Supplies Which is a better sealant to use, Liquitex Matte Varnish or Matte Medium?

In my experience, varnish is usually what is used to seal things. Mediums are generally mixed with paint etc for various purposes.

I would like to know which one people generally use for their dolls as well. I've been thinking about getting into using an airbrush to seal faceups as I cannot get the sealant I used to use because it was discontinued (although I haven't tried the one that they replaced it with yet).

I've heard of people using the tamiya brand and vallejo (sp?) for this purpose in the past.

 

I use the liquitex matte varnish, and dab it on with a make-up sponge. It's really good in my opinion, better than the vallejo matte aerosol I used previously.
It has quite a good tooth on it, and you can really build up layers quite nicely. Note that it does catch dust particles when you apply it manually, but you can easily remove then with a toothpick

 

I do the same as Ysebeth and I love it! The workflow of being able to do it at my desk is so much better than going outside to spray MSC and then waiting for it to dry.

 

Yep, I use the matte varnish just the same, and it gives it a really nice tooth to work with. It’s all I’ve ever used and I think it’s an awesome alternative to an aerosol.

 

i use both. i start with the matte medium, especially for the pastel layer cause i find it holds the pigment better than the varnish.

i do a varnish layer when i use water colors (paints and pencils) cause the medium tends to reactivate the paint sometimes. but doesnt matter if your using acrylics.

i always finish sealing with varnish once done. i didnt used to till i noticed that the medium clung to dust and was harder to clean.

 

I also do the same as Ysebeth! It works super well for me. Just be careful if you have a lot of mess ups, it's easy to remove layers lol. I just work carefully and use a lot of those pointed cotton swabs so i can really pinpoint where i need to erase

 

I've never used liquitex matte varnish for sealing layers during the faceup. I'm sure it's doable, but be advised that the liquitex bottle advises waiting 3 hours for the varnish to dry (dry completely I'm sure is what it means). I use a mixture of liquitex matte medium and distilled water and run it through my airbrush for sealing in between layers.

I use liquitex matte varnish at the end of the faceup process. The matte varnish can look pilly or "fuzzy" when dried over tan resin. I'm sure that only happened to me because I was spraying too close though.

Also be advised that very intense colors (black, red) can look dull because of how mattified they get.

 

Wait, you can do this? So you end up doing entire faceups without spraying anything? Can you use pastels with this technique, or would dabbing on the varnish mess with them?

 

Yeah, you dab on the varnish for 2-3 layers, they don't take 3 hours to dry as they're very thin layers. Being in a warm room also helps.
I then just add the pastels and watercolour as normal and dab varnish on inbetween each layer of colour. It doesn't remove the pastels, at most it just removes the excess that you could blow off, but the varnish has a really nice tooth, so it hangs on to the pastels quite nicely.

I'm honestly impressed with the longevity of this method. I have been actively playing with my Myou Doll and her face-up has had no damages, despite me pulling clothes over her head. I also had no issues on her body, except for joints, but AFAIK that's normal with all sealants.

 

This is really good to know, thank you!

Just to be sure I understand, you're saying to do 2-3 layers of varnish first, on the blank head, and then subsequent layers of varnish after each layer of color? Do you apply each subsequent layer over the entire face to keep it even, or can you just apply it where the color is?

 

You can pretty much just apply it where the colour is ^^ and indeed, I put 2-3 layers on the blank head to make sure there is full coverage and then inbetween each layer.

 

Awesome. I'm really excited to try this out, thank you for the information!

 

Ditto what @Ysebeth said! This Youtube video gives you an idea of what it looks like:

 

Hey I hope it's fine to ask here but I spotted this in a store yesterday and was wondering if it was the correct varnish bottle?

I'd like to try the dabbing technique too since lately seems that if I'm lucky there might be a day or three with a weather when it's not too hot/cold or humid or both to spray sealant where I live at.

 

Thats the stuff i use.

Tiny heads up with it, it can sometimes get cloudy if you make your layers too thick all over or use too many layers. a nice thing i learned with it, i only need to apply it to the area i worked on. So if i only put pigment on the lips, i only need to apply it there rather than needing to seal the entire face

 

Thanks for the heads up, I'll keep that in mind. now I'll just have to visit that store again to grab it for a test drive....

 

Omg I'm SO glad I came across this thread!

I have been exclusively using the matte medium and always got annoyed when the water color pencil on eyebrows/eyelashes/eyeliner would start to smudge/get runny when I did a layer
Or yes dust was always clinging to the faceup
Definitely am going to start experiment using both now

What is the water to medium ratio that works best?

 

GL with experimenting! different materials react so differently. I've been messing around with mica powders recently and I'm not sure if the effect is worth the mess xD

I don't mix any water in with the medium. I just pour it right from the bottle to a cup.

 

OH, you don't mix with water? For some weird reason I got it into my head that it needed to be mixed with water... deff gonna try a faceup when the medium isn't mixed with water

I totally understand that mica powder struggle lol

 

@jennikey I can't really vouch for using Liquitex medium on faceups myself as I have only used the varnish, but i've heard people using it for the layers between the initial and final seal (of varnish) with an airbrush as it is more liquid and sprays easier. Thinning further down with water will create an uneven layer of medium (think of watering down watercolour and how the pigment pools into the edges rather than creating a smooth surface of colour)... I'd say thinning is not needed at all, but if it feels so, acrylic thinner or flow aid would be a much better bet. Thinning will lose a lot of tooth, though, so it makes the sealant a lot less useful for pastels and watercolour pencils, not to mention that adding water to the mixture would re-activate water-soluble paints in the layer you are trying to seal.

 

@cobaltconduct omg! Thank you so much for your reply
You have made me realize what I've been doing wrong this whole time on faceups
Thank you so much! Definitely gonna try faceup again by not adding water

 

I finally got around trying this on my girl, the first try I was watching a video and didn't notice that I dabbed way too thick layer of it so the face was starting to whiten but quick clean up and new try later I now have nice texture on her face and it didn't change the color of her face too much.



I still need to actually try painting it but I'm going to need eyeglasses before that since I was struggling to see the dust particles and that made me realize that my eyes aren't what they used to be anymore. but I thought I'd post the pictures to show the difference between the face and scalp to highlight the texture and how the color doesn't change too much even on darker skin which was nice thing to notice. I also really like how the texture feels to touch and I'm hopeful it'll be fun to paint on too.

 

@digi - I hear you on the vision issues. 2020 was when I started having issues seeing how smoothly or not I was applying pastels - fine but numerous floaters in the eyes, urk.

While I stuck with the spray from Volks/Zoukimura for most things, I was using the Gold brand of brush-on varnishes. They came in small squeeze bottles, in matte, semi-gloss and gloss. I used them mostly for lips, although the matte worked well to reinforce long-term coverage of two dolls, one with black pencil body "tattoos" and one with painted on "henna" designs. The only issue I've noted is not with any of the dolls but in the bottles themselves, where it's obvious the liquids have yellowed over the years. Doesn't affect the thin coats used on the dolls, though.

 

I use the Tamiya x-22 clear gloss varnish, bought this ~15 years ago, only half used (10ml pot) as only use on lips and eyes and the varnish in the glass pot has no yellowing. Pretty surprising tbh.

I do have some liquitex matte varnish which I haven't tried for faceups yet via dab on method. Probably in the cooler wet months.

What I did use it for a few months ago was on small pukipuki parts with a brush... and was surprised to see (on resin) wasn't matte at all, quite shiny in fact) and had no tooth whatsoever (not completely unexpected) so won't be using a brush for resin, even if it is quicker (for tiny parts).

 

Popping by here with what I'm sure is a total newb question (truly, I am) - once these layers of Liquitex varnish (or matte medium) are applied and the work sealed and fully dried, are they essentially waterproof? Such as, misty rainy day photoshoot outdoors, a waterdrop or two lands on a doll's face, it's not going to smudge or run?

 

It dries waterproof and all those things should be fine. I wouldn't leave the face submerged or wet for prolonged periods of time just in case but a little mist or a few drops of water shouldn't do anything.

 

I've just discovered this with liquitex matte varnish as well. Quite shiny! It's odd, because it's not a gloss shine exactly, but it was definitely shining beneath my work lamp. I let that layer dry and went back over it with a sponge with a lot of dabbing (and only a tiny, tiny amount of varnish - it seems to really only need a teeny amount), and that reduced the shine, but didn't eliminate it.

 

I have been using the matte varnish brushed on various horns, ears, etc I have been making from milliput and gives them a nice sheen

I shall remember the dabbing method for future times when that is needed