One of the facebook pages I am on had someone ask if they had to varnish first with ghsp and almost everyone said yes. I have never done so and have never had a problem with paint sticking. I thought it was only airdry that people were varnishing first. Am I missing something, could my work be better if I varnished first. The only time I heard of anyone using ghsp doing this was when they had a difficult kit. So if you use ghsp do you varnish before you paint and what do you find the benefits of doing so are?
Sometimes people do varnish first however I’ve been reborning for 5 years and have never once varnished first and my dolls come out fine. Maybe if the kit was particularly slick and didn’t seem to be taking paint well but that doesn’t usually happen.
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I use air dry. With the WaterBorne paints I use, there is a Clear Base Coat & Surface Prep. I use this before I do anything else to my kit. Some say they never use anything like this, even with air dry. I always use it. Maybe it is different according to the paints you use.
I use GHSP and when I first started I didn’t varnish first, but found that every now and then a kit would have a spot that the paint wouldn’t stick to very well. Now I always varnish first and never have that problem. I know many people who use GHSP don’t varnish and don’t need to. There are so many factors, is hard to pinpoint why some need to and others don’t. Maybe the humidity of where you live (it’s humid where I live) maybe it’s what soap you use to wash the kits, something in the factory, etc.
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Since I’ve started varnishing first, I’ve found the paint sticks better to fingertips & toes especially. I don’t think it’s absoputely necessary, but it might make things easier!!
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Hmm think I might give it a try on my next baby. Never hurts to try something new.
Excuse me but if the paint won’t stick on the vinyl why would the varnish stick? I have been reborning since 2010 and I know I don’t have all the knowledge oe answers but I think or thought putting a varnish coat first for most people was to get a neutral start on the vinyl and it didn’t need to be varnish, some people wash, then bake to cure, and some put a flesh coat on first and bake and some just wash and start painting. I think you should do what works best for you and follow your own path.
I use Genesis and have never varnished first.
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I have been reborning about 10 years with GHS paints and I never used varnish as base. Nor do I varnish my keepers in the end; except when the doll looks bit shiny, and those I sell, as buyers seem to expect it.
This would have helped my Meghan as she took paint inconsistently. Think yellow ochre but dark in places that made no sense because I blended her evenly and she looked great before baking. When she baked and cooled some of the paint had soaked in and other parts were glaring. I thinned the colors well and I know what to do. It was disheartening but fixable.
sorry, not varnish…the matte medium.
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sorry, I meant the matte medium
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