Dollieh Sanctuary

There are a LOT of different options for the materials and tools we can use on our dolls, but is there any particular reason why you would use one over the other?

I thought it would be pretty neat to have a material and tool comparison thread where everyone can share their personal experiences and preferences. I'll hunt around for threads that already make comparisons like this, and I would love it if everyone helped contribute to this!

+ Doll Making Clays
+ Different types of eye putty: <1> <2> <3> <4> <5> <6>
+ Chalk Pastels and the Like
+ Types of Doll Eyes

Please share your experiences and link to any you found helpful!

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Other examples of possible comparisons we could explore:
~ Types of doll eyes (e.g. glass vs acrylic)
~ Paint brands
~ Face-up Removers
~ Sueding methods
~ etc... (Anything FOR a doll, but not the doll itself. )

With eye putty I've tired 3 different kinds: 1. The eye putty that comes with Bluefairy dolls. 2. The eye putty that comes with SOOM eyes. And 3. Kneaded eraser.

1. Bluefairy Eye Putty:
+ Firmly keeps doll eye sin place
- Sticky. Sticks everywhere. Gets stuck everywhere.
- A nightmare to remove. Literally took me around half an hour to get it all cleaned out.

2. SOOM Eye Putty:
+ VERY easy to remove afterwards!
+ Easy to shape.
- Doesn't keep the eye in place very well. It doesn't really stick to the resin surface and the eyes end up moving around a lot while you're busy squishing it into the doll's head.

3. Kneaded Eraser <-- Personal favorite in this category~!
+ Easy to work with.
+ Keeps eye firmly in place and sticks to the resin well.
+ Fairly easy to remove, although a few bits get stuck onto the resin.
- Dust magnet.

I use whatever the eye-putty is that Junkyspot sells. Works great for me.

The stuff that RS/BBB uses is crap and it sticks like glue. I hate their stuff.

White color blue-tac(or however you spell it)
- stays with the vinyl Obitsu head and the slightly harder Volks Neo Goh head
- dries up after a few months but I eventually replace it. Not too difficult to remove though
Blue color blue-tac would stain Obi50 hands after a while, use at your own risk


the eye putty that came with my Iplehouse
- feels a bit oily to touch. But I'm a noob so if Iplehouse uses it, I ain't complaining much. Would be using the white color blue tac when I go buy some to replace it.
- easy to remove and sticks on well enough (so far)

I have touched, used or cursed at and hit with a hammer every single clay here viewtopic.php?f=13&t=7245 If it's not listed it's because I have't opened it yet or if it says Crayola I don't find it very useful.

As for eye putty I'm pretty sure everyone is on white poster putty because it's white and not greasy.

Orange Elmer's Sticky Tack has been a great one for me. It's a lot like the kneaded eraser.
- easy to shape
- anchors the eyes securely to resin
- easy to take off again

And there's this other stuff that I got off of Taobao that's exactly like Elmer's Sticky Tack, except it's white and cheaper, so it's a nice add-on if you're already placing an order:
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=10188044124

Looks like I'll have to add a lot of posts into my first one. This is going great~! Already so many comparison!

Now we just need more comparisons about different material than just about eye putty.

I have another addition to the eye putty. I recently switched from old white colour blue-tac to the white Dollzone eye putty. The Dollzone eye putty comes a large block and cost a dollar. It is easy to mold around the eyes , sticks well enough to hold the eye in position but comes off clean when pulled out. I also got the blue Dollzone eye putty but I haven't tried it out yet.

Hmm, what other comparisons should we do? Maybe pros and cons of different types of eyes? Like glass vs acrylic vs silicone vs urethane? Oh, we could also do what materials and brands to use for faceups.

generally i prefer silicone earplugs. but its not the best for vinyl heads...it doesn't stick as well. great for resin. hasn't damaged my eyes, no stains on the head and doesn't dry up

When it comes to face-ups, I used to use pastel chalks. But after reading this article:
http://www.denverdoll.com/bjdtips.php
and trying Color Box Fluid Chalk Ink Pad I will never go back. It works so beautifully with my brushes and I can do really subtle layering of colors with it. I first used it on Aygul and have gradually redone or enhanced all of my tines using it. It has been a bit more expensive, but I don't have to wipe and start over as much as I used to. I currently have Primary Pastels and Nightfall-which gives me 16 different colors to work with. Once I get my workroom sorted, I plan to redo all of my bigger dolls. it will take longer to do them and I have a 2 yr. old granddaughter running free.