First steps before painting with ReBornFX Air Paints.

Started in on preparing my large vinyl doll today. Found an old dowel and wood stand that will hold the large pieces for drying (I hope) without tipping over.  The doll is Gabriella by Reva Schick and she is actually a 42 inch doll and not the 38inches I had previously thought. You can see the size comparison with my own hand in the picture below.

 

Will be interesting to see how much time and paint this will take.  I applied one layer of the RebornFx Primer with a damp, dense cosmetic sponge onto all the doll pieces.  I then put the pieces onto the drying rack as they were completed. After about 30 min I then applied a second layer of primer.. That took up about 1/3 or the one oz. bottle of Rebornfx Primer for this 42 inch 5 piece vinyl doll. A second coat  of primer is not necessary for a regular reborn doll but this doll is going to be put into a very sunny window when finished. I felt it needed the best protection against those elements.

I will now let the pieces dry overnight to ensure they are fully cured before starting in on painting. As you can see in my picture below, the drying rack/doll is now taking up all my work area, so I will have to find another small table to put them on before I begin to paint on her this weekend.  

 



Next ReBornFX air dry paint project

Thought I'd let you know what my next project will be using the Rebornfx air dry paint system.
I was given a 38 inch vinyl doll to reborn for the MacPherson Crafts Store window. I have been reborning dolls for many years but nothing bigger than 23 inches. This size restriction was mostly because I was painting with heat set paints and the vinyl parts would not fit into my nu-wave oven to set them. Now with air dry paints, I can paint any size of vinyl doll with no limits! I originally wasn't planning on such a large 38" doll to start with but we came into a situation where a lady walked into the store a few days ago and wanted  to buy the large display doll we had used in our windows for years. Yes, the doll was sold to that lady who fell in love with her.  Now we truly miss that doll  in the window and realized we needed to replace her - after all we had all these child size # 6 cloths left over from the sold doll.
Today I finished washing up the large vinyl limbs, torso and head with warm soapy water then rinsed and dried them. Now I'm just pondering  on what to use for a drying rack. I believe the rack I have is way to small and will more than likely tip over with the weight of the limb(s). Will have to think about what other type of rack I can substitute. On the other hand (pun) perhaps I don't need a drying rack as the paint might be dry by the time I get to the end of that long arm any ways! Definitely will be painting this one in sections.

ReBornFX final finish great for durability and sealing

I just wanted to tell you a bit about the new product that was just released today for sale at www.macphersoncrafts.com. It is called  the Rebornfx 2 n 1 Final Coat. 
We already had a sealer product and a varnish product for finishing the reborn dolls, but we had a request for a final coat that would not come off with routine cleaning done in institutions. Well we listened to our customers and brought in this product for those requesting this feature.  The Rebornfx 2n1 Final Coat is a  liquid air dry plastic coat made to adhere and flex with vinyls and plastics.  It is a permanent coat once dried.  Basic cleaning products and disinfectants will not remove or effect it. It is great to apply on reborns used for playdolls, in hospital programs or institutions where cleaning and disinfecting is a routine.  I have been testing this product out for a while and love it's  matte finish! It can be used on air dry acrylics and on top of heat set paints. Enjoy!

RebornFX 3D Medium Uses

Well I have to say this RebornFX air dry 3D medium sure is versatile. Other than using it for 3D painted hair as shown in my previous posts, it can also be used for applying milia bumps, nail tips , eyebrows and tear ducts. It adheres well onto vinyl, Genesis paints and Acrylics. It should be available for sale at www.macphersoncrafts.com next week. I now need to work on writing out the instructions for this product before it can be sent out!
 Here are a few pics;  It would be interesting to know what else this product can be used for.



Rebornfx 3D medium used for milia bumps



RebornFX 3D Medium Hair

So I finally got the opportunity to finish up the testing project using the RebornFx 3D medium with the heat set/Genesis paints. See the previous posts for test beginning.

First I finished blending in the hair colors set in with Genesis paints, heat set for 8 minutes and cooled to room temperature.
I decided I really didn't like the top part of the hair , so I applied another layer of the RebornFX 3D medium on top. This time I kept the raised hair a bit back to achieve that 3D hair layer look. I then let the 3D medium dry for about 1/2 hour.  My studio was in a dry environment so I had fast dry results.

After drying I finished applying the Genesis paint hair colors onto the newly raised hair. I then heat set the paint for another 8 minutes then let cool.

The picture below was taken with a flash to show the 3D hair dimensions more. The highlighted white hair from the flash is actually a light ash brown as shown in the next picture below.

 I am quite pleased with the results. The medium is still flexible and soft even after all the heat set baking I did. It actually feels like part of the vinyl mold!  I won't be adding in any more detail to the hair as this head was a test piece only. I am now confident that the air dry RebornFX 3D medium can be used with the heat set paints as well as with the RebornFX air dry paints.

ReBornFX More new colors released

It has been a busy two days at work for me. Two new paint colors for the Rebornfx air dry paint line was released today and I am busy testing out a new final finish coating product that I will introduce later on.
The Light Ash Brown available in the 1 oz premixed bottles and in the 4ml pigment line is a great color for painting hair on the newborn dolls. It's a nice light brown with no red tones in it. I think you will be delighted with the other hair paint colors coming in soon as well.
The other new color is a Violet Wash. This wash is very transparent making it an excellent paint for neutralizing orange based vinyl. It also makes a nice mottling color under the skin tones on your newborn life like doll.
To view these new colors, check out their color swatches on the new product tab.
Tomorrow is my day at home so I am hoping to get back to my 3D hair painting project test and report my end results.
Good Night.

RebornFX 3D Medium is Heat set compatible

Got a bit of time today to play with the RebornFX 3D medium and Heat Set Paints. Although the RebornFX 3D medium is air dry, I found it can be used with the Heat Set Paints!!!  Here are my results from todays testing;

• RebornFX 3D medium  spreads easily on top of the Heat Set Paints and I could not removed after it was dry. It is easily removed before it is dry allowing me to correct any mistakes or alter the patten if needed. Still had a good 20 min. of play time before it started to stiffen up. To smooth out any unwanted bumbs in the lines, I gently patted and moved the bump out with a damp brush (use water to dampen with this product not solvent)
• Genesis or Heat Set paints can be painted on top of the dried 3D medium. The solvent does not affect the dried 3D product.
• RebornFX 3D medium can with stand the heat set oven temperature of 265 degrees F. for the 8 min. duration that is required for the heat set paints.

This is what the medium looked like once applied onto of my Genesis painted vinyl baby. I wanted certain hair areas raised and others left flat to enhance the 3D effect.

 

So far I have heat set the product 3 times and no change in color or flexibility has occurred.

As you can see in this picture, the Genesis Heat Set Paints adhere to the Rebornfx 3D medium.

I am of coarse not finished yet as this stage of painting was just laying out the shadows and highlights I wanted. I still need to finish the other side , blend more and add in hair details. The Rebornfx 3D medium was very smooth to paint on allowing me to add on details easily. With different hair areas raised a bit it certainly does add that real look to the hair!