How I Dye Resin: Part 2- Natural Skin Tones

When using Liquid Rit dye to dye resin, getting a natural skin color depends on 3 things-
1. what color is the resin you are trying to dye?
2. What color are you trying to get it to be?
3. How good are you at color theory re: mixing pigments and tints, especially as regards natural skin tones?

Those all affect how well you are able to make a skin tone change color. For example, with one doll I dyed, the starting skin tone was a greenish yellow. Reds cancel out greens, but red is a very strong pigment and a little goes a long way, so I was using a Petal Pink instead of full strength red. A drop or two of an orange also went into this to lift the sickly yellow tones to a more peachy color.
This Den of Angels tutorial is great for de-zombifying or unyellowing yellowed NS dolls.

If, however, your resin starting color is White, any color you mix the dyes to will be what you get. Natural skin tones for humans range from purplish-blue-browny-black, to mahogany, to golden sand, to terra cotta, to reddish peach, to nearly ivory. There's a full rainbow of skin tones possible, and your ability to blend colors to reach a specific tone will be the main factor in obtaining the color you want.

Some knowledge of how transparent pigment dyes behave versus paint is vital. Dye is not paint- it will not blend the same, but it's similar. Reds go a lonnng way, and so do oranges. Tan dyes are usually yellowy and will give you a human tan that is very golden, and require an addition of red or pink to create more warm reddish-tan tones. Browns often have a purpleish tone in them.
Test your color mixes by dipping a white cloth scrap in to see what color you're getting. Document ratios and amounts so you can duplicate particular dye blends.
 Also, here's my method for getting a streak free result when dyeing resin.

Eddion stories- A Single Bed

 An interlude out of Eddion...

 In a cheap roadhouse, somewhere in Rangenland, Arkady was arguing with Moira. She was his new traveling companion, or he was hers. They'd come to sharp words over how he'd only been able to get the Innkeeper to give them a one-bed room, in spite of the two of them most definitely NOT sharing bedspace, when she collapsed...

"Moira-! Are you-? Easy there, let's get you to the floor- You're fainted dead away, aren't you? Of course you are. After I told you not to exhaust yourself in all this heat, you just had to stay on watch all night too... Not even going to stay awake to hear me say I told you so. Tch!" He lowered her carefully down to the rush mats on the stone floor, and she- well, she didn't seem to hear a word, sunk into the sleep she'd been evading for days.

 "Well, you're breathing, so let's get this armor off. Excuse me for this." Arkady had seen what Moira did to people she considered to be taking liberties with her person, but for her own health, he had to get her out of her jack and mail.

Moira made a sound when she was hoisted upright as Arkady picked at the lacing of her armor. "Nngh.. 'kady?"
He sighed in relief at hearing her beginning to come around. "By all my Fathers, Moira, never scare me like that again. You dropped all of a sudden, and I just-"
She was tired but her voice was meek. "You w're worried f'r me?"
"Well... Yes. Now, try and sit up while I get these laces undone. You're overtired and you need to rest."

 "Does your mail shirt lace up the back as well?"
"Mmhm," murmured the warrior, unconcerned in her drowsiness.
"You're just going to let me do all the work, aren't you?" he said, pretending offense.
She merely mumbled something unintelligible as he helped her out of the rest of the armor.

 "What was that you said?" Arkady asked her after setting the heavy gear aside.
"Shirt, too. Hot," she insisted, pawing at the damp linen that stuck to her skin.

 Arkady averted his face when she sat up and dragged her shirt off. "Moira!"
"Whassa matter, you never seen girls before? I'm not exac'ly nude, Arkady."

 "Given how you defend your dignity most of the time- with steel- I think I'll just avoid potential offense and not look."
"Are you saying I shouldn't defend my dignity?" she asked archly.
Arkady considered his reply very carefully before giving it. "I think I do not wish to be the one giving offense. No woman deserves to be stared at unless she wants to be stared at."

 She smiled. "Wise answer." She dragged her boots off one at a time. "Still, you needn't go to such lengths to avoid seeing me at all. This room is probably too small for us to avoid each other. I trust you not to leer."

 Arkady picked up her belt from the rush mats. "I'm honored by your trust," he said more seriously. "I assume, though, that you'll still insist on sleeping with your knife at hand?" He held it out to her.
She accepted the belt and sheathed blade from him with a grave nod. "Always."

 Before Arkady had finished dressing down for rest himself, Moira had fallen back to sleep. She clutched the knife in her hand like a child taking comfort from a favorite toy. He watched her resting for a few moments, then settled down on the mats at the foot of the bed.

"Won't even sleep without a ready defense," he mused. "We're not so different, you and I."


Arkady is a modded Fairyland Minife Mir/ka in Tan Skin.
Moira is a Minifee Mirwen on a modded formerly male A-line body.
Eddion, Rangenland, Moira and Arkady are from an original story idea of mine and these are little bits of their stories.

Amadi Arrives

I'd always adored the head sculpts by Simply Divine but never had a good reason to get one.This last year,  I was able to ask them to cast a Harlequin sculpt in their Cinnamon resin, just for me! And they did it!

I made him a hardcap wig out of tibetan mohair stuff.

The only body these guys look the very best on, to my eye, is the Dollstown 18 Male body, which is huge and expensive, but with some Christmas money, I finally got to order one this year,

And this week, it arrived!!

I put him all together and... WHOA.

His name is Amadi.

And here's a little skirty thing I made him. He is HUGE.

The Wilds of Rangenland

Spring will come early this year... The snowmelts are running.

Alone, in the Wilds of Rangenland, on foot... Unwise. Care is needed.

Moira is a Fairyland Minifee Mirwen on a modded formerly Male A-line body,
with aesthetics, costume and armor by me.

Aneirin- Saint to Monster, part V

It's been a long term project, but we're almost there!

 (This post and the links below are likely to contain Anatomically Correct Doll Nudity- NSFW or for especially shy people) 


This is part 5 of an ongoing project.
See Part 4
See Part 3
See Part 2
See Part 1

I've been very busy but I've had snippets of time here and there to work on my dolls as art therapy against depression. It helps. 

Here's what Aneirin's leggies look like now!

They've been  bulked up with Apoxie Sculpt, sealed, and sprayed with Tamiya paints. His hip sockets, which were prone in testing to chipping, have been sueded with actual leather pliver suede. This helps him to stand pretty well by himself.

Next he'll need body blushing. I was gonna do some of that today but the weather turned out too cold.

I also made him a raggedy lil' skirt cloth thing to wear. He's not big into bothering about his clothes.

I remade his wig, because the poofiness was bothering me. This time I made a "hard" style cap and applied the little yarn dredlocks to that.

His new hairstyle is a lot of dreds with the top half of them tied back. I also started his faceup in this shot. Just some basic contouring and color. His ears will get done when I do his body blushing. He looks weird without his eyebrows. So:

All that's left to do is a few more touchups and then to get this boy body-blushed!

Next part! 

Part VI

Tiarnach- Melancholy

Tiarnach is a Soom Chrom head on a Granado Nuevo body,

and he's surprisingly good at looking melancholic.

Aesthetics by me.

The Dollhouse Dolls

So now that these two are faceupped and wigged and clothed (sort of), here’s a shot of my dollyhouse sized couple, Illuminated Doll Iphigenia and Garmonsway Chris. They both still need me to decide what their names are. These are two little 1/12 scale people who will inhabit the dollhouse my Grandpa and I started to make a few years ago, and which I will finish.

The Chris has been slightly modded across his shoulders. I did the faceups, blush and wigs myself, so they’re not fantastic but I like them. His wig is made of silk fiber, and hers is that tibetan wool stuff I had some of, from another project. I found out it’s much more manageable and less floofy if I use a little hair moisturizer spray, well brushed-in and dried off.

I might give the Chris some chin scruff. He looks like a guy who might have chin scruff. Also, he needs real clothes. Her dress is passably elegant but he’s in unhemmed knit leggings; the man needs me to make him a decent outfit.