Painting Reborn Baby Dolls - Adding the bluing, veining and deep shading.

My second stage in painting reborn dolls is to add the bluing, veining and deep shading. The paint I use for this is the Secrist Authentic Reborn cream paints. The colors are premixed and no thinner is required with these paints, giving better control for this painting stage application.

I use Eyelid Tint Purple and Eyelid Tint Blue and lay them out as shown on a glass pallet and mix the two colors together as I go according to what part of the doll is being painted.

The eyes are especially important for realism. First I apply very lightly with a #4 brush Eyelid Purple on the inside edge of the eye socket, around the tear ducks and on the lower corner of the outer part of the eye. I smooth it out so it gently fades away from the edges. On the closed eyed newborn babies I apply the purple tent along the upper lid near the crease covering the full length of the eye.
Now I have found it is not necessary to bake at this point so I go on to the next step.

My next step is to with the same brush apply a very light coat of  blue just below the brow bone, and around the eye in the corner near the nose and down into the circle indention. I have to be very careful not to add to much, for the blue stains and is very hard to remove if it is too heavy. At this point I mix a little of the purple with a very small part of blue and cover over the area again. I add a mixture of purple and blue on each side of the nose, in the nose and the sides of the mouth down to the chin. I also add the mix of purple and blue inside the ear to give depth. 
Veins are then added to the temple area with a very thin bristle brush and a few in the forehead area, for babies that are not going to be wigged I add a few on the head.  The veins should be very light and blotted and feathered just after painting on. Also on open mouth babies I use the bluing and purple for inside the mouth to give depth.

My next step is shading of the feet and hands, and adding veins to them. The picture shows a finished dolls foot and hand, but if you look closely you can see the shading in the arch of the foot that extends up to the ankle.  I use a mix of purple and blue and spread at random and up along the center of the foot and under the toes. I also shade behind the ankle and the top of the foot between the toes.  Adding the bluing and purple to the hand palm, in deep folds and in between fingers adds depth.  Each doll is painted little different due to the sculpt design and sometimes the same design differently.

( In these pictures the camera has picked up the red so the red you see shows up more intense than they actually are. In my opinion subtle is the answer.)

Next comes behind the knees and elbows. I use the bluing mixture bluer in the middle and more purple to the edges. Later in the painting process will come more blushing in this area. Picture shows a almost finished part so you can see the over all end effect.  Now these are pictures of one of the larger babies. It represents a 18 month old. It would be painted slightly different than a preemie or newborn. The newborn will have a higher level of blue and more veins and the preemie would have a even higher level of blue especially around the fingers and feet.


Let the parts dry for a few hours then it is time to bake them at 265 degrees for 8 minutes. I use a NuWave Oven and love it! 
Many artist next step is the flesh coat, but I prefer to use a light coat of over all blushing and texture first.  I take into consideration that the veins, and blushing color of our body comes from beneath the skin not on top. So our next session with be on the first blush.

The doll shown in these pictures is Tibby a Bountiful Baby sculpt by Donna RuBert.  It represents a 18 month old baby. Our standard weight for this doll is 8 pounds, but could be weighted more if desired. She or He is one of our most popular reborn dolls.

Painting your Reborn with different types of Heat Set paints

Many different mediums may be used to paint your doll. The three that I use are all heat set paints. Heat set paints requires each layer of paint to be baked at 265 degrees Fahrenheit for 8 minutes to cure the paint on to the vinyl before going to the next layer. Some dolls could have as many as 8 or 9 layer or as few as 3 or 4 layers.  The paints I use are Authentic Reborn pre-mixed colors by Secrist Doll Co.; Genesis custom pre-mixed paints by Bountiful Baby; and Genesis heat set colors that need to be mixed to create the proper color.

Authentic Reborn pre-mixed are heat set paints and come in pre-mixed complexions of Peaches and Cream, Strawberry, Vintage Rose.   They require no thinning with Mineral Spirits and are designed to be transparent creams.  These are very good paints for beginners taking the guess work out of how much thinner to use. The Paint is spread as a very thin layer on glass pallet and the flesh and blush is applied with various sponges.  For veins and creases a brush is used. These paints were designed for the Secrist vinyl doll parts, which is a darker Peach color.  This is the only paint I used when I first started adding additional enhancements to Secrist Apple Valley Dolls that are pre-painted at their factory in Michigan. This paint is easy to use, but the flesh tones do not give the best flesh effect in my opinion. But I feel the two colors in the picture to the left:, eye lid purple and vein blue work best around the eyes and to give dept in the shadows, so I use these on all the dolls.

Bountiful Baby pre-mixed paints are heat set paints that shades of Genesis paints have been blended to achieve the color tones that BB feels best suits Bountiful Baby vinyl. Mixes include flesh, blush, a darker blush also used for lips and nails, and creases.  These paints do need to be mixed with an odorless thinner such as Turpenoid. Each paint application  is thinned to various degrees of thinness depending on the layer and effect you are to achieve. ( I will have more about layers and thinning in an up coming blog on Painting).  This is the medium I use most often for the Bountiful Parts and for the Lee Middleton doll parts. Although I do also use the Authentic Reborn paints around the eyes and their cream blush as my last blush on the Bountiful and Middleton dolls. The BB blush is actually a blood color and dries slightly brownish like real blood does. In my opinion that leaves the baby looking too brown so I add the last layer of blush from the AR blush to give a rosier complexion and brighten, making the baby look more alive.

Genesis heat set paints come in standard colors that you mix together to create the shade and the effect you want to achieve. That mixed base is then thinned with an orderless paint thinner. I use Odorless Turpenoid that I get from my local art supply store. Mixing the colors and knowing how much thinner to use becomes a challenge but with practice it can be mastered.

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