Ignore the Volks instructions; Start at the head! Okay, first 
start off with the big piece of leg-elastic. Tie it into a loop and 
fold it in half, with the knot in the middle of the fold. Put the S-
hook on that fold (hook the elastic over the lower curve of the S.) 
Now, either hook the top of the S-hook onto the head cap (if it has 
one) or tie it to something or whatever. Now thread the elastic 
loops from the top of the head down through the bottom. You have two 
long loops sticking out of the head. Thread one loop down the neck 
and out the hip socket (or else thread the stringing tool up the leg 
socket through the neck hole, catch on elastic loop and pull it down 
and out). Do the same with the other loop. Now you have one small 
loops just barely sticking out each of the 2 hip socket holes. 
Anchor one loop with a hemostat, a leg piece, pliers, a pen, 
something shoved through the loop so that when you pull on the other 
end it doesn't go back inside the body. With SD I end up with each 
loop sticking out the leghole about 2" long. Take the *other* leg-
loop of elastic and thread it down through the leg pieces and tie on 
the foot (or else thread the stringing tool up from the ankle 
through the thigh and catch the elastic loop, pulling it down 
through the leg pieces. Tie on foot.) Now you can grab the other leg-
loop of elastic and do the same thing with that leg. Tada! Legs! 
For arms: make a loop of elastic. Stuff it into the body, and 
pull one end out the other arm hole. Pull on a bit of the elastic 
until the knot snaps inside the body and you have equal-sized loops 
sticking out each arm hole (just like with the legs). It helps if 
you can pull on the legs to stretch/tighten the elastic while you do 
this, it keep it from getting caught. Alternatively, thread the 
stringing tool in from one arm hole and out the next(while pulling 
on the legs), hook part of the elastic loop,and pull through. Bow 
anchor one loop (I use a hand! or a pen stuck inside the loop). 
Thread the *other* loop down the upper arm, lower arm, and tie on 
the hand. Repeat with the other arm loop. Tada, arms! 
Once the doll is together, you can tie off the head any way you 
like. I start by tying together the two strands of elastic (that are 
hooked on the S-hook) with a an extra piece of elastic, leaving a 
tail so that if it falls inside the body you can pull it out more 
easily. Then I tied the elastic onto a slotted bottle-cap, that way 
I don't have to worry about unhooking the head pate and anchoring 
the elastic when I want to change eyes or something. Or you can just 
keep it hooked onto the headpate. Whatever. 
I don't know how mini SD hands/feet attach, but with SD, there is a 
string loop tied around the eye screwed in each one. The elastic 
loop (from the limb) goes in through the string loop, and then hooks 
over(around) the foot/hand. I would recommend this for mini SD as 
well.

This method took about 15 minutes the first time (after I figured 
out how to do it haha), and after 2 times, took only about 1 1/2 
minute. The elastic will be tight and strong, so it can help for 
another person to grab onto the body at certain times and hold it 
for you.

marta/astrosnik