Were you nervous your first time? (Modifying/changing your doll, that is.)

Yes, I was a little nervous the first time I did a face-up & changed hands on a doll but I couldn't deal with those fist hands on my Elfdoll specials & several face-ups looked nothing like the promo pics. It seems that my courage arrives late at night so after midnight is when you'll find me painting or messing with body parts. Except for eyes, those I generally change as soon as the doll gets here. I almost never like default eyes as they don't have enough iris detail to please me.

 

To be totally honest... No. I got Jay blank, nothing on her, so if I were going to do anything to her, I had to be brave and take her apart. The first day I got her, she was immediately hoof-modded, body blushed, and faceupped. It was kind of crazy, how nonchalant I was about it all. Even when she fell off my drafting table and crushed her nose, it was more the feeling of "dangitall, now I've got to fix this" and busted out the sandpaper.

It's crazy. I knew how I wanted her to look, and I knew that I had enough knowledge from reading tutorials and whatnot here to do it... so I did it.

 

I was nervous just posing my girl! But, than buying her a new outfit I had to take the hands off, and in the midst of the process I made her S hooks, because redoing the string took a lot of MUSCLE! Which I didn't have...

And than the other day, I took her all about to re-string her (Just to see why everyone hated it...) And because I didn't have the proper tools it was a bit harder, and took much longer too. Plus the holes are so small it was tough to pull the string through, or get the knot into the middle of the arms...I might have to do it one more time... (Had to redo her legs twice because I messed up)..But she was sure durable XD...

And I think I now have bonded with her

I might be too nervous enough to spray her with UV cut...though...

 

I was not very nervous when I modded my first doll. This is mostly because I've had projects where i only get one shot to change/mod/fix.

I also love my dremel tool.

 

I was absolutely horrified the first time I unstrung my girl to adjust her elastic. I put it off for weeks, and then when I unhooked her and suddenly found myself with my extremely-expensive doll in two pieces I started panicking. @___@

And then, once I calmed down and finished what I was doing, it wasn't so bad after all! :3

 

I finally drummed up the courage to take off my Miryu's old horrible eyelashes today, after a year of putting it off. I think this proves that if I ever have to restring her I will absolutely go to pieces! She does look better now though

 

Ok, so I finally took the plunge: I did my first mod to one of my dolls. I've done face-ups before, but I don't really consider those mods as they are not permenent. So my first mod? Toe separation. Yeah, I know, hardly the most impressive mod I could do, but give me a break, it was my first mod and I didn't want to try anything too difficult. Plus, it needed to be done. Temperance (iple Harin) had some horrible duck-toes. I had to get rid of that webbing in between her little digits. Also, I wanted to make sure that she could wear some zoori I bought for her.

But I was so scared! I am no stranger to an exacto knife, but I was still so scared. I had my normal paranoia of 'OMG, am I going to cut off one of my finger?' followed closely by 'OMG, am I going to cut off one of her toes?' and then 'OMG, she must be in such pain right now'. I was just so terrified that I would do something to horribly disfigure her cute little toes. I was also scared about hurting her! (Yes, I know, she's just a doll, but she's 'real' to me.) I was pleased with how it all turned out and how not difficult it was to get the job done, but it still made me so nervous. It really makes me wonder how people can do this on a regular basis. I'm so afraid Temperance hates me that I never want to do another mod again. although, I bet she feels better now that her toes have wiggle room.

 

The first thing that could maybe be called a "mod" was when I pierced the ear on my DZ Mo. That's as far as I've gone, though. I was a little nervous, but I had made sure to find the smallest drill bit possible, and it worked out perfectly. I've since pierced three more of my dolls' ears. And it was weird, I, too, had this feeling of "omg this is taking 5 minutes, it must hurt..." xD

 

My first mod was a dreaming Lishe head, and I was very nervous to open her eyes. It took me about 6 weeks to complete, because I would shave off a little, then stand back for awhile (days!) to see if she needed more. In the end she turned out great, so I'm glad I took the plunge.

Now when I do mods, I'm still a little nervous, because I don't want to go overboard, but I have a lot more confidence than I used to. I still take my time, because I'd rather take longer and not make a mistake.

 

I opened dreaming eyes for my first mod. I used to make porcelain dolls and was accustomed to opening eyes, but I was very aware that a slip of the scalpel and I would be out $100, so I cut very slowly and carefully, a little at a time.

 

My first Mod was opening a closed eye'd doll, sanding his cheeks, his lips, and his nose.

I honestly think it turned out pretty good for my first time, a little rough but passable. A few people at a meet I went to thought he was a Woosoo at first glance which made me pleased. xD

 

I only sanded the ears of my B&G Sapphira. I didn't like the looks of the inside so I decided to sand them off. It was rather scary to start with, I never knew when it was the right time to stop and it was frustrated that I couldn't get the both ears symmetrical (just because the basic ears aren't).
I'm willing to seperate two finger's on each hand aswell, but I'll wait a bit more with that untill I've found enough information or someone who wants to help me xD I don't have spare hands so the loss of a few fingers could be terrible xD

 

first mod did was ear peircings. four in each ear on one msd boy. and anywhere from 1 or 2 in the rest. i wasn't nervous at all or anything.

after that i've dyed dolls, peirced the bridge of one's nose. sanded off faces and completely rebuilt them. eye openings re scuplted ears. scars. so yeah only one i was nervous about was my 3 puki's mouths and that was more about my fingers than their faces.

 

First 'mods' I did were chopping of two fingers of Cicero's left hand and repositioning the fingers of Zana's hand a little. I wasn't really nervous though, 'cause they were only hands. If you ruin it, you buy another one.

The two other mods I'm now doing research for are going to be a lot more difficult and nervewracking.

 

I haven't done any mods yet, but I was a little nervous when I sent my twins off for their faceups...both of them had factory default ones but I knew that for them to be 'right' they'd have to have new ones. Also with Kaia I knew that she needed her scales no matter how nervous I was to give the go-ahead to get them done. So I guess the nervousness was taken care of by the fact that I knew I had to 'put up or shut up' - for my dolls to look like I imagined them, they had to be changed.

 

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I have never been nervous modding a doll. I think I am pretty skilled when it comes to that sort of thing. :B Haha. Thanks Morelikeaprincess. :P

 

The first mod I had to do was to apply eyelashes to Persia (DIM 1/3 boy-type A) and he was my first and only BJD at that time. I was familiar with tacky glue due to some constructionwork on dolls houses so it was the first thing I grabbed. Than some tooth picks, a pair of tweezers and a fine little pair of scissors plus of course the lashes! I had them done in no time, to my surprise

To string a doll is something I know from the antique dolls and that's also the source where I learned how to paint a dolls' face. Still, now I have a commission from a friend and I think that this will be tough because I don't want to mesh up. On the other hand, my friend she loved the little Nano Haruka head I gave (half) a face up. The eyebrows of Nano are still waiting to be painted

So no, I don't really freak out but I do sometimes have some doubts which I think are quite natural

 

I had my first doll over a year before I got the nerve up to unstring him. I'm still nervous every single time I do it to the majority of them. For some reason, the unoa boys, I'm fine with. *shrug* Dunno why.

And faceups! I am always nervous about doing or redoing faceups! I wait until the last possible second to get around to doing them because I am so afraid I'll ruin them with an awful job. But, I've DONE an awful job many times, and I just wipe and do over.
But still... I just kept coating and recoating my Ichigo for about two years, because I LOVED the faceup. I finally redid him this last week or so, because all those layers of MSC were chipping and flaking off, and he'd done a couple faceplants, and the coating had come off his nose, and been off for quite some time. I was afraid he'd end up with a "sunburn" on his nose.
I'm always afraid I'll never be able to recreate a faceup I liked. And, I never am. But I live with it, and get over it to the extent that I don't want to do it again the next time around.
I know, makes noooo sense.

 

Haven't done it yet...haven't even bought the doll I'm gonna mod. But I'm a little worried already about sending him off to be heavily modded when I can't see the process taking place right in front of me. I'll be getting a Limho Mono and I'll want his cheeks sanded, a scar across his right eye, and scarring on his back, a tattoo on his chest, and a very "special" manicure. That's a lot, and I know I'll be biting my fingernails waiting for pics of what's being done to him.

As for my doll right now...I'm terrified of having to restring her.