Eye putty disaster

Hey guys! I decided to get back into collecting dds after a 5 year hiatus and i dug up one of my girls and the eye putty that I was using at the time melted everywhere inside her head from being in hot storage for so long😅 i don’t know where to begin to remove it.

My DD Miku had this problem (and is why I got her for an absolute steal!) so I can give you a few pointers.

Firstly, you'll want to of course pull out as much as you can using something like an orange stick (from a manicure set), a popsicle stick, the wrong end of a paintbrush, etc.  The melted putty is going to be EXTREMELY sticky and it's best to avoid touching it if you can.  Once the majority of it is out, I found it was easiest to use a chunk of new putty tack to press against the bits stuck inside the head and with a quick motion pull it up off the head.  It should stick to the fresh putty much better than trying to use the existing melted putty globs you already pulled out, which I found just tried to re-stick themselves inside the head.

For down in the chin area, which is hard to reach while holding the putty with your fingers, I held a little chunk of new putty with a hemostat or tweezers and used that to reach in there and get those last bits to stick to the new putty and get pulled out like the rest.

It took me over an hour to fully clean the entire head out when I did it, so don't hesitate to take a little break!  Best of luck, you can do it!

Edited April 13, 2021 by OccultBeast
Grammar

5 hours ago, OccultBeast said:

My DD Miku had this problem (and is why I got her for an absolute steal!) so I can give you a few pointers.

Firstly, you'll want to of course pull out as much as you can using something like an orange stick (from a manicure set), a popsicle stick, the wrong end of a paintbrush, etc.  The melted putty is going to be EXTREMELY sticky and it's best to avoid touching it if you can.  Once the majority of it is out, I found it was easiest to use a chunk of new putty tack to press against the bits stuck inside the head and with a quick motion pull it up off the head.  It should stick to the fresh putty much better than trying to use the existing melted putty globs you already pulled out, which I found just tried to re-stick themselves inside the head.

For down in the chin area, which is hard to reach while holding the putty with your fingers, I held a little chunk of new putty with a hemostat or tweezers and used that to reach in there and get those last bits to stick to the new putty and get pulled out like the rest.

It took me over an hour to fully clean the entire head out when I did it, so don't hesitate to take a little break!  Best of luck, you can do it!

This summarizes what my experience was, as well! Great tips here. 

I just need to add that I found it beneficial to put the head inside the fridge (or a not too cold freezer) for some time before cleaning it, which makes the putty a bit less sticky ^_^

Good luck!

You could also see if Goo Gone or a similar product would help with any stickiness. I've used it successfully on many vinyl items over the years and there's been no ill effects. I believe it to be mostly orange oil but I'm not certain what other additives may be present. I do know that after multiple years it has not be a problem. Just wash lightly with soap and water after using it 🙂

Edited April 15, 2021 by Katiazza

2 hours ago, Katiazza said:

I believe it to be mostly orange oil but I'm not certain what other additives may be present.

I love Goo Gone and use it to clean PVC/ABS figures (it removes the sticky Plasticizer layer that can develop on old kept-in-box figures with zero effort), but fun fact: it actually contains kerosene.

1 hour ago, OccultBeast said:

I love Goo Gone and use it to clean PVC/ABS figures (it removes the sticky Plasticizer layer that can develop on old kept-in-box figures with zero effort), but fun fact: it actually contains kerosene.

I honestly did not know it did that well on ABS!  I've used it on various other type surfaces before, but was leery of using it on plastics in general.  Really good to know!

9 hours ago, TasiaChiba said:

I honestly did not know it did that well on ABS!  I've used it on various other type surfaces before, but was leery of using it on plastics in general.  Really good to know!

I've dunked entire Nendoroids into it with no issue! I let the parts take a bath for 10 to 30 seconds and then use a qtip to make sure the hard to reach spots got some too, before dunking into clean water immediately and then washing thoroughly with soap and water. They come up sparkling clean every time!

The only known issue with using Goo Gone, in my experience, is Wind Waker Zelda's gold painted parts. This paint specifically is already prone to rubbing off on its own, but Goo Gone will completely erase it. So always do a spot test, but otherwise it's worked a charm on the PVC and ABS parts of my Nendoroids!

2 hours ago, OccultBeast said:

I've dunked entire Nendoroids into it with no issue! I let the parts take a bath for 10 to 30 seconds and then use a qtip to make sure the hard to reach spots got some too, before dunking into clean water immediately and then washing thoroughly with soap and water. They come up sparkling clean every time!

The only known issue with using Goo Gone, in my experience, is Wind Waker Zelda's gold painted parts. This paint specifically is already prone to rubbing off on its own, but Goo Gone will completely erase it. So always do a spot test, but otherwise it's worked a charm on the PVC and ABS parts of my Nendoroids!

I was going to ask if you noticed any shrinkage, but 10-30 seconds really isn't that long!