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littleclaygirl · Member

Gail, my first reborn :)

Friki Fimo · Senior Member

First of all, congrats on your first reborn :)
From the pics, it's hard for me to see any details, but she looks okay to me, very delicate and sweet! From the looks of it, it is a Berenguer "sucky lip" doll. They indeed are made of harder vinyl, but it is not impossible to root. You just need some harder/thicker needles and a lot of patience and strenght in your hands. I'm still doing my Angel Face Berenguer's hair, little at a time because it's so hard :) It's been two months since I started LOL :)

As far as fillings go, you can always use some polyfill at the top of the limbs to stop the "leaking" of sand. You can make a little "tube" out of paper to slode the sand through the tiny opening. But I'd also recommend tiny glass beads instead of sand.

As far as eyelashes go, you can always get a strip of mohair eyelashes (they usually come in 20cm size that you can cut to fit any eye) and glue it with E6000 and a toothpock or tweezers. I do that with all my closed eyes dolls, and even some open eye dolls. The doll with eyelashes like that looks gorgeous, it adds extra realism to the face :)

Hope this helps!

Friki Fimo · Senior Member

Oh yes, I almost forgot - you should always remove all factory paint before the reborning process. I hear "Goof off" is the best solvent for things like that. Since it is not available in Croatia, I use a very strong solvent from Marabu firm, it takes off everything, even the paint mistakes after GHSP have been baked :)

littleclaygirl · Member

Thanks! It's kind of hard to get the camera to pick up the details- she does look a little better in real life but not very realistic. Eye lashes are a good idea! I took off the factory paint (her lips were bright pink!) except for the hair, because I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it. Nail polish remover seemed to work okay, because of the acetone I suppose. I think with my next doll I'll be using weights specifically made for reborns just to be on the safe side. Thanks for your help :D

Friki Fimo · Senior Member

I red somewhere that acetone can be harmful for vinyl, but I guess it means all other solvents can be harmful as well :) But acetone dissolves paint very slowly, it is a pain to remove all the paint. I remember that on my Berjusa doll, I almost emptied the whole bottle trying to remove the hair. With stronger solvent it is so much easier, and I didn't see any damage to the vinyl afterwords. Phew! :)

I'm glad to help! It just feels so weird giving advice being a newb reborner myself (I started only four months ago) :D This forum has been very slow recently, maybe because of the holidays? I sure hope everyone will soon return :)

littleclaygirl · Member

You've come a long way in four months! I think my next one will be with a proper kit, and perhaps special reborn paints- that would be fun. The paint did have to be rubbed a bit to get it off with the nail polish remover, but the vinyl still seemed okay. I re-did Gail's eye brows earlier, so they aren't as obvious as in the photos (water colour pencils aren't the best for permanent results, I hope they stain the vinyl a bit more). Yeah, it does seem a little empty in this forum at the moment, I agree >.

Liselle · Guru

She looks really sweet, and bottom line is if you're happy with her, that's all that matters. I remember you said you're not shipping her overseas, so the sand shouldn't be a problem. However in the future if you plan to reborn a kit to sell, definitely invest in some glass beads. I've found BB to have the best price overall.

I bought straight acetone from a home improvement store, finding that nail polish remover did NOT work for me.

Glad to have another member of the reborning family!

Dee · Guru

she's cute, you are off to a good start, I started out with those dolls too the heads are hard, I made 3 I left one bald and used wigs on the other 2, when I started reborning I used ritz clothes dye and oil paints they turned out pretty good but I love air dry paints, but I have'nt made a baby in a while maybe I will get back into it this year I'm gonna use jo-sonja acrylic or luminair acrylic paint because i can't get the paint that i used to use. You will get better with each baby you make good luck!

littleclaygirl · Member

Sorry, I haven't been online much for a few days! Liselle, thanks, it's so nice to be welcomed to the forum by such friendly people. I think I'll use glass beads and a proper reborn kit next time, to get a proper taste of reborning. I've bought some flesh coloured acrylic paint and already have a list of supplies for my next doll (adds up to over £50!). Dee, wigs are a good idea- she'd look cute with hair and it would be nice if she didn't have to wear a hat all the time! I'm just using regular acrylic paints for now before I can afford proper reborning paints. I think I'm a bit impatient for oil paints: I've heard they take a while to cure into the vinyl. Thanks for the good luck!

sara zata · Guru

When you do your next baby, use a kit and the Genesis Heat Set Paints, (GHSP) Goof off is good beut you have to be carefull where you use it, outside is best. Then wash it with hot soapy water, rinse and dry before painting. As for rooting the harder vinyl, put some rice in a sock and heat in in the microwave for 3 min with a glass of water sitting in there also as to NOT burn the rice, this will soften the vinyl, you have to repeat as it cools down so you don't break your needles. Your first attempt was good, I also did a Berenguer for my first baby. You can remove the hair marks with a dremal, I didn't have one at the time so rooted over the hair marks. Ou Granddaughter Macey, has here, her name is Sarah. Hope some of this info helps. XXXXX June.

littleclaygirl · Member

Thanks June, that's extremely useful! I'm planning on asking for a full kit for my birthday (hopefully including heat set paints) so I might be able to experiment with proper supplies some time :D It's still six months away, and I might have to try a few more before then though (reborning is really addictive, isn't it?). Thanks again for all your help :)