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kagen-no-tsuki — BJD Restringing Tutorial
Published: 2010-01-05 21:11:16 +0000 UTC; Views: 72767; Favourites: 958; Downloads: 1150
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Description
A quick tutorial in restringing a BJD. It's a basic type body, nothing fancy. Just covers the basics.I am not an expert on BJDs, I do not consider myself an expert but if you have any questions I will do my best to answer them.
Appologies about the photo quality. It got dark when we started doing this.
I injured myself so ~MrBlueSuit helped me out.
Edit: Added a darker font to make it clearer to read. Hope that helps!
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Comments: 154
thank you for this tutorial. It eanbled me to restring my doll easily. Most of the other tuts are videos and you can't see what the eprson is doing as well, becuse their hands are always in the way.
THANK YOU!
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Thank you so much for this! This is so helpful! In the future I will learn from this tutorial~!
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I don't know if anyone else has told you this, but I've read it is really helpful to sand down sharp pieces on eye stems. That way you won't hurt yourself when you change eyes, etc.
Thanks for this tutorial. I appreciate being able to see others' restringing methods. ^^
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Is there any place where I can buy ball jointed dolls second hand for (hopefully) less than 600$? I'd love to get started creating my own but sadly I don't love the idea of spending that much money.
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I don't know about used, but you can try 5stardoll.com. they have a lot of cute designs and their smallest one, the tiny, is only about $160 with make-up for most of them.
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Most yo-SD and tiny size BJDs cost about $300-$400 new, with face makeup, no wardrobe or hair. Once you get into the bigger sizes -- MSD, SD, Hound, and the like, then they get expensive.
But there are many, many sizes! I have two Fairyland dolls, and I really would recommend them to new people. They have amazing joints, pose insanely well, have a good resin feel, and look natural -- no "awkwardly" "this doesn't look like a human's joint should look" connectors. You see a few dolls whose elbows and knees just look over-extended, or just inhuman in general.
A tip from someone who's been there. I buy almost all of my doll needs from US retailers. I have only purchased dolls from US retailers. If you live in the US, or Canada, or Mexico, I urge you to purchase your dolls from Denver Doll Emporium, Mint On Card, or Junky Spot.
I do, and I only wait up to a month or half a month to get my doll if they are in-stock. Buying from the companies themselves can take up to anywhere between 4-12 months. The names I gave you are officially authorized, so you don't have to worry about riped-off dolls.
I hope this helps you.
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Okay well I have been browsing and I found a site called www.iplehouse.net. I was wondering if this was a legitimate site as well as a good deal. I am also wondering if buying of this site means I have to wire the doll myself and if they come with eyes and eyelashes
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Hi you!
I haven't ordered from Iplehouse before, but I hear they are pretty good for shipping quickly. There have been a few issues with their boxes being shipped poorly and getting smooshed in the mail, though; but they aren't as bad as CustomHouse, which, to be frank, have beautiful dolls but that would not make up for their really shotty shipping!!!
There are a lot of sites out there. I can point you in a few directions. These are several companies I can recall off of the top of my head, and they all have pros and cons, and different sizes and prices. I'd say research them until you find the right one
Peak's Woods
DikaDoll
Soom
Luts
Doll in Mind
Bobobie (and ResinSoul, their sister company,)
Asleep Edilion
Volks
to name a few others
I would still urge you to go to
Mint on Card, inc 's webpage,
Junky Spot,
and Denver Doll Emporium
as well as The Doll Peddler
and Featherfall!
as well as Ruby Red Galleria
to look at a whole list of companies that they sell, too. They are all certified to sell through various companies. All of these places are online, and are VERY reputable. I buy off of them often 
Hope this helps
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This helped me so much when restringing my dolls, thank you so much for posting this
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I just wanted to say I am so glad that you posted this. I have been thinking about getting a bjd, and if you hadnt posted this, I never would have known anything about strings. It woul dhave been a sad day for me and my baby. So thanks!
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Thank you very much for that, this walked me through restringing my boy. (:
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Brilliant tutorial.
Parts of this look like a horror movie scene.
XD
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Thanks so much, this tutorial is brilliant! I got my newest boy recently and he was a so floopy :S I haven't had to restring before so finding this was a life saver
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This BJD model is very very pretty and somewhat my desired model. Where have you bought it, if I may ask?
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I'm trying to make my own BJD, and this will certainly help me assemble it!
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WoW that's amazing! Thank you so much for doing this tutorial!
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Awesome tutorial! I just used this for my first time restringing my Resin Soul Mei. It was an amazing help and made the process so easy for me. I wanted to thank you for putting this on here. <3
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nice tutorial! IF you don't mind, may I ask how you get the figure pieces hollow? also are you using polymer? Do you have any tutorials on actually making the body pieces? I would love to learn but have no idea how to even start.
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Hey! I know this is old, but I want to thank you for making this. 
And just to ease my mind, there's nothing that can really go wrong that will permanently damage the doll, right?
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Hi there, sorry for my delayed reply. You've probably had a go at this already by now!
The ONLY thing that you can do to damage the doll is if you drop a piece and it breaks (but string on the floor or a low table) or you scrape the hooks over the resin and carve into it. The hooks don't really come into contact though so it's very very unlikely. It's a very easy thing to do so don't worry at all! I've never had any issues with doing it and I've got some very difficult dolls that are a pain to restring.
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Thank you for the guide, I know it will come in handy when I finally have a BJD.
I have a really dumb question I hope you won't mind answering. I was wondering about the elastic used for the BJD. Is it a specific type of elastic or can you find it in, like, an art or hardware store?
I'm sorry if you find this question really annoying or stupid, I'm a real n00b.
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It's not a dumb question at all! You can buy elastic from doll stores that will be the right size/thickness but to be honest, it's just a strong elastic. I'll take a photo of it close up for you tomorrow so you can see.
All dolls come strung, and generally you won't need to replace the elastic for quite some time. Obviously if the elastic gets damp/stretched/ruined in some way then you'll have to replace it sooner, but the elastic doesn't start to sag for ages.
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Okay, thank you for the information.
I was wondering about the size of the elastic as well. Is that really important or does it just matter you have enough to string your doll?
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The thickness depends on the size of the doll. Generally the bigger the doll, the thicker the elastic.
As for length, I would say you need a piece that's twice the height of the doll, plus a couple of inches for safety, and a piece that's twice the length of the arm to arm length plus a couple of inches for safety. Almost all doll companies will sell the elastic, so if you want to make sure it's exactly the right thickness/weight then buy it from the same company the doll is from as the thickness of the hollows inside can vary from company to company. I'll take some pictures to demonstrate that too.
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Alright. Thank you very much for your help. It's greatly appreciated.
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So I'm really confused about boy. I'll restring his arms but the elastic isn't long enough to go through his other arm. So then I'll give it just a tiny bit of slack and he's too loose. It's like there's no way for me to be able to pull the elastic all the way through his arms without making them loose. :/
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The elastic should be stretched when it's pulled through. It can be quite tough to pull it through when it's tight. Just line up the pieces and stretch the elastic alongside it to judge the length it needs to be.
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Well, the previous owner sent him strung and his arms were fine and I'm using the same elastic. :/
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It's fine to use the same elastic. Give it a stretch in your hands. It should have a fair bit of stretch to it. If it doesn't (ie, it's kind of going like string rather than elastic) then you might need to replace it because it's getting old.
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I can't remember if you wanted to see Lyr or not.
but there are pics of him on my profile
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Thank you! I'm really glad you found it helpful.
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Hey, I just wanted to let you know that this was very, very useful to me. I figured since it helped I may as well let you know. Thank you!
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Thank you, I'm glad you found it useful!
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Thank you for such a great guide! I finally attempted it today (Always been too scared to unstring it xD Look too difficult!) Wasn't actually that bad! Thanks so much! xxx
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No problem! I'm glad it helped you. Yup, restringing isn't really something scary or difficult!
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Thank you for sharing this. I've been thinking to restring my boy since he's too loose to even stand.
I wonder if the forceps can be replaced by something else? Or is it compulsory to have one?
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I'd just like to say that I don't have forceps, and my dolls get restrung just fine (Thanks, of course, to this guide)
That isn't to say that if I didn't have any, I wouldn't use them, just that it's not omgneeeeeeed.
Then again, I use three lengths of string, rather than two, so the only one need I need to worry about keeping even is the one for the arms...
However, I do find that a crochet hook is VERY valuable in pulling the string through some of the holes. I have fat fingers :c
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You don't need them, but they are very useful. They aren't very expensive and will save you a lot of hassle. Any kind of clamp will do, although if you don't have anything like that, it'll just be a little more tricky. The forceps keep the tension through while you work on each side. Without them, you either have to be a lot more careful to keep the elastic even, or keep the other side stretched out while you work.
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i'm getting a 1/3 boy mu from bobobie, I'm sorta scared of being rough with him...it seems that you are being very....rough with your dolls...(mu will be my first doll)
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Mu is so lovely. I almost got one, but it's so hard to find photos of him, with that short, short name.
On DOA I'm Squidleet. You should send me photos when you get him! (I mean to say, I would love to see your doll)
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if you add me to your watchlist, I'm going to be harassing him with my stepdad's nikon dslr, I think I'm going to name him Lyr...
I'm SOOOOO afraid of hurting him when I restring him!!! T-T
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Don't worry about getting a little rough! Although people say these dolls are fragile, they're actually pretty strong too. Polyurethane resin is actually fairly durable. We restring on the floor since a sudden shock like a drop onto a hard floor would cause chips/cracks. Pulling the pieces apart wouldn't cause any breaks since we can't grip down with anywhere near enough force to break them. The part we are most rough with is the elastic, as the tension can be pretty strong.
It's actually not as bad as it looks, honestly. I've never had any problems with damaging a doll during a restringing.
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oh good ^^
do you know anything about mu? I need to order a wig for him before he gets here so he isn't bald...i just don't know the measurements ect.
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I think his head is like 22cm, but I'm not 100% sure since I don't have one myself but other Resinsoul dolls of that size are 22cm. 22cm or 21cm, but either way you'll be looking at 8/9 wigs. Might be worth double checking on somewhere like Den of Angels, but I'm fairly sure it'll be 8/9 you'll be looking for (especially since most dolls of that size across all companies are 8/9)
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I've been asking on den of angels, but their forum hardly moves.
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I doublechecked on Resinsoul's site, and it seems the girl version (Ai) takes an 8/9 wig and their bodies are interchangeable so I would definitely go with an 8/9 wig.
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i have a question about this. if you have a doll that is loosely strung, do you cut off a little bit of the elastic string, or would you pull it really tight after you got it through the head (before you put the S hook back on) and tie a tight not in the string so the elastic pulls tighter? and also, would you have to buy a new elastic string to go through the body or can you use the same?
also, lets say you have a loosely strung 43cm BJD. about how much string do you suggest on cutting off to make it nice and tight but not "kicky"? please respond.
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