If I wanted to get involved in the doll making industry...

MaldEagle · Post by **MaldEagle** » Mon Aug 19, 2019 10:40 am

Hello all,

I have a hypothetical question. If I wanted to get involved in the production of these, what skillset or hobby background would you say would be helpful in pursuing? Is it all learn as you go or do some of these manufacturers have specific backgrounds? I apologize if this has been asked before or if this is posted in the wrong forum. Cheers and I look forward to your responses.

Average Joe · Post by **Average Joe** » Mon Aug 19, 2019 11:00 am

I would think that mold making would be an important skill. This includes...

Making the mold
Having indexing slots for proper placement of the skeleton and alignment of the mold halves.
Possibly making a support structure for the mold
Pigment
Casting TPE or silicone
Platinum silicone cure inhibition
Silicone degassing and cure times
Mold release agents
Finish work (edge trimming, ???)
And there's plenty more that is probably proprietary...

Maviarab · Post by **Maviarab** » Mon Aug 19, 2019 11:07 am

Take a look through the inventors section (have moved your thread there btw)...lots of information available if you look through the threads.

BuilderOfCastles · Post by **BuilderOfCastles** » Mon Aug 19, 2019 5:38 pm

Well, the best thing you can do is learn Japanese if you are into Sex Robots
or
Learn Chinese (Mandarin) if you want to work on Sex Dolls.

But, that probably isn't what you want to hear.
The courses one would have taken in college are no longer there.

So, basically you find various trade schools.
Specifically machining.

Then you learn plastics engineering... usually by trial and error playing with silicones and making molds and parts.

You see, all the doll manufacturers i have looked into basically have one or two engineer type people who figured out the process to cast dolls, worked on all the pieces and then trained other people to do it (so that they could work on other models)

What you would do if you worked for a doll manufacturer is place the skeleton in the mold, very carefully and very precisely
and then pour jello into the mold. Repeat. Decast, deburr, repeat. Clean up, touch up paint, repeat...
There is nothing really exciting there. It is just like any other manufacturing job, except that screwing up wastes $100s of dollars of plastic.

Mr Franz · Post by **Mr Franz** » Mon Aug 19, 2019 5:59 pm

I'd say the 1st thing you'll need is a boatload of cash! Talent and skill you can hire out.

shobokdaman · Post by **shobokdaman** » Tue Aug 20, 2019 3:56 am

Start small, buy lots of Smooth-On and start practicing. Obviously, you won't and can't go head-to-head with the Chinese manufacturers. AFAIK Aikodoll is a one-man or close to one-man shop, and that's made to order. That's a realistic scale to aspire too.

rubherkitty · Post by **rubherkitty** » Sat Aug 24, 2019 2:27 pm

Artistic talent to make the doll model.
Basic metal fab skills & welding to build the skeleton.
I plan to make a fiberglass mold so you will need to learn about laying up fiberglass and resins if you go that route.
Mixing different foam and silicone blends if you go that route as well.

Basically if you have artistic and shop skills you can build a doll. You will need a large shop and all the tools as well. Assuming you have a stocked workshop you will need a specialty item of a vacuum chamber to degas the silicone if doing that.
I can't see any DIY'er doing a full size TPE doll from a home shop as that will take a overhead hoist to hold a pot full of hot liquified rubber to pour. Did I mention the deadly fumes?
Fiberglass cloth and resins for mold- $400.00, Steel skeleton materials $2-300.00, Silicone & foam $500.00. Cost for your model will be clay or a mannequin?

If you just want to build one doll for yourself out of a garage, you might get by via the hacksaw, file and hand drill method. Matt from Abyss started out of his garage. If you want to compete with Abyss now, yeah, get a 1/4 million loan to start your doll empire!!