Sunday 17 June 2012

Doll Dying Adventure 1

Hello again!

Today I set out on an adventure to dye my Iplehouse Gentle Cocori tan. To learn how to dye a doll, I read the doll dye thread on DOA and got the basic understanding of the steps and materials required. Yesterday I bought 3 boxes of Rit fabric dye (two tan and one cocoa brown) as I was hoping to mix some tan and brown for a nice tan colour. I got the dollar store version of Mr.Clean magic eraser as I heard that one works better and some rope to hang the pieces.

(Rit dye, magic erasers and cotton rope)

I began the process by unstringing and scrubbing down the doll. Once I was done I put the pieces in water and strung each piece with the cotton rope. After stringing the pieces I put a pot of water on to boil and once it was hot I added the dye and mixed with a wooden spoon.

(Doll pieces in water strung with cotton rope)

(Tan Rit dye bath)

When the water came to a slight boil, I turn it down a bit and gave it a quick stir. I decided to dip a pieces that you wouldn't see on the outside of the doll. Unfortunately the tan dye was expired so I got the nasty faded blue colour. I dumped the dye and tried the other pack of tan dye and got the same result. It was so disappointing!

(Getting ready to submerge the first piece)

(Unfortunate outcome of both tan dye packs)

Feeling a bit discouraged, I wanted to try my last package of Rit dye which is cocoa brown. Followed the same steps, dipped the same piece and this time I got some colour! I continued to dip the rest of the pieces for about 2 or 3 quick dips each and I got a chocolate milk colour which I love.

(First successful dyed piece)

(Cocori head fresh out the pot compared to her NS head cap)

After I dipped each piece, I dipped them in a bucket of water to get off the excess dye. Before I hung them to dry I used the magic eraser to brush off some grainy dye residue which caused dark little spots. After the brushing I hung them to dry on my clothing rack.

(Doll pieces drying on clothing rack)

The pieces are pretty much all dyed now but I'll leave them over night and coat them with MSC in the morning. Here's a picture of Cocori's head all nice and dry.

(Cocori head dry compared to NS head cap)

That's the end of my crazy Rit dye experience. I'd say I'm please with the outcome and the only challenge was dying the torso pieces since my pot wasn't that deep and there was some dye sitting on the bottom that made a blotch on her lower back (which I will make into a tramp stamp lol). Otherwise the dye turned out nice and even! The only thing I would do differently is get a bigger pot next time!

I'll do her face up tomorrow and I've been meaning to post some doll meet photos which hopefully I'll get to do soon. Until next time!

-K

5 comments:

  1. Heee! Nice result! Is the doll still doing well? I am planning on doing this on my doll. I had done it once before with my Ducan, but something unfortunate happened, I forgot the MSC in the end, and he also ended up having some splotches of dark brown all over his body. But I have some questions!

    I was wondering how exactly do you use the magic eraser? Do you use it before or after the dye? Does it soak up too much dye if you rub on it? Also, when you clean the doll before the dying process do you recommend drying them first and then cover them with MSC to give it a more even surface or coat for the dye to settle in?

    I have thought about sanding it first to prevent blotches. Also, the rope you used, what type was it?

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  2. With the magic eraser I used it first to rub down the doll in case of any dust or dirt. Before I dyed her I didn't coat her with MSC since I wanted the colour to be permanent. I left the parts in water until I was ready to dip then in the dye. After I took each piece out of the dye, I dipped them in water and used the magic eraser to dab any remaining dye drips. The rope was cotton from walmart.

    Hope I answered your questions :)

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  3. Hi how well do you think the tan will take to vinyl? Your the best sourcei have found with this and I have looked all day. Also it's to customize a obistu 48, she is also a dollfie dream sister hybrid :) am making a one of a kind specimen

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  4. Hey!!! I was looking for doll dying tips, thinking I'd ask you next time I see you, and what page do I go and find :D hehe Thanks for showing what you did! I'll be talking to you about this later on maybe. I haven't decided if I'm going to dye the doll yet or not, but I'm pondering it :D
    See you Kai!

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  5. I know this is probably not useful anymore, but I just wanted to let you know that the tan probably wasn't expired. It likely just reacted to the metal in your pot, so if you wanted to try it again a different metal (I believe it's aluminum that reacts) or glass/ceramic would work better. :)

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