Christie's new groove
Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2014 11:15 pmI recently got a Live Action Christie head from one of my Flickr dolleagues Koratheexplora where she was thinning out vintage dolls and said I could something with the parts, including one of my Holy Grails, the 1971 Live Action Christie, though the body was badly damaged.
Of course, being in Australia, I couldn't easily get her a decent matching body since the darkest skin tone body was the Fashionista Nikki body, and of course it's basically Caucasian in comparison:
(of course the topic of much whiter the 'black' dolls are nowadays in playline are but thats another topic)
I looked online for potential matches but they were all too expensive so my best option of using one of the secondhand Fashionistas and repainting it.
So I carved up the body so the joints don't rub the paint as much like I previously done.
I also decided that since the paint *did* rub off in the disc joint (since I couldn't carve off the tiny parts) I decided to try using sharpies on the joints because even if it wasn't an exact match it'd be much better than light beige shining through the paint.
Inking In Joints by kd_230692, on Flickr
I then took her head to the store and looked for a shade of paint close enough to match her head, though I settled for one where the lid was a shade lighter and missing red undertones. To my surprise, the colour ended up matching very closely since it dried darker than I thought, and the fashionista helped the tone get some red undertones, so hooray for colour theory.
Spray Tanned Skin by kd_230692, on Flickr
Here's the brands of paint I used on colour changing bodies, I don't have a particular brand choice but I do lean towards the $10 cans of spraypaint cuz they do a good job of adhering to plastic with much prepping, plus the colour range is bigger…. . I just recommend getting a higher end spray paint (like all of mine were around 9-12 dollars a can from Bunnings Warehouse) since I found the ones under $5 chipped WAY too easily and didn’t apply to plastic well cuz it was so diluted.
I read up about paint changing on some action figure sites, and they recommended to coat the problem areas with superglue to help create a layer of protection. It definitely has helped the vinyl on the head from reacting to the paint on the neck and rubbing it off. The knees also got a coat of super glue and they haven't chipped yet even though that area has been an issue on my other painted bodies.
The only thing that hasn't changed colour is the wrists but they're soooo tiny I don't wanna risk superglue or carving them so yeah, my Christie now has a posable body....
Of course, being in Australia, I couldn't easily get her a decent matching body since the darkest skin tone body was the Fashionista Nikki body, and of course it's basically Caucasian in comparison:
(of course the topic of much whiter the 'black' dolls are nowadays in playline are but thats another topic)
I looked online for potential matches but they were all too expensive so my best option of using one of the secondhand Fashionistas and repainting it.
So I carved up the body so the joints don't rub the paint as much like I previously done.
I also decided that since the paint *did* rub off in the disc joint (since I couldn't carve off the tiny parts) I decided to try using sharpies on the joints because even if it wasn't an exact match it'd be much better than light beige shining through the paint.
Inking In Joints by kd_230692, on FlickrI then took her head to the store and looked for a shade of paint close enough to match her head, though I settled for one where the lid was a shade lighter and missing red undertones. To my surprise, the colour ended up matching very closely since it dried darker than I thought, and the fashionista helped the tone get some red undertones, so hooray for colour theory.
Spray Tanned Skin by kd_230692, on FlickrHere's the brands of paint I used on colour changing bodies, I don't have a particular brand choice but I do lean towards the $10 cans of spraypaint cuz they do a good job of adhering to plastic with much prepping, plus the colour range is bigger…. . I just recommend getting a higher end spray paint (like all of mine were around 9-12 dollars a can from Bunnings Warehouse) since I found the ones under $5 chipped WAY too easily and didn’t apply to plastic well cuz it was so diluted.
I read up about paint changing on some action figure sites, and they recommended to coat the problem areas with superglue to help create a layer of protection. It definitely has helped the vinyl on the head from reacting to the paint on the neck and rubbing it off. The knees also got a coat of super glue and they haven't chipped yet even though that area has been an issue on my other painted bodies.
The only thing that hasn't changed colour is the wrists but they're soooo tiny I don't wanna risk superglue or carving them so yeah, my Christie now has a posable body....