What I learned from dyeing a monster high doll..

[MacabreDarling]

Hi guys! So, I was concerned about doing a full body repaint for a commissioner, and so I decided I'd attempt to dye the doll first. If nothing else, as barb pointed out, at least it would help cover any scratches beneath my repaint if I didn't accomplish my goal...I've learned a few things from this, just thought I'd share a few pictures.
Ok, so first of all, I used a lot more dye and a lot longer time period than the pony dyeing tutorials reccomend...lol. I did the body first..and the head only a few minutes before I was done with the body.  My test subject is a Cleo De Nile.
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As we can see, we've got some varied results. Torso and upper arms, along with upper thighs, took the same color tone...With the insides of joints not taing the dye well at all [not sure why her inner thighs didn't since her legs were open] Hands and forearms took the dye darker than the torso and legs. Down side...Lower legs only darkened one or two shades from Cleo's original color..And this was after being left in for nearly ten minutes.
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The head took the color wonderfully, as you can see.
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Closer shot of the lower legs. I have a feeling that the new cam monsters are made of the same plastic as the lower legs, but I could be wrong..If they are, you can see that they aren't likely to take the dye well. However if we are lucky, perhaps they are made of the same plastic as the torso and upper limbs. Anyone have any insight in this matter?
Now, just to let you know...I removed cleo's faceup with acetone, then scrubbed her head and body with dish liquid in a hot bath, rinsed well...Washed my pans and utensils, prepared things much in the same was as a pony dye bath and rinse after.. Let them soak in their vinegar water solution after for five minutes, then bathed them again. Just thought I'd share the results with you guys in case anyone else was wondering about this themselves.

[tuneful87]

Awesome experiment. That's a shame about the lower legs. A damn shame!

It probably wouldn't work, but I'm wondering if adding an extra amount of dye (like an entire package or two) into extra hot boiling water might make a difference on the lower legs. Probably not, though. Ugh!

[MacabreDarling]

I used two thirds of the package and boiled her legs twice as long as the rest of her. I'm not sure if it would, but I suppose it wouldn't hurt. I'm also wondering if maybe going over them lightly with a super fine grain of sandpaper or something might help...

[tuneful87]

Ah, I see. I suppose you have nothing to lose at this point.

What are you going to do worst case scenario? Paint her legs black?

[Repulsive333]

I would definitely try the sandpaper idea...
That usually opens up the receiving end of the plastic.

[Wardah]

I have heard from someone who has experience with dying monsters that some dolls take dye on their lower legs better than others. I dunno if the bee girl CAM is black with yellow paint or yellow with black paint but if it is the first you could use those legs. If they aren't you could try to see if the CAM lower legs take dye. If either of those work then you just need to mod the body to work with the CAM lower legs and you can avoid a repaint.

[SuniMoon]

Very interesting! I think the legs could easily be fixed up with paint... I may have to give this a shot some time, it's definitely better then painting the whoooole doll.

Thank's for sharing your results!

Post Merge: February 19, 2012, 03:07:16 PM

Oh, also, I have the CaM skeleton, and her limbs are very soft... I think they might take dye easily.