Hello Hello! Welcome to the world of flexible doll bodies! Today I’m introducing you to the Flex Body!
So what is it? It is a seamless silicone body compatible with Dollfie Dream and Smart Doll (although Smart Doll versions are limited, I’ll explain why below).
What I love about this body is how flexible it is, it can get in poses that you couldn't do before, the positions look very natural and thanks to the seamless look; say hello to French-cut undies! Yay! (I’m specially excited about those undies lol).
It opens a lot of new possibilities with fashion and cute photos that you can take. Now that you don’t have to think about hiding the hip joint seams you can do any bottom style that you want; side split dresses, Kimonos with the sides open, high-leg styles! Whatever you fancy! The body is really good at crossing the legs which looks super cute, I love that I can put her in very feminine poses thanks to that.
I have all my Flex bodies in cute poses and I find myself staring at them girls every time I pass them by lol. I find them very pleasant to look at and have on display :).
One thing that you need to keep in mind is that you might have to make a few small adjustments to your Flex Body in order to accommodate it to your needs. All of those adjustments are super easy to do and I will explain below how to do it, but if you are not comfortable doing those things I do not recommend getting one.
Let’s explore what makes the Flex Body special, shall we?
The Construction
I absolutely love seamless silicone bodies, and they exist out there, but I never attempted to purchase one because they usually come with a wire frame inside and that will break eventually, I don’t know about you but to me, it would hurt to drop $500 on something I know won’t last me long. Those bodies are also made in one piece and I would like to be able to change the bust size at any time.
And this is why I designed a stainless steel ball-jointed frame just for the Flex Body. This frame ensures durability, and the parts that connect to your plastic Dollfie pieces are made of plastic as well, that way it won’t wear out your DD parts. The rule of thumb is: plastic on plastic and metal on metal. The frame does not have any sharp edges inside that can tear through the skin.
The body sculpt is an original design. The sculpting work was divided between me and a digital artist I worked with in the past. Meaning that none of the parts in this body are a recast, everything was sculpted from scratch. And of course, I made sure to give her sufficient booty. Sculpting this body was super fun!
The first two things that you will notice is: How hella heavy this body is lol, if you ever had a 1/3 resin doll, you’ll know what I mean, carrying a Flex Body is comparable in weight as carrying an iplehouse doll (maybe not as heavy but close). And of course, the body has a lot of silicone- it’s obviously heavier than a vinyl body that is hollow. And the second thing you will notice is how sturdy the joints are, when you move the body it will retain the pose.
You do need to apply some force in order to move it compared to a vinyl body. This is necessary in order to make the body parts hold the pose when you move them. Imagine that you want to put a leg up but it keeps falling down and springing back, I didn’t want that, so the joints need to be tight and strong.
The silicone part is made in three sections: first, there is a white inner made in two parts and the skeleton is put in between them, then those parts get sealed with the skeleton inside. After that, we put the skin on; yes, we literally slide the inner (with skeleton) inside of a seamless sleeve that is the skin. Putting the skin on is like putting a bodysuit on. And then we bond the skin to the inner in certain areas. It is not possible to bond the entire skin to the inner, but we bonded the areas where there is movement. The bonding agent does not compromise on flexibility, meaning that is doesn’t feel like it has been glued inside.
Comparison
Check out these comparison photos below so you can have a better idea of how the body looks and moves compared to the bodies that we are familiar with. You can find these photos in high resolution here.
An interesting question that some people ask me is: Should I completely replace my vinyl body for a silicone one? To answer that; I don’t think you have to ditch your vinyl body lol. I still love the vinyl bodies- they are great! I don’t think one body is better than the other. They are both different and they both have their pros and cons.
When you feel like you need more flexibility and want to show off the seamless look, plug the head on the Flex Body. When there’s a time when you want to show off a super cute outfit made for vinyl, plug the head on your vinyl body. You have the freedom to go back and forth depending on how you feel that day :).
This body is also very useful if you have a floating head and can’t find a body for it.
I’m planning to keep photographing both my vinyl and Silicone bodies!
How does it connect to my doll?
You put it together the same exact way you would put together your vinyl doll:
1- Put bust on, press shoulders down if you need.
2- Plug arms in.
3- Put head on.
4- Plug feet in.
We don’t always calibrate the arm joints, so before putting the bust on, plug the arms in the sockets and check if the joints are too tight or too loose for your personal taste and adjust the screws depending how how you like it to be. I personally like them to be a little loose. See image below:
As you know, the head and arm attachments from Dollfie and Smart Doll are different. And because of this, there are two versions of the body:
-Flex body with DD attachments (compatible with Dollfie Dream).
and
-Flex Body with SM attachments (Compatible with Smart Doll).
They are the same exact bodies, just the head and arm attachments are different. All bodies are already compatible with both DD and SM feet without having to change anything, just slide feet joint in the sockets the same way you would with a vinyl body.
Dollfie Dream feet have tiny little screws and volts in them, and sometimes those come really tight, if you have trouble putting your feet on your Flex Body, its because the tiny screw in the DD feet is too tight, that is super easy to fix, just take one of those tiny screwdrivers made for fixing glasses and loosen that screw. You can find them in any CVS or Walgreens for cheap or online. Here is the screw driver for $4.79 on amazon. If you are in Europe or Asia just google “glasses fix mini screwdriver”, they come in a standard size. I got mine from Walgreens:
All Flex Bodies come with spare arm attachments of the opposite doll, for example: if you get a Flex Body for DD, it comes with spare arm attachments for Smart Doll. This is in case you want to have a Dollfie head and Smart Doll arms (or vice versa).
The skin tones DD flesh and SM milk are almost exactly the same, so you can totally mix and match there, if you have a Flex Body for Smart Doll, you can have a Smart Doll Milk head and DD arms and feet (which are super easy to get). Or if you have a Flex Body for Dollfie Dream, you can use SM arms and feet if you wish. I know this sounds confusing, don't worry I'll make a video about it lol.
You can easily buy spare arms and feet for Dollfie Dream from their USA website or Japanese website. There’s also a few online stores that sell DD parts in Europe like Sakura Dreams. I suggest to use DD arms rather than DD sister arms because Sister arms may look kind of short, You can use DD sister arms if you want lol, I just personally think DD arms look better. You want to get the arms with F3 Frame.
Bear in mind that it is not possible to change the head attachment, so make sure to purchase the version that will carry the head that you want to use. For example: if you are planning on using a Dollfie head then get the Flex Body for DD. If you wish to use a smart doll head, get the Flex body for SM. I know how to change the head attachments myself but I don't want you to do it lol, you might break it.
And talking about heads, this is important: We made the head attachments to be as close as possible to the original, and they hold the head quite well! The heads are solid in place and not wobbly at all which is fantastic. Do bear in mind: the top bump of the DD head attachment is a little big, the heads are easy to put on, but a little hard to take off because of that top bump. Honestly that top bump is not even necessary lol. You can chop it off with clippers if you are planning on taking the head on and off frequently, the head will not come off from not having the bump. I chopped all mine.
If you don’t want to chop it off just take your nail filer and file the sides of the bump to get rid of some material It’s much easier to just chop it off (takes a second). I know this may be a pain in the booty for some of you, but please understand that at the end of the day, the attachment wasn’t going to be 100% the same as DD because I don’t own their molds, we replicated those.
How do I pose it?
As I mentioned before, the joints are very sturdy so they can hold the pose. Overall it’s very straight forward, you just move it in the direction you wish.
The only area that needs some practice is when you move the leg back and forward in order to put it in a sitting position. That particular joint is the strongest in the frame because it needs to hold a lot of silicone in place. I suggest to follow the below instructions:
1- Put four fingers in her lower back/ butt.
2- Put thumb in her pelvis.
3- Hold very firmly and use your other hand to move the leg. See below:
How do I dress her?
You can dress your Flex Body The same way you would dress your vinyl body :). Do note, Silicone is much grippier than vinyl. Clothes don’t slide and fabric stays in place when you put it on. This may be a blessing or a curse depending on what you want.
To me, it makes more sense to use outfits that show off the seamless aspect of the body, like bikinis and sheer clothes for example. If I wanted to use an outfit that is more covering it would make more sense to use a vinyl body. But that’s just me! Who am I to tell you what to do! Lol.
I am currently working on a collection that shows off the seamlessness of the body. I will also continue to supply fashion for it. You are 100% welcome to make your own clothes and you can sell them if you wish! I'll make sure to post her measurements for everyone to see.
If you are wondering what size of clothes will fit this body, Dollfie Dream Dynamite clothes fits the best (because she is very curvy).
How do I care for my Flex Body?
Silicone definitely has more upkeep compared to vinyl. The good thing about the silicone I used is that is not as sticky as other silicone parts out there, meaning that it does not attract as much dust. Mine has been out of the box on display for a couple months now. And it hasn’t accumulated any lint yet.
When you first open your Flex Body you will notice that it is very powdery. Take your contour brush and brush it a circular motion in order to remove excess powder and you’re good to go.
If you need to clean it up for whatever reason, wash with water and soap (the same way you would if you were washing your hands). Then put on top of a plastic bag and let air dry (If the plastic bag has any print make sure that print is not touching the doll to prevent color transfer). Then apply powder and brush it in a circular motion with your contour brush. You don’t have to do this often. Maybe once every couple months or whenever you feel like it's necessary.
Just try not to wet the metal joints so they last you longer.
Never use a hair drier or any kind of high heat on your Flex Body. It cannot withstand as much heat as vinyl. If you hit it with a hair drier you will damage it permanently.
Imperfections
This is very important: None of these bodies are perfect!!! Please beware of this before purchasing them. They have surface imperfections and this is because of how difficult they are to make:
First, we inject the liquid silicone into a mold, it's a big mold given that is a 1/3 body, when we pull the piece out of the mold we have to do it really carefully and slowly because that is when the silicone is the stickiest, it sticks to the mold and in the process of unsticking them from the mold, imperfections or slight damage appear.
Another thing that we cannot control is that tiny birthmarks magically appear within the mold. No idea why lol. Can be just one or can be many of them. And I don't reject any pieces because of birthmarks or black freckles. Sometimes it comes out with marks that look like stains, those I let them pass if they are small enough (stains do go away on their own though).
See below some examples of imperfections, probably hard to see in camera lol, look closely:
All of the bodies I have with me at home have imperfections, even the ones I've been photographing for a while now. You probably don't notice them on camera but I can definitely see those imperfections in person.
Imperfections are specially noticeable in Tea skin. The darker you go the more visible they are.
One thing that is important: Due to the body being laying down, she might come with slight flattened areas in her butt, you will barely notice this in light skin tones. In tea it's noticeable (see below). In my experience those flattened areas usually go away on their own in time.
Remember I mentioned that the body has an inner soft structure and then a skin sleeve on top? please note that we only bonded the skin to the inner in the areas where in bends, when you make extreme poses it might look awkward in some areas and sometimes you will feel like the skin is lifted from the inner, this is normal you'll get used to it. See photo below for an example of that:
Please do not purchase a Flex Body if you are expecting perfection, because absolutely none of them are perfect lol. They are actually veeeeery imperfect!
One last imperfection to have in mind: the torso's color is not 100% the same as the bust that it comes with, super close but not 100% the same. Please go check the photos in the product page so you can see it for yourself. This is because the thicknesses of the silicone in the torso is different from the silicone in the bust, and that changes the color tone slightly. The inner of the torso is white (it was better than clear), and that makes the torso's color a little more vivid than the bust. if you are picky about color match I recommend you stick to Tea and Flesh/milk, those are almost an exact match. If you are ok with the color difference then great!
Staining
Silicone gets stained much easier than vinyl. The good thing is that if it gets stained, you don’t have to do anything, the stain will fade away on its own in time (in about a month or two). This depends on the kind of stain of course, stains from clothes and dust usually fade away on their own. Stains from metal rust on the other hand, those may never go away. So be mindful about any jewelry that you may put on them.
Doll stands
You are probably wondering what doll stands are best. You can use whichever you like but I recommend Kaiser 1/4 16” - 22” doll stands. They are really affordable and don’t dent the torso if the waist grab is loose enough.
They are made of metal wire so I bend them myself in order to prevent them from denting my Flex Bodies:
Silicone on Vinyl
This part is super important. Please know that it is possible that Silicone and Vinyl can have a reaction with each other when put together for a prolonged period of time, causing some friction marks on your vinyl. This reaction doesn’t always happen. But I’ve seen a few cases.
For the Flex Body, the only silicone part that is in constant contact with the vinyl is the arm socket. The Vinyl part of the feet does not touch the silicone, and the top of the neck has a hard TPU protector to prevent the head from ever touching the silicone. This is why I suggest to use DD arms, because those are so easy to get. You could just buy the vinyl arm parts from Volks if you ever wanted to replace those, and they are not expensive at all.
For those of you who are Smart doll users and are concerned that you will get friction marks on your arms and won’t be able to replace them; I am aware of this, the next project I have lined up is to make seamless silicone arms so you don’t have to worry about this. For now you have to use your vinyl arms though, until I make the silicone arms. Cortex parts are actually fantastic on this body, they don’t get any reaction because they are made of hard plastic. I saw that they have a Cortex limb set in the Smart Doll website if you want to go check that out!
Are Flex Bodies for Smart Doll Limited?
Oh yes, absolutely. Once they are sold out they will not be re-made again. And that is precisely because getting spare parts from them is so darn difficult. I have more ease of mind when it comes to Dollfie Dream. And find myself stressed out when it comes to Smart Doll. I decided to focus more on Dollfie in the future.
How to change the neck peg?
In case you want to know how to safely remove the neck peg to change it to another one, here are easy instructions on how to do it. All you need is a blow dryer. If you don't have one, warm water will do as well. But I don't want you to burn your self with water so I much prefer you use a blow dryer.
Make sure to remove the silicone ring before applying heat to the peg. You don't want to melt the ring (I don't have any ring replacements).
Also, make sure not to apply heat to the silicone body, just the hard plastic neck peg. Here is how to do it:
Conclusion
Hopefully this article can be helpful to help you decide if a Flex Body is for you! This body was made with tons of love, liters of my blood, sweat and tears (and stress lol), and tons of passion! I'm proud of how it came out, I believe it is very beautiful. Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions.