How do I repaint my doll lips or make them last longer?

[Wheezer]

Years ago I used some oil based paint markers with good success. There are limited colors, but the red worked well for lips. The results were a nice red/pink natural color.

Apply the paint to the lips. Remove any excess with an oil soaked Q-tip before it dries. Let it dry completely. When dry it will looked all cracked and gnarly. Once all dry use baby oil to remove the dried cracked top part. The result are lips dyed a nice red/pink close to natural color. Repeat if desired for a deeper color. Once set and cured the TPE is stained/dyed a red dish color which can not be removed with baby oil or ...er... "interaction"

I was never concerned about the chemical content since I do not kiss my dolls lips.

Hope it helps.
... W ...

[YungSynth]

I find powder makeup, like eyeshadow or blush, applies more evenly to the lips and holds its color for a while. actual lipstick always just had uneven spots and left residue I had to pick off

[Wheezer]

My current lip method for head rework is to use heat set artists oil paints. Just small dots blended together then hot air to surface melt the TPE and bond/protect the color.

First a dark red for shadows and definition, red for main lips, then a bit of magenta for highlights. Naturally the base/highlight color combination depends on the desired final lip color. When comfortable I use hot air on the TPE until it surface melts/glistens. Spray it with iso alcohol and when dry then a light bit of iridescent white to add some glisten. Heat again to seal and finish with a mist of iso alcohol. I've found that a mist of iso on the hot TPE seems to surface flash set it. It retains its sheen and eliminates stickiness and need for powder there. Even when the face is full powdered the lips still shine.

Below is one I'm working on now and about halfway done on the lips. Left is before lip work, right is current in work. I'm still unsure if I will extend the lipstick to full lips, or let this one retain a visually smaller mouth.

Hope it helps.
Cheers!
... W ...

Lips_inwork.jpg (2.22 MiB) Viewed 476 times

[-Ragnar66-]

I find powder makeup, like eyeshadow or blush, applies more evenly to the lips and holds its color for a while. actual lipstick always just had uneven spots and left residue I had to pick off

Same for me (pressed eyeshadow powder). Lipstick can cause oral black mold btw.

[-Ragnar66-]

My current lip method for head rework is to use heat set artists oil paints. Just small dots blended together then hot air to surface melt the TPE and bond/protect the color.

First a dark red for shadows and definition, red for main lips, then a bit of magenta for highlights. Naturally the base/highlight color combination depends on the desired final lip color. When comfortable I use hot air on the TPE until it surface melts/glistens. Spray it with iso alcohol and when dry then a light bit of iridescent white to add some glisten. Heat again to seal and finish with a mist of iso alcohol. I've found that a mist of iso on the hot TPE seems to surface flash set it. It retains its sheen and eliminates stickiness and need for powder there. Even when the face is full powdered the lips still shine.

Below is one I'm working on now and about halfway done on the lips. Left is before lip work, right is current in work. I'm still unsure if I will extend the lipstick to full lips, or let this one retain a visually smaller mouth.

Hope it helps.
Cheers!
... W ...
Lips_inwork.jpg

Looks great, Wheezer! But it´s not for kissing, right? How´s the eyebrows beeing made, btw? Bits of look similar to Izabel ones which surely were created in a different way. (an example of oral black mold as well )

[Wheezer]

Well you COULD use them for kissing I guess. The color is set into the TPE (so it is doll material), then finished with iso propyl alcohol. At that point probably less bacteria and chemicals that a real woman's lips.

For the eyebrows I started with template then filled in with dots of dark red with bit of iridescent for behind the hair glow. Heat set it then a fine permanent marker for the hairs. Not really happy with the results. The pen would not flow over the set color. I found I needed to powder the area before pen work to get finer lines. When done then some blending with translucent white and some light pink to break up the hard edges. Check left and right picture. Adjust a bit then heat set when done.

I found an eyebrow measuring tool to be invaluable in getting them balanced when putting them on a head.

Cheers!
... W ....

SRC-04 (Eyebrow Base - First)-20230306_122217.jpg (1.75 MiB) Viewed 471 times

[-Ragnar66-]

Well you COULD use them for kissing I guess. The color is set into the TPE (so it is doll material), then finished with iso propyl alcohol. At that point probably less bacteria and chemicals that a real woman's lips.

For the eyebrows I started with template then filled in with dots of dark red with bit of iridescent for behind the hair glow. Heat set it then a fine permanent marker for the hairs. Not really happy with the results. The pen would not flow over the set color. I found I needed to powder the area before pen work to get finer lines. When done then some blending with translucent white and some light pink to break up the hard edges. Check left and right picture. Adjust a bit then heat set when done.

I found an eyebrow measuring tool to be invaluable in getting them balanced when putting them on a head.

Cheers!
... W ....

Yeah, I think with all the chemicals we get into contact in that doll hobby it doesn´t matter much anyway.

Good tips re eyebrow painting, thanks! I´m still experimenting but slowly getting closer to wanted results now. Yet I try to keep it simple. The major improvements I got when obtaining below 1mm brushes. Mentioned eyeshadow powder then suffices for my personal needs. Just got to work on positions and shapes more. Inspired by your mentioning of it, I found and just purchased this tool. Hope I´ll get what I want doing with it, considering our doll heads are almost all undersize (below 54cm diameter/hat size) and need eyebrows (size and positions) adapted accordingly.

Eyebrow ruler.jpg (52.7 KiB) Viewed 454 times

Btw, your example head looks like it has cheeks/under eye area having porous skin surface. Is that normal or part of your mods? Thanks.

[Wheezer]

Btw, your example head looks like it has cheeks/under eye area having porous skin surface. Is that normal or part of your mods? Thanks.

That's part of the head mods.

When I do the base color I heat set it. At that point I use a small, stiff stencil brush to lightly stipple in certain porous areas. Once cured I use 0, 00 and 000 brushes to stipple small dots of various colors that are then blended and processed and again heat set. The entire goal is to make it a subtle mix of various colors, just like real flesh tones.

Actually I start with doing the ears. That way I can get a better idea of how the target TPE will handle the colors, blending, processing and heat before I move onto the face. I took a bunch of in work images and will gather then for a post on how I am presently doing faces. Muesky6969 had asked for a step by step post a while back and I am now just getting to it.

I like the metal measuring tool for the brows. As for templates, I am still on the fence over them. They seem to be designed to go over existing human brows to add definition. But for dolls I am still experimenting with positioning methods. The extended adhesive pad is good for holding it in place, but for me gets in the way of accurate positioning and visualization. I'll figure it out a better way on the next head.

Probably try the one piece wrap around templates to insure symmetry. If necessary I can cut them in the middle and adjust width as needed to fit the smaller diameter doll heads. It would be much easier if I was just doing it like the factory. Make one template then use it on multiple heads. Seems each one I want to be a tad different and unique.

Cheers!
... W ...

[55mrradiohead]

Has anyone discovered lipstick or lip gloss that sticks really well to lips (face and down there) that doesn't smear or come off very easily? I've already tried a standard pink lipstick and it gets all over the face. I tried a lip gloss with the applicator and it sticks a little better, but still doesn't last very long. I tried Sharpie's a long time ago and they smear really bad - alcohol based and bad for the TPE. I knew that Chartpak markers have a really bad smell and have toxic ingredients in them. You would think there would be something that sticks well to TPE material.

[genesis218]

Is there a product you can use on a new head that will seal the factory paint, like a permanent clear coat that will work and last. I have a couple new heads that I would like to do this to. I was thinking about using a car model clear coat paint, Tamiya Acrylic Paint, water based not oil based. I believed water base would work and dry better.

[HugoHabicht]

I was also thinking about something like this - in my case it is about (soft) silicone and not TPE, and the areas concerned are more the areolas and the pubic region than the face.

[Wheezer]

As for topcoats ...

For silicone there are some clear silicone topcoats that can be applied. However I have been told that there is an issue of a second clear cost of silicone not really bonding well to the base once the base silicone has cured. Since I only have two silicone heads and no silicone dolls I have not really gotten into the silicone side too much.

For TPE there is not really a clear, flexible topcoat out there that will seal the paint and stick to the TPE. Were there a cheap and easy spray on solution the vendors would already be using it and probably charging a premium for it.
Water based acrylic may initially stick a bit, but the oils in the base TPE eventually degrade the bond and it flakes and cracks off. I've been working on permanent TPE coloring on and off for several years and to date have not found or concocted a magic elixir that can be sprayed on to permanently fix factory paint. However there is a solution that has been undergoing testing and looks promising.

Cheers!
... W ...

[-Ragnar66-]

Btw, your example head looks like it has cheeks/under eye area having porous skin surface. Is that normal or part of your mods? Thanks.

That's part of the head mods.

When I do the base color I heat set it. At that point I use a small, stiff stencil brush to lightly stipple in certain porous areas. Once cured I use 0, 00 and 000 brushes to stipple small dots of various colors that are then blended and processed and again heat set. The entire goal is to make it a subtle mix of various colors, just like real flesh tones.

Actually I start with doing the ears. That way I can get a better idea of how the target TPE will handle the colors, blending, processing and heat before I move onto the face. I took a bunch of in work images and will gather then for a post on how I am presently doing faces. Muesky6969 had asked for a step by step post a while back and I am now just getting to it.

I like the metal measuring tool for the brows. As for templates, I am still on the fence over them. They seem to be designed to go over existing human brows to add definition. But for dolls I am still experimenting with positioning methods. The extended adhesive pad is good for holding it in place, but for me gets in the way of accurate positioning and visualization. I'll figure it out a better way on the next head.

Probably try the one piece wrap around templates to insure symmetry. If necessary I can cut them in the middle and adjust width as needed to fit the smaller diameter doll heads. It would be much easier if I was just doing it like the factory. Make one template then use it on multiple heads. Seems each one I want to be a tad different and unique.

Cheers!
... W ...

Thanks, W! Interesting and inspiring methods! I´ll see how that measuring tool works out. Will get it the day after tomorrow. If you can spare some minutes I´d like getting some your opinion on my article here: viewtopic.php?p=2320184#p2320184

[Rotgut_the_bloated]

You guys dont enjoy consuming permanent marker ink?

I used it to paint my doll lips and it stays, i reapply it after few weeks or a month when it fades. So far i didnt get cancer, and im using her for 1 year and 8 months. The only thing i felt was somewhat mental decline.

[Wheezer]

Thanks, W! Interesting and inspiring methods! I´ll see how that measuring tool works out. Will get it the day after tomorrow. If you can spare some minutes I´d like getting some your opinion on my article here: viewtopic.php?p=2320184#p2320184

Thanks. I too have tools coming that (I hope) will make eyebrows a bit easier and more repeatable.
Interesting article. I'll PM my comments.
Cheers!
... W ...