Dyeing Doll dyeing adventure time

I was thinking of posting a tutorial, but so much crazy stuff happened during this particular series of events, I'm just going to do a chatty-Cathy discussion instead. Next time, when I get better results, I'll do a "just post the recipe Karen" tutorial. But today, you get to scroll through my running inner monologue of stuff done and lessons learned. Yooooooou're welcome!

The victims dolls: Resinsoul Dawn centaur horse parts, and badly stained Obitsu 50cm female body:

Poor Gretel.

The tools I used: all the towels (water everywhere), Rit DyeMore (I used Color Formula Blue Cake for small items), weed whacker trimmer string, plus melamine sponge and Isopropyl alcohol in case of oopies, bowl for soaking parts, big old pot for hot water dye bath, and cat. Well, he volunteered.


Life hack! If you have an induction cooktop (I do), and you order a large, cheap pot from Amazon (I did), check that pot RIGHT AWAY to make sure it works with your cooktop (I did not). Cuz Amazon sellers lie like rugs.

Before I throw resin parts in a hot water dye bath, I always soak them in lukewarm water for about 10-15 minutes first to open up the pores.


Using Rit's recipe, I measured the amount of dye I needed, plus one additional small batch to add dye as it was removed from the water (parts absorb dye, less dye in water -> I add dye back an eyedropper amount at a time):


Resin parts placed in dye bath for 3 minutes; vinyl parts for 6 minutes. I have the water just under a boil - no bubbles, but still painful when I inevitably stick a finger in the water. (I am not smart.)


When resin is put into almost-boiling-hot water, the 2-part-epoxy reaction is reactivated. More air is pushed out of the resin, causing parts to shrink. I read on a resin manufacturer's website that after 20 minutes, the resin becomes very brittle. I know from prior experience that 3 minutes is enough to cause resin to shrink, so 3 minutes is the max amount of time I will leave a resin part in hot water. But vinyl - vinyl can take some heat.

And then the problems started. Horse butt had a magnet glued in. The glue promptly liquified in the water and stuck to EVERYTHING. Resinsoul put something on horse butt that prevented dye from absorbing, and I couldn't get it off. Also - horse torso was cast as two pieces that were glued together, which I couldn't see when the body was white, but became glaringly obvious post-dye:


Dangling vinyl thighs after 3 minutes, vinyl in bowl after six minutes. Resin parts after 3 minutes. Immediately after dyeing, I run parts under cold, clean water. If dye absorbed too much in any one place, I scrubbed with a melamine sponge. Isopropyl alcohol will remove a lot of dye, too.


I also learned that even after running vinyl parts under cold water, the dye continued to process. These are the same parts the next day - and a whole lot deeper blue:


The liquified horse butt glue stuck to the resin, but I was able to pull it right off with a fingernail or melamine sponge. On the vinyl, however, even after I removed the glue, parts remained speckled - like robin eggs. Sigh....

I have another Obitsu 50 cm body. She's going to be purple. Wish me luck!

 

I should probably point out - this body was a mis-match of Obitsu "Whitey" and "Super-Whitey" parts. Because dye deposits color over top of the existing color (and does not replace it), the resulting parts are different colors based upon the underlying color of the vinyl.
I think Super Whitey is the best color vinyl for dyeing fantasy colors. It absorbed more dye, and the underlying peach color did not show through as much.

 

Funny you should ask. If you look at the last picture on the bottom, two of the ankle joints got stuck in the calves and would NOT come out, so I threw the calves into the dye bath, joints and all. The joints absorbed almost zero color. The frame peg inside the leg also did not change color at all. I don't know what that plastic is, but it's impenetrable to dye.

 

I haven't tried dye remover, but if it has any bleach in it, that would make me nervous.
I have had a lot of success reducing yellowing with OxiClean and denture tablet soaks, followed by an all over scrub with a melamine sponge, but it won't take the doll back to its original color.
The other thing I would like to point out is that yellowing is a normal process, so any de-yellowing you do is going to reverse itself over time. You might consider trying dyeing your doll a new color, like the dezombification serum method. I've used it a couple times and been delighted with the results.

 

OK, that's good information. I wondered, cuz I know hair dye remover is basically bleach. Thank you!