New video - TPE repairs, a comprehensive tutorial

[Arthur1960]

Hi Doll Canvas, I undertook a large repair on one of my dolls nearly 3 years ago using the method you describe of melting in small pieces of fresh tpe. I followed the advice given by Mishka in his excellent video and did the work over a weekend as it was a deep wound that took several hours to fill. The good news is that the repair has held and on reflection this is probably one of the best methods to repair a larger hole or tear as opposed to using a tpe filler paste. Key to success is ensuring everything is clean and that you take your time to gradually melt in the little pieces of tpe with the soldering iron. As I recall I had my hot air rework station on hand as well so warmed up the area first that was to receive the fresh tpe and then worked in the new stuff with the soldering iron. So fingers crossed you will have the same result as I did!

[Canvas]

Skill and equipment will determine how well a repair turns out
Equipment is easy, skill comes from practice using the equipment to its best
Follow muesky6969 for some remarkable TPE sculpting

I agree, and research, research will greatly help any repair. Wish I would have done a little more homework before my last repair attempt.
Luckily Muesky and Mishka both provide enough instruction to help just about anyone pick up the skills needed
Practice does go a long ways, I did the feet first on this time around with the soldering iron and a hot spoon
If you have any big repairs, practicing with something smaller helps a lot

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Hi Doll Canvas, I undertook a large repair on one of my dolls nearly 3 years ago using the method you describe of melting in small pieces of fresh tpe. I followed the advice given by Mishka in his excellent video and did the work over a weekend as it was a deep wound that took several hours to fill. The good news is that the repair has held and on reflection this is probably one of the best methods to repair a larger hole or tear as opposed to using a tpe filler paste. Key to success is ensuring everything is clean and that you take your time to gradually melt in the little pieces of tpe with the soldering iron. As I recall I had my hot air rework station on hand as well so warmed up the area first that was to receive the fresh tpe and then worked in the new stuff with the soldering iron. So fingers crossed you will have the same result as I did!

Thanks for the feedback Arthur! This makes me feel more confident in my work. It sounds like we worked very similar
I spent days on the repair, being careful to hot weld each bit in with hot air then soldering, and letting it cool as well. Inbetween layers I would also brave gently working in a heated metal spoon handle to flatten things in/down. Everything with the operation felt about as sterile as doing actual surgery would be too.
Think I'll attempt to test it a bit and see how well things hold

[Canvas]

Hello repair gurus so the space in between my dolls vag and anus is tearing anyone have suggestions if I should use a soldering iron or heat gun and if I should try and close her legs or open them up?

If you're comfortable with working with your hands, glazing over this lightly with a hot spoon would work well for something like this.
Mishka demonstrates the technique in a couple of his videos, the key is to use plenty of baby oil and to just glaze over.
You would want to position the legs up and in a way that you could work with out hitting the surrounding areas.
The fumes from hot spooning can be god awful. If you do use this method be sure to use a safety mask and a well ventilated room!

[Babapuree]

Hello repair gurus so the space in between my dolls vag and anus is tearing anyone have suggestions if I should use a soldering iron or heat gun and if I should try and close her legs or open them up?

If you're comfortable with working with your hands, glazing over this lightly with a hot spoon would work well for something like this.
Mishka demonstrates the technique in a couple of his videos, the key is to use plenty of baby oil and to just glaze over.
You would want to position the legs up and in a way that you could work with out hitting the surrounding areas.
The fumes from hot spooning can be god awful. If you do use this method be sure to use a safety mask and a well ventilated room!

Thank you for the idea will try the spoon will post pictures after I fix it or make it worse..lol... but am pretty confident with my hands.

[TMIA]

I just want to share a couple of my successes. I don't have much privacy where I live, nor a well-ventilated area, so I had to be cautious and act quickly. All things considered, I think the repairs turned out quite well.
I repaired this gash on the foot using a flat soldering iron and a heat gun:

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I repaired this cut on the knee using only a heat gun:

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I also repaired a hole in the hand and another cut on the leg. The biggest problem I ran into was texturing. Personally, I was not pleased with using 220 grit sandpaper for texture. It didn't seem to be doing much at all. I ended up using a microfiber cloth to add the texture, which did a better job, but made it more rough than I had hoped for. Next time I will try a slightly lower grit sandpaper and see if that works well.
I am so grateful for these tutorials! They give me so much peace of mind!

[homersexual]

Thanks to you, Morghana, and others posting these threads and videos. You're doing amazing work and really helped me out!

Callista is day 71 with me, but two weeks ago took a rather nasty spill into a heater. Thankfully there was no internal damage, but she took a zipper cut to the cheek about an inch long and has some body scuffing, and a cut to her pinky finger. I can handle some dermal damage to the body, but her injured face made me feel pretty bad.

Happy to say the scar is barely visible unless it is hit by the right light and viewed at about 6 inches or less without any powdering. I would have done a before and after, but I was too dismayed at my own carelessness and her injury.

I used a combination of heat gun with oil, but found the sandpaper (when tested on her insert) left too much texture, but I didn't have the suggested grit. Since there wasn't a serious gouge I stuck with tamping using a microfiber cloth, but the scar remained, so instead of using just a heat gun I used a spoon once the tear was sealed. I heated the spoon with the heat gun instead of a torch to about 60-78c and gently caressed her cheek with little touches to smooth things down a bit.

After that I pat the area to mostly dryness, reheat her skin with the heat gun to about 60-70c and applied powder to embed as suggested by Mishka. She still has some tiny scratches but they are invisible with powder.

This was my first repair; so I will be going back to further correct some of the more minor things I missed or couldn't work out this first time. My priority was mostly just to get the bigger repairs done. When I am more confident I may go back and gently smooth her cheek further and worth on some body scuffs, but for now a closed wound in her pretty face is enough.

Will add before and after of shoulder, but the wounds aren't as pronounced a they were when it happened.

I want to add that it really was better to wait before attempting repairs. At the time of the injury the dents, scuffs, and cuts were much deeper. I followed the advice I'd read at the time of injury and before about cleaning, which I did with a mild soapy water combo, allowed a hot water soaked wash cloth to rest on her injuries for a few minutes, dried carefully, and then applied oil to her damaged areas as if normally cleaning. I think this helped allow the TPE to recover as much as it could on its own, making repairs much easier when I was ready to try.

I would also advise some kind of covering or shielding for the eyelashes. Callista's took some minor damage from the heat gun.

Shoulder before

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Shoulder after

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Shoulder after with powder (still needs work; didn't want to press my luck on first time at 1am half asleep)

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Cheek sealed

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Don't forget that eye protection!

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[RevJack]

Hello repair gurus so the space in between my dolls vag and anus is tearing anyone have suggestions if I should use a soldering iron or heat gun and if I should try and close her legs or open them up?

Hey there, I just noticed that no one seems to have answered you, I apologize for that. Your issue is probably best fixed by ADDING TPE to the area under stress, reinforcing it. So I would recommend that you use a very thick TPE paste smoothed into that area while the legs are slightly spread. A thick paste should adhere without causing the damage to unzip. Don't worry at first how it looks, once the area is reinforced, it can be smoothed.

Rev Jack

[FCD94]

How did you do that and I need to get some of that material, where? Great Job!

I used a Weller model SP12 soldering iron.
47B36AC0-0D24-4DE6-BA18-7E842F3709F6.jpeg
I use the point to stitch the material back together down deep in the damage, then the side to smooth out the surface.
Following up with a heat gun to help blend it all together.
F95B5C25-FF62-4EEF-9292-F656136E075E.jpeg

The extra material came with the doll.
So that part was made very easy for me.

That soldering station looks so familiar!

Mishka

Yep! They are on every doll finishing table in China!
And your garage! Lol

I used a very basic & cheap electric soldering iron to do some minor heat repairs and it worked great. I also have this kind of hot air soldering station - I found a sale on them at a local store & got one super cheap. I haven't got around to trying it out yet. I don't remember if I have asked before - what is the long extension piece that the factories seem to have on theirs for smoothing over the skin??

[Multij]

Awesome and very informative video! Hope you can make a separate video for vaginal rip repairs since its a common issue for TPE type dolls

[ChadleyInkwell]

Thanks for making this video (four years ago). I've only had my girl for 7 months and now these tears have developed. I was bummed out until I watched your tutorial. Now I've bought a heat gun and will start experimenting with heat settings.

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[linkdolls]

Excellent video! ! worth recommending

[Mishka1965]

Thanks all.
The video is a great start for doing repairs, but above all, practice!

If the tears are severe like in ChadleyInkwell example, the repair must be done in a not stressed position or the result will be bad tearing and cratering of the edges. Also, that repair may likely need fill material from a soldering station to fill in the holes. It's a difficult repair to do without making it worse. In the case where heat alone open up the cracks more, fill material will be needed.

Mishka

[Mishka1965]

Awesome and very informative video! Hope you can make a separate video for vaginal rip repairs since its a common issue for TPE type dolls

I did a reconstruction video, but alas, this type of repair is usually always under stress, so a long lasting repair may be futile.

Mishka

[ChadleyInkwell]

Thanks all.
The video is a great start for doing repairs, but above all, practice!

If the tears are severe like in ChadleyInkwell example, the repair must be done in a not stressed position or the result will be bad tearing and cratering of the edges. Also, that repair may likely need fill material from a soldering station to fill in the holes. It's a difficult repair to do without making it worse. In the case where heat alone open up the cracks more, fill material will be needed.

Mishka

Can I use the spare TPE slab that was sent with the doll? And then what should I do, cut it into tiny chunks and then carefully solder each piece into each hole?

[Fr0stByte]

Thanks all.
The video is a great start for doing repairs, but above all, practice!

If the tears are severe like in ChadleyInkwell example, the repair must be done in a not stressed position or the result will be bad tearing and cratering of the edges. Also, that repair may likely need fill material from a soldering station to fill in the holes. It's a difficult repair to do without making it worse. In the case where heat alone open up the cracks more, fill material will be needed.

Mishka

Ya I have one that I need to repair under the arm pit but this is what concerns me. I would have to open the arm pit arm to be able to anything and that would put it under tension and would make it worse =( Even got spare TPU for her from my vendor but I feel I will just make it worse.