Face-up quesitons

I'm planning on getting my first dollfie...as soon as VolksUSA gets the DDy back in stock lol. Anyway I was just wondering if I could use acrylics and pastels from somewhere other than Volks? I was at Walmart today and saw they have acrylics, thinner and dry? pastels. I know that oil stuff is out of the question, but can I use the stuff from walmart? Like what should I look for if I were to buy non-Volks products?

The only thing you have to be *really* careful with is the clear matte sealant. The only two that I know are safe on vinyl are the Volks Zokeimura Powder Spray and Mister Super Clear; others like Testor's Dull Coat react badly with the vinyl and create a sticky mess. Sadly the two safe ones are pricier than most others, primarily since they're imported from Japan, but it's totally worth it--MSC is actually one of the best spray sealants I've ever used, period.

 

The acrylics and pastels you do have more fudge room on. The more expensive brands have a higher concentration of pigment, so you end up having to use less stuff to get good color laydown. However, this may not be terribly important if you don't think you'll be using them on other stuff, especially the paints as they do like to dry out eventually. Though whatever you end up getting, I do recommend picking up a pre-mixed brown paint. I tried blending my own brown out of primary colors on Agatha's first faceup, and unfortunately the red in that mix separated out somehow and stained her. -_-; I haven't run into anyone else with this issue, so I think that an existing brown shouldn't do that.

Yeah I already have the powder spray thing at Volks in my cart, so I was planning on using that anyway. The acrylics at walmart have like all the colors and their cheaper than volks (probably a reason lol) but for my first try I don't see the point in blowing a bunch of money if I don't have to. And I'm assuming that I can just use regular heavy grit sandpaper and don't have to buy the stuff from Volks?

 

Thanks for the help

Sandpaper? You planning to do some modding? Hm, hopefully one of our modders will pop in here, but I think you're going to need finer grits than what Wal-Mart usually carries. However, Volks is probably also one of the more expensive places to get it. I'm sure you can find finer grits for less at a hobby store, a home improvement store, and/or someplace else online like Rio Grande.

no for the pastels lol....I saw something about using an abrasive to make the pastels into a powder lol.

I used a few different brands of paint (non of which from Volks) for my face-up and it turned out alright. Do you have a hobby store around your area? I was able to find a small store about half an hour away from my house privately owned by a man and his family. They were all so helpful when helping me choose paints, brushes, pastels and even gave me tips on painting and a free admission to one of his model painting classes! I've often found that owners of specialty stores can be very knowledgeable and are usually eager to give advice ^^

no for the pastels lol....I saw something about using an abrasive to make the pastels into a powder lol.

 

Oh! That didn't even occur to me; I usually just gently shave at the stick with an X-acto knife. XD

I actually use a coin or the end of my paintbrush (it's angled) to scrape the pastel. The sandpaper makes it a little more uniform. I use a brush to mix together the pastels I scraped and use it to apply the blushing. I can soften it with a cloth or paper towels then.

Do you have a hobby store around your area?

 

There's a Michaels...if you know what that is lol. I've bought paints there before, but if I was gonna buy it there, I might as well buy it from Volks lol.

I use PanPastel instead of grinding up chalk pastels. It's a spendy way to use pastels, but wow is it worth the money, imo. It's smoooooooooth and not at all gritty. bleep Blick has them at a reasonable price, but "reasonable" for PanPastel is still around $4.50 each. They're a joy to use, though, and my faceups immediately improved a great deal.