Restringing tutorial, part II: the body

After reading the first part of my restringing tutorial on the torso, you should have recovered enough to restring the rest of your doll. (Please read that tutorial first.) There are lots of ways to restring a doll, and you can do it correctly many different ways. The way I will show you allows you to adjust the elastic cord tension after your doll is strung, if needed.

Supply list:

• Elastic cord
• Hemostats, at least one pair
• Chopsticks or two unsharpened pencils
• Stringing tool (available from Kemper Dolls for about $3) or pipe cleaner
• Glass of wine, or legally prescribed sedative, if needed

You should already have the restrung torso of the doll (with arms and hands attached). Make sure you have the legs in the right order and ready to go--be sure all the pieces fit together perfectly, and are on the proper sides of the doll before you start.

Restringing tutorial, part I: the torso

The perfect hand!, originally uploaded by alington.

This is the first in a series of two parts on how to restring your BJD. Every BJD owner needs to know how and be comfortable with restringing. It can be intimidating at first; but if you have the right tools, and some good instructions, you'll be able to do it on your own--even the first time. My model is a Jollyplus Jise.

Supplies. Click to enlarge.

Supply list:

• Elastic cord (1/4" or a little thinner - I buy mine in 10 yard lengths from Kemper Dolls. Mint on Card also carries elastic and S-hooks, and their shipping is much better than bulk orders from Kemper.)
• Hemostats, at least one pair
• Chopsticks
• Stringing tool or pipe cleaner (if needed)
• Glass of wine, legally prescribed Xanax or Valium (if needed--and I'm only partly kidding)

Start with an unstrung doll. It's wise to label the parts--or make sure you can identify the left and right pieces--so you don't have to restring the doll more than once. You can label each piece with a small L or R to identify them before unstringing the doll.