Serious damage from DD skin protection tape

 

I also think this makes a lot of scene. However, considering it happened during winter time which just finished here last month, I'll be very reluctant to use them extensively in the summer heat coming

 

I now used them on clothes instead.. Stickness quite good, just cover those dark internal parts of a dress...

This had me worried. I bought tape in every tone for my girls. I checked my SW DDDy body wearing Alna's white magic costume. I taped around the bust to prevent the argyle edge from staining. No change in texture from the tape and its been on for about a month. There is a noticeable wrinkle line, but it looks like it would puff back out in a short time. Whew!

Update for over two weeks:

 

All uneven results are still there, clearly visible, none of very minor improvement compared to a week ago. If anyone else has an update, please post as well.

Update for over two weeks:

 

All uneven results are still there, clearly visible, none of very minor improvement compared to a week ago. If anyone else has an update, please post as well.

Shining in the light and touching it, it doesn't seem like it's changed too much since I took it off. I'll try a hair dryer soon.

I tried the hairdryer. I thought there might be leftover goo from the tape clogging up the vinyl, so I cleaned the areas with a magic eraser first. I used the hair dryer for quite a while, like a few minutes for each leg, moving it around so it doesn't get too hot. It definitely helped! Afterwards the texture was much less noticeable by touch, and it was much harder to see the texture when shining it in the light. I'll check tomorrow to see how it is. It does seem that where I concentrated the hair dryer more it got more smooth (it was easier for me to hold the hair dryer at certain angles).

I check mine after seeing this thread, mine a little bit sticky, but seems the vinyl still undamaged...., I used them on heads

I came to this discussion late. Unfortunately, I just ordered some of the protective tape from Volks. I will have to be careful ... thanks for bringing this issue up.

 

As I understand the problem, the sticky side of the tape was on the doll.

 

If the tape was not on too tight, then what probably happened was that some of the adhesive migrated into the vinyl.

 

Vinyl has plasitcizer in it to soften the polymer. The flexible parts of the doll have more plasticizer, the harder parts have less. The problem is caused by interaction between the tape adhesive and the plasticizer. This is always a risk with vinyl - and a reason not to use tape on it.

 

However, the problem can be avoided with the proper selection of adhesive and plasticizer. Volks should be able to do this. Maybe there was a bad badge of tape or the tape supplier changed the adhesive. Still Volks should have quality control on tape they market for skin protection.

 

It should be safe to apply the sticky side of the tape to the clothing rather than to the surface of the doll.

 

starkitty

Thanks for the details. Based on what you've said, assuming that Volks intended to make a working product, it sounds like the roll of tape I used is bad and shouldn't be used.

 

As for the current condition, since I used the magic eraser & hair dryer to fix it up, it definitely is better. She's wearing pants now so I can't easily shine it in the light, but by touch I can tell that there's definitely still a ridge between where the top of the tape was (near the top of the boots) to the rest of the vinyl. However it's much more soft than it was before, and I can barely feel the other texture in the area. I actually have her foot under the heat lamp right now to get out that stain, and I can't see anything wrong with the foot at all (uh, other than the stain). I could see some texture on the foot before.

 

 

BTW I noticed I wrote something dumb before where on the 15th I said it's almost fine but on the 23 I said it hasn't changed much since I took the tape off. On the 23rd I was referring to how it healed overall. Between Oct 6th-15th, it visually improved and it seemed like it was going to heal, but between 15-23 it actually didn't improve any further which means the marks are still there from when I took the tape off. The weather's been getting colder too, though.

I have the same issue, it's not particularly visible, but you can feel the places where the tape was applied (all of them). It was on for 4 days.

 

I think the issue is that I had a portable heater on at some point, I got really cold and had shivers and stuff my mother turned it on. Normally my room is pretty cold, it was probably a shock for the doll after it got turned off.

 

Maybe I'll try raising the temperature in the whole room and leaving her naked for a day or two, if it's just about vinyl expanding it should even out... I think?

 

 

I jut remembered she has a scar on her thigh that closely resembles the edge of her hip joint... Until now I assumed she came like that, but I didn't notice it until this monday when I noticed the whole tape issue. It definitely does look like it came from the vinyl trying to expand and getting compressed by her joint.

After having read this thread I'm a little afraid of using the tape. I just bought a roll prior to this. Would you guys say it is worth risking to prevent staining? Or is this issue actually worse?

After having read this thread I'm a little afraid of using the tape. I just bought a roll prior to this. Would you guys say it is worth risking to prevent staining? Or is this issue actually worse?

I don't know. It sounds like that there's a problem with the chemical composition of the tape. It could be that different batches don't have that problem, and that if Volks cares about the issue, new batches shouldn't have that problem.

 

I haven't checked Sakuya's legs in a while but I'm not concerned about it, they seemed to heal well enough. The feet also look 100% fine now. If you can put tape on the DD it's likely you can also just put tape on the clothing, which is what I'm going to do for now. Maybe you can put the tape on an inconspicuous part of the DD, like the soft vinyl head cap, to see how it reacts. Leave it on for a couple weeks.

After having read this thread I'm a little afraid of using the tape. I just bought a roll prior to this. Would you guys say it is worth risking to prevent staining? Or is this issue actually worse?

 

I also ordered a roll of tape from Volks before seeing this thread. I wanted it for my Smart Doll Mirai (also vinyl). Originally (before using the tape) I found a mark on Mirai's belly caused by the inside of the metal snap of her jeans. So I put the tape sticky side on the jeans, not the doll - so far nothing has happened and there is also no mark from the metal snap.

 

I think the safest way to use the tape is sticky side on the inside of the clothing, not on the doll

I think i'll skip the tape and stick with body tights, thanks for the headsup

I think the safest way to use the tape is sticky side on the inside of the clothing, not on the doll

 

I always thought this is the intended way...

BTW Some time ago I used a plain 3M Scotch Magic tape just for the same purpose, to prevent staining by the black threads or metal snaps, and glued it to the clothing.

I use tape like you said, Kumi.

 

But Volks illustrates it like you put in onto the doll's "skin."

 

Ah, Volks...

 

I still have this impression, that they still classify the DDs as big figures to put on display.

Out of the box, dress on and go behind the glass or on the shelf.

This could explain the staining dresses and not-quite-well-thought-out products like this not-quite-DD-safe "DD skin protection tape".

Protects from staining but does other damage...

I agree! They really do seem to see DDs as just big figures to put on display.

When I got Miku on Dec 29, I put a bit of tape on her soft headcap (the tape that came with her),

 

 

I took it off recently and it didn't leave any marks that I was able to photograph. There was a little bit of tape goo there that made the area look different, but I was able to wipe some of it off with my finger, and I'm sure it'd be gone if I used a magic eraser.

 

I also put tape behind her heels at the same time and just took them off, they're fine too.

 

So at least the tape that came with my Miku's probably ok.

I came to this subject very late. I bought two rolls of tape (NS & SWS) in August 2014 after winning Alna's lottery. The NS seemed a bit too pigmented for my taste, so I used the SWS tape for some camouflage of some DDII NS minor shin stains I was too lazy to remove immediately. The tape worked very well for its purpose. Then I ran across this thread...and resigned myself to replacing the shins when it came time to costume change. Tape was applied in April.

 

Fast forward to today (Mid-July) and tape was removed. No damage as far as I can detect (the slight faint stain still remains.) I used a magnifier hobby light for a closer look - still looks ok. Feels no different than the surrounding area. So now I wonder if there is a batch difference in the tape, or is there a difference in the vinyl from DDII to DDIII? Reminder: the tape was applied on a DDII.

 

I have used the tape to line the chokers of the Santa outfit of Kotori and the one on the Alna 1st version outfit. It worked well for protecting the choker contact area on the neck. (A side note - the metal links for the choker worn by Alna left a bit of pale green stain. Be aware!)

I have the same issue, it's not particularly visible, but you can feel the places where the tape was applied (all of them). It was on for 4 days.

 

I think the issue is that I had a portable heater on at some point, I got really cold and had shivers and stuff my mother turned it on. Normally my room is pretty cold, it was probably a shock for the doll after it got turned off.

 

Maybe I'll try raising the temperature in the whole room and leaving her naked for a day or two, if it's just about vinyl expanding it should even out... I think?

 

 

I jut remembered she has a scar on her thigh that closely resembles the edge of her hip joint... Until now I assumed she came like that, but I didn't notice it until this monday when I noticed the whole tape issue. It definitely does look like it came from the vinyl trying to expand and getting compressed by her joint.

 

Update, as of now all the damage is healed and even the indents from her original wig (it's pretty tight) disappeared mostly. Looks like a vinyl expansion issue to me.