This Is Where Things Get Complicated

After that test fitting, I really wasn't happy with the ways the shoulders sat. Point being, they didn't. They wanted to slide down my arms and I couldn't move without this horrid squeaking sound of styrofoam rubbing on styrofoam. The problem is that when I put my arms through, the grey 'boxes' on the bottom of the arms hold them onto my bicep, but nothing really holds them up top. Velcro might have done it but I didn't have that. Instead I used a "safety lanyard".

safe·ty /ˈseɪfti/
–noun, plural -ties.
1. the state of being safe; freedom from the occurrence or risk of injury, danger, or loss.
2. the quality of averting or not causing injury, danger, or loss.
3. a contrivance or device to prevent injury or avert danger.

lan·yard /ˈlænyərd/
–noun
1. Nautical. a short rope or wire rove through deadeyes to hold and tauten standing rigging.
2. any of various small cords or ropes for securing or suspending something, as a whistle about the neck or a knife from one's belt.

Basically it's a big key chain that has a clip in the middle so if you're wearing it around your neck and your keys get caught in a mechanical rice picker, it'll detach and you'll only lose your keys. In this case, it'd be awesome to cut up and use to prop the shoulders up!



I started by cutting a slit in the top inside of one of the shoulders.



Then I fed the short end through the slit and held it in place with a short length of wooden dowel. I didn't glue this yet as I still needed to measure the length.



I then cut the longer end so that it'd be adjustable. Holding it against the torso, I adjusted the length and used a big safety pin to hold it in place and fed it through the dowel. This seems to work a lot better than having loose shoulders.



The idea behind all of this is that when I put the shoulders on while wearing the torso, that I could slip the lengths of the lanyard together to hold the shoulders up around my neck. That should stop them from trying to fall down my arms. Seems to work. Hasn't done a thing about that squeaking.