i was wondering if any of you lovely ladies shade the “ear canal” on these babies. i have never done it to any of the other dolls but i tried it out with presley awake. i used eyelid purple ghsp straight from the container…no thinner and it really gives it depth. please tell me what you think 
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Ive always wondered if anyone ever opened up the ears, like they do the nose, but never read anywhere about anyone asking about it, trying it or saying anything at all about it. Im wondering since ppl starting opening up noses, how come no one ever experimented opening ears? I like the look you got doing it this way, pic is a little dark but from what i can see i think it looks good.
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Ah ha, second pic is much better. Looks good
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I’ve always shaded the ears. I tried opening them but it didn’t look as realistic as the shading. Some ear openings are too close to the surface and don’t look real no matter what you do to them.
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i tried opening the ears once and hated it. Never been quite happy with them but like yours. it s hard to get the depth on some kits.
I have heard of people opening the ears, but really don’t think it would look good unless done with a sculptors hand. I have recently quit opening noses as well since most of the sculpts have good depth to the nostrils and I think opening them just looks messy. Maybe others are just better at it than I am, but I don’t see much reason for compromising the vinyl on a good sculpt. If the nostrils are very doll-like and shallow, then it might be an improvement.
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I have been opening the noses, too, but won’t be doing it on my next baby. I’m hoping to like the look just as much without the added risk of messing up the sculpt.
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From what I can see in your pictures, it does, indeed, give it depth. I would not open up the ears. It would compromise the integrity of the vinyl too much. But, that is just my opinion. 
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Yep. Did that one time. Won’t do it again. I did it on a Riley Peterson and the ear canal is just not deep enough for it so she just had a very odd looking hole in her ear. 
Fortunately, the felt disguised it pretty well and I was able to sell her. It would probably be a good effect for a baby with a deeper ear canal.
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i agree…i had the thought to maybe put a hole in the ear but then i just decided to shade it with paint straight from the container.
I shade the ear some but not in very dark shades. Many baby ears don’t show the ear opening even from a direct view from the side. Google baby ears to check out pics.
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I always shade, but maybe not as dark, every doll. Would never dream of opening, and the only open nose I did was a kit that came to me already opened, and I hated it.
It seems a lot of us shade the ear canal we just haven’t talked about it. I don’t shade it quite as dark but I definitely shadow it so it’s not just a normal flesh color.
i have opened a few noses…asher asleep being one of them 
this is before i painted him
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That’s a good idea but I would be to scared lol you opened a mouth too your very brave. I would probably ruin it if I tried.
I opened a mouth one time. I wanted a thumb sucker. The vinyl ripped. Luckily it was a test head!
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If you ever wanted to try again, supposedly it is best to first drill a tiny hole in each corner of the mouth before cutting in between the lips to prevent the vinyl from wanting to split further while you cut.
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I have never tried to open a mouth before…how do you back it and still be able to use a dummy? With the nostrils, when I do open them which is not very often these days because the sculptors seem to be making them deeper - very nice I will add…I use a sculpting awl and heat it over a small liquid wax tea light so it melts the vinyl and you do not have to worry about ‘tears or rips’ from the drill. I just make sure that I wipe any soot from the awl with a quick swipe on an old towel before inserting it… Makes a nice smooth hole. Would that work in the corners of a mouth if you did that?
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What a great idea. Has it been around and I just missed it? I’ve always drilled the ones I did but they seemed rough and that’s one reason I quit. Maybe I’ll try a couple with the awl!
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