Trouble in restringing larger resin dolls

[wubspon3]

Hi! This is pretty much the post I made this account for, as this forum seems more friendly than some others. If this isn't the right place, please tell me, I haven't been lurking for very long. The dolls I keep are on the larger side, with a few exceptions, and my first (and I'll admit, most spoiled) is a 70cm Resinsoul boy. I restring him every so often, and the most recent was when I sueded him. However, I also have nerve damage in my hands, which extends somewhat to my fingers, making the pulling of these larger and thicker elastics difficult, even with a string puller. I've tried different methods, head first, head last, knots in the head, knots in the torso, piece by piece, arms or legs all at once, and by the end I'm practically using my teeth. I'm sure there has to be a better way I'm just overlooking, as even when I do this, the tension ends up very uneven in each side, one arm or leg will be floppy while the other wants to kick. Bit of a long post, but hey, what can I say? I'm not great an condensing. Any advice on this? Thank you!

[Dark Angel]

Hmm, I'm not sure if any of what I'm about to say will help, but this is the method I use when restringing my dolls. (I collect larger sizes too)

My tools:

Embroidery thread (cause it's thicker/stronger) ((some people use ribbon))
Forceps (to hold the elastic once it's through)
And my body!

Sometimes it's easier to hold the doll between your legs so that you can really use your arms for the pulling. After all, using both hands/arms will lessen the stress on you, as opposed to using one hand to pull and one to hold.

I always string head to feet, just personal preference. I tie the thread to one loop of elastic and make sure it's long enough that I can just put the thread all the way through each body part, and do that on both sides of the body. Then I start pulling. I pull one side of elastic all the way through and hold it in place with my forceps, (or you could use a chop stick/pencil/anything to hold it in place) and then I pull the other side all the way through. Make sure that the tension feels nice on both sides, if not, I'll pull one side a little more and then when I'm satisfied, I put on the feet and cut the thread off of the elastic.

I hope that made sense!