Frameless Cortex

Thanks to a lovely mod for restoring my password 😉 I'm back on my dolly shenanigans! 

 

Scored this lovely project doll on classified ads in my country. It's a Cortex shell, but without the frame (skeleton)! 

First owner did such a great job with the faceup and made clay joints pearls in order to string the shell like a bjd. I added a wire frame (about 2m of different sizes) for stability. Once she's wearing long sleeves, you won't see the difference. Of course, she cannot pose as stable as a "complete" Smart Doll. But for a fraction of the price, I'll accept a fraction of the stability 😉

Nicely done!

Love this! I'd like to get a shell like this one day, too.

Oh wow that's really creative, i never would've came up with a idea like that! 

Mind if i ask about how stable and tight strung she is? You said she's not as stable as ones with frames, but you might can  even add more stability. 

I can imagine it being very wonky and a little complicated with the knees. You might be able to, if you're interested to do some "joints" for the knees for stability there. 
this might sound silly but i think you should even be able to make prototypes with straws if you have any and kind of "imitate" what the frame is doing but with a extra joint between both parts, or even go full out and tinker yourself a own leg frame. 

Also, i assume the head string is "connected" with the arm strings? Otherwise i wouldn't fully see how one could've make it work with the head. Depending on the sizes of the strings, stringing them tighter might make them more stable and let them hold poses a little better as well. If you connect the Head string (which i assume you hold with a hook like in most bjds) with the leg strings, that might also give them more strength. 

however, i'm happy for you that you got her! She's cute and unique, and the price is a great bonus for that 

 

1 hour ago, Yuichan said:

Oh wow that's really creative, i never would've came up with a idea like that! 

Mind if i ask about how stable and tight strung she is? You said she's not as stable as ones with frames, but you might can  even add more stability. 

I can imagine it being very wonky and a little complicated with the knees. You might be able to, if you're interested to do some "joints" for the knees for stability there. 
this might sound silly but i think you should even be able to make prototypes with straws if you have any and kind of "imitate" what the frame is doing but with a extra joint between both parts, or even go full out and tinker yourself a own leg frame. 

Also, i assume the head string is "connected" with the arm strings? Otherwise i wouldn't fully see how one could've make it work with the head. Depending on the sizes of the strings, stringing them tighter might make them more stable and let them hold poses a little better as well. If you connect the Head string (which i assume you hold with a hook like in most bjds) with the leg strings, that might also give them more strength. 

however, i'm happy for you that you got her! She's cute and unique, and the price is a great bonus for that 

 

She is much more stable now with a wire skeleton in addition to the strings 😉 Both arms are strung together through the chest, head is/was strung down to the feet, but now sits more on the wire spine than being held on with the strings (but yes, with a hook). She can even stand alone, but it takes some finagling 😉

Only con, cannot be easily taken apart because hands and feet are filled with glue to hold the hooks. I have to bend the wire along with her arms/legs to pose her, but that's not a hardship. 

This is really interesting from someone who is far more familiar with resin BJDs than vinyl (although I guess it’s not exclusive to resin BJDs as I’ve heard the old Dollfie Dreams (or was it Dollfie?) were strung. How do the clay beads work without forcing the sides of each part of the cortex body open (cracking the clamshell, if you will)? 

17 hours ago, muphryslaw said:

This is really interesting from someone who is far more familiar with resin BJDs than vinyl (although I guess it’s not exclusive to resin BJDs as I’ve heard the old Dollfie Dreams (or was it Dollfie?) were strung. How do the clay beads work without forcing the sides of each part of the cortex body open (cracking the clamshell, if you will)? 

Hmm the stringing is not so tight that there would be stress put on the shell via the beads, and I think that putting the wire in also helped with that 🤔

Good to know! I’ve tried something similar to this with the 1/3rd Obitsu hard body (in kind of a frankendoll hybridized with Obitsu and other fashion doll parts) and have a cracking problem when the tension is applied. I was hoping maybe you’d experienced it and gotten around it. I guess SmartDoll ABS Cortex shells just might be sturdier. 

Well, apparently I can’t edit anymore. I just realized the Cortex shells aren’t actually ABS.

This SO COOL! I really wish Smart Doll still sold Cortex parts. I’d love to try this.
 

I did notice a couple weeks ago Danny posted a Facebook story and there were Cortex pieces on a table. It was the same time when several chaos bundles were put in the shop, though, so I wonder if the parts were just leftovers for that. I didn’t see it in time to get a bundle before they sold out.
 

Has Danny given any other indications of bringing Cortex back? 

20 hours ago, meef said:

This SO COOL! I really wish Smart Doll still sold Cortex parts. I’d love to try this.
 

I did notice a couple weeks ago Danny posted a Facebook story and there were Cortex pieces on a table. It was the same time when several chaos bundles were put in the shop, though, so I wonder if the parts were just leftovers for that. I didn’t see it in time to get a bundle before they sold out.
 

Has Danny given any other indications of bringing Cortex back? 

I don’t think Cortex will ever return. At some point there was an Instagram post about that the cortex was more expensive to produce than the vinyl Smartdoll. 

What a tragedy after spending so much to develop it.

On 2/13/2023 at 1:55 AM, meef said:

This SO COOL! I really wish Smart Doll still sold Cortex parts. I’d love to try this.

Well, I don't know about the Cortex, BUT if you have a 3d printer /anyone who has one, there's a lovely doll on Thingiverse, look for "SmartBJD" 😉

 

I hope it's okay to post mine here even though technically, she's not a Smart Doll, but I having so much fun with the files currently 😉

Woah, your doll looks great!!

I found the file:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5607415