45 Comments
Here's where you can find tips and demos for all things rooting. Stop by often to ask your questions and share your advice!
No matter what tool you use to trim your cable ties, there is always the risk of leaving a sharp edge that can cut or scratch you or your customer. The Magically Disappearing Cable Ties Trick has been used by large doll manufacturers like Ashton Drake for years and I've had great success with it here at CustomDollBaby.com. This snip-free method is a reliable way to secure your doll's limbs and protect your customers.
On occasion I get a question about how to pierce the ears on a reborn doll. Since Soniyah is going home with a little bling, I thought this would be a good time to record a quick ear piercing tutorial.
Piercing for me is the last step before assembly. I simply use a rooting needle to make a small hole and push my stud through it. You can warm the head if you need to, but stay under 100-degrees or you may start to melt lashes or adhesives. Be sure to let your customers know that earrings are a choking hazard, or use earrings that screw in and don't come out.
I think your paint thinner may actually be the culprit. A thinner that dries too fast will become chalky before you can pounce it off. Mona Lisa is notorious for that and many reborn artists have stopped using that brand for that reason. Bob Ross is a great, slow drying thinner that works well with the Genesis. Another trick: try mixing your paint in a few ounces of Bob Ross thinner in an air tight jar. Add a drop (really, just one!) of Linseed Oil. Mix carefully and cap when not in use. Make sure you work in a well ventilated area, it's stinky stuff. Between the slow-drying thinner and the Linseed Oil, your dolls should be chalkiness free! Both Bountiful Baby and Authentic Reborn offer the Seven Flesh Colors; Flesh 02 - Flesh 08. Where's Flesh 01? I don't know. I have another post with more information about each complexion color and how it behaves on vinyl. I also have recommendations for how to use premixed complexion paints for African American, Biracial and Black Reborn Dolls. Here, I'll just touch on a few. So, you bought the Bountiful Baby Beginner's Paint Set and the Genesis 5 Basic Colors Set. Now you're good to go, right? Probably. However, if you need to neutralize your vinyl, like blending your own colors or are working on an advanced Ethnic, African-American or Bi-Racial reborn doll, there are a few more paints you need to grab.
You have a few premixed options when painting hair and eyebrows.
All three are brown. Ethnic Brown is the darkest and easiest to work with. Brow Brown needs to be neutralized with blue before you use it. Brow Blonde looks more like a light brown than a blonde to me, but it is still a useful hair painting color. If you like buying sets and you're going to buy the Starter Kit, I also suggest that you buy the Set of 5 Basic Genesis Colors. Every artist needs primary colors and this is an easy way to kick off your palette.
Years ago, I started reborning with a Bountiful Baby Beginner Kit. Though it does not contain absolutely everything you need, starter kits are great when a massive shopping list of supplies seems overwhelming. Before you start buying paints a la carte, let's see what's useful in the Starter Kit's Premixed Paint Set.
Human hair is an excellent alternative to mohair for large infant and toddler sized reborn dolls. In addition to creating more color, texture and length options, human hair can create a fuller-looking hairdo. However, human hair is very different from mohair, wool and alpaca, so you have to root it carefully to get a natural-looking style. Peachy Keen adds beautiful rosy and golden undertones to the lifelike baby doll. It's great for all your complexion layers and base coat! You can fine tune this recipe to your taste! All you need is Flesh 08, Genesis Red and Raw Sienna!
Use these four colors over and over again to create lifelike baby nails on all of your reborn dolls! Mottling is the process of adding multi-colored layers of delicate patterns to create the appearance of blood flowing under baby’s skin. I put a lot of care into creating my mottling sponges because I reuse them over and over again to create gorgeous skin texture on my lifelike baby dolls.
There are a variety of suitable materials for mottling sponges, including sea sponges and bath sponges. I prefer to work with a firm cosmetic wedge which gives me more control over the pattern and more consistent results. Learn more about mottling and the entire reborning process on the Reborn with Me! Playlist! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z9y0vcdeO0&list=PLY0D7_fO0RBeErTy6k83PKTKFLXYtME1Q I've been getting a lot of questions about Dewy Skin, so I decided to try it out!
Dewy Skin medium, by Precious Little Baby Dust, is a heat-set medium that can be used to seal the paint, create lifelike skin texture and sheen for glowing baby skin. Through my tests, I found that it works fine for all of these purposes. Few notes: - Add time (not heat) for a proper cure. 15 minutes at 250 F works well for me. - Bake while wet for sheen. Let it dry then bake for matte. - I forgot to cure a piece and left it over night. It turned white like matte varnish would, but did bake clear. Where to buy it? https://www.dollsbysandie.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=10520 There's nothing worse than spending hours painting a reborn doll only to watch it melt in the oven or to see the paint wipe off later because it wasn't properly cured. Followed this handy oven guide to perfectly cure your heat-set reborning paints! These are questions I hear often from reborn doll artists. The reality is that it is difficult to find satisfying answers to these questions. Which is why I developed one tool that quickly and easily answers them all! Click Read More to learn how I achieve lifelike Real Feel weight on my reborn dolls!
Welcome back to another episode of Reborn with Me! With Alissa Beth's glues and tears fully cured and set, we're now ready to clean her up for her trip home! Baby's First Shampoo removes all our hair plan markings from the scalp, rinses any excess dye out of the mohair, and leaves baby smelling soft and fresh.
There's no one right way to wash mohair, but here are some tips that have worked well for me and kept my babies tangle-free:
My last box opening video raised a lot of great questions about where to buy doll kits. So, here are my go to suppliers!
I have personally done business with every company on this list. And I can certify that they sent me a quality product in exchange for my money - or if they didn't, they worked closely with me until the quality product arrived. Welcome back to another episode of Reborn with Me!
Now that we have finally finished rooting Alissa Beth we're ready to take care of those final details: the first is gluing |
Categories
All
AuthorHi! I am Kim. I've been creating dolls all my life. I started stuffing cotton balls into my mom's pantyhose when I was a little girl. Now I hand-craft dolls that look and feel like real babies. Archives
December 2021
|