Setback
I haven't wrapped Wyn's shark tooth in wire yet, because I thought I'd get him at least somewhat painted and have his torso to try the necklace on. Well, that plan went awry after I suffered a setback.
On Sunday evening I scrubbed Wyn's pieces in anticipation of the coming week. First nice day and I was going to paint that doll no matter what! I skipped sanding him because another BJD owner told me that would likely just scratch him, so I gently ran a magic eraser over him instead before washing him in warm water with dish soap, rinsing him under the tap, and rinsing again in distilled water to get rid of any contaminates from the tap water. Laying him aside to dry overnight, he was all ready to go.
Monday there was little to no wind, it was sunny and nice. I got up early as I realized it was the perfect day to begin doll painting. Around here, the wind blows a lot (like right now, for instance), so finding a day when you can spray sealant is nearly impossible, and I figured no matter what I'd have to paint a couple hours in the morning and then give up because of the wind and begin again on the next nice day/morning.
So I got ready, fed the dog, let her out and in, and set about spraying Wyn when the dog was back in the house. I was trying a new sealant recommended by that other BJD owner, and I sprayed him good, laying each piece aside on the cookie sheet I bought specifically for this project. I left him in the garage on the sheet for about half an hour or so while I went in and had breakfast. When I went back out, I discovered the mess.
You probably can't see it here, but every one of his pieces had bubbles, pooling, and severe sealant issues. Well, all except the bottom portion of his legs, because I had such a hard time holding onto those, I dropped one in the grass while sealing and decided to rethink painting those pieces at all. The picture above was taken after the sealed pieces had dried completely and I'd removed them from the cookie tray.
This is the back of his mid-torso piece. See the shine? You might also notice that the shiny places are flat. That's because the sealant ran off and pooled between the resin and the cookie sheet where the piece was laying flat against it.
When I pulled the piece up the first time, I don't think the sealant was completely dry, so it pulled away from the resin/tray and left a long "spider-web" like trail that flopped over the back of the piece too.
All the pieces were bad like this, except the head and upper-torso. The upper-torso suffered the least, but there were still noticeable drips around his neck and such. The head I had laying tilted back against the spot where the head cap should go, so that's where all the sealant had pooled. The head might've been salvageable as it was, but it had some drips and such around the eyes, and a number of bubbles at the back of the head. There was also a bubble at the chin.
The hands were the worst. It took forever for the sealant to dry on them, and I made the mistake of having them laying on the back of them, so the sealant pooled there. It didn't make flat shiny marks, but there were large puddle-like drips running along the back of his hands and when I lifted them the somewhat wet sealant lifted away and sort of peeled right around the wrists.
This picture shows the puddle a little better and all the bubbles that were also there. Because of all this, I had no choice but to scrub him off and begin again. But more than that I had to think...what could prevent this from happening a second time?
What would be the use of spraying all those pieces again if they did the same thing? That sealant had seemed rather wet, and I didn't want to stand around all day waiting for each piece to sort of dry before I could set it down and do another. Blowing on them would be out of the question (ALWAYS wear a respirator mask while spraying toxic chemicals like sealant), and a blow dryer in the backyard didn't seem feasible and I didn't know if it would harm the doll, even on a low setting.
At first I was too upset to even think about it much. We went out and bought a second respirator mask and goggles so my sister could help me spray by holding the piece a little further away, but that still left the issue of holding the pieces, since that had been rather difficult with the way BJD pieces are sculpted.
When we got back from buying the second mask, I went to take a better look at the problem. Besides the random bubbles problem, which I still have no idea how happened, the biggest issue I could see was the flat surface. These pieces had puddled and pooled because they had gravity and a flat surface to work with. That flat surface would have to be eliminated, but how?
Well, some people use dowel sticks and something to stick them into, but for big pieces like this, I wasn't convinced that would do the trick. What if the dowel went through a hole or fell over? So I thought about it harder and had an idea. What if you could hang the pieces out like laundry?
I decided the best idea was a type of clothesline, some wooden balls, some clips, and string. I asked my dad about it and he came up with the perfect solution to solve pretty much every issue.
Ta da! Behold, my new work space. Well, temporarily, that is. My dad hung some painting plastic across a board over the workbench to cover and protect his tools. Then he stretched a thin and very strong wire between two posts.
Hopefully, you can see the wire here. Now I can hang Wyn's pieces just like I wanted to. The wire is so strong it won't be pulled down by the weight of the resin pieces, even with all of them hanging at once. I'll be able to spray one side and then the other of all the pieces at the same time in theory. There's also an extra light over the workbench so I'll be able to see really well.
Here's one end of the wire.
And the other end.
The best thing about this set up is it's inside! That's right, the whole thing is in the garage. Now, I'll be able to open a garage door and the back door, letting it vent, but hopefully be completely shielded from the wind and not have to wait for a perfect day anymore. No direct sunlight, no wind, and no hands-on interaction with the pieces as I spray. What could be better than that? Oh, I know. Having the pieces hang so they don't touch a flat surface while they dry.
Of course, there might still be issues that I don't know about, because I haven't tried this yet. I didn't realize my dad would come up with such a perfect set up on Monday, so I didn't scrub Wyn for Tuesday, and we went on a day trip on Wednesday, so I just managed to scrub Wyn today. However, all his sealant is cleaned off, and so now I'll wash him and try again tomorrow. As always, I will let you know how it goes.
And, if that no wind thing doesn't actually work out, I may be a few days before I have any news about a finished paint job.
~SilverStar-Burst
On Sunday evening I scrubbed Wyn's pieces in anticipation of the coming week. First nice day and I was going to paint that doll no matter what! I skipped sanding him because another BJD owner told me that would likely just scratch him, so I gently ran a magic eraser over him instead before washing him in warm water with dish soap, rinsing him under the tap, and rinsing again in distilled water to get rid of any contaminates from the tap water. Laying him aside to dry overnight, he was all ready to go.
Monday there was little to no wind, it was sunny and nice. I got up early as I realized it was the perfect day to begin doll painting. Around here, the wind blows a lot (like right now, for instance), so finding a day when you can spray sealant is nearly impossible, and I figured no matter what I'd have to paint a couple hours in the morning and then give up because of the wind and begin again on the next nice day/morning.
So I got ready, fed the dog, let her out and in, and set about spraying Wyn when the dog was back in the house. I was trying a new sealant recommended by that other BJD owner, and I sprayed him good, laying each piece aside on the cookie sheet I bought specifically for this project. I left him in the garage on the sheet for about half an hour or so while I went in and had breakfast. When I went back out, I discovered the mess.
You probably can't see it here, but every one of his pieces had bubbles, pooling, and severe sealant issues. Well, all except the bottom portion of his legs, because I had such a hard time holding onto those, I dropped one in the grass while sealing and decided to rethink painting those pieces at all. The picture above was taken after the sealed pieces had dried completely and I'd removed them from the cookie tray.
This is the back of his mid-torso piece. See the shine? You might also notice that the shiny places are flat. That's because the sealant ran off and pooled between the resin and the cookie sheet where the piece was laying flat against it.
When I pulled the piece up the first time, I don't think the sealant was completely dry, so it pulled away from the resin/tray and left a long "spider-web" like trail that flopped over the back of the piece too.
All the pieces were bad like this, except the head and upper-torso. The upper-torso suffered the least, but there were still noticeable drips around his neck and such. The head I had laying tilted back against the spot where the head cap should go, so that's where all the sealant had pooled. The head might've been salvageable as it was, but it had some drips and such around the eyes, and a number of bubbles at the back of the head. There was also a bubble at the chin.
The hands were the worst. It took forever for the sealant to dry on them, and I made the mistake of having them laying on the back of them, so the sealant pooled there. It didn't make flat shiny marks, but there were large puddle-like drips running along the back of his hands and when I lifted them the somewhat wet sealant lifted away and sort of peeled right around the wrists.
This picture shows the puddle a little better and all the bubbles that were also there. Because of all this, I had no choice but to scrub him off and begin again. But more than that I had to think...what could prevent this from happening a second time?
What would be the use of spraying all those pieces again if they did the same thing? That sealant had seemed rather wet, and I didn't want to stand around all day waiting for each piece to sort of dry before I could set it down and do another. Blowing on them would be out of the question (ALWAYS wear a respirator mask while spraying toxic chemicals like sealant), and a blow dryer in the backyard didn't seem feasible and I didn't know if it would harm the doll, even on a low setting.
At first I was too upset to even think about it much. We went out and bought a second respirator mask and goggles so my sister could help me spray by holding the piece a little further away, but that still left the issue of holding the pieces, since that had been rather difficult with the way BJD pieces are sculpted.
When we got back from buying the second mask, I went to take a better look at the problem. Besides the random bubbles problem, which I still have no idea how happened, the biggest issue I could see was the flat surface. These pieces had puddled and pooled because they had gravity and a flat surface to work with. That flat surface would have to be eliminated, but how?
Well, some people use dowel sticks and something to stick them into, but for big pieces like this, I wasn't convinced that would do the trick. What if the dowel went through a hole or fell over? So I thought about it harder and had an idea. What if you could hang the pieces out like laundry?
I decided the best idea was a type of clothesline, some wooden balls, some clips, and string. I asked my dad about it and he came up with the perfect solution to solve pretty much every issue.
Ta da! Behold, my new work space. Well, temporarily, that is. My dad hung some painting plastic across a board over the workbench to cover and protect his tools. Then he stretched a thin and very strong wire between two posts.
Hopefully, you can see the wire here. Now I can hang Wyn's pieces just like I wanted to. The wire is so strong it won't be pulled down by the weight of the resin pieces, even with all of them hanging at once. I'll be able to spray one side and then the other of all the pieces at the same time in theory. There's also an extra light over the workbench so I'll be able to see really well.
Here's one end of the wire.
And the other end.
The best thing about this set up is it's inside! That's right, the whole thing is in the garage. Now, I'll be able to open a garage door and the back door, letting it vent, but hopefully be completely shielded from the wind and not have to wait for a perfect day anymore. No direct sunlight, no wind, and no hands-on interaction with the pieces as I spray. What could be better than that? Oh, I know. Having the pieces hang so they don't touch a flat surface while they dry.
Of course, there might still be issues that I don't know about, because I haven't tried this yet. I didn't realize my dad would come up with such a perfect set up on Monday, so I didn't scrub Wyn for Tuesday, and we went on a day trip on Wednesday, so I just managed to scrub Wyn today. However, all his sealant is cleaned off, and so now I'll wash him and try again tomorrow. As always, I will let you know how it goes.
And, if that no wind thing doesn't actually work out, I may be a few days before I have any news about a finished paint job.
~SilverStar-Burst
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