How to Make a Tiny TV-Head Doll

This pocket-sized cutie only takes about half an hour to make, and since Obitsu11 clothes and patterns are easy to find online, it should be no problem to buy or make it some cute clothes. The only unfortunate thing is, the makers of the bodies don't make a lot of dark skin tones, so there's a lack of diversity.

You will need:

• an Obitsu11 or YMY doll body. (Ob11 has better posability, but depending on the value of the yen, the YMY version might be cheaper. Either way, you'll be using the Ob11 screw-together neck peg.)
• a TV-shaped keychain like this one (they come and go on AliExpress all the time, do a DDG search for "mini vintage TV shaped keychain" under Shopping and it pops right up for about a dollar and change)
• a small drill or Dremel tool (optional)
• an X-acto knife
• a small Phillips screwdriver
• A tiny picture to put on the little screen (optional)

Instructions:

1. Carefully cut the plastic tab with the keychain on it off of the tiny TV (unless you want your doll to be a keychain).

2. Unscrew the back of the keychain and open it up. There are usually electronic components inside that make it light up and play a "static" TV sound.

3. Incredibly, there is room to keep the mechanism working if you want! However, you want it OUT for the next few steps, so carefully remove all the inside pieces and set them aside.

4. Cut a round 3 mm hole in the bottom of the TV. I did this using an X-acto knife, carefully turning it around in a little circle as I carved. A drill would probably do it faster though. (I had to go back and make this hole bigger; use the neck peg as a guide.)

5. This next part is very tricky and took me the majority of the time (granted, my knife was pretty dull). You see that white plastic part? The one that the LED light is in? Carefully remove the back, take out the lightbulb, then cut off the bottom-right corner as shown in the picture. This is necessary in order for the neck peg to fit.

6. Put the white plastic part back together again with the LED inside.
7. If you don't like the static sound, cut off the wires that connect to the tiny speaker.

8. Now to attach your doll. Unscrew the top part off of the neck peg. Insert the now-tiny neck peg into the tiny TV. Then carefully screw the top of the neck peg back on. This will keep the head from slipping off (which is what would happen if you used a Nendoroid neck peg instead).
9. Carefully re-insert the electrical parts back inside the tiny TV. (Don't bother with the speaker if you disconnected it. You can just throw that part away.)

10. Screw the TV back together and you're done! Go dress your doll.

Meet the TV Heads



UHF (on the left) uses an Obitsu11 body in Natural skin. I printed out an image of old-school TV static for the screen. Ripley (on the right) uses a (badly-stained) YMY body in White skin. I drew the static on Ripley's screen.