How easy/difficult is it to do a face-up?? Is there an A-Z somewhere on how to do it, ie what paint, fixer etc?? Thanks

It isnt easy but also not to hard :) you should read a lot about it and find out wich effects you like and wich products to use for them

The more often you do it the better you get in it and the more you'll know wich things you like ( and dislike) Saar has changed face-up so often now I cant count anymore XD

I use chalk pastels of the brand van gogh and acryllic paints of the brand Amsterdam and I seal with mister super clear flat. (MSC)

ALWAYS wash the dolls head first with cheap ( becous dreft and other expensive brands have stuff in it that are bad for resin but good for your hands) dishwasher soap and let it dry very well and put a first layer of MSC on it. It protects the head for staining and makes the face-up more easy removeble if you wish to.

I use the chalk pastels to blush and do eyeshadow with on the doll. NEVER use human make-up products becous they contain oils and can harm your doll's resin.

I use the acrillic paints to paint eyebrow en eyelash hairs and lined in the lips. I also use it for beaty marks and you can use it for tatoo's also.

between layers of blush and acryllic paint I coat again with MSC after I finished the face-up I coat one last time and use acryllic gloss ( I believe of the brand Talens) to gloss around the eyes and mouth... I also gloss the eyebrow hairs but I think I'm the only one that does that XD

There are people that use other products to face-up to, like aqaurell pencils or airbrush ( expensive D: )

If you want to remove the face-up use some clear nailpolisch remover WITHOUT ACETON ( becous the aceton will eat away the resin)

Thanks Hasel that's really useful guide

What sort of soap do you use to wash their face in? Do you mean the sort of soap we use for hands/face or for pots??

Have you ever tried face-ups on tinies?

for pots and pans

the cheap kind like you buy at aldi or liddl

becous in the expensive ones like dreft are stuff that makes your hands feel soft and such. And that stuff is harmfull for the resin

I never have tried to face-up a tiny, I do own two tiny's but they are sooo small and I really like their face-ups so I never tried to do them. I does seems like fun to me to try especially on for the 20 cm tiny's since their a bit bigger.

I'm thinking to open a face-up commision shop somewhere in the future for cheap becous it seems so much fun for me to see all those heads and may face-up them but first I need to become a bit better I think.

This is an interesting thread. I've often wondered about it too.
I sent my Lydia to Pepstar in the USA and she did a beautiful job on her but customs gave me a smack when she came back

Faceups can be tricky...But pastels are the most forgiving. Be sure they are oil-free pastels, though! You do NOT want ones that have oil in them.

MSC is getting harder and harder to come by...some people have used Testor's Dullcoat with great results, but I have never personally tried it.

The nice thing is that if you do mess up, you can just remove it all and start again. Nail polish remover (non-acetone) works great.

Good luck! It's scary at first, but it's can be very rewarding, too!


Mary

Maryjo there is a lady in Lancaster who does lovely faceups, I've seen an example irl of a doll belonging to Jane and it was lovely, if you ever need someone again it might be worth to stop customs getting it (I can't believe customs did, what did they want to charge you, for the doll, head or the faceup???)

I'm very particular about my face-ups so I tend to prefer getting dolls direct from the manufacturer and requesting the type of face-up I want. For me, it's worth it to pay a bit more at the point of sale to avoid other shipping and perhaps customs costs when getting a customized face-up. This is also why I am a bit hesitant to purchase a BJD doll off the secondary market unless it has got an amazing face-up.

if you send them off to someone in europe you wont get the custom charges

for example you life in england and you want an face-up done by me you send it the the netherlands and I send it back and you wont get any custom charges

customs is evil, still havent paid the 60,22 euro to them yet they charged 43% of the worth of a doll body I imported. wich is waaay to much >.>'' and they dont respond to my emails and letters >:( and I'm NOT going to pay bevore I've got an explanation.

MSC is hard to find now days becuase we're not really ment to import it so the companies stopped selling it. Hobby link Japan sells it and it works out not tooo badly priced they mark down and lie about the contents for you too.
What my forum is planning is getting some in to sell on for about £8 a tin at shows so you don't have to worry about bulk buying or finding a group order.

Testors does work but goes funny quickly, i've seen it go green on a friends doll.

There are alot of uk faceup artist (i'm one of them) if you want to commision out.
I've painted tinies (pukis and elf dolls oh and dollfie plus). They make me go cross eyed but it really enjoy it.

If your going to have a go your self DoA has so great tutorials in the Painting, Customizing and Esthetics sub forum.