Varnishes as sealants...?

[1/6andtinylover]

I will be getting an obitsu 23cm over the summer, and have a few questions about varnishes...

Most people recommend sealng the face with MSC or some other sealant, but I plan on using some varnish instead of MSC. if I seal the face with varnish before painting and paint the eyes and stuff, would that work, and how would it look if I sealed the whole face with the varnish after painting? (it will be matte varnish btw)

Either that or I just suck it up and get MSC

[DollyKim]

First off what brand are you planning on using? If you coat the full face of a soft face doll it might crack when the doll's head is squished. A solid stiff head can be completely sealed. Either way I try and make a point not to touch the doll's face and turn their heads by handling their hair.

It can depend on how much of the face you're doing too. I've used acrylics on many of mine just doing their eye area and lips, you can blush with a light wash of color giving a bit of stain to the cheeks, then I only seal the parts I painted with a paint on acrylic sealer. My oldest are going on 6 years like that and the worst thing I had happen was an entire eye lifted off, the paint had become like a decal, but a bit of sealer "glued" it back on.

[landwhale]

It depends on the varnish and how you're applying it. The heads are soft and malleable so if the varnish is the kind that is for a hard surface, it'll crumble off and flake. MSC does this too but not as much. Brushing on varnish means the layer is thicker. MSC is sprayed and is a very thin layer. THis also will affect flaking. If you are airbrushing a layer on, it might work but I dunno about painting on a layer of normal varnish.

I guess the best thing to do is to try it out on a test head first before you paint anything. You will want to preseal anyway

EDIT DollyKim beat me but hah, same info

[1/6andtinylover]

I'll be using the Vallejo Auxillary Products Matte Varnish.

Considering that the only areas I'll really have to seal are the eyes, blush and mouth, I can use that, but I'm now just thinking of getting MSC and a practice head. It might cost more, but hey, if I'm going to get any more dolls in the future, it's nice to be prepared!

Btw, what do you recommend, just regular MSC or UV cut? I know that obitsus don't get sunburned but if I'm going to get any resins.....

[Evelien]

Just wondering guys.. if you'd use a different sealant/varnish than MSC, what should you get..? Something for acrylics or pastels? Cause at the hobby store I was told I couldn't use an acrylic sealant for pastels, and the other way around.

[landwhale]

Get normal instead of UV cut for now since it's cheaper. If you are practicing, chances are you'll be using quite a bit anyway.

Evelien- I don't think there's that much of a difference, but someone who knows better would give you a better answer than i can. I used to just use a tub of matt or gloss varnish from liquitex but this was for stuff I painted on wood panels so I don't know about doll varnishing.

[DollyKim]

I've never used MSC, never been able to get my hands on it. Keep your doll out of direct sunlight as much as possible and you'll be fine. I haven't had any fading on any of my dolls.

I've used Testor's Dullcote on my resins and Liquitex and Delta on my others.

The pastel sealants the art store people are talking about are probably for paper with lots of powdery work on it, or they want to make extra sales. You don't want to use fixatives on dolls because it's not good for them.

The most pastel work I ever did was on House where I rubbed the pastel in to his painted skin to look like shadows in his beard and under his eyes. I put a light layer of doll safe spray sealant on and it worked out fine. I held the head at arm's length and started and stopped spraying away from the head. I got enough on to make his head look damp then let him dry completely. A light coat of sealant works best for pastels.

[Resu]

A can of MSC will last quite a long time, especially if you're working within the 1/6th scale. I bought my can about two or three years ago and it's still no where near empty.

[1/6andtinylover]

Another question (shot)

Are the zm sprays they sell at Volks work on vinyl heads? because I saw a tutorial on Sumika Times on painting what must be a vinyl head, and it used the ZM spray (link: http://site.volksusa.com/sumikatimes/20 ... ad-04-1st/ ).
It's cheaper as well...unless they have a crappy customer service, messes up orders or have a monster shipping price.

[Evelien]

It's just that MSC is too expensive for me right now.. plus, I can't buy it in stores, only online as far as I know, so helloo extra $10 shipping .
What's dolly safe spray..? How can I tell..? :-\
I think I'll just have to wait a few months before I can buy MSC XD