Basic Care of Tanned and Dyed Dolls

I have some questions about the care of tanned dolls.

I'm having my boy dyed via RIT dye. I'm going to sand him insanely well before hand to get rid of seams and scratches that could come up in the dyeing process. VinylFaerie includes Testors in her price, so his tanning will be sealed.

Then I'm having him sent off to someone close by for body blushing and face up. The artist uses Volks Powder Spray to seal, so he'll be sealed even more.

So what should I expect next? When he comes home and is finished, is there anything that would be a problem? I've heard horror stories of other tanned doll [from companies, not dyed by VinylFaerie]. The loss of color on friction spots and so on.

Is there a product I should avoid as not to remove his body blushing and tan? I'm scared to use the Magic Eraser, as it seems to take everything off. Which would be terrible.

What would be the best product to use to get rid of clothing stains and grime from daily use? Should I seal him extra when he comes home to prevent the dye from rubbing off or fading?

I read the thread on Basic Care and someone said that it's a different story for tanned dolls, one I have yet to find.

Or should I just forget about tanning and stick with a pale doll? :X

 

chipping is, unfortunately, something we're still tackling here, as well. mizunoseiryuu's elf Ducan has been tanned in the past, and even with sealing, he chipped, because what was chipping WAS the sealant. when the weather clears up enough here, he'l be getting his temp-faceup stripped, his whole body cleaned, and then he will get sealed and re-tanned. (this will be tan #3)

my suggestions are these (keep in mind, i have not yet managed to test all of these myself, although i plan to when we re-tan Lucifer) --
do NOT seal him again when he gets home. more layers of sealant = more risk of chipping, after a certain point. (think 'putting too many layers of nail polish on')
clean him with a soft, lightly damp cloth on a regular basis. this can be done without having to unstring and without having to worry too much about his elastic rotting from moisture. (this is something i HAVE tested, thank goodness)
if he is not being sueded by VinylFaerie or by the customizer doing his faceup and blushing, suede him when he gets home using moleskin (can be found in the footcare aisle at the market or drugstore, and is used to prevent blisters) to help pad the joints and reduce the chance of friction-chipping.

hope this helps!

 

I suede all dolls that I dye, so there should be no worries there. In my experience, as long as you keep the doll properly sealed and sueded, you shouldn't have a problem. If you start to see shiny spots or "rubs", then it is time for sealant again. I use hot glue to suede, so it's easy to replace. On my own dolls, I replace the sueding once it starts to "booger", (little pieces falling out of joints or hanging from them).

I also use a wet washcloth for minor dirt and very lightly use a Mr Clean Eraser for heavier stuff. I hope that answers all your questions.

 

I'll admit in full that I have not known all that much about these dolls for long, despite having my first for nearly two years now. But he's the real problem one - he's a tan-skinned CP Delf El (yep, 60 cm of tan goodness) who I seriously need to hot glue suede or possibly restring. But I'm squeemish because of his tan skin.

I bring this all up because in doing searches here in the Forum at large I have found next to nothing dealing specifically with caring for a tan-skinned CP doll. That being the case, I figured those of us who own tan CP dolls could share info with each other on cleaning them, sueding them, and anything else you might be able to/ willing to share.

(And yes, I promise that if I try anything on my El and it works without ruining his tan tone I will share it in here as well!
And pictures, too! )

EDITS LIST (so you don't have to play hide and seek with an answer):
* Using Low-temp hot glue to suede your tan CP doll will not take off any of the tan coloring

 

Hot glue sueding and restringing won't damage the tan resin at all o_0.

 

Yup. I hot-glue sueded my boy. Not a problem at all. I even glue-suede around the very top of the neck, so the neck mechanism has some traction for posing.

 

Thanks, hobbywhelmed! That's good to know - I glue-sueded my boy's knees, but was too afraid to do anything else on him until I knew for sure it wouldn't hurt his color. Though I don't have any problems with his neck, I think I'm actually going to get around to glue-sueding the rest of him now. . .


I do hope everyone else appreciates having a specific thread where we can share this kind of information - because I know I do!

 

I was wondering if anyone has tried piercing the ears (or other body part) of a tan CP with a hand drill and how that worked out, was there any impact on the colour?

 

Ok i had a problem of cleaning my LT. Tan bobobie Apollo Boy i so Used Mr clean magic eraser And it works YAY i was so nervous using it on him But it just fine using it on his body so Mister Magic Eraser Works on My Lt. Tan Boy Now he is clean As long as the Tan is not hand dyed it will work and only put like 2 or 3 drops of water on the eraser you don't need to use the whole thing cut it in half and put only a few drops of water

 

Ok i had a problem of cleaning my LT. Tan bobobie Apollo Boy i so Used Mr clean magic eraser And it works YAY i was so nervous using it on him But it just fine using it on his body so Mister Magic Eraser Works on My Lt. Tan Boy Now he is clean As long as the Tan is not hand dyed it will work and only put like 2 or 3 drops of water on the eraser you don't need to use the whole thing cut it in half and put only a few drops of water

 

@ lilheven21 - thanks for sharing info about your tan doll and the Mister Clean Magic Eraser. (That reminds me that my own tan doll is in need of a cleaning.)

Question to revive this thread with: Does anyone know about specific differences between the tan dolls resins, or have a link to a page discussing this?

For example, CP tans have always confused me since they come with a bit of a 'warning' about sanding on the seams.

 

The only differences between tan dolls that I know of are how deep the tan goes. Some companies only do the tan on the surface of the resin, and others the tan goes through and through.

For dolls that have the color only on the surface, if you sand them it will remove the color. I think CP does theirs this way, hence the warning.

 

one of my dolls was on display for some time and I'd like to give the doll's body parts
a good refreshing bath, my problem is i haven't done this before and I'd like some advices,

(the doll has tan skin)

-detergent- what household detergent would give a nice fresh cleansing look,
with a refreshing smell but would not affect or damage the resin parts in any way?

-paint cleaning- I'd like to possibly remove a paint job how would i
be able to remove the paint completely while avoiding it to smudge, stain
or look dirty/awful?

-"exfoliate"- can i lightly scrape her with a toothbrush or something else
to wash away any dirt etc or will that ruin/scratch the (tan) skin?

-hair dryer- do you think the use of a hair dryer to blowdry the parts after washing
is acceptable or i should avoid it and let the parts dry naturally instead?

any help would be appreciated,
thank you in advance,

 

I use dish soap on all my dolls, the tan included and have had no issues with it, just make sure you don't get one that has moisturisers for your hands because obviously that contains oil and is a no. (I use Fairy liquid!)

Taking off paint even on a tan is easy, your best, non-abrasive method is either Windsor and Newton brush cleaner or alcohol. If you have a look in the sticky threads, there's a list of the alcohol percentages and a few places you're likely to be able to buy it. If you just soak the feet in the brush cleaner, or dab some drops of the alcohol onto the affected areas and leave for a while, you should be able to just wipe the paint right off.

Giving the resin a rub with a soft toothbrush won't do it any harm at all!

Let them dry naturally, heat and resin are not natural friends and you run the risk of bending/misshaping some parts by exposing them to it, as well as the fact that heat speeds up the yellowing process.

Hope that helped!

***EDIT***
ALSO...obviously, unstring before you do any of that!

 

Just to add onto what Lulu said (she covered pretty much everything!), make sure that if you use a toothbrush, it's a baby toothbrush (one of the super super soft ones) because you really don't want something scratching your doll.

 

Lulu and Tallenvyaere thank you so much for the help and information!^_______^

i feel more confident now in doing this,
one more thing anything else to replace for the toothbrush and will the paint be removed even if a coat wasn't used underneath?
(I'm probably so scared cause of how the vinyl / Dollfie Dream dolls react to paint but i guess resin is different)

 

I've never seen a resin doll that was actually stained so badly by paint (sharpie/biro, dye etc, yes) a good clean didn't lift it in the four years I've been doing serious mod and repair work. It'll come off even if it wasn't sealed, but you might have to work on it.

 

I followed your instructions guys and all went perfectly,
thank you for everything,^_________^

 

I wasnt sure of where to post this but Im thinking that maybe the Iplehouse special real skin would go under a tan thread too?
Does anyone know how these are built up? Is it safe to use magicerasers on them or are they only natural skin color on the surface?
Any help is appreciated as I'm thinking of getting a doll withsppecial real skin, but not if I can't remove dirt or her faceup without destroying her skintone :P


thanks

 

TornadoLovesMelody, I would imagine that any resin is safe with magic eraser. If you're worried, use it dry; even if you don't add water, the magic eraser will still get off most marks and dirt, and won't even make it through the sealant on her faceup

I also have a couple of tan dolls (Fairyland and Dollzone), and have used magic erasers on them without any problems! Not sure exactly how different Iple's RS is, but I doubt it's much.

 

Hi all..

I need some help as I adopted lately a home-tanned doll and she is in a very bad condition.
Her tan is not good, but spotted and since i don't do home tan or can do it, I decided to cover her with MSC, and just blush her to make her skin even ..

Here is she :

I blushed one hand, the one I marked and it is now truly NEAR to her face/head color:

Hand blushing try by Çho¢o ~ ♡, on Flickr

The photos of her before *her original state*

IMG_7348 by Çho¢o ~ ♡, on Flickr


IMG_7347 by Çho¢o ~ ♡, on Flickr


IMG_7355 by Çho¢o ~ ♡, on Flickr





IMG_7353 by Çho¢o ~ ♡, on Flickr

The hand I blushed is the hand on the right of the front view of the body photos .. and the left of the upside down body photo but here is how it looks now closely :

Hand blushing .. by Çho¢o ~ ♡, on Flickr

It is WAY better but I worry about the chipping people mentioned .. and I truly can't deal with her without the blushing as she have too much patches / uneven skin color and lots of troubles. Her skin have 4 colors and I wonder the one who tanned her, why did she not have good results. I thought home tanning is easier!

But she does have 4 shades of color : light orange - strong orange - yellowish orange - NS like her original color as some spots never tanned.

 

Does anyone know how to remove a face up from a tan doll? It would be really helpful if you could direct me to a thread that discuss this.

 

Removing a faceup from a tan doll has the same procedure as removing faceups from any other color. The only issue may be in the case of home-tanned dolls.

 

This is all very useful. Thank you for the excellent advice! I aleays wondered why they always said not to sand the seams on tans. Is there a list of companies who do just coat the outside?

 

You may try 2000 sandy paper for small scratch.