things I did when I got my first doll was take her apart lol. Best practice is to work on a table or other surface where you can lay out the parts in the order you pull them off and keep the limbs on their proper side. It's very easy to mix up right and left pieces. As far as tension goes, I think it would be very difficult to do it so tight the elastic snaps. There’s a risk of too tight elastic doing damage over long term, but you can redo the string and loosen the tension some of you leave a long enough tail on the ends.

 

I wouldn't say that I dislike restringing as I have restrung friends' dolls without too much issue.
That being said, I have had enough bad experiences restringing my own dolls to the point where I would rather hop the roughly 5hour shinkansen to Tenshi no Sato and have the Dolly Doctor fix the issue than make myself suffer.
The first few times I restrung my FCS girl it went horribly wrong. The first time I accidentally switched her elbow peanuts and thus she had her arms doing all sorts of unnatural poses until I finally realized that it was because they were flipped. Fixing it was annoying but I did manage to get it done without a full restringing so I call it a win.
The second time I had to restring her because of the floating piece inside the Suwarikko torso go loose and she was thus stuck in a perpetual back-bend from the waist up. I tried to restring her twice to fix this problem and both times the piece popped back out again. Thankfully I had a business trip to Kyoto pop up and took the opportunity to get her to to the Dolly Doctor on my one day off while there and all was well and good at the cost of just sore shoulders from lugging her around for 18 hours straight.

Needless to say that the Dolly Doctor is a true angel and I would not hesitate to hand over my girls to him.
He is very kind and polite; any basic maintenance (not Satogaeri, full restringing with new elastic or removing glued in eyes) is free and he even writes up a certificate for the services he performed on that visit with the doll's name for your records!

 

My first restringing was, uh, an adventure I had to do it before I was ready-- as in, I had no tools on hand with which to do it. A weak S-hook unbent and sent the elastic shooting down the poor guy's torso. I sighed in exasperation and ordered some tools.

... and then stubbornly decided no, I can do this now, I have the motivation already so I don't want to wait. So I improvised.

It's worth noting that I also stubbornly decided not to undo the entire doll and make things easier on myself, and instead decided oh I'll just pull the string back up, no big deal.

It was a big deal.

So I grabbed a pair of household pliers to squeeze the S-hook back together and snag the elastic when I managed to pull it back up through the neck hole; a pair of those cruddy headphones they give you on planes with the earbuds snipped off; and a craft beer that I quickly downed for, uh, motivation.

Used the headphones wire to loop through the elastic and pull it back up through the neck. Ended up with two broken nails, headphone wire marks in my fingers, holding the torso by the shoulder with my knee as I yanked. Had a heartbreaking moment where I got the elastic far enough through the neck to pin with the pliers but was half a second too slow in grabbing them and it slipped back down again.

... needless to say, it's nice to have actual tools now For what it's worth though, he's stayed together since then!

Snagged a photo of what the MVP of the event looks like now: the poor headphone wires lol. They worked hard.

 

@Atzend those S hooks breaking/chipping the resin is a fear of mine! Btw I love your pfp lol, that's so cute

 

@BebeBjd I was really quite lucky that the hook didn't chip anything!! I was halfway through pulling it up through the head when the bottom just gave way, any higher and it might've left a chip in the neck hole!
And thanks! Hahaha it's a rattle my son had as an infant that I just started using as my pfp everywhere

 

Thank you so much! This seems like it'd be common sense but you're totally right, it makes a lot of sense to practice with simpler dolls and go from there. Thank you for the advice, I hadn't thought it out that way! One of my new bodies needs some care and her sueding needs to be redone, so that'll be good practice

 

@RmA113 Best of luck!

 

I once punched myself in the face while attempting to put a dolls head back on with a pair of vise grips after restringing it too tightly. I did this in front of a friend even. I'm pretty sure it took everything she had not to bust out laughing.