Preparing the doll, part 2

Categorized | Doll Preparation

Preparing the doll, part 2

Posted on22 November 2009.

If the hair is particularly stubborn and has lots of glue, you can put it in the oven for 5 minutes to loosen the glue, or use the heat from a hair dryer on it, which will make it easier to remove it.

Don’t forget to also remove the eyebrows. In most cases this is quite a simple task, however the eyelashes can be a bit more troublesome. If they don’t come away with ease they are probably superglued into the vinyl. You can try heating the doll to soften the glue in order to get rid of them.

You don’t need to remove every last trace of paint, and on some dolls it can add more depth, however, for your first attempts you should remove as much as you can.

To remove the paint from the lips or mouth try using an old toothbrush dipped in GoofOff and rub at the mouth area with it.

Once you have got rid of all the paint and hair, you need to wash the doll thouroughly.

Give the pieces a good bath in warm soapy water and make sure you rinse them in warm water afterwards to get rid of any traces of soap that might be left on them.

Leave them out to dry, and make sure the inside has dried completely before moving on.

I have heard that some people also sand the head of the baby – this should not be necessary and I would not suggest doing this at all – you are more likely to ruin the head this way.