Diary of a Tiny Minx Maker

[ShadowFun]

With your knowledge of modding and melting Phicen TPE, do you think there's any chance of this working, and more importantly, working well enough that it would be better to look at than a perfectly blank slate?

First, let’s get something straight… my skills are a 3 out of 10 at best!


I appreciate the respect you give me, but seriously… there are some true masters of re-sculpting TPE here on TDF. Most of everything I’ve learned about the subject has been interpreted from reading and experimenting with the techniques outlined in many different threads. Finding these threads is pretty easy if you search the “Repair” Forum.

That being said, none of the things I’ve run across relate directly to our Phicen dolls. The idea of essentially “branding” a vulva onto the dolls is intriguing. It certainly might work, but I’ve got no way to make such a branding iron.

The biggest issue I’ve encountered so far in re-working TPE is the very tiny temperature zone it responds to. It goes from firm to liquid to on fire in about 10 degrees. Vinyl, and many other plastics, will soften over a wide temperature range. This makes manipulating them more user friendly. If you read some of the TPE tutorials, they recommend using a laser temperature gun to insure your keeping the TPE in the correct zone.

But that’s on a doll SIX TIMES the size of the Minxes…


I’m counting on just getting lucky with the tiny lady jewels!

[agent0013]

Hey, your 3/10 is infinitely better than my 0/10!

I know there are some wizards on this site, but how many of them have worked on denser Phicen TPE? How much denser is it? Does that make a difference? Hell, I've never even felt the softer TPE of a full sized doll to make the comparison so maybe I should be at a -1/10?

Heh. Branding isn't too far off the mark! You seem to have troubles with tools getting too hot so my thought was possibly water to avoid that. A large enough piece of metal handled with tongs or pliers would hopefully hold enough heat to get the job done. Or, if it could be attached to something like a soldering iron then you could hold it to the doll, turn it on, and watch as it heats up. As soon as its hot enough to do what you need, pull it away before it does any damage?

I decided to make a post and see what others say. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? viewtopic.php?t=180747

[ShadowFun]

Hey, your 3/10 is infinitely better than my 0/10!

I decided to make a post and see what others say. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? viewtopic.php?t=180747

I definitely haven’t done an exhaustive search on the topic. This kind of body modding has languished in the “someday” zone of my projects list for a long time. Lately, it’s been on my mind a lot… so maybe it’s time has come.

Back in 21, my friend JohnnyTempest and I were discussing options. He had a thread dedicated to his detailing. Obviously, this was before Phicen’s new crop of smoothies tho. Johnny’s techniques seemed to be all knife work. I don’t recall ever discussing heat with him. Here’s a link to his thread…

viewtopic.php?p=1971069#p1971069

Sadly, Johnny has disappeared from the forum. I know he had some fearsome health issues… I can only hope his departure was by choice.


For reference… here’s the post I did in Feb discussing Sky’s modifications…

viewtopic.php?p=2504530#p2504530

Using the hot knife to quickly attach bits of TPE to Sky didn’t require a ton of skill or finesse… it’s the next step of refining her surfaces that I’m stuck on.

In the tutorials on re-working full size TPE dolls, people use heat guns to bring the surface to the EXACT temperature where the TPE becomes liquidy… then smooth it with tools, or texture with sandpaper. But the Phicens are so tiny, I’m fairly certain that kind of control with a heat gun would be impossible… even with the precision guns that are part of soldering stations.

I’m glad you made a topic about this Agent. When I have some new info and experience with it, I’ll be sure to contribute more.

Hopefully, someone out there has some solutions!