How to Repair a Doll With Hog Ring Pliers
Antique and porcelain dolls depend on a unique system of stringing and assembly to allow the joints to work and hold the doll together. Many dolls are held together with buttons, bolts and wire. The most common method of jointing is with the use of elastic cord. Some companies chose to knot the cord while others chose to use a smoother, flat method. That smoother method uses hog rings crimped around the elastic to hold the cord in place.
Things You'll Need
- Elastic cord
- Hog rings
- Hog ring pliers
- Scissors
- S-hooks or hookies
- J-hook screw
- K-clamp
- First aid or duct tape
Instructions
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Prepping the Doll
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Remove any old elastic cord that has lost its elasticity. is broken or is rotted by cutting or snipping with scissors. Do this over a towel so that you can lay the body parts down on it after the elastic is cut.
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Practice using hog rings and pliers before assembling your doll. Place the elastic cord inside the open hog ring. Grab the ring with the pliers and squeeze the pliers together to crimp the ring tightly and hold the elastic in place. Hog ring pliers can be used both vertically and horizontally, and you can crimp both sides at once or one side at a time.
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3
Practice using the K-clamp to pull the cord and hold it in place to attach the hog ring. Open the K-clamp and grab the cord. Make sure that you have about 1/4 inch or more of the tip of the clamp past the cord. Push the handles together. This will lock the clamp onto the cord. Pull towards you to stretch the cord. Many repair professionals rest the tip of the clamp, propped on the porcelain, to create lift and work with both hands.
Stringing the New Elastic
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Measure out the cord to go through the body. All doll stringing has two ways to go: Either in an "X" design, which goes from one section to another in a continuous loop, or with individual loops that are joined in the center of the body. Choosing which type you prefer or that the doll originally came with will determine how much cord you will need.
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Use the "X" stringing method by bringing the end of the elastic up to form a 1/2-inch loop. Place a hog ring onto this loop to create a 1/4 inch-loop and crimp it down tightly. Slide that loop onto an S-hook on a backing. In doll repair, this is called a hookie. Crimp the S-hook with pliers enough to secure it on the cord. Insert into the doll appendage. Continue through the body to the opposite arm and repeat. Continue back to the other leg. Pull the elastic tightly making, sure that the elastic remains taut but stretchy, then use another hog ring to secure the elastic.
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Use the loop method for sectional stringing. Make a loop of elastic for each arm and leg. Cut a 6-inch piece of cord and bring the raw ends together then fold them in half to create a 3-inch loop. Using a small hog ring, crimp the cord together about 1/4 inch from the end. Insert the opposite end onto an S-hook. Crimp the S-hook down onto the cord and insert an S-hook into the appendage. For the head, insert a J-hook neck screw so that the bottom, or J-hook, sticks out.
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Crimp the large hog ring enough to slide the smaller rings onto it. Attach the hog ring ends of the individual loops onto the large hog ring, via the neck, with the long k-clamp. Pull up through the neck and crimp down the large hog ring. Lock the loops together then use a K-clamp to bring all of the hog ring ends together. While holding the attached loops, take the long part of the neck hook, the J-hook, and grab the large center hog ring. With pliers, gently bend the J-hook to hold on tight.
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Wrap the hog ring to prevent it from damaging the porcelain body. Metal in contact with porcelain can be destructive. Any type of cloth tape will work. (First aid or bandaging tape is most common as well as duct tape.)
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Tips & Warnings
Loose joints, after stringing, may occur. Use your K-clamp and grab the cord where the joint is not sitting tightly. Pull the cord and clamp a small loop with hog rings to tighten loose areas.
Hog rings are available at hardware stores and come in a variety of sizes.
Always choose a hog ring slightly smaller than the elastic cords you are going to use to crimp. Also, choose a larger ring for gathering all of the ends into a center loop.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit lena image by reises from Fotolia.com
