How to Fix Dented Doll Nose

 (good grief it's been ages.)

How To Fix A Dinged Nose

1. remove eyes, store safely somewhere, don't need those falling out.

2. Cover faceup and head with plastic wrap, ripping the smallest possible jagged hole to expose where the nose damage is. Do this with about three layers of the stuff, the idea is to get a jagged edged hole around the damage.

3. Put on oven mitt. Put the kettle on. As the steam whooshes out when the kettle boils, poke the injured nose into the steam at least two or three inches from the spout. Hold it there for five seconds, remove to check to see if resin has popped back to shape, repeat as needed or until you're not getting any more result.

That's the dings and dents solved. As for the blushing of the nose.

PART two!

1. Remove plastic wrap. Replace with a paper towel, and again tear to expose the nose. This masks off the rest of the face but leaves a soft edge around the nose.

2. Get a melamine sponge, of the mister clean or other type brand. Now what you do with that is DO NOT wet it, but using it dry, treat it like it's a sanding block and gently sand away the damaged blushing, going lighter at the edges of the damaged area. This prevents any sharp edges between blushed and non blushed areas. You'll see as you go that you can "erase" the color in the damaged spot and create a soft airbrushy edge or fading of color from that spot, if that makes sense.

3. Wearing proper respiration protection and under proper conditions, this is when you hit the almost-totally-covered face with a puff of sealant. Our ragged hole paper towel masking technique is what lets this work.

4. Mix a color match for the other blushing visible around the nose, as carefully as you can, using quality pastels. Then blush back the color onto the now sealed nose with a very fine soft brush. Using the best brush you can really makes a difference here for layering on very tiny amounts of color at a time so as to get a smooth match.

5. Seal again, remove the paper towel, admire the flawless repair, and never trust a dolly not to nosedive.

How To Fix A Dinged Nose

1. remove eyes, store safely somewhere, don't need those falling out.

2. Cover faceup and head with plastic wrap, ripping the smallest possible jagged hole to expose where the nose damage is. Do this with about three layers of the stuff, the idea is to get a jagged edged hole around the damage.

3. Put on oven mitt. Put the kettle on. As the steam whooshes out when the kettle boils, poke the injured nose into the steam at least two or three inches from the spout. Hold it there for five seconds, remove to check to see if resin has popped back to shape, repeat as needed or until you're not getting any more result.

That's the dings and dents solved. As for the blushing of the nose.

PART two!

1. Remove plastic wrap. Replace with a paper towel, and again tear to expose the nose. This masks off the rest of the face but leaves a soft edge around the nose.

2. Get a melamine sponge, of the mister clean or other type brand. Now what you do with that is DO NOT wet it, but using it dry, treat it like it's a sanding block and gently sand away the damaged blushing, going lighter at the edges of the damaged area. This prevents any sharp edges between blushed and non blushed areas. You'll see as you go that you can "erase" the color in the damaged spot and create a soft airbrushy edge or fading of color from that spot, if that makes sense.

3. Wearing proper respiration protection and under proper conditions, this is when you hit the almost-totally-covered face with a puff of sealant. Our ragged hole paper towel masking technique is what lets this work.

4. Mix a color match for the other blushing visible around the nose, as carefully as you can, using quality pastels. Then blush back the color onto the now sealed nose with a very fine soft brush. Using the best brush you can really makes a difference here for layering on very tiny amounts of color at a time so as to get a smooth match.

5. Seal again, remove the paper towel, admire the flawless repair, and never trust a dolly not to nosedive.

 How To Fix A Dented Dolly Nose

1. remove eyes, store safely somewhere, don't need those falling out.
2. Cover faceup and head with plastic wrap, ripping the smallest possible jagged hole to expose where the nose damage is. Do this with about three layers of the stuff, the idea is to get a jagged edged hole around the damage.
3. Put on oven mitt. Put the kettle on. As the steam whooshes out when the kettle boils, poke the injured nose into the steam at least two or three inches from the spout. Hold it there for five seconds, remove to check to see if resin has popped back to shape, repeat as needed or until you're not getting any more result.

That's the dings and dents solved. As for the blushing of the nose.
PART two! This can be used to spot-fix any part of a faceup. It's not always guaranteed to work, and depends on your skill as well as dumb luck, YMMV but it's always worth a shot.

1. Remove plastic wrap. Replace with a paper towel, and again tear to expose the nose. This masks off the rest of the face but leaves a soft edge around the nose.
2. Get a melamine sponge, of the mister clean or other type brand. Now what you do with that is DO NOT wet it, but using it dry, treat it like it's a sanding block and gently sand away the damaged blushing, going lighter at the edges of the damaged area. This prevents any sharp edges between blushed and non blushed areas. You'll see as you go that you can "erase" the color in the damaged spot and create a soft airbrushy edge or fading of color from that spot, if that makes sense.
3. Wearing proper respiration protection and under proper conditions, this is when you hit the almost-totally-covered face with a puff of sealant. Our ragged hole paper towel masking technique is what lets this work.
4. Mix a color match for the other blushing visible around the nose, as carefully as you can, using quality pastels. Then blush back the color onto the now sealed nose with a very fine soft brush. Using the best brush you can really makes a difference here for layering on very tiny amounts of color at a time so as to get a smooth match.
5. Seal again, remove the paper towel, stick the eyes back in now, admire the flawless repair, and never trust a dolly not to nosedive.

 

How To Fix A Dinged Nose

1. remove eyes, store safely somewhere, don't need those falling out.

2. Cover faceup and head with plastic wrap, ripping the smallest possible jagged hole to expose where the nose damage is. Do this with about three layers of the stuff, the idea is to get a jagged edged hole around the damage.

3. Put on oven mitt. Put the kettle on. As the steam whooshes out when the kettle boils, poke the injured nose into the steam at least two or three inches from the spout. Hold it there for five seconds, remove to check to see if resin has popped back to shape, repeat as needed or until you're not getting any more result.

That's the dings and dents solved. As for the blushing of the nose.

PART two!

1. Remove plastic wrap. Replace with a paper towel, and again tear to expose the nose. This masks off the rest of the face but leaves a soft edge around the nose.

2. Get a melamine sponge, of the mister clean or other type brand. Now what you do with that is DO NOT wet it, but using it dry, treat it like it's a sanding block and gently sand away the damaged blushing, going lighter at the edges of the damaged area. This prevents any sharp edges between blushed and non blushed areas. You'll see as you go that you can "erase" the color in the damaged spot and create a soft airbrushy edge or fading of color from that spot, if that makes sense.

3. Wearing proper respiration protection and under proper conditions, this is when you hit the almost-totally-covered face with a puff of sealant. Our ragged hole paper towel masking technique is what lets this work.

4. Mix a color match for the other blushing visible around the nose, as carefully as you can, using quality pastels. Then blush back the color onto the now sealed nose with a very fine soft brush. Using the best brush you can really makes a difference here for layering on very tiny amounts of color at a time so as to get a smooth match.

5. Seal again, remove the paper towel, admire the flawless repair, and never trust a dolly not to nosedive.

How To Fix A Dinged Nose

1. remove eyes, store safely somewhere, don't need those falling out.

2. Cover faceup and head with plastic wrap, ripping the smallest possible jagged hole to expose where the nose damage is. Do this with about three layers of the stuff, the idea is to get a jagged edged hole around the damage.

3. Put on oven mitt. Put the kettle on. As the steam whooshes out when the kettle boils, poke the injured nose into the steam at least two or three inches from the spout. Hold it there for five seconds, remove to check to see if resin has popped back to shape, repeat as needed or until you're not getting any more result.

That's the dings and dents solved. As for the blushing of the nose.

PART two!

1. Remove plastic wrap. Replace with a paper towel, and again tear to expose the nose. This masks off the rest of the face but leaves a soft edge around the nose.

2. Get a melamine sponge, of the mister clean or other type brand. Now what you do with that is DO NOT wet it, but using it dry, treat it like it's a sanding block and gently sand away the damaged blushing, going lighter at the edges of the damaged area. This prevents any sharp edges between blushed and non blushed areas. You'll see as you go that you can "erase" the color in the damaged spot and create a soft airbrushy edge or fading of color from that spot, if that makes sense.

3. Wearing proper respiration protection and under proper conditions, this is when you hit the almost-totally-covered face with a puff of sealant. Our ragged hole paper towel masking technique is what lets this work.

4. Mix a color match for the other blushing visible around the nose, as carefully as you can, using quality pastels. Then blush back the color onto the now sealed nose with a very fine soft brush. Using the best brush you can really makes a difference here for layering on very tiny amounts of color at a time so as to get a smooth match.

5. Seal again, remove the paper towel, admire the flawless repair, and never trust a dolly not to nosedive.

How To Fix A Dinged Nose

1. remove eyes, store safely somewhere, don't need those falling out.

2. Cover faceup and head with plastic wrap, ripping the smallest possible jagged hole to expose where the nose damage is. Do this with about three layers of the stuff, the idea is to get a jagged edged hole around the damage.

3. Put on oven mitt. Put the kettle on. As the steam whooshes out when the kettle boils, poke the injured nose into the steam at least two or three inches from the spout. Hold it there for five seconds, remove to check to see if resin has popped back to shape, repeat as needed or until you're not getting any more result.

That's the dings and dents solved. As for the blushing of the nose.

PART two!

1. Remove plastic wrap. Replace with a paper towel, and again tear to expose the nose. This masks off the rest of the face but leaves a soft edge around the nose.

2. Get a melamine sponge, of the mister clean or other type brand. Now what you do with that is DO NOT wet it, but using it dry, treat it like it's a sanding block and gently sand away the damaged blushing, going lighter at the edges of the damaged area. This prevents any sharp edges between blushed and non blushed areas. You'll see as you go that you can "erase" the color in the damaged spot and create a soft airbrushy edge or fading of color from that spot, if that makes sense.

3. Wearing proper respiration protection and under proper conditions, this is when you hit the almost-totally-covered face with a puff of sealant. Our ragged hole paper towel masking technique is what lets this work.

4. Mix a color match for the other blushing visible around the nose, as carefully as you can, using quality pastels. Then blush back the color onto the now sealed nose with a very fine soft brush. Using the best brush you can really makes a difference here for layering on very tiny amounts of color at a time so as to get a smooth match.

5. Seal again, remove the paper towel, admire the flawless repair, and never trust a dolly not to nosedive.

How To Fix A Dinged Nose

1. remove eyes, store safely somewhere, don't need those falling out.

2. Cover faceup and head with plastic wrap, ripping the smallest possible jagged hole to expose where the nose damage is. Do this with about three layers of the stuff, the idea is to get a jagged edged hole around the damage.

3. Put on oven mitt. Put the kettle on. As the steam whooshes out when the kettle boils, poke the injured nose into the steam at least two or three inches from the spout. Hold it there for five seconds, remove to check to see if resin has popped back to shape, repeat as needed or until you're not getting any more result.

That's the dings and dents solved. As for the blushing of the nose.

PART two!

1. Remove plastic wrap. Replace with a paper towel, and again tear to expose the nose. This masks off the rest of the face but leaves a soft edge around the nose.

2. Get a melamine sponge, of the mister clean or other type brand. Now what you do with that is DO NOT wet it, but using it dry, treat it like it's a sanding block and gently sand away the damaged blushing, going lighter at the edges of the damaged area. This prevents any sharp edges between blushed and non blushed areas. You'll see as you go that you can "erase" the color in the damaged spot and create a soft airbrushy edge or fading of color from that spot, if that makes sense.

3. Wearing proper respiration protection and under proper conditions, this is when you hit the almost-totally-covered face with a puff of sealant. Our ragged hole paper towel masking technique is what lets this work.

4. Mix a color match for the other blushing visible around the nose, as carefully as you can, using quality pastels. Then blush back the color onto the now sealed nose with a very fine soft brush. Using the best brush you can really makes a difference here for layering on very tiny amounts of color at a time so as to get a smooth match.

5. Seal again, remove the paper towel, admire the flawless repair, and never trust a dolly not to nosedive.

How To Fix A Dinged Nose

1. remove eyes, store safely somewhere, don't need those falling out.

2. Cover faceup and head with plastic wrap, ripping the smallest possible jagged hole to expose where the nose damage is. Do this with about three layers of the stuff, the idea is to get a jagged edged hole around the damage.

3. Put on oven mitt. Put the kettle on. As the steam whooshes out when the kettle boils, poke the injured nose into the steam at least two or three inches from the spout. Hold it there for five seconds, remove to check to see if resin has popped back to shape, repeat as needed or until you're not getting any more result.

That's the dings and dents solved. As for the blushing of the nose.

PART two!

1. Remove plastic wrap. Replace with a paper towel, and again tear to expose the nose. This masks off the rest of the face but leaves a soft edge around the nose.

2. Get a melamine sponge, of the mister clean or other type brand. Now what you do with that is DO NOT wet it, but using it dry, treat it like it's a sanding block and gently sand away the damaged blushing, going lighter at the edges of the damaged area. This prevents any sharp edges between blushed and non blushed areas. You'll see as you go that you can "erase" the color in the damaged spot and create a soft airbrushy edge or fading of color from that spot, if that makes sense.

3. Wearing proper respiration protection and under proper conditions, this is when you hit the almost-totally-covered face with a puff of sealant. Our ragged hole paper towel masking technique is what lets this work.

4. Mix a color match for the other blushing visible around the nose, as carefully as you can, using quality pastels. Then blush back the color onto the now sealed nose with a very fine soft brush. Using the best brush you can really makes a difference here for layering on very tiny amounts of color at a time so as to get a smooth match.

5. Seal again, remove the paper towel, admire the flawless repair, and never trust a dolly not to nosedive.

I want to make Food and Props for my Doll!

Polymer clay can have a translucency to it that mimics food really well, and there are some special tricks you can do to get very realistic food. 

I'd recommend youtube Miniatures tutorials by SugarCharmShop, as she does very clear simple tutorials with great results. Her stuff is dollhouse sized but if you do the same things slightly larger you can make treats and accessories for any size of doll.

Here's a link but it autoplays a video with sound so be aware of that.

(She also repaints vinyl dolls and does doll clothing tutorials you can probably use for your BJD.)

Here's her video of polymer clay basics. Here's one for her tools she uses. 

Here's a second channel where she had a lot of the food videos and they're still there. Sound!



She's just a fantastic resource for anyone who loves dolls.

PSA- why you NEED a proper respirator when spraying Sealants or paints.

Dear friends, Let me show you guys why respirators are VITAL no matter what you are spraying.

I have a shop where I do my spraying work. It has a filter and a fan that sucks the air out of the spray chamber, filtering as it goes.




This is a few sprays of a paint onto some doll parts. You see that square in the wall? That is the filter. It was white when I started this. That is what was pulled out of the air while I sprayed, the can was never aimed at the filter. 

That's what ends up in your lungs when you inhale aerosols. it just shows up here because I was using a paint which has a strong color.

Please, PLEASE use a properly fitted and rated respirator. You only get one set of lungs.

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.

How I Dye Resin

My process for dyeing dolly parts: Prep is everything!
This isn't exactly instructions, but if you've been doing dyeing and it's not working, this is what I do.

Sand: To dye resin smoothly, use a stupidly high grit wet-sandpaper and an N95 or higher rated mask for you, and sand the part thoroughly to really smooth it out a little. (Don't let the dust get anywhere. It must not be inhaled by anything with fleshy lungs, so do this bit outside and make sure you clean up! Use water to keep the dust contained, then dispose of it carefully.)

Scrub: Then scrub the part with a Magic Eraser or melamine sponge equivalent. Then wash it with a drop of clear dish soap and water, making absolutely sure to get any oils from your fingers off it. After that, handle it only by the back and edges.

Dip: Put a bit of string or wire in a loop through the hole/s in the part to dip it into your dyepot. Make sure the string is long enough so the rising steam from the boiling dye doesn't hurt your hands. Use a small pot that isn't enameled, teflon-coated or aluminum; steel is best. Do this somewhere with daylight lighting so you can compare the part to the resin you're trying to match. If you're doing a whole doll in one color, start with an easy-to-clean part like a forearm, get it the shade you want, then match each part afterward to that. I like to open all my kitchen windows to get proper light for seeing color by. Bring water to simmering boil, add dye, stir with a cheap wooden spoon, not a metal one. It has to be boiling, but a rolling boil is too hot. Then you can dip the part in. Make notes of the precise amounts of dye you use, and the amount of water you started the pot with. You may need this info later.

Match: Go slowly- you can always add more color but taking color away is really, really annoying. Rinse the part in warm water to see what color you've actually gotten to, and to remove any excess dye.

Smoothing: Check it as you get close to the color you want, and if it's blotchy, take it out, scrub blotchy areas with magic eraser. Re-dip it again. Repeat as needed until you get the color you want. Rinse, allow to dry well and totally before using MSC to seal. If it isn't bone dry, the MSC will cloud.

Fin!


Troubleshooting:
"My first part has the wrong color/ is dyed too dark!" - Scrub it clean with a Magic Eraser and some WinsorNewton Brush Cleaner, and wash it with the dish soap again, rise totally clean of soap, then try again.

"My Tan dye is dyeing the doll blue!" (Or other unexpected color)- The chemistry has gone wrong. It's possible your pot has a coating, or is made of aluminum, or sometimes you can even just get a bad bottle of Rit. Scrub the part and try again, with some changes accordingly.

"My dyed doll has darker streaks on the sides of their parts, like where seam lines go." - Yep, that's where seams were. This is the nature of dolls cast in resin, and can't be totally gotten rid of. If the streaks are really dark, see the Smoothing step, and try that, but they won't be totally invisible on some dolls no matter what you do. Blushing can help.

"My doll has streaky spots..." - Do the Smoothing step over again, possibly including a bit of scrubbing with WN on the part where streaks are. residue of old sealant, finger oils or WN must all be scrubbed off then washed carefully off. Clean resin streaks much less.

"When I wiped a faceup attempt  off my dyed doll, the dye color got lighter." - Yes, this can happen, as you tend to remove some dye with the faceup. This is why we made the notes about the dye and water mix we dyed it with. You can just replicate your dye recipe, wash your head/face really well, and re-dye it, or you can just blush the new faceup to account for lost color. The same goes for Body Blushing.

Eye Alignment and Human Expressions

(Yes, I am Rosslyn, so this is my image and I can post it. Do not Pin, Share, Tumblr, Reblog, or repost without my permission, Please)