Switching from air dry to ghsp

I have only used air dry. No matter what I do i feel like it looks grainy. I am wondering if I could get better results with the ghsp? Does anyone have experience with both? What colors should I purchase? Thank You!

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I think BB probably has a “set” of Genesis paints that will get you started. Burnt Umber is a must also yellow ochre. You can pick up others along the way.

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Thank you @Lynn I was wondering if that would be enough. I appreciate your feedback!

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@honojane I think has used both air dry and genesis.

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I have only tried air dry on some practice limbs and haven’t gotten the hang of it yet. But these are my favorites for Genesis colors:

Baby skin
Burnt Umber
Pyrrole red
Ultramarine Blue
Flesh 08 (for nail tips)
Yellow ochre
Ethnic brow

If you’re trying to be conservative with the purchase that would get you started. Sometimes it’s nice to have premixed colors for convenience, but you can mix pretty much anything with these. I don’t think I’ve forgotten any…but y’all chime in if you see a glaring omission! :wink:

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It might have something to do with the paint you are using or the varnish and mediums. Ive never had any babies that looked “grainy”. I used Liquitex and JoSonja starting out and now use Golden fluid. I love the Golden Varnish but still put the soft touch varnish over the top so it looks more natural and not so flat or too matte.
Its expensive to change your paints period, I just did it recently but Id think it would be even more so to switch to genesis considering all you need…oven, etc.

Edit…just saw your other post so I now know the paint you were using and that you apparently already bought your oven…good luck, I hope it works out better for you :wink:

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I got an almost brand new nuwave pro plus for $30! I’m pretty excited! The cost is the reason I went with air dry to begin with but I want to try and get to another level and just don’t feel I can get there with the air dry.

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Thank You! I appreciate you input!

Thanks!

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I have used both types of paint, air dry and genesis. Genesis is my paint of choice. There are however drawbacks to both. I find as far as cost goes that for me the air dry is more expensive. You have to buy paint and mediums much more often, Genesis paint lasts forever. Air dry is a plus when doing larger babies. I like both but Genesis also gives you much more
“working” time. The drawback to Genesis is they have to be baked. Good luck with whatever you wind up using. Remember there is always a learning curve when changing from one to the other. It’s definitely worst going from Genesis to Air Dry (I think anyway).
@Renauta427

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Thank you. Yes, I think I need more working time. The baking is the reason I chose air dry in the first place, but I bought my nuwave yesterday and plan on setting it up in the garage. Air dry doesn’t have as many tutorials either so your kinda on your own. I am excited to try my hand at it. Do you think the “small” jars will be ok to buy or should I do the 1/2 oz?

I priced things out and Ive actually spent more money swapping my paints than you have switching to genesis LOL.
I started with air dry because I am in an electric wheelchair so going in and out of the house with doll parts to bake (I can only go out one door of our house right now until my husband installs some more ramps) would be far too much for me. I worried about the toxic chemicals from baking vinyl considering my illnesses…not that the acrylic process is not without any chemicals but what comes from the baked vinyl is pretty bad which is why baking could only be done outdoors.

If you ever get interested in giving air dry another chance and even if you stick with Genesis you may want to look up Melissa George’s Patreon…its awesome, she’s helped me so much!! She’s also the reason I switched to Golden.
She also has a lot of info about Genesis and she is going to do a doll painting tutorial in Genesis as well.

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Thank you, I follow her on FB actually and have seen her tutorials. I don’t have the money for them as I am a stay at home mom. But I can only imagine she is a great teacher!

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Prayers for your illness :pray:

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The small jars will be plenty. I’ve done around 10 dolls and they’re still more than half full…

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Awesome! Thanks!

Any mediums that are a must have or to seal the baby? Or do you not seal with genesis?

Oh! That’s what I forgot! I’m a fan of the matte sealer, but a lot of people don’t like it because it can get chalky or rough if applied too thick. You don’t have to seal, but I feel more comfortable doing it to protect the paint, and babies can get kinda shiny with baking.

A lot of folks mix satin and matte together to reduce the chalkiness, and/or add a little flesh tone into that. And others use Decoart Soft Touch Varnish (air dry) at the end instead of the Genesis sealers. Maybe do a quick search w/the magnifying glass if you want info from others :slight_smile:

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Thank you. I have some of the soft touch, in the beginning I didn’t know what to get so I bought lots of random things. I know there at lots of different opinions, I was wanting to know yours personally :blush: since you were kind enough to answer my other questions. I appreciate you taking the time :grin:

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