I am soooo distraught right now… I was trying to magnetize a pacifier for the first time and I guess it didn’t dry completely and some of the glue got onto my reborn’s lips and took the paint right off!! Is there anything I can do to fix this?? This makes me never want to magnetize a pacifier again… I feel like an idiot right now.
And this was after I rooted my first full head of hair on this baby’s head over a full head of painted hair…
I don’t know that I ever want to deal with the E6000 again… is there a better alternative? Or should I resign myself to never magnetizing pacifiers again? So heartbroken right now…
You could try painting it again, but it’ll be hard to get the color right. Perhaps strip the lips entirely and repaint that?
You can use pacifiers that have magnets already in them, like honeybug pacifiers. I personally use tacky glue for pacifiers, though. I let them dry for at least a day, then check to see if the glue turned clear, try to wiggle the magnet around, stuff like that.
I never heard of honeybug, thank you for telling me about them… maybe next time. I don’t know how to salvage this baby. It just breaks my heart… so many hours of work, and she was my first AA baby too
I will check them out for sure – thanks so much for the link! Quick question on the honeybug pacifiers… it appears you just drop the magnet in versus glue them… so these would NOT be safe for kids, I’m assuming? (Not that reborns are for kids anyway, but many of us have kids in the house, so I always worry about safety and hazards)
I am also researching E6000 like crazy and a lot of people seem to say that once it dries, it peels off? Is this true? If so maybe there is a small glimmer of hope that it didn’t actually remove the paint? All I know is that there is a bunch of white on my baby’s lips … I am going to try to hope for the best… if it is stripped, I’ll see what I can do to re-paint. I am not going to toss this baby. There has to be a way, there has to!
You could glue the Honeybug cover on after you make sure the magnet is in correctly, but they snap together pretty tightly. It would be difficult for a child to get it apart.
That is strange, I have often spilled E6000 on my painted dolls when I was sealing the hair or eyes in, gluing in magnet or sealing the neck or limbs opening, I just let the glue dry for a bit and then peeled it off with absolutely no damage to the paint (GHSP). If the paci took paint off, it sounds like the paint was not properly cured.
I’m going to try super glue next time. Moleskin is a great idea too. I looked at the baby again this morning and I don’t know that the glue will peel off… I really think it ended up stripping it…
It might just be the picture, but it looks like there’s some other little spots of paint missing as well-on her neck, by her eye and on her cheek. I don’t think you’re going to get out of stripping this one. It’s too large an area to just re-do the lips.It’s too bad because her skin tones look really good.
You’re right that some of the glue got onto the cheek and neck… I don’t think it’s worth stripping and re-doing… it’d be better just to buy another kit and just do the head, but then I don’t know that I could get a match with the arms. plus so much rooting was done, that I don’t think I can take out all the hair, strip and have it still look good… sigh…
It looks like your paint is too thick. Also, I recommend using a hair dryer (NOT a heat gun) to set each layer of paint. I have painted a ton of babies with air dry paint and have never had this happen.
Make sure you let the paint cure for at least 72 hours before applying the sealer coat.
What do you mean about the paint looking too thick? I probably have 30+ layers on this baby, so yes, it is a lot, for sure… I don’t use a blow dryer to dry the layers in between but I generally only do 3 layers per day when I do paint, and usually by the time I finish one layer, the first piece I was painting is dry enough to do another layer. I haven’t heard about needing to use a hair dryer in between, but that’s an interesting thought.
And thanks for the reminder about letting the paint cure before doing the sealer coat. I did 2 sealer coats on this one, but I can’t remember if 72 hours passed before I applied the first one (likely not, come to think of it).
i typed something else out and then saw the pictures.
yep that is a bad one. i am thinking it is going to be hard with the rooted hair. if it is your first doll well… you need to realize this is an art form and it takes LOADS of practice. and that means wreaking or stripping and re-stripping a few times. it is all practice right now. i told myself i good give 5 dolls to the cause of learning. my first doll i ended up using strictly for practice (the head anyway) and i tried rooting different types of hair and used different paints. the limbs i used from that doll i used a head from a different kit and made it into a monster baby when things didn’t quite go according to plan. everything is a lesson. you must remember that. you are learning something new. you learned this about the glue and thank you for sharing this with us so others can learn from it as well.
i have just been practicing reborning for a little over a year with not one art lesson under my belt. i have been gifting my dolls to friends kids and grandkids and I am feeling I am just about ready to try selling them. take it easy and don’t beat yourself up. each doll keeps getting better.
It looks like your paint mixture may have been too thick, which will affect the adhesion. The amount of layers sounds pretty normal. Also, did you prep it properly. The vinyl needs a good scrubbing with Dawn or Ajax as well as a good cleaning with alcohol. I always do a base coat on my babies because it helps the paint adhere better to the vinyl. Some people don’t do the base coat, but I always do. Even with my air dry babies, I use GHSP matte varnish as a base. And, have your brushes ever been used with oil base paint. If they have, that will also keep the paint from adhering properly. I keep two complete sets of brushes and sponges - one for air dry and one for GHSP. There are so many factors that will affect the way paint acts so I’m just guessing about the possible reasons this happened. It really is a shame because her skin color is very pretty and you did a good job with the rooting.
I’ve never used airdry so I do not know how it should look, but when the paint lifts off like this it is obvious it did not stick properly to the vinyl. If it was GHP I would have said the paint was applied in too thick layers and did not cure properly. I imagine with airdry that could be caused by humidity or low temperatures. As others already said E6000 just rubs off leaving no marks; I even managed to get some in the dolls’ hair and got it out by rubbing gently and no hair came out. The once I tried on paci before the E6000 was fully dry the magnet came out of the paci and stuck itself to the lips. That is why the glue holding magnet in the paci has to be properly cured.
You need to find the real reason why this happened; was the vinyl bit oily? Are you letting the paint dry enough between coats?
Wow that really did take the paint right off. I also have just peeled E6000 off and it did not take the paint. I am not sure which air dry paint you are using, but some of those that already have the retarder in them can take a REALLY long time to cure. Her skin tone was pretty- so sorry that this happened.
Thanks so much ladies, you guys are the best. I so appreciate all the replies, as this has been so distressing. I seriously cried my eyes out last night when it happened.
I’m using Cher’s paints, and I only use air dry (no GHSP… good to know not to mix the two brushes)… I always wash the kit, then do an alcohol rub, and then prep the vinyl with either Cher’s vinyl prep coat or Folk Art Glass and Tile Medium before I paint. After I’m done painting, I seal with the Deco Art Blue Label Varnish (two coats).
I appreciate the kind words and perspective. This is my 5th baby (if you count the mini one I did alongside baby #2) and I haven’t sold any yet as I’m still learning. Thank you for the kind words on the skintones… this was my first attempt at an AA baby and it was a learning experience, plus my first attempt rooting a full head of hair (I did full painted hair underneath for added dimension). At least i learned something with this baby.
I may just put her together and just have her wear a pacifier all the time… or I may try to see if i can paint a few layers on the part that peeled off… sigh. This is definitely a learning experience… at least it wasn’t a $100+ LE kit…
I really appreciate ALL the input / suggestions… I have to remind myself that I’m still learning… it’s just so hard because rooting that full head of hair took a LONG time.
I will definitely check out those honeybug pacifiers, too. Thank you to all who suggested it!
