What a busy month. I have finally been able to get pictures of my Reborn Shyann by Aleina Peterson. I decided to try a different painting medium. Instead of air dry paints, I used Genesis Heat Set paints. I love the heat set paints.
Shyann is my second reborn and still in the learning phase of the reborning process. I am hoping for my third reborn, Sugar by Donna Rubert I will be able to put a small tutorial together for Newbie Reborners.
Here are pictures of her in the final stages; just before putting her totally together.
Shyann's little arms and hands.
Shyann's little legs, feet and toes. I just love little baby toes! :)
Shyann's Beautiful Face. Eyebrows were a challenge but with practice, practice and more practice I think I got it. I am sure in time, they will get better. I sat down for over a week with lots of paper and a pencil and made eyebrows continuously lol Then I had to master the left eyebrow. YIKES that was a challenge. I have to say I am pretty proud of myself.
The Baking Process: Because Genesis Heat Set paints need to be Heat Set for them to become permanent, I needed a special oven. Some people will use their ovens that they also cook in. I am not too keen about that for many reasons. I purchased a Big Boss Rapid Wave Halogen Oven and a very good oven thermometer. They say these paints need to be set at a temp of 265 degrees for 8 minutes. With massive research I found out that the doll only needs to be at 265 for a couple of minutes. With even more hands on research I found out that these paints do set at a lower temp. As you will see in the pictures below my type of thermometer that I do set for 265 for 8 minutes. By the time the two minute mark hits my temp is between 190 and 212 degrees. After conducting the test to see if your paints have set: After your baby has cooled take a q-tip, wet it with regular water and rub an area on your doll, if the q-tip is clean, your paint is set. If the q-tip has color on it you will need to set a bit longer.
Finally, the rooting stage. I am using a 42g Crown rooting needle. Learning phase as well. Each hair that is inserted into the head is only one. There are times two to three hairs will go into a hole and those are pulled out with tweezers. I have also learned...Don't use any varnish on the head where you are going to root. It makes the head look like the baby has real dry skin and the holes are very noticeable. Where varnish was not used, the holes are not seen, nor does it look like real dry skin. :( I have found on the internet that once I am completely done rooting, I will wet the hair and wrap her head with a wet towel or wash cloth and put her in the oven to heat up the vinyl and see if some of the holes will shrink. I have declared Shyann to be my learning baby. She does have many mistakes. I have been rooting since Friday - July 4th doing about 4 hours of work. Here it is Tuesday - July 7th and this is how far I am. This is a very long process and lots of patience is needed. Rooting can take anywhere from a couple of days to many hours and days. When I post the final result I will let you know how many hours/days this process took. I do welcome questions and comments. :0)
Thanks and Happy Reborning!
Vicki
