Your dolls and posing (or lack thereof)

I have the same problem- most of my dolls are terrible posers (usually right out of the box).

However I have learned that sueding, kips and wire are a godsend (thinner floral wire, doubled up for arms). XD Oh and thicker elastic too in the case of my 70cm resinsoul girl body.

Sometimes though it is just they need their elastic tightened and it helps a lot. I would say the only doll that I have that is the best at standing would be my volks sd16. Put her in a pair of high heels and she stands like a rock!
Maybe a close second would be my popodoll 68cm boy body, which I restrung upon buying new from the company and it is overall a very nice body with double joints. Which holds a higher range of many graceful poses. Though the thigh mobility joint is sometimes a pest.

 

I have some wonderful posers and some not so wonderful posers. My Volks dolls have simple single joints but they all hold simple poses really well, so I'm OK with that. My ShinyDolls are the best posers in my crew; they can do all sorts of stuff and they look really natural and graceful. But my Soom Beryl & Shale are terrible! Their arms just flail around and I don't know what to do with those hooves! I'm a big believer in Kips and wiring, though. For Beryl I use heavy gauge vinyl coated wire in her legs to help her stand. Otherwise she tends to collapse under her own weight. Restringing didn't help there.

For photos I've learned how to use a stick (like a chopstick or similar) to help prop up the wobbly dolls. Just take pics from an angle that uses the doll's body to hide the stick.

 

My MSD boy is good at posing when he's wired and freshly restrung...Now he's a couch potato...My MSD girl can stand and do awesome poses, like curling up completely (she has awesome thigh joints) and my Yo-SD is double jointed but she can be quite picky with what poses she takes.

 

I've found with mine that they all have their own little quirks that I need to learn my way around to get them to be good, solid posers. My MNF is by far my most flexible mini, able to fall into terribly natural poses... but I can't get him to stand worth a darn yet! My Bobobie took me about a full year before I found his sweet spot for standing, and that body has had work done to make it a rather solid stander now (which is why it will get a new head now that the head has a new body), but right from the box it was dreadful. My brand-new DollPamm girl is floppy and won't hold her poses quite right yet, but stands easily; my two AoD minis aren't the greatest overall but have some of the nicest wrist and hand positioning of all my minis.

Meanwhile with my tinies, the LittleFees are able to drop into or hold just about any pose I want without any effort. With mobility work, I have my ResinSoul girl standing on one foot and balancing, but her single-jointing still limits her a bit. And my too Soom tinies are just their own special blends of good-and-terrible; Glati's legs are worthless for everything but his arms pose wonderfully, and Yrie's wing-arms do nothing but droop but she's the only doll I own that I'll comfortably leave standing for days at a time.

Ultimately, most of my dolls have needed at least a little mobility work along the way; some of the older ones haven't had it done yet, but I know would benefit from it, and some of the newer ones will be having it done. They also just need to be played with so I can learn their company and individual quirks. The only ones that haven't needed extra work for me have been the FairyLand tinies. (Not the MNF, however; he's going to at a minimum need kips/sueding once he's finished.)

 

My MSD AoD boys are rocks and even nearly 5 years down the road are still solid standers without any sueding, kips, wiring or tightening of their elastics. MY BBD and JeiDoll boys are also very solid standers. My OD Tae... I wouldn't trust him to stay standing for more than 5 seconds on a perfectly level surface (and I'm being generous there). I've re-strung him multiple times (and multiple ways), hot glue sueded ALL his joints and wired his arms and legs. He is still the undisputed world champion of the collapse o-matic knees (tm). My Leeke Khal on the muscle body is a finiky stander (his legs tend to spin in the hip joint) by he looks quite graceful and elegant in poses. My Cherish tiny can actually balance on one foot with a little effort, but my Impl tiny does it even easier. My Doll-Love is a very expressive poser as is my Illusion Spirit and they'll both hold said poses until I'm done with them. My MNF is a good stander/poser but not quite as trust-worthy to be left alone as my AoD boys.

I think it's very true that you need to play with your doll to learn their quirks. Different companies have different mechanisms for jointing and resin formula and that can help or hinder getting a doll to do something. Some of my heavier dolls (relative to size) have a tougher time holding certain poses with their arms than the lighter boys.

 

None of my dolls have been sueded.
My Idealian71 stands great and can hold poses, the Iplehouse EID stands great but is a terrible poser.
I haven't been able to get my Soom new SG to stand but he poses okay, while the old SG body stands well and poses well.
My Peakswoods FOF can stand and poses all right while my Luts TDF Alice can stand but can't do anything else.

EDIT:
I finally sueded most of my dolls. By sueding I meant adding silicone chips and suction caps to the socket areas.
Now all my big boys can hold up their arms without help.
My Soom new SuperGem can finally stand without help as well. I complained to the shop owner that my boy wouldn't stand at all and she suggested that I use silicone chips and suction caps. I looked at her really dumbly so she showed me how to do it. I immediately bought myself some and tried it out. It worked and there I was, blubbering and gushing like a mother who just saw her kid stand for the first time.

 

I've got two Souldoll boys (Vito size and MSD size) and two Resinsoul single-jointed guys, both 1/4 sizes. Needless to say the Souldoll guys poses like bawzes. I could ask them do anything and they are happy to comply. The RS guys on the other hand, are a bit more tricky. However... I love posing my SJ guys! Getting my SD-dolls to pose takes no real effort and they look good doing so - but with the RS guys I really have to work, bend, try, work again, swear, think of something else, try that, growl, go back to the first idea, get some stability in the pose, get the shot before they splay away, and the shot gets GREAT and you feel like a friggin' KING because you made that stubborn body do what they really shouldn't be able to do!

Though I wouldn't be all that happy if I only had these troublesome guys, so a good mixture of good posers and bad posers works great for me x)

Oh, and none of my dolls are hot glued. My RS guys have been restrung with thicker cords to hold poses better, but that's also it :3

 

I sometimes have to do little tricks and some restringing to get some of my dolls posing brilliantly - like my old Bobobie Pandora, that after a restring with thicker elastic I managed to get into an unsupported handstand. With a decent restring, both my ResinSoul boys also managed to fix up their popping chest joint issues.
Though I do have some bad posers, my AoD You still has a popping chest joint, some of my tinies love taking a good ole tumble and kicking their legs out in some kind of protest. Only doll posing I never managed to solve in any way was my old MiniFee, nothing ever worked with getting him posing - no matter what he would still fall over or his arms would drop, I recall him being the cause of an accidental dolly dominoes at a doll meet, where he brought several other dolls down ><
My DBDoll Ronger on the other hand, solid as a rock, right out of the box. Put him in a pose and he'll stay in it, unsupported. Guess that is most useful, I'm a little impatient, though with the rest its more a case of working out how the doll poses well and stick with it. My Dollinian kicks his leg unless its in a specific position, my Bobobie Cookie has to be positioned slightly more stable on the left side due to extra weight on his right. Bit of work but brilliant once its done ^^

 

Patience is key, that is for certain. Sueding can also help a lot. A level surface will be better than, let's say, carpet. Sometimes I cheat a little with the walls / doors / seats. Here's a list of dolls I had the pleasure of dealing with (and they pose on carpet):

Dollzone msd (b45-005 body): she can do many poses and stood straight out of the box. She has had no help whatsoever. She is prone to collapsing sometimes. I really need to secure everything in place. My friend has one with hot glue sueding, but both pose well.
Souldoll Soulkid N.L. boy body: he stood straight out of the box as well, but is very tightly strung and he has limited joints in comparison to my dollzone girl. His aesthetics make up for that. He holds poses really well.
Fairyland Littlefee: great poser. She can stand on one leg, do a high kick, stand on her head, curl up. She does tend to flop her torso backwards. She cannot wear big wigs, because those make her top heavy and posing becomes a real pain then.
Angell Studio yosd: came very tightly strung, with kips. He has hot glue sueding in some places, kips removed (they didn't help much) and strung a little loser. He now poses well.
Boy & Girl yosd: no help. Stood straight out of the box and poses good even today.
Doll Leaves 26cm yosd: needed hot glue sueding to keep his head up and his torso likes to flop about. He can stand on one leg.
Momocolor 26: they pose remarkably well for single jointed dolls. They do have very floppy heads though and they cannot spread their arms out entirely.
Doll Chateau b-body yosd: she can stand, but always in a tower of pisa stance, because one leg is shorter than the other. I need to try it with restringing. Not a great poser, but her aesthetic make up for it.
Limhwa Aria yosd: great looking body that can't be hot glue sueded, because it will ruin her locking system. She can do really elegant and natural poses, but you do need to carefully lock every joint in place. Tends to be floppy.
Luts Zuzu Delf old body: stood straight out of the box and has no help. He isn't really good at sitting naturally though and his single joints make his posing limited.
Peapod Doll mermaid tail: poses nicely, due to the many joints. Hold the poses well, also. No help.
Littlefee on Soom Glati hooves: her hooves are tricky, because I don't want to ruin the body blushing. She prefers her knees to be bend. She can stand pretty well.
Soom Teenie Gem Sammi: stands like a rock because of the fantasy feet, but the arms like to flail around. Also limited posing due to single jointed elbows and knees.
Resinsoul Song msd: he was restrung, hot glue sueded and wired. Posed pretty well after that.
Minifee single jointed body: restrung (because this is an older doll). He stands well, but his single jointed body (especially the torso) is a pain. He cannot slouch and therefore not sit naturally.

 

Obitsu 40 to 50 are great at posing and l would tell people to get one. Sometimes it can be a pain in the butt to find clothes for the in between sizing but it can be done. Every parts of the obitsu's can be replace if needed etc.

 

My KDF has pretty basic posing ability... she's very solid and it's fun to pose her and she holds poses well, even if the range of posing isn't huge... I'd probably have to consider her my most solid stander though!!! She could stand for hours without fear of tipping over.

My MnF girl definitely has the most extensive joint system and of course fairyland dolls are well known for their posing abilities! Mine however has some kind of issue with her leg joints because one leg seems to be longer... the leg parts themselves aren't longer but I believe it's an issue with how the joints on that leg sit, making it uneven to the other leg, so it can be dangerous sometimes to try to get her to stand

I kinda wasn't expecting my AoD mini boy to be such a nice poser because of the price... not that I thought the quality would be poor, but he ended up being really great! I like the way his joint system works a lot (it's not very attractive but it is very functional) and I think the body is wonderful... He's great at standing as well.

Aaaaand my newest girl is on a DT elf body which is beautifully sculpted and has a very very wide range of poses, but ironically... she lacks the basics... she can't stand very well because her ankle joints are... slippery? if that makes any sense, like they don't hold their position very well (which is something that can be very very easily fixed with sueding!!!) but she stands great if she's wearing boots that keep the joints in place... she also can't sit on hard, flat surfaces because of the way her thigh joints and butt are sculpted... other than the fact that she's a fussy sitter and stander, I absolutely love her posing to death

One thing I notice is that often when I get a new doll I'll go "oh the posing is amazing!" when first playing with it, and then after a couple weeks when the frantic "new dolly!" excitement has settled down a little, i've had time to notice any the flaws to the posing ability... and i think this might be a common thing because at first our judgment can be skewed by that factor of excitement and the fact that it can be hard to tell how good a new doll is at posing until you've handled it more

 

I own dolls that are OK posers and some that have known posing issues... I pretty much try to ignore their quirks, thinking that they are what they are. To me, no bjd, or any figure is good enough of a poser for me, so I don't worry about it. (Heck, I sometimes need to get humans into poses and they can't do them, so I'm a bit picky that way. But I'm also realistic, so I don't let it get to me.)

I don't suede or wire or re-string. If I have a doll that holds a decent pose right out of the box, that's just a plus.

I owned CP/Luts Delfs as my first dolls, so they got me used to the ol' kicky-leg problem. I then got a Volks when everyone was marveling at locking knees for the first time, and that was all good, but it's not like they pose much better beyond the lack of kicky-legs (although--just got one of my Volks kipped and tightened up by the Doll Doctor and his arm-posing is a LOT better now).

Most dolls will stand right out of the box. I wouldn't trust them to stay that way, but they definitely stand.

Now, I'm a bit more aware of kicky-arms... That seems to happen more than kicky legs these days, now that most knees have some sort of locking joints.

 

Well, lets see...Most of my dolls are pretty solid at standing, but I wouldn't leave my Momocolor girls standing for long periods unaided. Also, I might be of a different opinion here..but my pukifee might be my worst poser. I love dolls that have quirks. It's fun learning how they operate. Once you understand the engineering, the strengths and weakness of a doll, you can do what you want with it.

Iplehouse JID Girl - She is very solid when standing (even more so with her high heel feet) and I can put her into decent poses. I don't like that her legs are strung separately from her body. It tends to make her flop back, if I don't position her well enough, while sitting. I like her slouch very much and she can arch her back a bit as well. She has double jointed arms and legs but I don't use them often because they don't lock in place. I have popped her joints out of socket to achieve a pose. With Iplehouse dolls, I'd go with the mobility joint in the thighs. It aids in posing her legs and allows for a more natural look. Over all she's a solid natural poser with some issues. She has been restrung with thicker elastic and has been hot glue sueded.

Iplehouse JID Boy (model body)- My Iple boy poses better than my girl. He is designed so much better. He came strung perfectly and has not needed to be restrung in the year that I've had him. He has these awesome little notches inside his head that you can place the S hook in. It allows him to look up and down very well. His head never moves out of place. With my Iple girl..she has a hard time holding her head in position. I haven't done any thing to him to help with his poses. He's just a naturally good poser.

Momocolor - I'm with Shirelae here, They are very decent posers for a single jointed doll. I've even hot glue sueded my girls to improve upon their posing. Their arms are designed in a way to have a large range of movement. While they can't ever bend straight..you can twist their elbow joints to straighten the arms. There's also a neat L shaped channel for the elastic at the shoulder joint. It allows her to hold her arms out or up without falling down. There's also a cross shape joint where her legs meet her body. At first it seems confusing but after you play with the mechanism a bit you realize how it helps stability when posing the doll in certain positions. One problem I have with my girls is that their legs tend to splay at the knees when sitting down. I usually just reposition their mobility joints and they are fine..but it's annoying.

Minifee - What can I say? She poses pretty darn good, but there are a few issues. She stands petty solid..but she's very light, so I feel like the wind will knock her over. She doesn't slouch very well but that could be because she's strung pretty tightly. She arches her back more than any normal human could. It makes for cute posing but..it's still a little weird to look at. I don't know if this is a problem with most minifees, but I can never get my girl to stand on one foot. It's annoying because I know it's possible.

Pukifee - (This is where I die) I was really disappointed with the posing of my Pukifee. I expected so much more from her. She's very top heavy. Her head likes to fling back because it's just so large and heavy. I have to position her looking down to keep it from flying back. There's really no weight in her legs. I can get her to stand but she'll topple over if she isn't balanced properly. Forget standing on one foot. Sitting is an improvement over her standing. She can sit in a large number of ways and look adorable while doing so but again, balance is key because she'll flop back because of her noggin. I haven't given up on her and will probably try restring her and hot glue sueding but for now, I find her very frustrating. (but really adorable)

Migidoll - He's large and heavy so I have a hard time posing him. Sitting is very natural but standing is harder. As long as he has his boots on he's a pro. I haven't played with his posing all that much..so I don't have much to comment on.

Tiny Delf - This is my newest doll and probably my best poser. She was strung perfectly out of the box. She sits very well. You can literally put her in any pose. I find her to pose more like my Minifee than my Pukifee does. Unlike the pukifee her weight is evenly distributed throughout her body which makes her very sturdy. She's solid at standing and I was able to get her to stand on one foot multiple times, and she was pretty solid while doing so. My bf bumped the desk when she was on one foot and she didn't budge! Her joints work well together. She's just amazing.

 

Hmmm, doesn't seem to matter how posable the doll is to begin with I end up getting them to do cool things anyways after working with them for a while. I apparently have extraordinary patience with getting dolls to pose... I've gotten dollies that I don't own to stand or even stand on one foot at Meets when it was claimed they wouldn't be able to do it XD

Luts SDF - My very first doll, I've actually not played with him as much as I'd like to think I have, since I'm still finding new poses he can do. But he likes to drape himself over things and look just languid in general. He came to me really tight and kicky, and he was very finicky about staying in poses, but I think he was a good first doll for this reason. Now he poses like a dream, although I have to pose his arms before I stand him or he likes to swing forward at the hips. I haven't unstrung him at all in the whole time I've had him (since Oct 2010) but I'm debating doing so soon just to see what his sweet spot for tension might be.

Soom Mega Gem - My second doll, he actually came to me really lose and with so much hot glue sueding that half of his joints couldn't even fit in their sockets. A couple thumbnails and hours later, his joints fit together properly and his arms and legs pose like a dream, but he has to be tensioned exactly perfectly or he can't stand at all because the glue in his hips had bonded to the resin and he can no longer lock his hips in place. Otherwise he is an extremely natural poser, if you don't count the fact his knees look like they are overextended XD

Soom Faerie - My third doll, I love Soom, for such a tiny guy with single joints he actually has a wide variety of poses he can do, and he's so light I can pretty much pose him anyplace(I got my friend's female faerie to ride around in Kle's antlers one time). I will have to say that when the male faeries' strings get loose they still pose extremely well, but the female faeries just flop around and can't even sit when their tension loosens up.

Souldoll Soulkid - On the NL body, he's such a little musketeer, able to pull off really elegant poses, standing poses, walking poses, crouching poses, and lounging poses. But he can't bend his hips farther than 90 degrees to his torso, and the way I received him the knot for his leg elastic is actually stuck inside his right thigh, so I haven't been able to help the fact one of his legs is tighter than the other. Eventually I will have to force the knot out to restring him, but for now he can still pose wonderfully so I'm not too worried about it.

Dollshe Old 3-part Torso - Lives up to its reputation for belly popping XD The legs also like to pop every once in a while and I've actually been debating switching them out for the new Pure body legs since my other Dollshe has hooves at the moment. And the mantis arms, although I find that adorable and I love the range the Dollshe arms have. He poses better in clothes, but the Pure body poses better without clothes... Otherwise he has just the right amount of awkward elegance I was hoping for from him.

Dollshe Pure Body - Is actually quite a bit better poser than the 3-part torso, even though it poses better without clothing, and as soon as I get him in shoes he wants to fall forward(doesn't matter what kind of shoe, I've tried MANY). The range for the torso is amazing and he can hold the poses expertly with the lock system Dollshe has for it. The legs don't pop at the knees and he's a much more stable stander for changing positions mid pose, although I can't quite get him to do any drastic one foot poses, he'll only do it if the other foot is near the center and the ground. My Dollshe on the Pure Body I actually have with Soom Chalco Hooves, it doesn't really affect his posing at all, he can still stand on one hoof, but only in certain specific ways. The arms are still love

Soom Little Gem - For the longest time this boy was best poser, I could get him to do anything and everything under the sun pretty easily(sometimes with a little of effort) whether he was in his human feet or his bunny paws. It was an added challenge with his ears since they added so much weight to his head, but he actually poses better with the bunny parts than his human parts. Now that I've actually gotten his human parts a pair of shoes, though, it's helped drastically with keeping him standing, but limited the one foot poses he can do due the weight of the shoes.

Dragondoll 72cm - I haven't played with this boy that much, but he is extremely stable in both his legs and his arms, he's been able to hold my Little Gem on his hip, on his shoulders, and just plain carrying him around. I haven't tried with any doll larger than my Little Gem because I haven't had reason to, but I'm pretty sure he could easily hold my Soulkid or even my Luts Delf. He doesn't have much in the range of his torso, but his arms can hold a number of cool poses and he can stand with one or both knees bent. I haven't been able to get him to stand on only one foot and some of the poses are really stiff looking, but that may just be because I haven't played around with him that much.

Luts Delf - While this boy is a cutie and I love him to pieces, he can't look down very far, can't tilt his head very much, and his torso might as well be a one piece torso for all the movement you can get out of his single lower torso joint. He's a very stable stander in both bare feet and shoes, and I've gotten him to stand on one foot on carpet, but again not with the foot very far off the ground and not very far from his center of gravity. He has a fair bit of motion in his arms, and I love love love his teacup hands(as I call them), he's perfect for the tea party setting~

Immortality of Soul 70cm - I've had this doll for a few months but sadly I haven't played with him as much as I was hoping to, he's not so much into the action poses as I was hoping for and more seems to be a cuddly type of doll. Which is not what I was imagining for Zoro XD But I think he may just need to be strung a little tighter. He's a very stable stander and his three part torso doesn't pop as much as the Dollshe 3-part torso, and although I love how big his hands are, and they can somewhat lock into a couple of different poses, they don't seem to work very well with his arms in looking natural. Although, again, this may just be because I haven't played with him as much and haven't yet tried tightening his elastic.

Souldoll Vito - I have absolutely no complaints with this body, he has overtaken my Little Gem as my most stable and posable doll. There is literally nothing I can't get him to do and he looks completely natural doing all of it. Standing on one foot, action poses, crouching forward, leaning backward, doing yoga, seriously, pretty much anything I can think of this doll can do.

 

My first BJD was a Volks, so I sort of judge how well my other dolls pose in comparison to him. I think he generally does well and is expressive in his posing. But my old SoulDoll boys and my older Custom House boy body hold poses and stand much better. I strung them more tightly than my Volks. (I find it harder to suede Volks BJDs in the legs because of the locking hip and knee mechanisms.) My Dollzones don't stand as well as my Volks and SoulDolls, but they're double jointed so their arms and legs pose much better. Of all my BJDs, my newer Volks (2005+) sit up straight the best.

I have also noticed that my flat footed girls don't always stand well in low heels. It may have something to do with their ankle flexibility... but it may also be the shoes!! My Dollzone girls in high heel feet stand wonderfully if they are wearing boots that stabilize their ankles.

Unfortunately I have never had a doll that poses like a dream, but I remember how amazed I was by my first Volks boy's posing, compared to the vinyl fashion dolls I used to collect!!

When I am photographing my BJDs, I often prop them up by having them lean against furniture or other items. I have plenty of chopsticks, I may have to try that trick! (Though my dolls might not appreciate *how* they are propped up with them!).

I also use clear elastic bands to hold their arms in certain positions, or so they can hold things in their hands.

Linda S.
galatia9

 

I had actually just two doll to compare so far. My first doll was Doll Leaves Amara and she's a wonderful poser, can do basically anything you ask for. On the other hand my second girl is IsLand doll, again in MSD size but slightly bigger than DL and though she's well articulated, I still have some trouble to get her in more natural poses. Hope, it's just me being a bit clumsy and it'll shake down after some time.

 

I have a Magical Angel and she can do everything but balance on her tippy toes. Posing is a big factor in my doll choosing list. I never leave her unattended standing because of the kitten. If I didn't have cats, I think she would stand for hours. Sometimes I just sit with her to test her limits. No disappointment here.

 

I'm not really good in posing but maybe my doll is a good poser but i just can't get it right.