Do you feel that the newer vinyl being used on a lot of kits today soaks up (eats up) more paint than vinyl from four or more years ago? Do you find yourself having to mix your mottle and blush paints a little thicker so they will show up better?
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I just started so I don’t have anything to compare my new kits to, but all the kits I have worked on soak up A LOT of paint! It takes so many layers to get noticeable results.
Maybe cheaper vinyl is being used?
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I’m glad you shared. I’ve been reborning for about six years. It seemed that until about three years ago I would get mottling showing up and faster results with probably half the layers. I put on a mottle now and it disappears as it flashes off. I don’t recall this when I first started doing this. I find myself mixing my colors darker now and sometimes certain parts of the vinyl will still soak it up while other parts don’t, kind of making the mottle more uneven. I suspect there have been changes made to the kit vinyls.
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I haven’t noticed that, but I don’t paint bb kits often. Is it just with them or with others too? I use pretty concentrated paint because I have no patience for invisible thin layers.
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Even within newer sculpts, it’s hit or miss. I had a custom Landon to do recently, so I figured I may as well paint two of them. So I did, using the exact same paint mixes, and they turned out two different colors. Go figure. 
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I find BB kits tend to soak up paint faster than non-BB kits for sure. I have a Cozy and a Sadie here that I bought a while ago - more than 4 years ago I believe - and I’ll come back to compare to new BB kits after I paint them. But you’re not crazy IMO!! My 3 month Joseph ate paint like you wouldn’t believe, and I feel like no matter how many times I blush Emmy’s fingertips they still look white.
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My “Harriet” has just been a nightmare. First she won’t take color, and then she seems to darken overnight. (Trying Ultimate Fusion paints for the first time.) I stripped her once, but the same thing is happening. I can’t get a good color with UF on her vinyl. I’m going to go with her as she is, but I was hoping she’d be a keeper. Now I don’t know if I’ll keep her or not. Her vinyl looks and feels really nice, but even sealed it takes paint oddly. I don’t think I am going to switch to UF. They don’t work with my painting style.The paint lids are impossible to get off and I have to struggle each time I open one. The first coat beads up like crazy but if you pounce it off, it disappears. I realize I may just need to learn how to mix them better, but I’m just done!
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My Ashley’s (both asleep and awake) that I painted recently did that too, and I use Genesis. They sucked up the paint so that it practically disappeared every time I baked, then seemed to spit it back out again after a few days. I never was fully satisfied with the skin tones I ended up with on either one.
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I’ve noticed it with most kits, not just with BB’s.
I’ve only painted Bonnie Brown kits recently and haven’t noticed it at all. Probably because I use more concentrated paint, I guess.
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Helen, ever since some of the more expensive kits have been made with that extra soft, almost skin-like, vinyl, I’ve noticed paint either soaking in and disappearing more or sometimes it will bead up on the vinyl and not form a nice mottle. And it’s happening with the GHSPs. While that newer vinyl is nice and soft, it really does seem like it doesn’t take paint the same way the previous vinyls did.
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Isn’t it odd that with the kit being sealed before any paint is applied that the kit still has this problem? I mean – the kit is sealed, so how can the paint get in there to do the same thing? I am in no way contradicting you or anyone – I just think it is strange. I guess everyone else does, too.
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Finishing one now the same problem and she was sealed first as well. I don’t even seal first on the older vinyl and have no issues.
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I’ve used different kits over the years, older and newer. I’ve never noticed much difference, except with a Miya kit that stayed pale.
I use air dry, though. Maybe that’s different than Genesis?
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I have yet to notice this on a Bonnie Brown kit.
All my kits have been BB. I may start avoiding the sales. Personally for me, they come with a bigger price.
2 of my daughter’s started painting each a kit last night. Both had an issue with paint disappearing. It seems the vinyl is either too pourus or too tight. When it’s too tight or too hard, the paint just wipes off. When it’s too soft the paint soaks in. And when the vinyl is hard, it’s also a pain in the butt to root.
This is just my opinion. Again, I am no expert on vinyl.
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Yes!! But it is hit and miss with the vinyl. My paint for mottling is already mixed up so I use it for several dolls so if anything it should have thinner evaporated and be darker. Nope. I have worked 3 days one of my Yael Legler . Looked like nice vinyl (not the German vinyl that Ping Lau kits have) asked my daughter which looked better -the painted one I had detailed or the one with just depth mottling. She said they looked the same! And they almost did- my paint looks great until it is baked then it is gone with the next layer. And I just finished Laura Stoete, Amelia K , Uriel,G and Tobiah E- same paint, baking times, no issues. Some BB kits are like that too for some reason.I work on usually 3 kits at a time - so Yael is taking so much more paint than the others to get the same effect.
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I’ve noticed that sealing doesn’t reduce it, too, in some kits more than others. I wonder if the sealants are spreading out more over the newer vinyl, making tiny breaches where the paint can still seep through.
It pisses me off. I get a really good complete one then the next kit looks like a first time reborner… UGH. It takes me longer to paint now than it did before because the kits eat the layers.
I remember about 2 years when red was crazy vibrant and I had to “go easy” on it… now I cant get the damn color to show up well and it is the same jar of paint! 
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I just started using GHSP and had always assumed when that happened before that it was because I was using air dry, but I guess not. Once you get the Genesis paint there, does it stay without fading?
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