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craftgrrl*incase anyone would like to know...here in lies my methods, but others may do it differently*
So ya want to give old Bab's a makeover? The following works on most of today's "fashion dolls."
I'm going to focus in on the repaint with this post, as hair styling, body sculpting, and wings/ears can have their own post.
- First, you need to remove the original face paint. *It's much easier to work with a closed mouth doll (also called a "Mackie head") over one that shows teeth for your first make over*
- Remove the head carefully. Pliers help as many of the new dolls have a little clip on the inside that holds the head on. Find a thrift store barbie to try removing the head first, so you can see what I mean. Personally, i cut the clips off the neck joint, leaving just the disk to hold the head on. (makes it easier if I want to remove it again later). Removing the head is important as you will be working with acetone and it will melt the rest of the body if it comes in contact with it.
- Take a cotton ball and soak it in acetone. Then press out the excess and squish it on over the doll's face. Let it sit for a few minutes to loosen the paint. Remove it and take several soaked q-tips and CAREFULLY remove the paint one swipe at a time. VERY IMPORTANT::: treat the paint like bird droppings on a car windshild....you don't smear it around because it will make a mess, but you do take several clean swipes at it to clean it up. If you smear the paint around, the plastic will soak it up and you will N-E-V-E-R get it off the doll. (watch those My Scene dolls and Bratz dolls' lips...lots of paint hiding in them) Each time you get paint on the q-tip, move to a new section or get a new q-tip. I normally go through 12-50 q-tips per face.
- Make a wet paste out of water and baking soda and wash the now paint free doll's face in it. The baking soda will neutralize any remaining acetone on the doll's face. Then wash the face one last time to remove the baking soda.
- Now you are ready to paint.
But what to paint with?
The basics you will need are a soft lead pencil, acrylic flow/float medium, acrylic (NOT tempra) paints, hair paint brushes, gloss sealer, matte sealer, and a 005 Micron pen in black (and brown if you want brown eyebrows). It also helps to have reference pictures for use in placemnet of the irisis/eyebrows/colors/reflections/etc... *some people use airbrushes, watercolors for washes, color pencils, there's lots of things you can use, but let's just go with the basics for now*
- IT's always a good idea to try to draw out the new face of the doll with the pencil. You need a soft lead to have it show up on the plastic.
- Once you are happy with the results, you can break out the paints.
- You want to use the flow/float medium to make your paints thinner and make them take longer to dry so you can do blends. The key to getting a non lumpy surface is to paint in very thin layers....like nail polish. Also, you work with what you pay for. You can run to the store and get an el cheapo set of paints and have to work your tushie off to get them nice and smooth, or you can go out and invest in a set of Golden Brand paints and have a much easier time. Golden is a really good quality paint, but a bit pricey.
- I usually try to work on the eyes first, then the lips, eyeshadow, then go back and detail the face. This is where the black 005 micron pen comes in handy. It is hard to get such tiny detail in the eyes, and if you paint everything first, you can go back in with the pen and make the pupils, outline the iris, and do the eye liner without killing yourself. You can camoflauge a lot of tiny mistakes with detailing =) Though, you don't want to get the pen lines wet, as they will smear, so make sure you are finished with your painting before you start working with the pen. It also works great for drawing smooth eyebrows. Micron makes a bunch of different colors if you want to get wild =)
- Sealing is VERY important. If you do not deal the paint, it WILL rub right off. TIP: If you are planning on taking a photo, do it before you seal to avoid camera glare. Do not pour sealer over the entire face. Only brush on the sealer over the painted areas, so it covers the paint completely and it should even be outside the lines to seal it to the plastic. Seal anywhere you put the Micron pen too. Gloss for the eyes and lips, and matte everywhere else. TIP: You can even seal fake tempoary tatoos to the doll by applying as you would to yourself, and after it dries, run some matte sealer over it.
Some great places for other tips:
Dolls By Peggy - fantastic fairies and tips
One and Only dolls - More wonderful eye candy and incredible tips and techniques
Dolls N Dreams - Wonderful artist, lots of inspiration
Antonette Cely Dolls Her tips on wefting hair (yes I know it's not repainting, but it's a good thing to know)
Dr. Locks Hair Shop - THE best place online to get fake hair in any color in the rainbow. Perfect for re-rooting.
and like someone posted earlier, there are tons of Yahoo Groups for OOAK dolls. (one of a kind) that deal with repaints of all sorts of dolls.
Hope this helps =)
So ya want to give old Bab's a makeover? The following works on most of today's "fashion dolls."
I'm going to focus in on the repaint with this post, as hair styling, body sculpting, and wings/ears can have their own post.
- First, you need to remove the original face paint. *It's much easier to work with a closed mouth doll (also called a "Mackie head") over one that shows teeth for your first make over*
- Remove the head carefully. Pliers help as many of the new dolls have a little clip on the inside that holds the head on. Find a thrift store barbie to try removing the head first, so you can see what I mean. Personally, i cut the clips off the neck joint, leaving just the disk to hold the head on. (makes it easier if I want to remove it again later). Removing the head is important as you will be working with acetone and it will melt the rest of the body if it comes in contact with it.
- Take a cotton ball and soak it in acetone. Then press out the excess and squish it on over the doll's face. Let it sit for a few minutes to loosen the paint. Remove it and take several soaked q-tips and CAREFULLY remove the paint one swipe at a time. VERY IMPORTANT::: treat the paint like bird droppings on a car windshild....you don't smear it around because it will make a mess, but you do take several clean swipes at it to clean it up. If you smear the paint around, the plastic will soak it up and you will N-E-V-E-R get it off the doll. (watch those My Scene dolls and Bratz dolls' lips...lots of paint hiding in them) Each time you get paint on the q-tip, move to a new section or get a new q-tip. I normally go through 12-50 q-tips per face.
- Make a wet paste out of water and baking soda and wash the now paint free doll's face in it. The baking soda will neutralize any remaining acetone on the doll's face. Then wash the face one last time to remove the baking soda.
- Now you are ready to paint.
But what to paint with?
The basics you will need are a soft lead pencil, acrylic flow/float medium, acrylic (NOT tempra) paints, hair paint brushes, gloss sealer, matte sealer, and a 005 Micron pen in black (and brown if you want brown eyebrows). It also helps to have reference pictures for use in placemnet of the irisis/eyebrows/colors/reflections/etc... *some people use airbrushes, watercolors for washes, color pencils, there's lots of things you can use, but let's just go with the basics for now*
- IT's always a good idea to try to draw out the new face of the doll with the pencil. You need a soft lead to have it show up on the plastic.
- Once you are happy with the results, you can break out the paints.
- You want to use the flow/float medium to make your paints thinner and make them take longer to dry so you can do blends. The key to getting a non lumpy surface is to paint in very thin layers....like nail polish. Also, you work with what you pay for. You can run to the store and get an el cheapo set of paints and have to work your tushie off to get them nice and smooth, or you can go out and invest in a set of Golden Brand paints and have a much easier time. Golden is a really good quality paint, but a bit pricey.
- I usually try to work on the eyes first, then the lips, eyeshadow, then go back and detail the face. This is where the black 005 micron pen comes in handy. It is hard to get such tiny detail in the eyes, and if you paint everything first, you can go back in with the pen and make the pupils, outline the iris, and do the eye liner without killing yourself. You can camoflauge a lot of tiny mistakes with detailing =) Though, you don't want to get the pen lines wet, as they will smear, so make sure you are finished with your painting before you start working with the pen. It also works great for drawing smooth eyebrows. Micron makes a bunch of different colors if you want to get wild =)
- Sealing is VERY important. If you do not deal the paint, it WILL rub right off. TIP: If you are planning on taking a photo, do it before you seal to avoid camera glare. Do not pour sealer over the entire face. Only brush on the sealer over the painted areas, so it covers the paint completely and it should even be outside the lines to seal it to the plastic. Seal anywhere you put the Micron pen too. Gloss for the eyes and lips, and matte everywhere else. TIP: You can even seal fake tempoary tatoos to the doll by applying as you would to yourself, and after it dries, run some matte sealer over it.
Some great places for other tips:
Dolls By Peggy - fantastic fairies and tips
One and Only dolls - More wonderful eye candy and incredible tips and techniques
Dolls N Dreams - Wonderful artist, lots of inspiration
Antonette Cely Dolls Her tips on wefting hair (yes I know it's not repainting, but it's a good thing to know)
Dr. Locks Hair Shop - THE best place online to get fake hair in any color in the rainbow. Perfect for re-rooting.
and like someone posted earlier, there are tons of Yahoo Groups for OOAK dolls. (one of a kind) that deal with repaints of all sorts of dolls.
Hope this helps =)
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