Since the mini blog information sheet on Neutralizing/Color Correction below was written, I developed a color correction paint set to go with the tutorial. The paint set has all 6 of the Rebornfx paint colors needed in half once sized bottles. It also contains a printed edited version of the information below for easy reference.
This is the paint set kit that can be purchased at;
https://www.macphersoncrafts.com/en/online-store/rebornfx/rebornfx-air-dry-sets
Neutralizing or Color Correcting your Reborn Doll Information
If you have been reborning for a number of years you will have come across the terminology of "neutralizing" your vinyl dolls. Some years back the vinyl doll kits varied from a dark bubble gum pink to a orange or dirty yellow color. This is when the neutralizing methods began in reborning. In order to get rid of those awful colors so our transparent flesh paint layering didn't take on those undertone hues ,one had to neutralize that vinyl color first. Thankfully today most of the vinyl in our doll kits are closer to a more natural skin color. So neutralizing a vinyl before painting it is now a choice. However you may need to use the neutralizing method for other reasons.......
Today I ran into a situation that required me to use the neutralizing method. My kit had an arm missing so I was able to get a replacement. The problem was my kit was about 2 years old so when the replacement limb came it was made from a newer batch of vinyl. The newer limb shown on the left had more yellow in the die lot color than the older parts did on the doll. In this situation neutralizing the full kit is necessary. If I choose not to neutralize then I would be "fighting" with the yellow hue when painting in an attempt to make it match the other limbs.
So here is what has to be done to neutralize the vinyl color and make all parts match;
The basics of neutralizing is to apply a paint color that is opposite to the vinyl color.
To help you with that a
color wheel is a very good tool to use. You will see that I have matched up the opposite colors for different colored vinyl below to give you an idea how to do this.
Shown above is a (cool toned) pink vinyl and when compared onto the color wheel you will see the opposite color is green. So for this type of vinyl I would apply a transparent layer of
Rebornfx Mint Green Wash acrylic paint.
Shown above is a yellow toned vinyl piece and when compared onto the color wheel you will see the opposite color is purple. So for this vinyl I would apply a transparent layer of
Rebornfx Violet Wash acrylic paint.
In this picture above the vinyl has an orange tone to it, so the opposite color on the color wheel here is blue. I would apply a transparent layer of
Rebornfx Pale Blue Wash acrylic paint on top of this vinyl. If the vinyl orange has a bit of a yellow hue to it then the
Rebornfx Bluebell wash is good to use for that color.
In the picture above you can see the different colored vinyl pieces and the paint colors that I would use to neutralize the vinyl color.
Now lets see what happens when you apply a neutralizing color onto your vinyl.....
TAH-DAH!
The original color of the vinyl is shown at the very bottom of the belly plates. Then you will see I left a line of the neutralizing paint color I used as it's first layer. (Violet on the left yellow toned vinyl and then mint green on the pink toned vinyl) On top of the neutralizing color I applied a coat of Flesh color to show your the results. Both pieces end up looking alike even though they started off with different colored vinyl. This is the method that I will now use on my doll kit arm to make them match.
Another way you can use washes is to correct a painted doll that end up to grey/blue tone. Do this by applying a layer of the Rebornfx Warm Wash all over the areas you want to change the color. If you don't' like the pink tone of your babies skin and would like to change it to a more peach tone then you can add a layer of the Rebornfx Light Ochre Wash over top. These color corrector paints are included in the Rebornfx Color Correction Paint set sold at
https://www.macphersoncrafts.com/en/online-store/rebornfx/rebornfx-air-dry-sets
