How to Increase Your Doll's Articulation

Made-to-Move Barbies are the best for articulation, but their joints aren't the prettiest, and they can get expensive. If you're making a custom where the knees and elbows are visible, you might stick to one of the old dolls with eleven points of articulation. Here is a technique I like to use to get just a little more range of motion out of those dolls.

As you can see in the photo gallery to the right, it's not a huge amount more bendability, but it can make a big difference if you're trying to get your doll to hold a prop in a certain way or even to get them to stay in a chair.

For this project, you'll need a Dremel with the ball head, an

X-acto knife, some 100-grit sandpaper, and 150 grit sandpaper.

If you don't have a Dremel, you could just use the X-acto knife and sandpaper and carve out the extra plastic.

The basic principle of what we're doing is just to shave down plastic that interferes with bendability. Above, I used a dotted line to highlight the spots I altered. You want to maintain the hinge, digging around it so it can slide farther back, as illustrated below.

Be careful not to go too far. The forearm is held into the bicep with a peg, which is a part of the hinge (and likewise, the lower leg is attached to the upper leg in the same way). If you remove too much plastic on the upper limb, the peg will not have anything to grip on, and it will either fall out easily or, if you really cut a lot off, won't stay in place at all.

After you cut or drill out the hinges to a place you're satisfied with, all that's left to do is sand it smooth, starting with the lower grit sandpaper (the lower the grit, the coarser it is), and then going over it with a higher grit to smooth it further.

When using a Dremel, just be sure to keep a firm grip on both the doll and the tool. I've let dolls slip before, and the drill bit knicks another part of the body, making a gouge I'd have to either try and sand out or fill with Apoxie.

And, that's it! Pretty simple. Just take it slow and feel it out as you go, and you'll be okay. Good luck :)

Love,

Haley

#dollrepaints #howtorepaintdolls #dollrepainting #repaintingtips #customdolls #customactionfigures #custombarbies #custommonsterhigh #blog #artblog #dollblog #customcollectables #artdolls #dollart #Mrsuperclear #msc #rerooting #toycollector #Etsy #Etsyseller #monsterhigh #barbie #balljointeddoll #bjd #dollhair #customdollhair