New to Vinyl

Hello everyone~

I'm new to Vinyl dolls, but I have been collecting BJD's overall for a couple of years now. I just got my first Smart Doll a few days ago as a present from my roommate. She is a Kizuna Classic, original from some time between 2015-2016 and she's... admittedly not in the best of conditions. The seller actually lied about how much staining she has and changed the listing once we bought her. So she's going to be a bit of an adventure. However I don't mind all that much when it comes to "long projects."

I look forward to sharing my process of restoring her with you all and then getting to post photos of this beautiful girl. 

I'm also looking forward to expanding my doll collection even further, as there are a minimum of 3 other Smart Dolls that I would absolutely love getting my hands on. 

Thanks so much for reading, and have a great day everyone!

-Buttons

Hello, welcome! I love the original Smart Doll's faces the best. I hope you are able to restore your Kizuna Looking forward to your pictures!

Hello! I feel like there’s a lot of us newer members coming in from the resin side of things. It’s nice to have variety! 

Welcome! Kizuna Classic is such a cutie ~ congratz on joining the vinyl side of the spectrum. It's a shame the seller was a little dishonest but I'm sure you can spruce her up in no time  Hope to see you around! 

On 9/6/2020 at 12:28 PM, ButtonsMcGee said:

she's... admittedly not in the best of conditions. The seller actually lied about how much staining she has and changed the listing once we bought her.

I can’t recall if you have to get past new member status in order to post images, but when you can post photos, maybe you can post photos of the stains. A number of us like to restore vinyls, and may be able to offer some advice once we can see what you are up against. 

As long as the stains don’t go all the way through the vinyl, you should be be able to fix them. Depending how much of the vinyl is stained it can make sense to just replace the parts. This is harder with smartdolls, because they don’t sell spare parts directly and the indirect methods are an expensive gamble. If Danny still does the “buy $200 worth of stuff and I’ll throw in the shell parts you need”, then that could be an option. It’s not hard to find $200 of stuff worth buying on the Smartdoll website. 
 

Kizuna V1s are a lot of fun. I recommend the following photo story, created by @K-2, the only verified Sasquatch in the doll hobby. As long as a bit of doll nudity and physical humor doesn’t bother you it’s quite funny. Be warned though, you may find yourself wanting a Chitose of your own after reading it. 
 

 

17 hours ago, BeyondTime said:

I can’t recall if you have to get past new member status in order to post images, but when you can post photos, maybe you can post photos of the stains. A number of us like to restore vinyls, and may be able to offer some advise once we can see what you are up against. 

As long as the stains don’t go all the way through the vinyl, you should be be able to fix them. Depending how much of the vinyl is stained it can make sense to just replace the parts. This is harder with smartdolls, because they don’t sell spare parts directly and the indirect methods are an expensive gamble. If Danny still does the “buy $200 worth of stuff and I’ll throw in the shell parts you need”, then that could be an option. It’s not hard to find $200 of stuff worth buying on the Smartdoll website. 
 

Kizuna V1s are a lot of fun. I recommend the following photo story, created by @K-2, the only verified Sasquatch in the doll hobby. As long as a bit of doll nudity and physical humor doesn’t bother you it’s quite funny. Be warned though, you may find yourself wanting a Chitose of your own after reading it. 
 

 

Oh, I actually already want a Chitose of my own. She's the doll I've wanted ever since I saw her. I even really like her Alternate version more than the original, once I saw her. So she's been on my wishlist for a while now. 

 

The stains admittedly don't show up in pictures as badly as they actually are. But I've already tried washing her parts with Dawn soap, carefully using the magic eraser, and even using 10% Benzoil Peroxide on her. Nothing has come out. My last chance is to try the Mr. Color Thinner 250 that Danny recommended and I'm currently waiting for that to come in the mail. If that doesn't work, I'll probably reach out for further help to see if there's anything else that can be done without getting her a new body. She's Milk Skin, so finding her was hard enough as it was.

19 hours ago, Cazzie_Bliss said:

Welcome! Kizuna Classic is such a cutie ~ congratz on joining the vinyl side of the spectrum. It's a shame the seller was a little dishonest but I'm sure you can spruce her up in no time  Hope to see you around! 

Thanks so much!

 

Yeah, from the looks of all of the pictures, she didn't know what she was doing with a Smart Doll. But at least Kizuna is in good hands now. I'm just sad that I wont be able to fix her ears. Apparently the previous owner "pierced" them. The holes aren't huge, but it still kinda bothers me. 

20 hours ago, Deyja said:

Hello, welcome! I love the original Smart Doll's faces the best. I hope you are able to restore your Kizuna Looking forward to your pictures!

Thanks so much! 
I got her put together and dressed today. Still have to get some of the stains off of her, but I'm waiting for something to come in the mail for that. I'll try to take photos tomorrow with better lightning. Our house's lighting is more on the yellow side, and it's all cloudy and stormy looking outside.

19 hours ago, Adele said:

Hello! I feel like there’s a lot of us newer members coming in from the resin side of things. It’s nice to have variety! 

Probably. I've been wanting to get into the Vinyl side of things for a while, but I'm trying to be pickier with the dolls I buy. When I first got into the hobby, I was buying like crazy, which isn't the best thing to do considering how much they all cost. So I've gotten better at holding back. 

But I'm happy with my Kizuna, and there is one girl in particular I REALLY want, but I feel like she'll be hard to find.

2 minutes ago, ButtonsMcGee said:

But I've already tried washing her parts with Dawn soap, carefully using the magic eraser, and even using 10% Benzoil Peroxide on her. Nothing has come out.

The only stain I have encountered that wouldn't come out is oxidation from a metal necklace. I have yet to run to any fabric dyes that couldn't be cleaned up with time.

I've never used the Benzoil Peroxide method myself. You might try posting in the Care and Repairs section for tips on using it. You could also try a product called Removezit by Twin Pines - in spite of the name it's made for vinyl dolls and not zits - and Volks makes a product called Dream Rescue.

Each one of them has tricks for their proper use. With Dream Rescue you have to change it every 48 hours, and it can take a week or more before you start seeing noticeable results. Also, the harder the vinyl part the slower the stain removal, so heads, hands and feet tend to take a fair bit longer before you see fading.

 

3 minutes ago, ButtonsMcGee said:

I'm just sad that I wont be able to fix her ears. Apparently the previous owner "pierced" them. The holes aren't huge, but it still kinda bothers me.

I think it's possible to use a type of epoxy to fill in damage to hard vinyl, and then you airbrush the part to match the dolls color. I've read about people doing that for modding heads. Alternatively you could find earrings on Etsy.

Welcome to Smart Dolls! Kizuna V1 was my first Smart Doll girl too. I hope your Kizuna came with her original braided wig, as those aren't available any more. The Alternate Universe Chitose has been pulling at my heart/purse strings too. She is a cutie, but I wouldn't want to make my tea skin Chitose think she was being replaced.

A whole heartedly recommend the use of Remove-Zit. It's been around for many, many years and should work on any stains from prolonged contact with metal jewelry. All commercial doll stain removers rely on some form of peroxide to do their job. The peroxide in these creams loses its potency with time. One of Remove-Zit's advantages is that it is mixed for you when it is ordered so you get a fresh batch. So you'll get a product with full potency. (non compensated endorsement)

1 hour ago, K-2 said:

Welcome to Smart Dolls! Kizuna V1 was my first Smart Doll girl too. I hope your Kizuna came with her original braided wig, as those aren't available any more. The Alternate Universe Chitose has been pulling at my heart/purse strings too. She is a cutie, but I wouldn't want to make my tea skin Chitose think she was being replaced.

A whole heartedly recommend the use of Remove-Zit. It's been around for many, many years and should work on any stains from prolonged contact with metal jewelry. All commercial doll stain removers rely on some form of peroxide to do their job. The peroxide in these creams loses its potency with time. One of Remove-Zit's advantages is that it is mixed for you when it is ordered so you get a fresh batch. So you'll get a product with full potency. (non compensated endorsement)

Thanks so much!

Yes, she came with her original wig. However the previous owner took out the braids and I need to figure out how to re-style them back in again. The wig is in kinda rough shape. But I got the cigarette smoke smell out of it and even though I know Danny says normally they aren't meant to be washed, I kinda had to wash it. ;w; 

Oh man, right? She's such a cutie for sure. I don't know if I'd want her in Cinnamon or Tea, but I know for sure that I want her at some point. 

 

That's good to know! I already ordered the Mr. Color Thinner 250 that Danny recommended, so if for some reason that doesn't work I'll try the Remove-Zit. Thanks so much for all of your feedback!

20 hours ago, BeyondTime said:

I can’t recall if you have to get past new member status in order to post images, but when you can post photos, maybe you can post photos of the stains. A number of us like to restore vinyls, and may be able to offer some advise once we can see what you are up against.

As long as you have somewhere to host your images, you can post them here right from the start. The 30 post / 2 weeks restriction applies only, if you want to upload images directly to the Forum.

 

3 hours ago, ButtonsMcGee said:

The stains admittedly don't show up in pictures as badly as they actually are. But I've already tried washing her parts with Dawn soap, carefully using the magic eraser, and even using 10% Benzoil Peroxide on her. Nothing has come out. My last chance is to try the Mr. Color Thinner 250 that Danny recommended and I'm currently waiting for that to come in the mail. If that doesn't work, I'll probably reach out for further help to see if there's anything else that can be done without getting her a new body. She's Milk Skin, so finding her was hard enough as it was.

In my experience, except for a few specific dyes Mr. Color Thinner has only fairly limited effects - and mostly if the stains are still fresh (on the surface of the vinyl). But if you have it on the way already, it's still worth a try though.

If you can get your hands on either Dream Rescue or Remove Zit, that's probably your best bet.

22 hours ago, K-2 said:

The Alternate Universe Chitose has been pulling at my heart/purse strings too. She is a cutie, but I wouldn't want to make my tea skin Chitose think she was being replaced

Your Chitose would worry until you reassured her, and then fall in love with her new sister. 
 

On the other hand, I think your Kizuna V1 would handle an intrusion by Kizuna V2 about the same way France would take to being invaded by Germany. 

On 9/7/2020 at 6:50 PM, Tierparkzone said:

In my experience, except for a few specific dyes Mr. Color Thinner has only fairly limited effects - and mostly if the stains are still fresh (on the surface of the vinyl). But if you have it on the way already, it's still worth a try though.

If you can get your hands on either Dream Rescue or Remove Zit, that's probably your best bet.

Yeah, I'll give one of those two a shot if I can't get the Mr. Color Thinner to work. On the bright side, when I got in my package with her vinyl protector today, I really liked the look of it and might make it a part of her natural wardrobe. I have kind of a circus theme I might be doing with her and it legitimately looks like it could easily blend in with the rest of whatever other outfit I make for her. So if I can't get all of the stains off right away and need to order the Remove Zit after next week, then it'll still work out alright because most of them will be hidden. It's really mainly her face I'm worried about the most.

10 minutes ago, ButtonsMcGee said:

It's really mainly her face I'm worried about the most.

If there are stains on her face-up, you likely have no choice but to wipe the head clean to treat them and then get her a new face. The stain removers will remove the face up like it was a stain. 
 

If stuff is close to her face up, but not on it, then I would recommend Volks Dream Rescue. It doesn’t cause any swelling of the vinyl, so you shouldn’t risk any damage to her face with it. Just be really careful not to get any on the painted parts. If these are wig cap stains around the top of her head they should be easy to treat. For those, I usually take the head cap off and put the head upside down on the flat part so if the cream runs it will do so in the opposite direction from her face up.