Soom Idealian 75cm Discussion Part 10

@overlordu - finally found the Dollpire hands! not sure how they got in with the wigs LOL. Was able to dig out my Dollzone B75-001 (first edition 75 class) to show his hands, he's tan so please forgive the tone difference.

Can't get to any SJ or Iple HID right now, but I feel like both of those were larger squarer hands. so if you're looking for slender I'm fairly certain they won't be it. If there's some other hands you're interested in seeing, I might have more... I sort of tend to collect them somehow LOL I got a hand problem. (I do have DZ's B70-004 long nail fixed monster hands, they have a 7cm wrist opening.)

both the Dollpire and the Dollzone hands fit in his wrists really well. Dollpire hands have the same type of built in hooks as Soom, so the elastic could stay the same length. DZ's needs an S hook.

Here is my Lim Hydrangea NS from the 2021 order period.

Spoiler: Just the hands together

thanks for making me get out Lim, he's so beautiful.
Side quest: I need to fix his sealant before the crackling creeps even more, if anyone has more tips & tricks to offer than what I'm already seeing in the maintenance channel please feel free to DM or link me the company faceup crackled, which is a complete shame as it is gorgeous and I'm not really wanting to wipe it.

 

@Grimalkin Ohhhh these pictures are perfect!! Thank you so much! Omg I am 100% gonna get those Dollpire hands, they look exactly how I was hoping for

Also your Lim is gorgeous! I’m sorry that his faceup is cracking… I used to think there was no way to fix that but I recently saw a post on instagram about a method to reduce it. They weren’t very descriptive and the account is private, but they carefully dabbed some kind of “hobby thinner” on the cracks, let it dry, dabbed more etc until I guess the sealant melds back together or something? I didn’t research it since I don’t have any cracked faceups but maybe that’s a starting point for you to find out about it. Thinner is of course capable of dissolving sealant so I would not try it without researching first!

 

After some confusion and annoyance I'm bringing home a Storm from this last order period. Only my second Idealian.

 

Question, but has anyone had any luck with getting their Sooms to stand well with wiring?

If so, what gauge of wire have you used, and how exactly did you wire them to get them to do standing poses better?

With a quick restring, I've finally managed to get my Sullivan to at least sit without a heavy slump, but standing has been an issue... I've also noticed his ankles are quite loose and unstable, so I was thinking sueding them could maybe be helpful?

 

@OmitIdentity I believe @Setsura has wired most if not all of her Idealian boys. Here's a post where she mentions it a bit.
https://denofangels.com/threads/soom-idealian-75cm-discussion-part-10.842434/page-9#post-13121270

 

Hmm I'm looking over the page, I see a lot of good info from Setsura, but not too much on wiring or posing Sooms better - If anything, it sounds like Setsura doesn't find them to be an issue? Unfortunately for me in North America for now, I don't have access to professional wiring/sueding services...

 

Here's her post where she mentions it briefly.

 

Thanks so much! I was also wondering how you would stick the wire through - like any idea if it's a long U through the upper torso and legs or just a U through the legs? If there's any previous mentions of that, would be helpful!

 

I haven’t yet done it to an idealian, but I have a slight variation on wiring, where I run wire from the wrist on one side to the ankle on the other, and the crossover helps a little with posing torsos. The only downside is you have to use narrower wire because the arm channels are smaller, but it worked great in my dollstown bodies, and a couple of my weird hybrid bodies.

 

@Grimalkin - we have the same Lim, except that I ordered mine in tawny resin! Mine also has very terrible faceup crackling, it began within a couple months of receiving him and is now almost entirely flaked away. I'd never had this happen with a company faceup before. It's my hope to eventually get him a new faceup, but I'm also hoping to commission tattoo work for him and as ever, my wants and fantasies drive up prices, alas~

 

@Nissa - this series really were such beautiful Lims. I wonder if the faceup artist had a materials issue or the wrong weather for the whole batch. I'm the second owner and knew he had the issues - no worries there - I was just hoping I could fix him up and try to preserve his faceup. i've had him wrapped in soft tissue and a face cover with a desiccant pack near his head to try to slow it up. I so know how you feel about the commission work, so many dreams! it is so worth it though when it looks how you wanted

@overlordu - a little late reply, I was trying to find some details on the hobby thinner method you mentioned out in the wild, but not having a lot of success - need to rework my search criteria maybe I had also seen some mention of light sanding then melding with more MSC, but the flakes are pretty large, i'd worry the moisture will creep under even more. (edit - many report this method cracks again, especially with the new MSC formulas) I'm glad the hands might work for you too my Lim may well just appropriate those Dollpires for good.

@OmitIdentity - i've used a 14 gauge aluminum wire in some other equally floppy dolls, the arms seem most successful for the ones what liked to punch themselves in the face. but wire in the legs and tight pants can do some good, but i've still never been able to make myself trust an ID75 standing without a stand.

@Chameleon - i'm very interested in trying the crossbody wiring pattern now, thanks for mentioning it!

 

Ooooh that is an interesting concept....Can I ask what gauge you've used for a dollstown body? I have never though about cross-wiring a doll body, but that is kinda like... why didn't I think of this earlier!? It's brilliant (at least in theory in my mind, right now!)

Noted, this was super helpful too, thank you! (And yes, I'm thinking about keeping my boy in tighter pants for that reason LOL) I'll have to go into the hobby store some time soon and look for a few different gauge sizes - Just wondering but how do you cap the ends of the wires? Or do you just bend them in so they don't scratch at the resin on the inside?

 

i've sanded the thicker gauges, curled over the thinner ones where the channels allow, and used painter's tape on the ends. Have also been thinking about testing out the plasti-dip material in white to hopefully not transfer any colour.

I also bought some solid wire that was coated in white insulation material and that was pretty efficient too, but harder to get the right size/flexibility (or lack thereof) without going to the hardware store in person with the doll. needs to be solid wire and not stranded so can be less choices available.

if you haven't considered it, the hot glue sueding isn't difficult, just messy. I have some of the thin chamois to actually glue in, but just haven't taken the time yet to play around with it. some dolls I've gotten came that way and sometimes the edge of the suede shows. a couple had some moleskin strategically placed, especially in hip joints too. I'm always impressed when i string a doll up or right out of the box it just stands on its own after so many of the big boys being "recliners"

but there's something to be said about getting a natural slump or side curve/lean to a torso pose due to a looser string and the engineering of the joints being less ideal for standing.

 

These are great tips, and I am likely going to bring my doll out to the hobby/crafts and hardware store when I finally hit these up so I get the right gauges!

Pardon my English (French?), but what do you mean by "thin chamois"? Originally I was thinking of at least sueding my Soom's ankles as they're super duper loose and flop from one side to the next, but not sure if sueding the thigh-to-hip socket would help - I've had thick hot glue sueding actually prevent dolls from even sitting after it I'll have to probably go thin and build up to avoid this problem...

I do totally agree with you on the whole loosely strung big boys being FANTASTIC bed and leaning posers though, I will say my Soom does pose excellent when sitting or laying down, which is great for some staged indoor shoots and possibly some outdoor ones (though I'd love to be able to do some adventure poses with him as well some day!

 

No idea what gauge it was, my apologies!! I bought it at Michael’s, as florist wire, so not huge!!

 

chamois in this context is a natural leather, available very thin pile (thickness). what I've got is 1mm at the thinnest area, maybe 2.5mm at the thicker end. it's smooth/tanned leather on topside and fuzzy suede on the back. I recommend undyed or grey/white to prevent transfer to the resin. I got some scrap bundles from a leather supplier on ebay a few years ago, but there are probably some online sources like hobby or leather supply shops, maybe fabric stores too.
there is also a vegan version of it, but I've not sourced it.

there's a lot of methods discussed in the workshop/maintenance section here on DOA, some folks use little swatches and others completely line the joints. I don't think any of my Soom's have hot glue in the hip either. it's a really smooth joint interior so I had been more inclined to wire it.

 

For those who are wondering about wiring, I have previously written a tutorial, but you'll have to mind the Korean. I don't have any intentions to rewrite it in other languages because I find hitting the translate button to rather be sufficient enough.

You can find the link to it on my twitter account here: https://x.com/parkseulhwa/status/1515052448280289285?t=UazzFiWoQA2t1XxqH94cPA&s=19

I am going to note that the majority of 'problems' with ID75s can be fixed with a little sueding/hot glue and a slightly tighter restring. I suggest that you handle and play with your dolls a lot and figure out the core balance points. Balance and understanding his handling will take you most of the way after a good restring - the rest is only to further make it easier.

No wire was involved in the below pose (yes, he can hold it for an extended period of time):

 

Okay, I'll keep florist wire in mind, thank you, Chameleon!!

Ohh this is interesting! I remember vaguely seeing workshop posts about this when I was actively lurking here years ago (before i went on hiatus), I should probably revisit some of those threads, they were full of good stuff (hopefully the photos are still up for some of the tutorials too..!)

If you do happen to come across a good supplier for sueding online, please do share a link here!

Wow, this is incredible, thank you, Setsura!

If you've shared this before on here, sorry to have missed it! I just saved a copy on my GDrive and will also do more experimenting with my Soom as well...!

 

Only chiming in to second @Setsura - I've found the ID75 body to pose quite well, the elastic string just needs to be adequately tight yet maintain its elasticity (vs. being at maximum stretch with no elasticity left - this can also be a problem with any larger doll due to their weight/balance points).

I also keep my dolls on doll stands vs. sitting, which seems to extend the elasticity life of their string. When I suede dolls, I use genuine thin suede and white archivist (alkaline free) glue, because it can be removed easily at a later time. Sometimes hot glue is more challenging to remove and can prove frustrating.

 

I've definitely had frustrating situations where I can't remove hot glue sueding, I definitely would like to try genuine suede - is there any brand or supplier you would recommend using based in the US?

Also how often would you recommend changing out the elastic? I think one problem is I do need to change out his string as it's over a few years old and seems to run its course with elasticity.