Has anyone matched a DD head skin with an Ebony body?

I was going to try this with a DD head. http://bjdalchemy.blogspot.com/2012/06/doll-dying-adventure.html

Think it would match the Ebony skin color, or would it be off enough to notice?

Oh, I'm wondering about this too! I'd love my ebony/tea smart doll guy to have an DDH-07 head if possible. I'm guessing it'll take a lot of trial and error with different combinations of RIT dyes on several spare parts to find the the perfect match unfortunately...

Trying to get a color match is going to be nearly impossible, unfortunately.

 

Usually when people dye doll, they have a complete doll (with all parts that match) and they dye the whole doll in one go, using the same batch of RIT, to ensure everything ends up the same color. Even then, a lot of people run into issues with colors being slightly off because of minute changes in the density of the material, or the length they dipped each piece, or other factors.

 

Here, with a body already the color you want plus a head that's totally another color, you need to match not only the "dark" factor, but you have to make sure you end up with a brown that isn't too red, or too grey, or too anything else. So basically you'd need to find a RIT dye that's EXACTLY the right color, and dip the head for EXACTLY the right amount of time...

The difficulty in getting the right color terrifies me. The process of dyeing a doll seems simple enough, but there are so many factors that can make the project go awry. RIT does have a pdf archive of color formulas, but those were made with fabric in mind instead of vinyl and of course a lot of testing with different dye formulas and dyeing duration is still necessary anyway.

So would my best bet be to pay a face-up artist to paint the head?

The big advantage of dying verses painting is that the dye won't rub off like paint will.

 

Dip dying just a head would be tons easier than trying to dip dye an entire doll as shown in your link. Having only one part to dye and match greatly simplifies the job.

 

The hardest part overall would be getting the color match, not necessarily getting the light to dark right but getting the actual hue correct. A positive feature about the dipping method is that you can work slowly and creep up on the correct color. Working slowly you could see that the color "isn't red enough", add a little red dye to the mix and then keep going. And you probably don't have to get a dead on match, ball park should do.

 

The big unknown would be finding that point where the vinyl is so saturated it won't hold any more dye and won't go any darker. That would have to be determined by experimentation.

The big advantage of dying verses painting is that the dye won't rub off like paint will.

 

Dip dying just a head would be tons easier than trying to dip dye an entire doll as shown in your link. Having only one part to dye and match greatly simplifies the job.

 

The hardest part overall would be getting the color match, not necessarily getting the light to dark right but getting the actual hue correct. A positive feature about the dipping method is that you can work slowly and creep up on the correct color. Working slowly you could see that the color "isn't red enough", add a little red dye to the mix and then keep going. And you probably don't have to get a dead on match, ball park should do.

 

The big unknown would be finding that point where the vinyl is so saturated it won't hold any more dye and won't go any darker. That would have to be determined by experimentation.

 

If I did it little by little like that, how long would I dip it for?

Which one of these colors matches smartdoll ebony? The brown shades are near the bottom.

https://www.ritstudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/ColorRit_FINAL.pdf

If I did it little by little like that, how long would I dip it for?

There are too many variable to predict in advance how long it will take. The beauty of doing the dip method is that you can pull the part out, compare it to your target piece, and put it back in the dye bath if the part isn't dark enough.

One thing to remember is to clean the part to be dyed really well to remove any skin oils that might be on the part's surface. A little fingerprint (oil) will act as a resist and cause the dye not to be absorbed in that spot the same as other areas.

I tried dying the top head part, and I didn't realize how different the color was until i was done. lol

Since it's just the head, would it be better to just send it off to someone who does faceups to match it, or is there any test pieces I can get to try again, like a chip of vinyl?

Even if you got a test piece it would have to be the exact same material that volks uses for their heads in order to get the porosity correct. This is a very difficult modification. I would suggest sending it and the pieces you wish to colormatch to perhaps a well-known person with modification and maybe consider blushing the body as well. That is how I would approach this project.