It's very easy to put these necks on the Charlie and Grace dolls. Don't be intimidated by the instructions below. It only took me a minute or two to put Charlie's neck on. It will take you longer to read the instructions than it will to install the neck.

It's important to get the pieces in the correct order, so please have these instructions and photos nearby the first time you do it.

First, remove the head from the doll. Pull the head away from the neck and use scissors or a wire clipper to cut the cords and/or cable ties that hold the head on.

Do not cut or remove any of the vinyl from the doll's head. Don't try to make the opening wider or cut any of it out. The neck needs to remain intact as is, or you may never be able to put the head on any doll body again.

Using a hemostat tool, fish around inside the head and take out the small plastic piece that looks like a large button. It may be oval or round. It has two holes in it, as shown in the photo. It will most likely have some knotted elastic cord in it so remove the cord.

The button helps to hold the head on the doll. There is another piece inside the head that is also part of the stringing system: it is shaped like a frisbee. Do not remove that piece from the doll's head. It's difficult to remove it, and there's no need to remove it anyway. You can work around it. The Ashton Drake dolls have a fairly large neck hole inside that neck so it allows plenty of room to work.

Cut a length of stringing cord, approximately 10 or 12 inches so you have a good piece to work with. (Sometimes I don't cut off a piece at all, I use a long piece. Then I cut it when I'm done. This helps to conserve cord.) The photo above shows how all the pieces will be lined up when you're finished. Just imagine that the button and the "frisbee" will be inside the doll's head.

FIRST, thread the cord through the two holes in the button. Then put the button inside the doll's head.

Now, you will need to go fishing with the hemostats. Poke the hemostats through the center hole in the frisbee piece, and grab the cord. Pull the two ends of the cord through the frisbee and out the neck hole of the head. Pull everything together firmly.

NEXT, thread the cord through the hole in the top of the plastic neck dome. The cord will now be inside the replacement neck. Pull everything together firmly, so the dome of the replacement neck nestles into the neck basin of the dolls head.

Thread a large wood bead onto one piece of the cord and push it inside the replacement neck. The bead serves as an extender, so you can tie a knot more easily. Pull VERY FIRMLY on the elastic cord so the head and neck are together tight. Then tie a nice big knot below the wood bead. Tie it several times so everything is secure. Cut off the extra cord.

Now you can attach the doll's cloth body as usual, with a cable tie nestled into the groove. The groove is positioned just under the edge of Charlie's neck so the head will overlap the neck of the doll body a bit. We did this on purpose since Charlie's chin is so low. (The elastic cord is stretchy so that allows for some leeway in positioning the neck, as well.)

The head turns easily on it's new neck, so you can pose the head left and right.

The replacement neck includes the wood bead spacer as part of the price. Stringing cord and hemostat tools are optional. You can order these items in the blue section below.

Our necks are intended to be used with cloth doll bodies only, and you do need to use the ultra narrow strap ties to apply the cloth body. So you might want to buy some of our straps as well.

---

These are the "Original PrillyCharmin Doll Necks." These necks are our own custom design and invention.

SHIPPING COSTS: We can ship 2 necks at our priority mail rate. If you order more than 2 or 3, they go over one pound and the package ships by UPS ground. So, if you're only ordering necks you can keep that in mind.