More Small Puppy Cotton Candy Babies!!

     Yup, I got bitten by the tiny BJD bug!! Haha! Back in February, I had tried to win the lottery for the Japan Shop (Neko Shop) that sells these cuties exclusively. Sadly, I did not win. So, I made the effort to search for the China based creators that sold them and sure enough I found them. Now, to use a third party service to buy them and ship them to me...

Fast forward, by March 31st they arrived to me and I tried to put the two dolls I bought, together. Because the ones I ordered are a kits, that came with wigs and some sanding required. But hey I can't complain, they were way cheaper than a completed one with face paint. So, I started or tried to start putting them together...

Kit incomplete above.

 The kit included, the head, body, limbs and wig. I ordered one tan version with a white wig, and one normal skin version with dark brown wig. The kits even came with the S hooks and elastic bands. I began with looking at the pieces, and like a puzzle you put them together. But, I had to sand some parts of the heads, limbs, and hair. Luckily, I ordered some sand paper from the Volks USA website.

Another kit.

 After spending a day sanding. The next day, I tried to put the doll together, but hit a snag. How do I pull the elastic band through the inside of the foot which had a plastic bar anchor? The plastic bar would require me to pull the elastic string through under the bar and up out of the other side of the bar inside the foot, ugh. There were no instructions, but since I had previous history of owning a BJD I knew what needed to be done. Well so I thought! Haha!

But how?! The feet and hands are so teeny tiny?! So I tried a needle, nope didn't work at first and I was becoming impatient. Next, I tried making a really skinny hook using the same thread wire I use for making my beaded key chains and somehow fish the elastic into the other side of the bar in the foot. Ta Da! It worked only once sadly, and doing the other foot, just did not happen no matter how many times I had tried, and I tried at least 10 times! Ugh. My fingers sore and arms tired along with dropping the foot a few times or hands. Seriously!! NOOO! By then I was exhausted from trying.

You can see the bar anchor inside the foot.

So, I had half a limb completed or I should say, one leg only. Just before the day I was to leave for the States, I tried to figure another way to get the tiny elastic thread into the foot of the body. I forgot what that was, because it didn't even work. Oh well, so I decided I would just put it away until I could figure an easier way to do it.  

 Once I was Stateside, I had the kits with me and thought a lot about what I could find to use that would help me more easily. Sure enough, I did a search for tweezers and figured that perhaps an eyelash tweezer might work?! Now, to find one. I checked at the NEX when Tevin took me there for items to take with us during the road trip, nothing. When we got into South Dakota, he then took me to a Walmart for snacks and water that we would have for our hotel stay. Sure enough, we found the tweezers there! So, when we had some down time, I tried using it and it worked for the feet only. The hands was a bit too hard to maneuver the elastic into because of the tinier space between the bars, ugh.

Needle and thread only helps with stringing the larger parts.

 So as you can see in the photo below, I decided when I got back home to Guam to make an "S" hook tiny enough to use inside the hands. It worked!! Yay!! But I must say trying to fish it into the hand and attach that hook onto the elastic is not an easy task either! I tried asking the makers from China how to do it and never got a response sadly. I even ask around and one collector said she didn't have to do her small puppy because she got it completed by the Neko Shop. She did suggest using a thin needle and thread. I didn't use this suggested method until I got back and it helped when I needed to thread the elastic through the other parts, but not when I have to put it through the hand or foot. Ugh. I also asked the Neko Shop but didn't get a response until after I had completed the task. Haha!

Hand and tiny "S" hook I made using wire.

In the end, the teeny tiny "S" hooks I made for the hands worked out. I completed one of the kits for now! Yippee! Whew! Now my little tan Small Puppy is done! I even did his face paint! Not perfect but it will do. The face paint below was my 2nd attempt. The 1st was not to my liking. Haha! This tan version I've wanted since seeing other collectors share.

 

Below, the two bjd's together, my 1st Small Pup and now my tan one. Oh I forgot to mention the kits do not come with eyes or magnets. You will have to buy them separately. Luckily, I knew where to get them! You will need the magnets for the face and back head plates. The eyes, I had already in my collection that I bought from a Japan seller who makes them herself Roseden on IG. Now, I just need to get more!

Tan small Puppy and my 1st small Puppy.

It was fun to try to figure out what or how I could complete the kits. Trial and error for sure! I hope you all have a great rest of your April. My gosh, May is almost here!! Until next time!

Completed my 2nd kit!

 

Thank you for looking! ~ ggsdolls