Dye?

Okay, so I just recently got myself a DDH07 on the DD3 bdoy, and I'm thinking that I want her dyed. My mom is arguing against me dyeing her myself, though, so I wanted to see if dye commissions were a thing? Or maybe just some info on how you'd go about it?

Okay, so I just recently got myself a DDH07 on the DD3 bdoy, and I'm thinking that I want her dyed. My mom is arguing against me dyeing her myself, though, so I wanted to see if dye commissions were a thing? Or maybe just some info on how you'd go about it?

 

 

I'd probably argue as well seeing how expensive DDs are.

 

Sadly I haven't seen anyone here do body dye commissions but I have seen someone "dye"(More like paint) their DD into a fantasy color (Light blue)

 

The thread is here. They also dobleepent the materials used. If you're brave enough, try it out and share with us your results. People always ask this and are always curious to see what is the end result with vinyl + dye/paint

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=13721

 

 

Although forewarning.

Many people have not been successful in keeping the joints the same color. This is due to them being a different plastic and constant movement will chip away the color.

I'll be another one who's going to be trying out orlien's method since it worked so well for that blue. I plan on dobleepenting it as well as I can(the more info on this stuff the better.) I'm gonna take orlien's advice and do paint + dye. Just waiting on supplies. But I'm personally doing this because I have a DD/Obitsu hybrid, so dye isn't an option for me at all. The colors would never match between the head and body due to the difference in material.

 

From my understanding though(which isn't a lot...as Mario mentioned, not many people do this), this is probably the safest way to do this? If you seal properly, you should be able to remove the paint from your DD and have the original color back. That leather paint is acrylic, so I would think so...Similar to removing a faceup, right? My understanding is that the dye is more permanent because it soaks into the vinyl. But I'm not 100% on that since I threw the dye method out of my mind long ago. And there are already very little dye attempts, and so even less about how to remove them.

 

But things like that can always be tested before you totally jump in. Like on the headcap for the soft vinyl's reaction and level of staining(if any), and an internal skeleton piece that won't be visible to see how the joints would take to your chosen coloring method.

 

If you want some more info and such though, these posts may be helpful(I found them useful.) They're some experiments done with dye and spray paint on DDs. I think I'll probably compile all the posts I can find on this too when I start my experiment thread later this month.

 

One uses RIT dye powder here, the other used spray paint. Spray paint didn't work out, but it did come off well.

http://bjdalchemy.blogspot.com/2013/02/tai-dye.html

http://bjdalchemy.blogspot.com/2012/06/more-experiments.html

 

This one shows what the tan liquid RIT dye does to a DD.

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=6829

 

One dyed coffee brown with Dylon Multipurose powder dye(and the results of it afterwards. Very informative! but sadly they never updated there if they managed to dye the joints.)

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=12027

 

Another here with RIT dye on an MDD body(not sure if powder or liquid here, sadly no dyed joints here either)

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=7418

 

I hope that helps. Whether that makes you want to go for the dyeing, or if it makes you certain you'd rather not do it. And if you're going for a fantasy color dye...then results may vary even more. I wish you the best of luck in whatever you end up deciding to do though. I'd love to see a dyed DDH07. It's my favorite head.

I'm also really interested in dyeing my dolls! I've spent the past year or so waffling over actually doing it myself though because the process is inherently unpredictable. Because of that there aren't many people attempting it at all, and I haven't seen anyone offering actual dye commissions for vinyl dolls. Personally I'm not going for a fantasy color, just different shades of tan/brown. My dolls are a mix of DD/Obitsu/Azone vinyl and one of them also has an SQ Lab resin head, so choosing dye over paint is pretty risky because of the different properties of each material, like what Noxxbunny said.

 

I did try spray automobile paint(it was Rust-oleum brand?) on the inner ABS frame first to see if the chipping really -is- that bad.. and it kinda was in my opinion. Every area where there is any friction between joints would have paint coming off. o n o" It also never completely dried and was still a bit tacky even after about a week. I was going to try it on some spare soft vinyl parts if the preliminary test went okay(and if the color was alright, which it wasn't and ended up being too dark brown for what I needed atm lol) so that didn't happen. The kind of paint that Orlien used in their project looks way better for the job though! I've heard great things about V-Color paint too, though I think you may need to invest in an airbrush to get the best/even results with that.

 

I'm choosing stovetop dyeing over paint for some reason... Maybe because I feel like I've read about dyeing more than painting so it "feels" more familiar to me(a shaky basis when expensive dolls are at stake..). There really isn't a lot of info on this either way though. The only guide I've ever seen that gives EXTENSIVE "recipes" for dye mixes is RIT's color mixing guide over here. However, I've been considering using Jacquard iDye Poly instead since they mention that their dye is made for synthetic materials including plastics, and because the results seem pretty good on the resin side of the hobby. I haven't found anyone comparing the different shades of iDye with RIT though and I'm not sure which iDye colors and combinations are the closest to RIT dye colors, which have a greater variety.

 

I guess RIT's guide is as good a place to start as we can get so I ended up with this guide for my "main trio," even though it's still pretty off:

 

 

Don't mind my Arturo in the middle because I've already decided that the tea version of the new Smart Doll guy would be fine for him. ^^" All of that Tangerine/ORANGE for the other two worried me because so far people who have dyed vinyl tan have been using different kinds of brown dye. But from the accounts of others using just brown sometimes resulted in a very reddish skin tone that needed to be toned down with yellow anyway so maybe orange could work. I don't want to chance it by just having one color on hand when I do start though so my plan is to get iDye Poly in red, yellow, and brown, dissolve each of them in separate quart containers, and then mix and experiment until I find a good match. Hopefully I'll find the right ratios for what I'm going for soon enough with enough dye left over to spare for the full mod. Apparently iDye is much more potent than RIT so hopefully one packet of each color is enough for one doll. I think the key is to find a concentration high enough so that you can reach the desired shade at all, yet low enough so that you can do several dips to get an even color. The water level and temperature also have to be constantly monitored throughout the process.

 

The main thing I'm afraid of is that the dye reacts weirdly with the vinyl. After seeing how nicely RIT Dyemore Sandstone looked when used to dye resins tan, I was just about to buy it... and then I saw a post on instagram in which that dye worked perfectly well on an Obitsu 11cm's hard ABS body but dyed the soft vinyl head and hands GREEN. I definitely don't want a surprise like that to happen with my girls. >__<" I have some spare Obitsu vinyl and ABS parts I'll use to test things out first but still.

 

That being said, I'm still hunting for a certain body part.. which basically requires buying an entire body before I can start. (if anyone has a 50cm Azone AZO2 body with AZO2 shins that was untreated for stains for sale I'm just about ready to throw money at you. I'm still pretty bummed that I missed out on a y!j auction for one a while ago. I can wait even longer, but.. I'm feeling courageous enough to attempt this now! ;___;"") I think I've finally gotten to the point where I think I'm ready to take the plunge, and accept whatever happens..

 

Sorry for all the rambling! In short, there's a whole lot of stuff to consider if you want to do something like this. I wish you good luck if you decide to try this! I hope I can get on this sooner than later or else I might get cold feet again.. >__<" When I do I'll definitely do a report on my results. The more actual experiential info on this, the better.

LOL elianti, get out of my head!! That color for your Arturo is crazy similar to the color I'm trying to mix with paint. That's hilarious. It's super useful to me since I'm going to be using RIT for the joints and I needed a match. I'm glad you posted that.

 

My plan was going to be trying to match the paint to my own skin color. I ended up with a shade close to that Yellow-Orange/Peach from a color sample that I got from a concealer I use. While I'm most likely going to use that color...I'm undecided if I want to go a shade or two darker though. My color right now is pale. (Yeah...that's my pale lol) I don't have a tan right now like I usually do. It's winter, so I haven't been getting any sun. I'm normally a bit darker than that. The final decision will be made when I'm mixing the paint, whatever works easier for me is what I'll go with. It'll be a surprise. Even to myself.

 

Going to try to get that with a mix of Angelus Leather Paint's vanchetta, light brown, and white colors.

 

Good luck to you too though! I hope everything goes well for you! Some of us have to brave the wilderness. For doll science! Even if I fail, someone will learn from what I did and will improve upon it, so I think that makes the risk a little less scary. Then maybe someday we can all have a safe and sure method to change the colors of our vinyl dolls to whatever we like. That would really expand the kinds of characters people could create.

LOL, interesting how his color is similar to what you were going for! I'm glad the RIT guide helps a bit~ Both Arturo and Elia(the super pink one there) are OCs with their own backgrounds, but they kind of also became my personas over time so that's probably where their tans came from(compare Elia in my icon from years ago with the above lmao xD). My own skin color is closer to Arturo's, though with a slightly more yellow undertone. It's always tropical where I live, and coupled with being brown/morena means I don't really get paler unless I become a hermit for a while. xD

 

What type of body will you be dyeing/painting? It looks like the actual joint parts take to the dye much faster, while the rest of it doesn't dye very well at all. I'll probably dye the ball/peanut-ish joint covers longer/on high heat and then the bare joints in a more diluted solution. I hope that's a sound process to follow. xD If I can't get it to work with one set(I'll try it with either elbows or knees first), I just might try that RIT Dyemore stuff for the frame parts since it dyed the hard parts on that bittybitsu really evenly. I'm hoping it doesn't come to that though! This project for my three "a-dolts" is taxing both financially and emotionally enough as it is. Even though I'm spared from dyeing Arturo he'll still be going through a shortening operation.. OTL

 

That being said, I'm wishing that you get great results with the Angelus paints! Looking at their site, they have a pretty amazing selection! Vanchetta looks like a great color~ From my experience trying to match DD normal and Obitsu white with Volks's acrylic paint set, I still needed to add more yellow and/or red to the brown paint to make it look more like skin. However, as Mimosa up there with the RIT recipe calling for not one, but TWO citrus-y dye colors shows, I tend towards orange somehow even if that's not the original intention. xD I hope you can get the color you're going for with the paints you're getting! Knowing that there are others in this hobby that are interested in and willing to do such risky mods is really encouraging. For dolly science indeed! Every attempt to demystify relatively unexplored custom mods counts. If others can benefit by avoiding whatever dumb mistakes I previously made then all the better.

That's interesting! Sounds like we probably have similar skin colors then! I also have more of the yellow undertone. So that's why I went with the vachetta color. It looks more yellowish rather than red or orange. I may just use the light brown with a bit of the white to lighten it a shade though...Since I'm basing it on vachetta being my winter color(or hermit color lol. Very accurate description!), the light brown is more my "rest of the year" color minus a shade or so. I just thought it'd be good to have both to play around with to see what I liked best with the wig and eyes combo I have.

 

I'll be dyeing/painting the parabox 45cm male body. I'll be using some of the inner non-visible parts as my test subjects to see how it takes to the powder RIT dye. I'm not able to do the stovetop method, so I'll be using an electric tea kettle and a tub or bucket some kind. Hopefully that'll do it! No one's seemed to have tested using the dye that way yet, so that may be interesting. But boiling water is boiling water, so I hope nothing will go weird there.

 

I know what you mean though, this project has me excited and scared in equal measures! I think if I do it right though, I'll have a result I love. Then it'll be worth it. And if I don't love it...I'll just wipe the paint and try again. If it doesn't stain...Crossing my fingers there.

 

I hope for the best for you too though! It really is encouraging when more people jump into this sort of thing. I love to see how others go about their methods and how their results turn out. Especially when it goes well and they love what they got out of it! That's always exciting to me!

 

My paint and MSC are due to come in on Friday, so I'll likely start my progress thread that day.

Sadly I haven't seen anyone here do body dye commissions but I have seen someone "dye"(More like paint) their DD into a fantasy color (Light blue)

 

The thread is here. They also dobleepent the materials used. If you're brave enough, try it out and share with us your results. People always ask this and are always curious to see what is the end result with vinyl + dye/paint

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=13721

 

 

Although forewarning.

Many people have not been successful in keeping the joints the same color. This is due to them being a different plastic and constant movement will chip away the color.

 

 

Spray paint is very viable, but the chipping utterly kills me OTL, I couldn't stand it since I like playing with my dolls do much you know?

 

Updates~~

I'm unfortunately dead on this forum lmao, so I'm just now seeing these, but I really do appreciate the information! I've experimented with dyeing a resin recently, so I've taken a lot away from it, but I'm not going to lie I'm hesitant to ever try it again lol. I've decided I'll be leaving my DDH07 be, though I think my want to dye a doll has been reignited since I want a tan shota like the weirdo i am. I've been looking at a dollce head, and I intend on getting a DDS boy body if that's ever released standard- so that'll be a thing.

 

Sorry for all the rambling! In short, there's a whole lot of stuff to consider if you want to do something like this. I wish you good luck if you decide to try this! I hope I can get on this sooner than later or else I might get cold feet again.. >__<" When I do I'll definitely do a report on my results. The more actual experiential info on this, the better.

 

Ooohh, your project looks super interesting! Honestly, so many of these problems would just be solved if Volks offered tan as a standard lol

But, since that probably won't be happening, we'll do what we must! I really hope that it all works out, and beyond that I'd absolutely love to see them when they're done~

Those models are absolutely precious, so I'm sure the dolls will be too.

I feel like it would be a good idea to dye the joints first and then mix paint to match.

Me and my buddy Semienigma have dyed her dolls dark tan. You can look up her dolls on this forum.

 

Here are some things to look out for.

 

-Make sure the head and body are the same type, soft vinyl or hard vinyl, it will make a difference in color.

 

-The joints will dye super fast and always darker than you want. When we started the internet had told us that the hard plastic was the hardest to dye and took forever...this was a lie >.> we ended up making the joints darker than we wanted because of this.

 

-The vinyl will lighten over a couple of weeks, the plastic will not. Keep this in mind.

 

-Do not use liquid RIT dye. It will not come out the same color as the box. I used tan liquid dye and ended up with a gray doll XD

 

-Use Dye remover by Rit to clean all your vinyl before hand. I have found in both resin and vinyl it leaves you with a more even tan. It removes a good bit of mold release on the dolls. Not a problem really on vinyl but a huge thing on resin. For example Fairyland, dollmore, and Dollzone are horrible for this. They have huge amounts of mold release that ends up mixing into the resin and you end up with a marbled doll.

 

If you have more questions ask away. I have also taken commissions in the past but stopped because of scammers.