Dollmaking is an ancient art, dating back as far as recorded history. Throughout these many years, dollmakers have invented and innovated at a steady pace, making each doll just a little bit better than the last while still leaning on tried-and-true techniques. This thread is here to discuss those techniques, and other relevant aspects of the doll world (including mannequins and marionettes) which we can apply to make our own waifus. One common example most of you may have seen already is the ball-jointed doll. However, there is more than one type. Higher-end BJDs commonly use elastic string to bind limbs to sockets in a method not too dissimilar to how tendons link our bones. There are also peg linked joints. where you (usually) have two hemispheres connected to eachother and connecting two seperate limb parts with pegs. There are also double-joints which work on the same basic principle. The attached images show both principles. Simple hinges are also quite the staple. They often have varying levels of tightness, depending on the application. A marionette, for instance, will typically have very loose hinges which allow for great ease of movement via user-operated strings. A system like that is quite easy to motorize, though one would want to consider how to get the limbs to stay in position without constant motor input. On the more complex end of things, some dolls feature endoskeletons, which allow for more realistic sometimes and complex poses. However, in addition to being more complex, these are much more expensive, fragile, and difficult to repair. While some of these things could be solved here, I doubt that a perfect solution is realistic at this time. It's good to keep in mind, though. Outside of basic frame components, there are also the details, such as the eyes. Glass eyes have the interesting effect of "following" the viewer without requiring any motors or electronics. Weight and cost are both important considerations, however, especially for a full-size waifu with anime doe eyes. Resin eyes are also quite popular, as ithey're easier to make at home. Wigs, of course, are also important to consider. I assume everyone here will want their waifus to have hair, and said hair will be easier to install (and detach for cleaning) if treated as a seperate component. They're usually kept in place with simple elastic, and I imagine it'd be easy to introduce magnets into the equation for better stability. What do you guys think about these concepts, and what do you have to add? It's a vast field, with plenty of potential uses for waifu making. Concepts from doll-adjacent items, such as action figures, plushbots, puppets, etcetera are also welcome for discussion.