A few days ago I received an Impldoll Idol 68 Female body. Perfect in every way for my Iplehouse Freezia… save for the neck length….
It was just a hair too long for my taste. I’ve had to modify a few of the crew’s necks because most are hybrids. So let’s begin our adventure for the evening.
The main thing about a modification like this is to go slowly and only remove a bit at a time. You can always take more off, but it’s harder than hell to put back.
I took a grey colored pencil and some tape and made a ring around the neck where I would like to take some height off. Since my cutting wheel is thicker I’m going to have to stay on the one side of the line so I don’t take off too much.
I did make note of the curve in front, but ultimately decided that I didn’t need it. If I had kept it I would have used a diamond file mandrel to gently carve that in.
For this I grab my Dremel Lite with a thin cutoff wheel. On the lowest speed I start going around the neck, making sure everything lines up. Double check that you have a good grip on everything and are purposeful with your movements. A dremel bit can get away easily and create unwanted marks in the resin.
As always when working with resin, wear a mask. I also keep wet towels next to me to control the amount of dust that tried to escape.
I love a good, clean cut.
For our next act, the neck needs to be curved down and smoothed. Again with my Dremel, I employ my nail sanding bands. These are made for sanding nails, but I find them perfect for doll modification as they come in different grits from #80 to #240. The 80 grit is harsh and that’s what you reach for when you want to remove a lot of resin NOW, but today I use #150 to start shaping the neck.
This is where you want to go epically slow and check the fit of your doll’s head often. Rotate the head around and check the range of motion and also look inside to see if the neck is making contact with the inside of the head, this way you can judge whether to skinny up the neck more or give a greater curve to the top.
After you are satisfied with the shape and fit, it’s time to do a finishing sand. I like to use a wet/dry #400 by hand because it leaves a satin smooth finish that typically matches most BJD finishes and the “tooth” that their resin already has. Do small circular motions around the neck that way you don’t leave any sanding marks. Double check on the blending between your sanded area and the unsanded area. This is where shadows can reveal an odd ledge and make the mod look unfinished.
Now! Do your final fit check and suede the head if needed for extra grip.
There she is! I probably took about 6mm off in the end, but it was enough to make a difference. I’m so happy to have Enya whole again.
It’s truly amazing to see how far BJD engineering has come. The joints are beautifully made with posability that was just a dream in the early 2000s. I still remember when everyone lost their mind when jointed hands were first introduced and there were close to $200 a pair.
I realized the only thing I missed about my iplehouse vampire was his big ears so I decided to fix this
The victim is a telesthesia Mei Jiuqi, i got him to see if i was up for owning a 75 boy, i got the elf ears version but I found them to be quite diaspointing
So here is a test of concept with poster tac (i highly recommend this low stakes test for any additive doll mods) it can also give you a good idea of how much clay you will need
The epoxy i have has a tendency to turn green over time, I am hoping to partly combat this by mixing it to be a flesh tone, mixed some colours to get a match (the clay is white so got the colour darker thrugh ultimately it didn't end up mattering too much)
The colour ended up darker, and grayer. In part due to the green tinge it has but I think it's not too bad
Still needs sanding but pretty happy withthe result :)
And you might be thinking "damn those are kinda big"
You know what I love? How people decided to be like "This character needs fantasy features" and then make ways to attach it to the dolls. Doll head doesn't have magnets? No problem, here are your horns and here are some magnets you can put under the wig. Tails? Wings? Here are some harness contraptions, or extra pieces you can use to modify the doll without making it permanent. People who find ways to make adaptable mods for their dolls.
People who figure out cool ways to add extra arms but leave the original pair in tact: I really liked this one person who made an extra pair of arm with indents on the deltoid, where the original arms fit in and they just strong both arms. Marvelous!!!
Ramia started as an experiment, and is now one of my most complex small dolls. I began with two withdoll imps and ended with one. I modded them to have four arms, sculpted their breasts, gave them a full body repaint, and made their wig. I also made a tiny workshop of their brewing of potions that’s packed away somewhere.
i posted this thread on Den of Angels in the hope that i'd get some answers before it closes down (😭!!) but just in case i don't get any there, i'm gonna also post screenshots of my DoA thread here-- if you see this and you have any experience with modding/hybrid-making and have thoughts about this, please do comment! (here OR on DoA, either is awesome ❤️)