I'm about to order my first doll, and it'll be a 157er B-cup with two, maybe three different heads. (I totally blame Mandos, because of his awesome pictures he posted on this forum I fell in love with this doll and some of the heads he used in his photoshots.) I'm already in contact with a doll vendor, who seems to be very friendly and is patiently answering all my questions about the configuration I want. I'm very excited, and I'm currently in what I call a preparation phase for my new roomate (clean my flat thoroughly, get new storage for all the clothes and shoes I already own or are on order, wash all those clothes to prevent stains and so on...).
Although I think I read almost every post in this forum, I still have some questions, and I would love to hear your experience and/or tips.
First, I got some questions about the skeleton. I read alot about "broken fingers" (because of very thin wires), but also that the new skeleton (the one with the hinge neck) has improved hands/fingers. But I couldn't find any more details on this, but I love to get some more insights. Are the fingers of the new skeleton still attacheched directly to the forearm or is there an actual hand plate, which is connected to the forearme and which has thicker finger wires attached to the plate? Are there any photos available for the improved hands and fingers (photos of the skeleton of course, not the final hands/fingers)? Is it safe to pose those hands/fingers a lot, or is breakage imminent with a lot of posing those limbs? I do understand, that it's not safe to rest the doll on her hands (ie. when she's on all fours), and I assume, this is still true with the improved hands, right?
Another skeleton related question is about the shrugging shoulders: are they firm enough to lay her on her side for cuddling and the shoulders will keep its position? Are all hinges firm enough to keep her in position no matter what? How hard is it to move her to a new position, and will the bolts loosen over time (or are the the welded bolts preventing this)? Do all new orders come with welded bolts?
Then I'm curious about some modifications I'd like to do to add some more personality: I saw those posts about how to add freckles and what utilities were used to achieve this, and I really want to try this, too, because the posted results looks fantastic! But what about tattoos? Is there any way to add (temporary or permanent) tattoos to a TPE doll, and what would be the way to do this? (I don't want to cover the whole doll in tattoos, just a few sexy extras here and there
).I also like to replace the painted eyebrows with artifical ones, but I'm not sure how to do this: there are some posts about punching hairs into the TPE, but they don't seem to last long, and others are using "eyebrow wigs" and glue them to their doll. Has anybody done this before with a WM-Doll's head, what method did you use and do you have any photos you'd like to share how it looks like? And the same goes for the eyelashes, which one do you use, and what glue is safe to use on these heads?
Last but not least I'd of course like to be able to change the expression of my dolls head (to some extents at least), to make her look more relaxed/sultry/sleepy. Ie. close her eyes, stick her tongue out, let her lick her lips or open/close her mouth. I'm aware that I can't make her "smile" if the face has a comppletely different expression, but what modifications are available to achieve at least some expression variations? I saw that MannequinFan had some 3D printed eyelids, and eyeballs with exchangeable lenses -- are some of you using those and how do they blend with the rest of the head? (And how to "order" them from MannequinFan? Does he has a shop, or do I just PM him?) Have you done any other modifications to your doll which -- in your oppinion -- improves your doll?
That's all for now, but I guess there will be more questions coming the closer I get to ordering my doll. Sorry for the wall of text, and thanks a lot in advance to all who read this and have some answers or tips they like to share.
Oh, one more thing: because on some photos it looks like the 157 B-cup doll has very thin legs and a very small waist, I asked the doll vendor for an alternative, and he suggested to go for the 163er body with a C-cup. I'm not yet convinced, because this doll is heavier than the 157er (+6kg), and a C-cup is not really what I'm looking for. Which one would you buy, if you had to choose? Does anybody have both and can share some pics (front/profile) so I could compare them? Thanks!
Btw: I think my doll's name will be Clara, but I'm not 100% sure about this. We'll see...
! I can probably have them to you at some point today if I don't get interrupted. As for the arm movement, you just have more flexibility all around. The additional joints added in the shrugging shoulders allow you to move the shoulders up, down, forward and backward. This seems to give the arms a little more range of motion.
