How to Make a Doll Shorter or Taller

For this example, I will be shortening the legs of this Hagrid doll to make him into a dwarf, but the method is essentially the same if you wanted to make a doll taller.

Here's what you'll need:

• A ruler or some other straight edge

• Pencil

• A saw or Dremel with a saw attachment

• Wire

• Wire cutters

• Sandpaper

• Hot glue

• Apoxie Sculpt or some other air-dry clay

• Drill

  
  

Essentially, we're removing a chunk of plastic and closing it back up to make the legs shorter. To make the doll taller, you cut the legs and add an extension in between.

First, use the ruler and pencil to mark off where you'll make the cuts. Marking beforehand helps to keep the legs even. And I say to use a pencil rather than a marker because marker stains plastic like this.

The size of the gaps will depend on how short you want the doll to be. The bigger the gap, the shorter the leg becomes.

Pay attention to where you make the cuts so that the pieces fit back together nicely. For example, if you cut low on the bottom half of the leg, the two remaining pieces won't flow into each other, making for an awkwardly shaped leg.

If you're making the legs taller, you won't need to remove a chunk from the legs. In this case, make single cuts around the middle of the thighs and calves (around where the x's are in the picture above).

You'll want to lengthen both halves of the legs so that you don't have an awkwardly long thigh or calf. But if your doll is going to be wearing long pants and the legs won't be seen, this might not matter to you.

Cut from the bottom up so that you have something solid to hold onto when sawing, regardless of whether you are shortening or lengthening the legs. I would also place a piece of scrap paper underneath so you can easily dispose of plastic shavings.

This is what it looks like when it's done. Be sure to mark the knee joints with L and R so that you know which side they came from.

I end up cutting more off of the bottom portion of the leg later, but since I'm bulking it up with clay, it doesn't matter if the leg pieces fit together perfectly or not.

To attach the pieces to each other, I drilled a hole in the knee piece. The shins were already hollow, so I didn't have to worry about that. Next, I twisted some wire and hot glued it into the hole, filling the shins with glue as well and attaching them that way.

Because I cut so close to the knee joints, I wasn't able to add a wire armature for the top portion of the legs without limiting the use of the joint. Hot glue is fine for now, seeing as how I'm going to add clay to make the legs thicker (which will also seal the cuts I made).

If you're making the legs longer, you would still use a wire but the wire would be longer and fill the gap between the cut pieces. Fill this gap partly with hot glue and then fill in the rest with clay. Use sandpaper to make the transition as smooth as possible.

Here are the finished legs! With the clay around the cut portions, they're very sturdy. If you're making the legs thicker, just make sure that you don't interfere with the joints so that you can still bend at the knees and thighs.

As a side note, I did cut a part of the knee joint off to get the legs as short as I could. As a result, the bottom portion of the right leg falls out every now and again.

Otherwise, it's secure.

Cutting your dolls up can be scary, but don't be intimidated! It's actually super easy. If you're nervous, practice on a throw-away doll or a doll from the dollar store. Happy slicing!

Love,

Haley

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