Any Piercing Experts on the Forum?

[Evelynnshubby]

Hello TDF, I just received my FunWest 152cm #026 Anime Lexie and I intend to give her several piercings but I have a lot of questions.

I'm given to understand 14 gauge is the standard size for human piercings. As long as I'm careful making the hole and with the piercing itself will this work for the nipples? I'm concerned the hole might just end up too big. At just under 5feet tall my girl is one of the smaller full sized dolls, I'm not sure if that means her nipples are any smaller than a taller doll.

Is there any benefit to making the hole bigger or smaller than the piercing? I saw on another thread someone recommended using a smaller gauge to make the hole. Why?

I'm noticing that a lot of piercings are curved, I think because it's supposed to be more comfortable for the humans wearing them, but if I'm using a straight needle to make a straight hole through TPE, wouldn't it make the most sense to fill it with a straight piercing? Would a bent stud forcing the TPE to match its shape not strain the TPE, even if only slightly?

Where is the best place to purchase piercings? Does it matter what material the piercings are made of? I know there are higher grade metals available for sensitive skin but is there anything material-wise that interacts with TPE?

I've heard of people using a lube to push the needle through. Is this necessary or recommended? What about lube or Vaseline on the actual piercing when inserting it into the hole?

Is a piercing gun worth using or am I better off just using a needle? Are there parts of a doll's body that would be hard to use a gun on? (Navel, VCH, eyebrows?)

Any other tips, recommendations, or advice would be greatly appreciated!

[The Doll Man]

Any other tips, recommendations, or advice would be greatly appreciated!

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[So_Far_So_SoSo]

Welcome to the forum, Evelynnshubby,

No doubt there's a "proper" way to do it, but when I gave one of my girls a nose ring and a navel piercing I just bought cheap nose rings and bellybutton ornaments from Shein and pushed them gently through - both went in cleanly without having to make pilot holes with a needle or use lube. That was through TPE - I guess silicone might be different, being firmer.

[carbohvdrates]

TPE is a pretty tough material with a lot of give, but I'm pretty sure the reason they tell you to do the initial piercing with a smaller needle is so that you don't cause micro tearing. A small, even, smooth puncture can then later spread for a larger gauge. A jagged and too large hole that was pushed through in order to accommodate a big needle will become a potential tearing point.

I haven't pierced a doll yet, but I am a significantly pierced myself and I'll warn you against using a piercing gun on dolls for the same reason that I warn people against it on humans: they do not pierce with a clean puncture site, they pierce with localized blunt force trauma. You will have a cleaner and more controlled result with a needle by hand every time.

Doll should be fine with any cheapo metal jewelry from shein, amazon, etc because they don't have to worry about skin reactions as long as it's not made of something dyed that leeches color. You can never go wrong with stainless steel if you're worried for doll or human though.

[Evelynnshubby]

TPE is a pretty tough material with a lot of give, but I'm pretty sure the reason they tell you to do the initial piercing with a smaller needle is so that you don't cause micro tearing. A small, even, smooth puncture can then later spread for a larger gauge. A jagged and too large hole that was pushed through in order to accommodate a big needle will become a potential tearing point.

I haven't pierced a doll yet, but I am a significantly pierced myself and I'll warn you against using a piercing gun on dolls for the same reason that I warn people against it on humans: they do not pierce with a clean puncture site, they pierce with localized blunt force trauma. You will have a cleaner and more controlled result with a needle by hand every time.

Doll should be fine with any cheapo metal jewelry from shein, amazon, etc because they don't have to worry about skin reactions as long as it's not made of something dyed that leeches color. You can never go wrong with stainless steel if you're worried for doll or human though.

Thanks for your insights. If I'm going to use 14 gauge jewelry, how much smaller of a needle should I use? Is this where the lube idea might have come from?

[carbohvdrates]

If the body piercing is 14 gauge then the next size smaller is a 16 gauge, which is a standard earlobe piercing size. Pretty fine. Piercing width that's conveniently the size of most sewing needles if you have one on hand. If not, I'm pretty sure they are cheapo piercing needle kits around at that size.

I personally wouldn't bother with lube on the TPE because that's just going to make it slippery and less controlled. A sufficiently sharp needle, which is what you want, should not need lube to go in cleanly.

Just insert the needle, leave it halfway in, get your jewelry, then chase the end of the needle with the jewelry as you push that in at the piercing sight.

[Jazzy Jess]

A little late to this but for anyone in the future, I have some experience doing human piercings. Like @ carbohvdrates said above, definitely don't use any of those piercing guns, bad for humans and would be worse on dolls I'd imagine.

Those sewing needle assortments they sell for a few dollars at your Walmart type stores or craft stores near the threads n yarns, that would be perfect. It has an array of sizes, the biggest couple will work great. Good to keep one of these packs around too for fixing a button, pillow, etc etc, and removing splinters.

For nipples, I had the straight barbells in my real human nipples for years, they'd be fine for dolls yeah. That's up to personal looks preference, if you don't like the barbells, it probably wouldn't stress the hole to swap 'em out to the captive ball hoop style.

(If you ever wanted to do the bigger gauge style plug holes for the ears, like the emo / punk style, I'd actually consider calling a few local piercing shops that specialize in that for humans. They'd have the tools and experience at least. And fear not, I've known a few piercers and having a doll brought to the shop would not be close to the strangest things they have seen lol.)