For the past few months I've been having issues with the neck piece on my Sugarcups Biscuitina Star Sprinkles. I've had her since December 2023, so, around 2 years.

Recently, her head started coming off really easily while simply posing or redressing her. Also, since around that same time, when trying to insert the neck piece in the body, it goes inside her head, which apart from making her eyes move and driving me crazy, since they are so tiny and hard to pose correctly, makes me have to open her head to push it outside again every time.

It seems like there might be no longer enough friction for the neck piece to stay firm and stable, but I see no issue on the pieces themselves. I have tried cellotape, washi tape, masking tape... nothing works. But I'm open to trying again if someone has a possible solution. Should I buy another neck piece, maybe?

In short, not sure why this is happening, any help is much appreciated. This is a very loved doll, and it hurts to not be able to redress and pose her without her head falling off.

Thanks in advance!

UPDATED WITH PICTURES (2020 restoration)

My Salon Care 40 expired from 2 years ago and I'm having a hard time finding Sally's that's still open near my location (every store either closed down or temporarily closed due to the pandemic) while I did try to use it to restore some of my yellowed eyes and obitsu parts.....to my dismay it didn't work (I did expect this since it was already way past it's shelf life). So this time I just used a regular hydrogen peroxide 3% to restore em'

Process usually takes about half a day. For best results, preferably during a bright sunny afternoon with no cloud cover. I just used a regular ziplock bag and an 8 ounce bottle of hydrogen peroxide (do not skimp on this every part must be submerged or covered in H2O2. I cannot stress this enough)

before restoration

you can barely see the yellowed smudge on the leg but it's there

After the treatment|   I removed circled one half-way the treatment as a reference.... (I shouldn't have included said eye for a better example of before and after)

As you can see it's already back to it's original state and the obitsu legs looks brand new!

BELOW THIS PART IS AN OLDER RESTORATION OF MY AL AZIF

Before

After

I'm not sure if you can tell by the picture but the color between the head cap and the actual head doesn't match anymore

Full restoration

Thanks for reading, as I have mentioned before feedback will be gladly appreciated if you try this.

Does Anyone Know for Certain if Metallic Jewellery, in contact with the the Softer Vinyl Formulations, are a Stain Risk?

I'm not sure if the tack I use is too hard (Duck Brand Reusable and Removable Poster Putty) or if it's just a matter of the resin used for coating. I haven't had this issue with any other eyes, so I'm guessing it was either the resin was too weak (?) or they were stored improperly. I'm not familiar with using resin at all so I'm not 100% sure.

Is there any way I can remove the coating and recoat them? Or would adding a second coat of resin prevent further cracking?

pics for reference! it looks normal in the first pic but its kinda bad actually 💀

https://imgur.com/a/PeBdJP3

What is a Stain?

It is color transfer from some object onto the surface of the doll. It's perhaps a bit misleading to call it a true stain since the marks are usually reversible given time and effort, but nevertheless that is the nomenclature that has developed. Most often staining is caused by the dyes used to color fabric, or in other words, leaving your doll wearing dark clothes directly against her skin.

What Types of Things Stain?

• Thread or Yarn. These are some of the worst culprits of staining, since manufacturers typically put little effort into sealing the dyes in thread. Even if an outfit is light colored or lined, any dark threads that touch the doll skin could leave marks over time. To that end, it's best to avoid making DIY doll accessories out of yarn.
  
• Dark-Colored Outfits. Black, red, or other dark clothes worn directly against the skin. Fabric quality matters, as poorly dyed (cheap) fabrics will transfer color far faster than well-finished ones. Well-made dark outfits are lined with white cloth to help prevent stains.
  
• Wig Bases. The fabric part of the wig that all the hair fibers are attached to. The hair fibers themselves do not stain, just the fabric part that goes onto the head. Dark colors stain most, but even blonde wigs are capable of leaving (light) marks.
  
• Acrylic Paint Intended for Metals. This mostly applies to doing faceups or fingernails. You can paint with it but it tends to leave stains behind if you change your mind and want to redo the faceup. Posters on the painting threads suggest using Liquitex paints for vinyl instead.
  

How Quickly Will it Stain?

There's no one answer to this, as it depends on so many variables. Outfit fabric, environment, vinyl batch, and more all play a role. In general it is fine to leave your daughter in anything you like for at least the length of a photoshoot, if not significantly longer. You will learn, through experience, how resistant your own individual doll is to picking up color. See the following questions for more information.

What Makes it Stain Faster?

• Direct Skin Contact. If the dark fabric or thread directly touches the vinyl, it is easier for dye to transfer to the doll.
  
• Heat. Warming up the vinyl makes it softer and more pliable, and in turn more receptive to foreign substances like dye. Keep this in mind if your doll's home is in direct sunlight (best move her) or you take her outdoors for a long photoshoot on a hot (air temp) and/or sunny (radiation warming) day.
  
• Moisture. Clothes (either dark or light) getting wet while worn on the doll will cause the dyes to run. Excess water in the air (humidity) will get in the fabric and also cause dyes to transfer. Much like how you don't wash light and dark clothes together, damp fabric and vinyl is not a combination you want to have. This is another thing to watch out for outdoors in the summer.
  
• Pressure. This includes clothes that cling tightly through elastic or ribbon ties, as well as any clothes that the doll is putting her weight onto. For example, black socks will stain first in a band at the top (elastic), at the ankle joint (fabric squeezed by the angle of the foot), and on the bottom of the foot (doll's weight).
  
• Vinyl Batch. Slight variations in the types of vinyl used by Volks for each run means that some DD bodies stain slightly more easily than others. You might have a doll that picks up color quickly, or you might have one that is very resistant. This is not something you can control or do anything about, but individual differences between your girls is something you'll want to remember as your family grows!
  

What Makes it Stain Slower?

Preventing stains requires pretty much the opposite of the above. You don't have to do all of these, but each one you do will lower the probability of your doll acquiring stains. That's important to remember, as there's no guaranteed way to avoid them; you just want to make staining as unlikely as you can.

• Lined Outfits or Layering Underclothes. Make sure that your dark-colored outfits are lined with white fabric on the inside and/or you wear a body stocking, a slip, or other white undergarments. The thicker the white fabric the better for preventing stains. Volks, CoolCat, and others make a variety of body stocking types you can use, depending on the outfit. Some of the stockings look nice enough that you can incorporate them right as part of the outfit, not just as underclothes. You want to keep the dark fabric off the doll's skin in any way that is practical. That's the most important thing you can do to prevent stains.
  
• Cloth or Rubber Wig Cap. Same concept, just this time for wigs. Most important for dark wigs. The clear silicon wig caps you may come across will prevent slippage of the wig but stains go right through them; make sure to use a white cloth or white rubber one in addition. Stains can go through cloth also, just so you are aware, but it will be much harder.
  
• Cool and Dehumidified Environment. Keeping the vinyl cool toughens it up a bit and makes it more resistant to staining. Dehumidifying the air makes outfits less prone to dye bleed. Luckily, an Air Conditioner does both of these things at the same time. Keeping the house cool is good, keeping the doll near an A/C vent with air lightly blowing on her is even better.
  
• Weight Distribution. If you use stands or furniture for your doll, make sure you use them to support her weight in such a way that it doesn't press dark fabric into her skin.
  

My Doll Got Stained; How Do I Clean Her?

Despite your preventive efforts, your doll may eventually get stained anyway just depending on her outfit. But take heart, for all is not lost. With a little time and effort, those stains can be removed and make your daughter appear new again. A cleanup kit will cost you only around $25, very cheap compared to most things DD, and you can get everything in one stop at, say, Target. Here is what you will need and how to use it.

Materials Needed

• 10% Benzoyl Peroxide Cream. Sold as acne or pimple remover in the pharmacy section of the store. Any brand will do, but you want to make sure that the "active ingredient" on the back is 10% benzoyl peroxide. That's the highest concentration that is available, and will make the de-staining go faster. One example is Oxy Face Wash, in a black 6oz bottle. One bottle goes a long way and is enough to start. Cost: $5.
  
• Desk Lamp, Adjustable. Pretty much any cheap desk lamp will do, if you don't already own one. You just want to make sure it can be pointed in many different directions and adjusted to any height you want. The lamp is an alternative to using sunlight to warm up vinyl, which I prefer since a lamp is more adjustable and can be used any time of day. The lamp is a big part of Oxy de-staining. Without the lamp, Oxy can take a month or more to be effective. But with a lamp, it takes a quarter of that time or less. Most of these lamps accept up to 60W lightbulbs. Cost: $9 on clearance.
  
• 50W PAR20-size Halogen Flood Bulb. You want something that emits heat and a wide spectrum of light. Halogens, such as GE Edison or Philips Halogena, are great for this since they run warm and are widely available in flood-style bulbs. You don't want a CFL fluorescent for this as those don't put out enough heat. Regular incandescent bulbs will also do, although they might be slightly less effective due to the non-flood style. Flood style lamps direct the light output into one place (rather than letting it out everywhere around the bulb), and directed light is what we want right on those stains. The 50W and PAR20 size are just the specs that fit inside the desk lamp I bought, nothing special. Cost: $9.
  
• Optional: Magic Eraser. Any brand will do, although the original is by Mr. Clean. These are white squishy bars that feel slightly rough; you use them by wetting them and rubbing. Useful for cleaning dollfies in general, such as after going outside, so you should probably have them anyway.. but they are optional for de-staining. Cost: $5
  

De-Staining Procedure, Heatlamp-Oxy Method

• Clean the stained area with the Magic Eraser just to make sure it's clean. Dip the white eraser in water and rub over the skin to remove any dirt. Dry completely.
  
• Lay doll down on a table, optionally on a white towel so she's comfortable. Make sure it's a place you don't need to use soon, since your doll will be laying here a while. You can leave her fully assembled.
  
• Cover any exposed areas of her face with a towel or paper towel. Faceups are quite durable, but we may as well shield them from the light to protect them. Also put a paper towel under the area to be de-stained, to catch any Oxy that rolls off the doll onto the table.
  
• Turn the floodlight on and point the brightest part of the light directly at the stain. The lamp can be however far away you want it to be, just keep in mind that the more heat the faster the stain will vanish. I keep it at about 12" away since we want to warm the bare skin and not cook it (an important consideration). Leave the lamp this way for a couple minutes until the vinyl is warm to the touch. The idea is to preheat the vinyl and expand it slightly, so that the Oxy soaks in better in the next step.
  
• Apply Oxy to the stain. The cream is very liquidy, so squirt a big glob onto your fingertip and touch it to the vinyl, leaving a big glob on the doll. No need to rub it in. You want a thick layer on there. Repeat as necessary until a thick white gooey glob covers all of the stained area. If you get it on non-stained areas too that's OK as it will not harm your doll at all.
  
• Leave the Oxy and lamp going for about 3-4 hours while you go do something else. Just be sure to come back and turn off the lamp after no more than 4 hours so the vinyl doesn't get too hot at one stretch. You can leave the Oxy itself on there for as long as you want, really, as it won't harm your doll, but the Oxy seems to lose its effectiveness after about 8 hours and a fresh application would do better than continuing the old. During this time the Oxy will dry out and become a solid white coating on your doll. 3-4 hours is typical for one de-staining treatment.
  
• Get a wet paper towel (with no ink or designs!) and wipe off all of the Oxy. This will take a minute or two since the cream dried out.
  
• Clean up any remaining thin Oxy residue with the Magic Eraser, then dry thoroughly. You're done with one complete treatment!
  
• Repeat as necessary until the stain is completely gone or as light as you think you can get it. It may be gone after one treatment, or it may take a week or more of daily treatments. This method is very effective, and the results just depend on the stain. One useful thing to keep in mind is that the Oxy seems to keep working on its own, even after you stop performing treatments. For stains that don't seem to want to go away completely, you may find a few weeks later that they're suddenly gone. Overall, it's an easy, safe, and effective way to remove DD stains.
  

Alternative Treatments

There is an alternate de-staining method used by some. It involves two products that are only sold by a company called Twin Pines of Maine through mail order: Remove-Zit (to clean stains) and Formula 9-1-1 (to clean off the remove-zit). The benefit of this method is that it is supposed to be effective at removing stains in a hurry. The drawbacks I have heard are that it's more expensive, requires multiple products, can yellow the doll's plastic skeleton, and has the chance to ruin the doll's vinyl under some (unknown) conditions. I haven't personally used this method, but Wolfheinrich has. I personally prefer heatlamp-Oxy since it is worry-free and at least as fast when the heatlamp is used, but feel free to use whatever you like best yourself.

Much thanks goes to baldylox, mitsuki, and all others who helped me learn how to de-stain.

Much thanks also to the posters in this thread who helped refine our collective knowledge.

Does anyone have ideas on how to salvage the wrist or help with parts? Buying a new body just because of the wrist isn't an option for me right now, and ideally I keep the articulation in that wrist.

https://i.imgur.com/fvamkLj.jpeg (How the wrists look when not broken)

This, of course, has gotten me very anxious. The only dolls shown in their examples of the effects in the comments are MLPS and MH dolls, which both use colorfully dyed thin, squishy plastic, but they claim that it damages all dolls, including expensive ones with higher quality vinyl. Some have said that they used the benzoyl peroxide on vintage barbies 7 years ago and still haven't seen any problems whatsoever, but several posters insist that it is still damaging the dolls and they will start to show over time.

I've never seen anyone in the DD community have issues with the benzoyl peroxide (in fact it's the most popular stain removal method), but it might be that dollfie dreams haven't been around long enough yet to see the effects? I'm a little scared to use it now...

...But on the other hand, I've never seen anyone recommend hydrogen peroxide (especially in the form of a hair developer) to remove stains either. This is the only post I've seen about using hydrogen peroxide instead of benzoyl peroxide and it was made fairly recently. I've seen the damage done to the MLPs in the past, but their plastic seems pretty different from DD plastic, so I chalked it up to that. Does anyone know anything about this? The benzoyl peroxide method has been the standard recommendation on here forever, so I'd be inclined to not worry about it, but some of the stains are around my dolls headcap and extend to the top of her forehead. The reddit poster makes it sound like the benzoyl peroxide can spread through the plastic and affect more areas than where you applied it, so I would be worried about the discoloration and damage eventually showing up on her head.

Would it still be safe to use benzoyl peroxide? Or should I just keep trying to use the dream rescue cream instead?

Mere hours before the new year, I took Miku to a friend's house so we could watch anime, eat fast food and then watch the ball drop on TV.  I have one of the clear small dog/cat backpack that I had put Miku in so I could transport her safely.  While taking her out of the cat backpack, I noticed her left leg seemed loose.  When I lifted her out, her leg literally fell off.  

Apparently, stupid me forgot poor Miku is not a easily poseable BJD with ball joints and internal stringing, and can not sit crosslegged.  Oof.

I'm not terribly worried, I'm more mad at myself for breaking poor Miku!  I know she's made to be able to have her parts easily replaced, but it still hurts me that I hurt my Miku. 

I've checked Cool Cat for hip and shoulder metal sheath sets, any idea which ones I should get for her DD III body?  I also want to get the neck joint, parts that I've wanted to get anyways.  I was hoping that I could get them quite a bit later in 2024, but oh well.

Also, is there a tutorial or video that shows how to replace that hip, or better yet, add all of these parts to poor Miku?  

Welp, she was home for a year and four days before any damage occurred, I guess that's a good thing.  

Miku's broken leg by Ryuichi Sakuma, on Flickr

Miku's broken leg by Ryuichi Sakuma, on Flickr

Miku's broken leg by Ryuichi Sakuma, on Flickr

Ryu

Sometime around late 2023 I used something that caused this red splotchy stain around Kseniya's mouth. I'm leaning towards it being pastels, but I've used acrylic paint too.

I wouldn't mind if it was just on her lips since I usually paint them anyways, but it's also on the sides of her mouth (despite never having the pastels or paint touch that area) and it looks kind of odd in photos.

Should I try removing it with hair developer/dream rescue, or is this basically permanent?

Link to the photos

For dusting and tidying up my dolls' clothes, I have been using a lint roller but I was wondering if this damages the clothes in any way as it is an adhesive. 

I would like to hear your thoughts on it and, if possible, your own ways of making sure your dolls are nice and tidy.

The handling guide says that the joint in question can be removed and tightened, but I’ve been trying for hours and haven’t been able to get it out. Has anyone else had this issue, or know how to remove the joint from the shell?

I made the mistake of substituting DD protection tape with a similar tape recommended to me by a friend, who collects Smart Dolls and frequently uses a gentle type of masking tape on her dolls. I used this tape for one of my DD girls, and after 2 weeks of wearing black socks… she’s stain free, but covered in a sticky layer of residue from the tape. 
 

After an hour of gentle scrubbing under both cold and warm water with a magic eraser sponge, another friend recommended using “goo gone” to get the stickiness off. I’m terrified of using this product on the soft vinyl, despite the website saying this product is safe on car interiors and various types of vinyl surfaces. So far, I’ve committed to using a mild dish soap and taking my time with her.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? Any tips or tricks to help?

Thank you for your time ♡

I have had my MDD Marisa for a few months now, but all of a sudden her legs became very loose and both fell off at the hip. I reattached them and they are still a bit loose which makes me think they'll fall off again soon. 

Is this anything to be worried about or is it to be expected?

Thank you in advance!

Is super glue gonna be enough to fix this? I see epoxy glue recommended but there seems to be different types for various purposes. Would something like Gorilla brand epoxy be fine, or would I need to get something that's specifically for plastic welding like JB plastic weld? The Permatex brand isn't readily available here. I'll get it if it's really necessary but would rather avoid buying it for this one job and having the rest go to waste if possible.

I'm also a little confused about which frame this is. I know she's a DD base body 3 but there have been changes and updates since this release? From what I can tell the correct arm replacement would be DDIII-A-01-SW that's sold out on the Volks site. So this would be the correct part, right? http://us.sk-coolcat.com/front/bin/ptdetail.phtml?Part=kss_15

Does anyone have any good suggestion on where to place the wigs that fit smart doll on to let you work/style them?

First, a little back story. I had a Smart Doll body wear a certain outfit and that resulted in massive vinyl staining. Before treating the parts with Dream Rescue, I started to remove the vinyl from the frame. When I tried to remove the thigh vinyl parts, I was a complete idiot. I didn't heat the thighs enough, I tugged on the thighs way too hard, and then the spine snapped where I marked in red.

When this happened, it was more than a year after I made my purchase. I was out of warranty and even if I could buy replacement parts, I would have needed to buy the entire thigh + lower torso parts. This would have been about 13000 JPY based on how much the USB torsos were being sold for at the time. That, and shipping. That, and I would have needed to wait a week for EMS.

I decided to perform a repair instead. Please take a look at my I spent less than a minute drawing this piece of 💩 art below.

Since the spine is permanently attached to the torso, I performed some "surgery" without removing it from the vinyl. In order to drill a hole into the spine, I moved the "crotch" part of the vinyl to the side so I can drill straight into the spine. Once I felt the hole I drilled into the spine was deep enough, I drilled another hole in the pelvis. Once I drilled a hole of a certain depth into the pelvis, I measured the depth of the holes I drilled into the pelvis and the spine. The measurement was approximate; I couldn't get the exact depths.

I took a solid brass rod with a diameter of about the same size as the drill bit. I used a hacksaw to cut it to the length of [spine hole depth + pelvis hole depth]. The piece I cut was slightly shorter than the combined depth but I made up for that with a combination of epoxy putty and epoxy glue. Once I set the putty and glue, I left the pieces I put together alone for 48 hours. The glue and putty I used solidify in a few hours but I let them cure for 2 days.

The combination of solid brass rod + epoxy putty + epoxy glue was robust. There's definite strength behind the repair.

I didn't think to take photos of the repair job I did but it would have been difficult to take good pictures anyway. As already mentioned, the spine is permanently attached to the torso. That fact alone makes taking photos extremely difficult.

Hopefully, no one else experienced the same thing I did with a broken Smart Doll spine. However, if you did experience the same problem, you hopefully now have a useful guide for how to perform a repair.

I wanted to ask if anybody has had successes with color fasting using Retayne/Synthrapol for dolly wardrobe.

I'm curious if that will solve the issue of dark-colored fabrics from staining.