I’m not seeing any recent postings you’ve done. Aren’t you doing them anymore? I appreciate your common sense approach to the process of restoration. Thank you !
Can I just say, sitting here, having a nice cup of tea with a cat in my lap, listening to your soothing voice is a very precious and special time of my day
The gesso base? Yes, I suppose it would look like that! But then, if we didn't have that, the flesh color wouldn't be exactly the same color as you see. It would be a bit darker.
That’s the answer to the question I’ve been asking for years! What was the paint used on these dolls? Seriously, you’d think it was a State Secret or something. Thank you!!!
Yeah, you'd think it was "the secret of the ages", but honestly, no one ever thought about it. It's a fact that businesses are in business to make money. The most efficient way is to use the cheapest materials possible...and that's house paint. These days, it's called enamel, something that I grew up knowing as plain paint. Enamel in my day was horribly smelly and used on model cars and metal appliances. Remember Testor's paint? Yeah, that was enamel to me. Yes, they still make the Testor's enamel, but you have to look for it really hard. Welcome to the channel!
@@dodisrestorationandrepair6339 I'm watching your RUclips video on painting the doll with the house paint and the camel hair brush. What were the pieces primered with first? They appear white what is that?
Acrylics are weak rubbing alcohol destroys . Oil-based paints are tough. Mix quick-dry with oil base paint it dries overnight .without it, a week..Bad humidity, longer. I used my doll stands to dry in my imperfect restorations too.
Hello, looks nice i have a question . Can i use oil base paint on my composition doll without sanding it down? Do you know? I am unable to sand my doll so just wondeting how i can paint it . Do you do a restoration service for other?
Hi, Dodi! You know me by another name at Abbyland. I had a doll dressed in a red and black fancy dress, and what happened to her, I do not know! She was sort of pre-Barbie, maybe 10" tall, probably more like 8". This is interesting. Thank you!
LOL! Hi ya sweetie! Now you know where I hang out when I'm not in Abbyland. Your doll is probably a dress me doll. Dress me dolls were hugely popular during the 50s, and I think I know that particular doll. They are about 8" tall and the clothes are stapled on. Every little girl had a few of them during that time period. Our moms thought we could learn geography better that way.
No, what I thought was oil based paint was actually acrylic. I had to search for oil paint for the doll since she's composition where the paint absorbs differently. You can use acrylics on the hard plastics. Check out Dollastic's channel, she does fabulous acrylic work. If you just want to brush paint, she has specialty "face up"work that shows other special materials that would be helpful to you.
No. See, oil paint only needs varnish...if you're going to seal it. And actually it's not really necessary because the paint is "enamel." It's the difference between using acrylics and oils. Because gesso will absorb water, you need to seal it if you are going to use acrylics. It's the same with spackle, or any plaster product. Water weakens plaster, oil doesn't really affect it. If you don't use gesso (I went over the reason I did on this doll in the other video), the paint will sink into the composition a bit. Not enough to damage the doll, but it does give a stronger bond. I chose gesso because I needed to hide quite a bit of patching.
Dodie, thank you for your wonderful tutorials. I have a question: I bought some touch up paint for composition dolls on ebay, which is water based. I have to touch up the brown hair on a composition baby doll. What type of fixative can I use to seal the paint? Can I use a matte spray fixative from the craft store? If not, then what do you recommend? Thank you!
Hi ya! Yes, you can use a matte fixative for acrylic paint. Oh and next time, just remember that you need to find oil based for composition dolls if you're going to restore them. Honestly, there is no specialty paint for compos other than that. Your basic acrylic will work just fine. You can even use matte Mod Podge for the sealing. It does as well as anything else out there and it won't smudge dried paint.
Dodi, thank you again for the lesson. It always looks easy when you do it! Love the way you hang the parts! I would never have thought to hang them the way you did. Thanks for tips about brushes and info about paint characteristics! Were you an Art teacher?? You do such a great job of teaching, it leads me to guess this!😊 How does the oil paint work in an airbrush??? I have one I bought for this use years ago, but haven’t used it for this yet! You are so kind to share your knowledge. Again, thank you!😁
Obviously oil paint works in an airbrush because our grandfathers used it to paint the dolls in the first place. One thing you have to be aware of is the cleaning. An airbrush is kinda delicate and you must be careful to keep it clean, so brush up on the operating instructions. I'd use mineral spirits or turpentine to clean it THOROUGHLY after use, otherwise you'll mess up the gun. To use oil paint in a gun, you'll need to thin it out even more than I did for this video. The goal is a bit thicker than water...but not much. The whole point to a spray gun is thin, even coverage. If you look at a car paint chip, you'll notice that it's very thin. That's at least three coats of air spraying, so you get the point. Before you paint, you so need to practice! Honest, it's the only way to learn to control the gun. My first experience with an air brush was on cakes, believe it or not. And before I aimed it at the cake, I practiced on paper. So grab some house paint and some mineral spirits, your sprayer and a scrap piece of lumber. Ply, board, it doesn't matter. What does matter is learning to control where the paint goes and how thick it goes on. And for your other question, I just have a knack for teaching things. I was a professional florist for 25 years, about the 5th career I had. I soak up information quickly.
Dodi's Dolls Thank You, Dodi!!! You do have a knack for teaching!!! I thought I had guessed you as a teacher! Thank you for for your tips! I really appreciate them!😊
Hi, Dodi. Do you have a video on painting the facial features with oil paints? Also, do you have to paint the doll with gesso before painting with the oil paint? Thanks!
Good. Could I just gesso over any repair areas, then start the oils? Also, do you have a video on painting the facial features with oils? Or know of another good video I could look at before starting? Thanks!
Yes, but that's the one with the acrylic paint in it. If you are going to paint with oil, like I recommend, then you need to get it with oil paint mixed in.
@@GemX02 BUT you need to make sure it doesn't have acrylic in it. Remember that acrylic can go over oil, but oil can't go over acrylic. It's the nature of the paints, so be sure before you use it.
Good question! A brush holds more, applies more evenly, and is simple to clean. I have brushes that I've had for 30 years or so, so overall I get greater value using brushes. A sponge, as you've noticed, will absorb the medium and not deposit it on the doll like a brush will. Take your kitchen sponge for example. When you wash dishes, you use it IN soapy water. Now, squirt your dish liquid directly into the wet sponge. It will foam better, but is not cost effective for washing many dishes because the liquid will be in the sponge and not in the water. A sponge is easy to get, will be useful for some applications, and yes I have some. But for overall painting, I prefer a brush simply because I get better coverage. It's not to say that Tammy's method is wrong, far from it. But since I don't use an airgun to paint with right now, I am somewhat lazy and I want to get even coverage for less effort. I get the coverage using a brush and one coat that Tammy does with four coats. I noticed that Tammy is putting on ultra thin layers, and that's fine, but it's not especially necessary. I think that I heard her say that she put on as many as 20 layers before she was finished. This doll will get two, besides the detail work. Big difference. There's also the issue of drying time. Acrylics dry from the top down, while oil paint dries from the surface up. Meaning that both must dry, and acrylics will capture the moisture close to the doll. In the short term, this will not matter, but it's a possibility that we have crumbling dolls because of this fact. If you do not paint the inside of the doll, it shouldn't be an issue, but I've seen some that are painted on both sides, and the doll has absorbed the water because there was no other place for it to go. Short version? I like my brushes for large scale work, but I'd use a sponge when I have need.
Hello Dodi..the paint that you are using is Oil paint??? Because i was told at home depot that it is Acrylic??? What do you use for the cheeks and lips???
Ok, you haven't seen the other video. I THOUGHT I was using oil paint. Turns out that I wasn't. So I'm having to re-paint the doll. You're right, the paint is acrylic. Long story. I use oil paints for the fine details, I'll show you.
@@dodisrestorationandrepair6339 this is confusing to me. Oul based paint is getting harder to find. I was told that enamel is not oil based. You state in your response here that you THOUGHT you were using oil based but weren't. I saw oil in the jar so what was it? I have several dolls that I have filled and sanded and I'm ready to paint but I don't know what to use for a base and what to use for a top coat I'm so confused
Excellent question. I had already sanded the doll and applied gesso to it. So I didn't need to sand again. What you are seeing is the gesso. The doll is made of composition, which is brown, and this doll is white as you can see. It's already been prepared for the paint.
Ah okay. I see now. I've used gesso on canvases, and it isn't the smoothest thing on the block. If it were me, I would have sanded the gesso a bit, to give it more of a smooth appearance. Regardless, you did a very nice job on the doll.
Ahhh! You see though, gesso was originally designed to smooth *wood*, not to stiffen canvas as it is used today. Gesso was/is a preparation surface for other hard surfaces. So using it on composition is perfect because the imperfections will sink into the crevases, not sit above it like it does on canvas.
That's the fun part of using different disciplines in a craft! Some of my subscribers come from a strictly acrylic background and some from an oil background, and even more from mixed media. Each discipline has it's own advantages and disadvantages. For instance, acrylics have a tendency to be semi opaic, while oils tend to be more texturally solid. Oil transparency is different than acrylic, with a certain quality of shine in each. Watercolors, on the other hand, are a different matter all together! One thing that I have learned is that proficiency in one discipline doesn't necessarily carry over to another. That's the pitfall of "authority", especially if the material is new to your application. Porch Spring Baby had some pits that the gesso filled nicely with only one application. I didn't mention it, but gesso will give a different surface on composition, in effect giving a lovely porcelain-ish surface to paint on. Sanding wasn't an issue because there were no raised spots *to* sand and oil paints do not need "tooth" to produce even surfaces. Just another difference between the two mediums.
![Antique Dolls-Care and Attention [20 Tips]](/img/1.gif)
Great idea!! Never thought of color matching the doll's paint!!
I have this doll with a cloth body. I like yours better. Thanks for the help on painting the cutie pie.
Thank for the info! Your voice reminds me of my aunt! 😊 Love your videos!
I’m not seeing any recent postings you’ve done. Aren’t you doing them anymore? I appreciate your common sense approach to the process of restoration. Thank you !
looking forward to next time :) thanks for sharing x
Now it's getting interesting, isn't it?
Can I just say, sitting here, having a nice cup of tea with a cat in my lap, listening to your soothing voice is a very precious and special time of my day
The gesso base? Yes, I suppose it would look like that! But then, if we didn't have that, the flesh color wouldn't be exactly the same color as you see. It would be a bit darker.
Hurry and finish this baby! I can't wait to see her all finished and pretty!
Ummm...we need to talk. Video later this week.
That's patients!
That’s the answer to the question I’ve been asking for years! What was the paint used on these dolls? Seriously, you’d think it was a State Secret or something. Thank you!!!
Yeah, you'd think it was "the secret of the ages", but honestly, no one ever thought about it. It's a fact that businesses are in business to make money. The most efficient way is to use the cheapest materials possible...and that's house paint. These days, it's called enamel, something that I grew up knowing as plain paint. Enamel in my day was horribly smelly and used on model cars and metal appliances. Remember Testor's paint? Yeah, that was enamel to me. Yes, they still make the Testor's enamel, but you have to look for it really hard. Welcome to the channel!
@@dodisrestorationandrepair6339 I'm watching your RUclips video on painting the doll with the house paint and the camel hair brush. What were the pieces primered with first? They appear white what is that?
@@connielordan135 she used gesso. Dodi passed away. 😞
Can't wait to see this finished! ~ Sunny
Acrylics are weak rubbing alcohol destroys . Oil-based paints are tough. Mix quick-dry with oil base paint it dries overnight .without it, a week..Bad humidity, longer. I used my doll stands to dry in my imperfect restorations too.
Hello, looks nice i have a question . Can i use oil base paint on my composition doll without sanding it down? Do you know? I am unable to sand my doll so just wondeting how i can paint it . Do you do a restoration service for other?
Is it possible to sand the arm to smooth out the texture before painting?
Hi, Dodi! You know me by another name at Abbyland. I had a doll dressed in a red and black fancy dress, and what happened to her, I do not know! She was sort of pre-Barbie, maybe 10" tall, probably more like 8". This is interesting. Thank you!
LOL! Hi ya sweetie! Now you know where I hang out when I'm not in Abbyland. Your doll is probably a dress me doll. Dress me dolls were hugely popular during the 50s, and I think I know that particular doll. They are about 8" tall and the clothes are stapled on. Every little girl had a few of them during that time period. Our moms thought we could learn geography better that way.
Does this appt for had plastic dolls?
No, what I thought was oil based paint was actually acrylic. I had to search for oil paint for the doll since she's composition where the paint absorbs differently. You can use acrylics on the hard plastics. Check out Dollastic's channel, she does fabulous acrylic work. If you just want to brush paint, she has specialty "face up"work that shows other special materials that would be helpful to you.
Wow I'm impressed with this painting technique! No sealant needed over the gesso before painting? Thank you for sharing. Love your videos!
No. See, oil paint only needs varnish...if you're going to seal it. And actually it's not really necessary because the paint is "enamel." It's the difference between using acrylics and oils. Because gesso will absorb water, you need to seal it if you are going to use acrylics. It's the same with spackle, or any plaster product. Water weakens plaster, oil doesn't really affect it.
If you don't use gesso (I went over the reason I did on this doll in the other video), the paint will sink into the composition a bit. Not enough to damage the doll, but it does give a stronger bond. I chose gesso because I needed to hide quite a bit of patching.
Dodie, thank you for your wonderful tutorials. I have a question: I bought some touch up paint for composition dolls on ebay, which is water based. I have to touch up the brown hair on a composition baby doll. What type of fixative can I use to seal the paint? Can I use a matte spray fixative from the craft store? If not, then what do you recommend? Thank you!
Hi ya! Yes, you can use a matte fixative for acrylic paint. Oh and next time, just remember that you need to find oil based for composition dolls if you're going to restore them. Honestly, there is no specialty paint for compos other than that. Your basic acrylic will work just fine. You can even use matte Mod Podge for the sealing. It does as well as anything else out there and it won't smudge dried paint.
@@dodisrestorationandrepair6339 Wow! I'm so glad I asked you! Thank you for the advice, Dodi! I appreciate it!
Dodi, thank you again for the lesson. It always looks easy when you do it! Love the way you hang the parts! I would never have thought to hang them the way you did. Thanks for tips about brushes and info about paint characteristics! Were you an Art teacher?? You do such a great job of teaching, it leads me to guess this!😊 How does the oil paint work in an airbrush??? I have one I bought for this use years ago, but haven’t used it for this yet! You are so kind to share your knowledge. Again, thank you!😁
Obviously oil paint works in an airbrush because our grandfathers used it to paint the dolls in the first place. One thing you have to be aware of is the cleaning. An airbrush is kinda delicate and you must be careful to keep it clean, so brush up on the operating instructions. I'd use mineral spirits or turpentine to clean it THOROUGHLY after use, otherwise you'll mess up the gun.
To use oil paint in a gun, you'll need to thin it out even more than I did for this video. The goal is a bit thicker than water...but not much. The whole point to a spray gun is thin, even coverage. If you look at a car paint chip, you'll notice that it's very thin. That's at least three coats of air spraying, so you get the point. Before you paint, you so need to practice! Honest, it's the only way to learn to control the gun. My first experience with an air brush was on cakes, believe it or not. And before I aimed it at the cake, I practiced on paper. So grab some house paint and some mineral spirits, your sprayer and a scrap piece of lumber. Ply, board, it doesn't matter. What does matter is learning to control where the paint goes and how thick it goes on.
And for your other question, I just have a knack for teaching things. I was a professional florist for 25 years, about the 5th career I had. I soak up information quickly.
Dodi's Dolls Thank You, Dodi!!! You do have a knack for teaching!!! I thought I had guessed you as a teacher! Thank you for for your tips! I really appreciate them!😊
Hi, Dodi. Do you have a video on painting the facial features with oil paints? Also, do you have to paint the doll with gesso before painting with the oil paint? Thanks!
Excellent question, Jennifer! No you do not have to use gesso if your doll is smooth. When I painted this doll's face, I used oil paints.
Good. Could I just gesso over any repair areas, then start the oils? Also, do you have a video on painting the facial features with oils? Or know of another good video I could look at before starting? Thanks!
😍😍😍
Is it called liquid gesso surface primer
Yes, but that's the one with the acrylic paint in it. If you are going to paint with oil, like I recommend, then you need to get it with oil paint mixed in.
@@DodiTov oh it says (Provides surface preparation for acrylic and oil paints)
@@GemX02 BUT you need to make sure it doesn't have acrylic in it. Remember that acrylic can go over oil, but oil can't go over acrylic. It's the nature of the paints, so be sure before you use it.
@@DodiTov I will be using acrylic paint. But I found one that says chalky gesso by deco art
Dodi wonderful color..what is the Name of the color.??? Love it...
The color is Nairobi Dusk. BTW, you can get it mixed lighter, up to 25% lighter, the lady told me.
Dodi, can I just ask why you don't use make up sponges like Tammy does?
Good question! A brush holds more, applies more evenly, and is simple to clean. I have brushes that I've had for 30 years or so, so overall I get greater value using brushes. A sponge, as you've noticed, will absorb the medium and not deposit it on the doll like a brush will. Take your kitchen sponge for example. When you wash dishes, you use it IN soapy water. Now, squirt your dish liquid directly into the wet sponge. It will foam better, but is not cost effective for washing many dishes because the liquid will be in the sponge and not in the water.
A sponge is easy to get, will be useful for some applications, and yes I have some. But for overall painting, I prefer a brush simply because I get better coverage. It's not to say that Tammy's method is wrong, far from it. But since I don't use an airgun to paint with right now, I am somewhat lazy and I want to get even coverage for less effort. I get the coverage using a brush and one coat that Tammy does with four coats. I noticed that Tammy is putting on ultra thin layers, and that's fine, but it's not especially necessary. I think that I heard her say that she put on as many as 20 layers before she was finished. This doll will get two, besides the detail work. Big difference.
There's also the issue of drying time. Acrylics dry from the top down, while oil paint dries from the surface up. Meaning that both must dry, and acrylics will capture the moisture close to the doll. In the short term, this will not matter, but it's a possibility that we have crumbling dolls because of this fact. If you do not paint the inside of the doll, it shouldn't be an issue, but I've seen some that are painted on both sides, and the doll has absorbed the water because there was no other place for it to go.
Short version? I like my brushes for large scale work, but I'd use a sponge when I have need.
Hello Dodi..the paint that you are using is Oil paint??? Because i was told at home depot that it is Acrylic??? What do you use for the cheeks and lips???
Ok, you haven't seen the other video. I THOUGHT I was using oil paint. Turns out that I wasn't. So I'm having to re-paint the doll. You're right, the paint is acrylic. Long story. I use oil paints for the fine details, I'll show you.
@@dodisrestorationandrepair6339 this is confusing to me. Oul based paint is getting harder to find. I was told that enamel is not oil based. You state in your response here that you THOUGHT you were using oil based but weren't. I saw oil in the jar so what was it? I have several dolls that I have filled and sanded and I'm ready to paint but I don't know what to use for a base and what to use for a top coat I'm so confused
Why didn't you sand it first?
Excellent question. I had already sanded the doll and applied gesso to it. So I didn't need to sand again. What you are seeing is the gesso. The doll is made of composition, which is brown, and this doll is white as you can see. It's already been prepared for the paint.
Ah okay. I see now. I've used gesso on canvases, and it isn't the smoothest thing on the block. If it were me, I would have sanded the gesso a bit, to give it more of a smooth appearance. Regardless, you did a very nice job on the doll.
Ahhh! You see though, gesso was originally designed to smooth *wood*, not to stiffen canvas as it is used today. Gesso was/is a preparation surface for other hard surfaces. So using it on composition is perfect because the imperfections will sink into the crevases, not sit above it like it does on canvas.
Interesting! I didn't know that.
That's the fun part of using different disciplines in a craft! Some of my subscribers come from a strictly acrylic background and some from an oil background, and even more from mixed media. Each discipline has it's own advantages and disadvantages. For instance, acrylics have a tendency to be semi opaic, while oils tend to be more texturally solid. Oil transparency is different than acrylic, with a certain quality of shine in each. Watercolors, on the other hand, are a different matter all together! One thing that I have learned is that proficiency in one discipline doesn't necessarily carry over to another. That's the pitfall of "authority", especially if the material is new to your application.
Porch Spring Baby had some pits that the gesso filled nicely with only one application. I didn't mention it, but gesso will give a different surface on composition, in effect giving a lovely porcelain-ish surface to paint on. Sanding wasn't an issue because there were no raised spots *to* sand and oil paints do not need "tooth" to produce even surfaces. Just another difference between the two mediums.