The Doll Forum

Thought I'd better start a new thread for this discussion.

Nada's been talking about the merits of using different materials such as oak and neoprene.

Here are some initial thoughts...

I started out using english pine - it's easy to work and fairly strong. Oak would be stronger, but much harder to work. Also, the environment inside a doll is fairly benign - the wood is well protected from the elements, and if there is a slight leak
[img]modules/Forums/images/smiles/icon_redface.gif[/img] somewhere and you get fluid inside the doll, it'll probably harm the latex skin quicker than the wood.

Another advantage of wood is you can buy it in a variety of ready-formed shapes - my favorite is 1" dowel.

(Transferred from "The first, standing Love Doll???" message... I figure that we should keep these Message Threads, as "pure" as possible, for later reference.)

... I was speculating about the use of white neoprene plastics for slightly flexible "bones" for accidental drops or un-expected stresses...

Oak is an excellent wood for very sturdy pieces. (I had an entire out-door deck on my last house, done in 2" (5cm) oak planks... And after 20 years, it was like IRON!!!)

But along the ends, the grain of the wood can, still, be normally defeated or split-open. (And of course, any hole in it, would be a weak spot, just, like a grain split at an end.) But it should be different with plastic pieces. (ie: No Grain.) [img]modules/Forums/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

One member, here, mentioned a black neoprene for bone structures... But I do not know if this could be easily melted and poured into some fairly simple "bone" molds, to be used in a structure like yours???

Are there ANY standard neoprene strips, around a 1/2" by 3/4" size or perhaps, around the same diameter that Nicvcnt suggested, such as a 1" (2.5cm) round dowel-rod???

... Nada...

Here's another possibility: tubular aluminum weighs about the same, length for length, as 1" wood dowel.