Dollieh Sanctuary

Has anyone dyed or painted a Tonner doll? If so, what did you use and how did it work?

Not sure about Tonner dolls specifically, but RIT dye seems to be the popular choice for dyeing dolls. I've mostly seen it done with vinyl and ABS.

I've used RIT on several ABJD's, but it has to be near boiling to work. I'm somewhat wary of putting a Tonner in boiling water.

You can put a Tonner in near boiling water so long as you don't have the burner under it lit. I've done it to straighten bent arms, remove heads and such. They're more resistant to heat than most people think, but I wouldn't leave them in for more than a few minutes maybe. How long would you have to leave one in to dye? It would have to be a bald doll if you were going to do it for any real length of time for sure. More than a minute or so and you can mess up a doll's hair. A quick dunk there is okay, but the hair will be ruined if you have to leave it there for a while.

I have to start with a bald doll anyway cause I'm making Morgan from Criminal Minds and BA from The A-Team. To make a doll that dark it would take a few minutes. But I could probably do it like I dyed one of my resin dolls--dip the part in the dye bath for a minute then put it in warm water to cool, then back in the dye bath.