I was prepping my summer rain to paint her soon (washing her.) I noticed when I got her that her hands and feet were incredibly shiny (and not just hers, the other three realborn kits hands and feet are shiny too) I figured that when I washed her, the shininess would go away. It did not. I had this issue on my Arianna, and paint absolutely refused to stick to the kit, no matter what I did. I do not even want to try to paint these kits anymore (no, matte varnish does not stick to these parts either, been there done that) and to put the icing on the cake, I got my kase awake today. His hands and feet are not shiny, but he has six air bubbles on his hands and feet that I am concerned won’t paint well or will pop while I am painting him leaving little holes. He also has black marks on his limbs and head and a thin, small blue mark on his ankle. It’s too late to do anything about the other 4 kits and I almost don’t even want to bother with trying to get kase awake’s limbs replaced because I really don’t want the shiny ones. What’s going on with these kits? Is it just the sale kits? Another poster meantioned that she thought the sale kits were seconds quality and I have to say I am inclined to agree. I don’t want to touch these kits because I know they will cause me nothing but issues and stress me out.
I would contact them, take pictures, tell them who inspected it, etc. I hope they fix it for you
You definitely need to contact BB! That is the best way to handle a problem. And they take care of their customers. I’ve only ever had one issue and BB fixed it promptly.
I have not found anything wrong with the sale kits or seconds for that matter. I believe if the sale kits were seconds though, they would be sold as seconds. Especially since the seconds generally cost more than the sale kits.
I’m thinking for the shine spots could you dab on some matte varnish before you start? It might take the slickness away
@katieperry I have tried matte varnish on these spots before, even it doesn’t stick to these spots. I am emailing them now but I don’t feel much can be done at this point for the shiny kits and I am wary of replacing kase awake and getting another shiny kit.
Ok contacted BB. They said use 600 grit sandpaper on the shiny parts. Has anyone done this? Im worried to damage the kit by doing this (I damaged my very first reborn using sandpaper so I am wary of this.) What is the proper way to do this without damaging the kits? They also told me to let them know if I want to replace the bubbly parts on my Kase kit, but he’s the only matte kit I have. I don’t know what to do here. I know i should definitely replace the foot with the most bubbles but I am wary of being disapointed again
You definitely want to replace the parts with bubbles and black spots! The bubbles will inflate when baking. I have the past fixed some in inconspicuous spot like top of the leg by piercing the blister while hot and pressing it down firmly until it cooled down and it only left tiny mark not important in that spot. The black spots will come to surface and leave holes. They are not acceptable.
I’ve heard a few people using fine grit sandpaper with good results. It’s the kind they use on cars and you can get a sheet of it or a package of sheets at the hardware store. I did this on my Presley asleep and thought it worked great until I got a few layers of paint on him and then the microscopic sanding lines and marks all stood out clearly! I ruined my first edition Presley asleep kit! Had to email bb with pics and they offered to sell me new limbs. I won’t use sandpaper again on a bare kit!
Ok. I will replace the bubble parts. I went through and washed all my other kits. They lost most of their shine. I should have done that earlier rather than panicking and assuming they were all like Summer Rain. Summer Rain is the one I am most concerned about in terms of shiny now. I may try the sandpaper but I think I’ll put her on the back burner for now and do another kit.
@shandeni oh my! Maybe I wont be trying the sandpaper thing! Why would they suggest something that could damage the kits like that? I dont think i will be touchin Summer Rain any time soon. Or I’ll see if i can buy new feet and hands. All the feet have a slight shine but none as bad as S.R., although my kimberly’s right foot is trying to get there. matte varnish will fix those i think. The hands on the other kits arent nearly as bad. It was definitely releasing agent used on those so the other kits hands are matte after being washed. What goes on at the feet to make them shine? And some more than others?
I have used sand paper to smooth out roughness on vinyl, but it was P800 or P1000, which is very fine. But I cannot see how that would work if the vinyl is oozing oil. If there is just bit of oiliness on surface that should wash off in hot water and soap.
@ludmila Summer Rain isn’t oozing oil. Her hands and feet are just plain shiny. Like they were over heated, but I havent even begun painting, just washing. (Which i now have learned to do immediately after recieving the kits and before inspecting the pieces) i wont sandpaper her limbs, just buy new ones.
I just noticed my Naomi that I washed today has shiny hands and feet… will see what happens once I start painting.
That’s why I used sandpaper on my Presley, bc I over heated the kit! He was very shiny and I looked up ways to fix it bc the matte wouldn’t even stick to those shiny areas. Like I said, some have used the super fine sandpaper and it worked for them. Maybe I did something wrong? I bought the finest sheet my hardware store had, it was something like ludmila said, 800 or 1000, one was a dark green sheet and the other was black. They were so fine it almost didn’t even feel like sand paper! It took the shine away and I thought it had worked, until my paint layers started going on and then you could see every single little line carved into the vinyl, which I didn’t see them before starting to paint! But I think BB had the best intentions when they told you to use it bc others have also fixed shiny spots on kits using it. Have u used the spy glass and typed in the words fine grit sandpaper paper? That’s how I looked it up and read about it, maybe you can find another solution or read about others experiences with shiny kits?