Just got this doll from one of my regular customers today and this is another example of what glaze can do on the eyes…I am not 'bashing the use of glazes for you ladies that like to use them so please know that this is only an ‘educational’ topic for those who are interested in seeing examples of what I have mentioned a few times…I have no idea what sort of glaze was used as it is not one of my dolls (and I don’t glaze the eyes anyway…)
I had put up pictured of one type of problem from one brand of glaze a week or so ago which was crackled with some clouding,…
This is another problem and probably the most common one I have seen in my years of reborning…I do not know what type of glazes are being used but I have to assume that they are ones that are recommended to reborners for the purpose of glazing the eyes and not something that a handful of ladies have just decided to experiment with…(I have repaired the eyes in more dolls than I care to count and they have all either had the same problem as the last post I did with crackling and cloudy, this type of problem with clouding - These are in the early stage on this doll and would have become more cloudy with time (like cataracts) - I have seen them much worse on dolls that were 2+ yrs but this doll is only about a year old since the lady bought her (they were shiny like "crystal " when she bought her according to the owner.), and the last one I have seen, which I will post if I ever get another of them is where the glaze goes cloudy and actually goes gooey and sticky.
So if I were guessing,- because of the three different reactions - I would say that 3 different mediums have been used in glazing the eyes…
If it is not the glaze specifically and possibly has something to do with the environment or the weather, IMO it is safer to consider this as you do not know what environment or climate your doll will end up in so better safe than sorry…I keep my house air conditioned all the time because I hate heat but many other like the warmer temps so I have to consider that even though my doll may be fine in my house, will it be fine in anothers?
Again, this is just for educational purposes only…Whether a person uses glazes or not is their choice so not trying to influence your decision - only make you aware that there could be problems down the track.
I unfortunately completely expect this to happen to two of my kid’s dolls since ai had experimented with glossing on their Christmas babies this year, sigh. So far so good, but its only been 2 months lol. Thanks for sharing Starr!
This is very tedious…I have not found an easy way to remove it from acrylic eyes, most time I end up replacing them and keep the old ones to experiment with…I can tell you what doesn’t work well…alcohol, turps, mineral spirits dish detergent, or paint thinner or soaking in any of the above, I have not tried gumption or goo gone yet mostly because I just have not had the time to really experiment as I tend to over schedule myself in all aspects of my life…lol (Like a bee in a bottle.) But I am going to take the time sometime this year to see if I can find something that works…
With glass eyes, if you are careful you can scrape them with your finger nail, a toothpick and use plan water which tends to help lift some of it but with acrylics, a long annoying process of pick and peel and even then you may have to replace them…If they are expensive eyes - I pick and peel though…lol
Most times I remove this usung a toothpick in a rolling motion sort of on its side and not by jabbing in…If you can get it started, many times you are able to carefully ‘peel’ this with your fingernail and using tweezers…If the paint does come up with it…your choice is to colour match (Usually not that difficult because it is mostly the inner eye rim anyway) or you can opt to clean both eyes and repaint the inner rim with a natural colour that will sort of blend in with the rest of the eye rim…unless some one has been really sloppy with the glaze and gotten it all over the outer eye, it is usually easily fixed…(I have never seen the glaze go off on the actual vinyl itself (though I am not saying that it won’t - just never seen it as of yet…I use to see it with the air dry sealer that BB use to put out with their paint set go off and peel on fingernails in the past but not sure if they are still selling it…haven’t seen it with other glazes to date…)
I don’t know that there is anyway to help those…The only suggestion I have for those using the BB eyes is maybe use the glaze just inside the edges of the eyes
Here is an example of a baby I did several years ago that I used some cheaper $12 eyes in…The close up…if you look at the eye itself, you will see that it is not super shiny but I glazed around the eyes leaving the wet look in the rim and corners and using my finger to matte it down to a more satin finish between the eyes so that you have the illusion of moisture and light oily sheen.
Now don’t concentrate on the actual eyeball and look at the over all effect…I have included a distant shot so that you can’t really zone in on the eye and you can see that the baby appears to have very shiny bright eyes…
That is the only way I know to make eyes ‘appear’ shiny when they may not be…Personally I recommend Eyeco eyes only if you want the shiny look with an acrylic eye without glazing…otherwise use glass…There are other eyes that are cheaper that appear shiny but I have found with several of those brands, the eyes actually fade and change colour over time…
Starr, I have the BB air dry gloss from when I first bought the set of paints. You say it’s been known to flake off-----what do you use for glossing??? If you don’t gloss the actual eye, what do you use when you gloss the eyelid etc.???
I still use Aleena’ around the eye socket, just not on the eye itself…Kept thin where it doesn’t pool in the eye, I have not seen any problems with that…With the Air dry that was sold by BB (not sure if it is still available?) that was what I have seen go sticky when it is left in environments without air con …Here in OZ the heat can be murderous and many people do not leave air con on when they are at work or not at home or if they think that it is ‘tolerable’ without it…I think that it is the heat that contributes to the air dry sealer going sticky…I think it is just age that causes it to peel later on and I have noticed that it tends to yellow over time as well…
With the Aleena paper glaze, just keep it thin and use your finger to blend it out so that there is a natural blending into the surrounding skin…and you can dampen your finger and rub the edge to get an even finer blending if you can see a definite cut off line between the the shine and the matte flesh…Just make sure you do it straight away and don’t wait till it dries as it is harder to blend then…(I just keep a small dish with a damp sponge sort of like how the PO have for wetting stamps and just press my fingers on there when wanting to dampen them so that there is no water drips on my fingers…
I think that the glazes get affected by moisture, and I found that they can be removed quite easily after soaking them in water. I put the glaze as instructed in some tut over the eyes on one of my keepers, when we got humid weather they went totally white opaque! I added more water, covered the eyes with some wet cotton wool, and next day I wiped and peeled off the reminder. I am so much more cautious now about blindly following tuts. Just because it is done by some well known reborner, does not always mean it is a good idea.
When you are talking about Air Dry from BB, do you mean the Genesis Air Dry Gloss that was discontinued?
Is this going bad on nails, nostrils, ears and lips?
Does Paper Glaze do it too? (Parts that aren’t eyes)
If so, what is good and doesn’t go bad? Any recs? What if we just use Genesis Heat Set Glaze? I guess that might work durability wise but it’s not shiny.
This explains all of my eye glaze issues!!! I tried everything, followed that tutorial, tried different products… It wasn’t me. It was where I live. The glaze always turned cloudy. It’s a relief to know this! And now… I will never try to glaze again! Phew!!! Less stress!!! ️
It is the BB Air Dry I have seen the peels and turns yellow after a number of years…that may be why they discontinued it…
At this point, I have not seen the Aleena’s go off on regular vinyl if not on the eyes but I won’t put my life on it not happening…lol I do use it personally around the eye sockets, nostrils and inner lips, etc and at this point I have not heard or seen any problems…I have a lady that has been buying from me for 7 years and has my dolls from 2009…She is quite picky so would have no trouble letting me know if she had any problems because she knows I would fix it for her if there was a problem with my doll and since she deals with me regularly still today I probably would have heard…
Dewy Skin is one meduim that tends to have a sheen/low shine that might work well…It tends to go shinier over time for some reason…Also GHS does make a gloss varnish that may be an option but not sure anyone besides the actual GHS website carries it…I have not personally tried it but it may make a viable option???
@westernstarr Is the BB Air Dry the tiny 1/2 oz pots of Air Dry Gloss? I may have assumed it was GHSP that made it because of the same pots used but perhaps it’s not… If so. mine is going in the garbage. I’m worried about my babies nails now. If they do yellow and flake, do they ruin the nail paint too? Or can you gently scrape it off and gloss with another product?
I wish the glosses we used were made specially for vinyl and to use on top of GHSP.
It was Jacqueline…the one that looks like Elmer’s Glue - I have seen it turn a bis sticky after a few years on lips an nail tips…and it definitely yellows…I had several dolls come to me that gotten so sticky it was like like the sticky from the back of a sticker that had been in the sun too long…I happen to know what was used on those because It was a reborner friend of mine who I use to put her dolls in my Gift shop to sell for her to help make her a bit of money…I ended up having people bringing them back in after about 8 mths - 12 mths asking about it and I asked her what she was using…(I was using Aleena’ Paper Glaze then on my dolls)
I also had a few that I had bought for my collection from some of the earlier Aussie reborners who used it back before I started reborning and had it turn yellow and when I did a little scrap on the tips because they were a bit sticky and I didn’t know what it was…the whole nali tip peeled off and the paint came with it…What I have seen on the lips is, if it goes to the point of getting sticky, the paint comes off with it too…
Absolutely Yes, Aleena’s clouds on the eyes…I never use it on the eyes themselves but have you seen it go off on the actual vinyl around the eye and the nostrils…I would really love to know if you have because I have never seen it happen on the vinyl itself but only on the eyes…Thanks…will look forward to hearing…
So Starr, we shouldn’t use the BB Air Dry Gloss anymore? You use Aleenes Paper glaze for glossing then? I just used the air dry gloss on Tommys tongue, I sure hope it doesn’t go sticky.
. Looks like my nephews eyes:slightly_smiling_face:
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