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 Oil Wash and interior coloring...
For the Special Edition Berenguer baby you see in the picture, we used Tapestry Wine Apple Barrel paint to get the undertone coloring - put a good layer inside by pouring the paint in the head and limbs and draining it back out and saving the excess. Take a paint brush and get the extra out so there is no waste and there is a nice thin layer all over the inside of the limbs and head, even in the fingers and toes and let dry. If your baby has thin vinyl, you may be better off with using Periwinkle paint for the inside coloring. Test a small inconspicuous area of your baby doll if you are wondering whether to use inside coloring on the particular baby you are reborning.
Next put a mix of oil paints and medium (if desired, but not necessary) on the outside of baby to achieve the skin coloring that you want. We have used equal parts of crimson, white, and burnt umber oil paint with baby oil gel (it smells so pretty, too). The mixture should be the consistency of soft whipped cream. If you don’t want it so pink, add more burnt umber for more of a flesh tone. Some mediums used to make the oil paint creamier and nicer to use are baby oil gel, baby oil and refined linseed oil - (we will refer to those items as floating medium in this article).
Our most recent dolls have been oil washed with straight oil paint, we no longer bother with the medium. However, if you are a reborner who enjoys taking their time with oil washes, please do use a medium to suspend the color as you work so the pigment doesn’t soak in as fast. ‘Floating’ mediums that allow the color (pigment) in oil paint to float instead of be immediately soaked into the vinyl. Manipulation of pigment is very important in achieving realism when coloring our baby's vinyl - floating medium also allows for layering of color for veining, etc
Oil washes are fun and easy. Use a good quality oil paint. The brand really doesn't matter because you aren't painting a picture, you are just using the pigment in the paint to stain the vinyl and then wiping it off. Try to aim for a light pink flesh color. If you don't want the baby so pink - add a touch of burnt umber.
Paint on a layer of the oil wash mixture all over the head, arms and legs and then after 10 to 20 minutes, wipe it gently off with paper towels, using q-tips to get the oil wash out of tiny crevices. It usually takes around a week to dry if left alone. To speed up drying, you can put a layer of polyfil on a cookie sheet and put the baby on the polyfil and place in the oven at 200 for 30 minutes, checking it every 10 minutes - this dries the paint beautifully.
Experiment will different colors of oil paints and you can do layers of oil washes if you like. It's fun.
Lips
The lips should be prepared properly for Gallery Glass paint to adhere correctly. Strip the color off the lips with acetone and a tiny paint brush - don't let the acetone run or there will be shiny spots on the vinyl around the lips - you only want to let the acetone quickly dissolve the paint and evaporate but not stand on the vinyl. Next wash the lips with baking soda and water to neutralize.
Apply a THIN layer of Gallery Glass and let dry completely. If you want a second layer, you can do that, but THIN layers and let completely dry between applications or it will clump and peel off. .
If more definition is wanted for the lip coloring, we paint the lips with acrylic paint to get depth first and then Gallery Glass for a translucent shine. An acrylic sealer can be used as a top coat, if desired.
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