Faceup Essentials - Starter Kit Advice 

Are soft oil pastels bad? I know nothing about pastels.

@@alicaudle bc of the reaction it has the oils from oil pastels can stain the dolls face. it would kinda be like touching a really old old painting with your bare hands the oils from our hands react with the types of paints they use to use and ruins the piece?... i unno thats how it was explained to me...

​@@alicaudle As far as my limited understanding goes, oil pastels and pencils don't react well with most of the sealants. They tend to not dry fully and become sticky.

What would you recommend?? For soft pastels

​@@malady6042I really don't know but it's safe to stick with known companies, like Winsor & Newton. Make sure you read they're not oil, even soft pastels can carry oil. Read everything!

Yeah you can get some great deals if you shop around! Thanks!

Thank you! That’s awesome to hear!

i ate mine

"Wiggle Butt" that's so adorably funny lol

Where did u order your doll?

I would hire someone to do it, very daunting

One horror story that sticks out is when someone sprayed on their balcony and a gust of wind came and blew the spray into their face. The months following, their lungs felt like they were on fire anytime they came anywhere near somebody smoking.

Well, I think a lot of those horror stories are a result of improper usage. There's no more health risk in doing faceups than any other kind of art so long as you're following directions on the packaging of the materials you're using. That being said the directions for some spray sealants are pretty loose and based on occasional usage, not frequent usage. If you're using aerosol products often then you'll need more than just a well ventilated area to spray in, and definitely a mask. The thing to consider in maximising your safety is how often you'll be doing it, and picking the appropriate safety gear to go along with your level of usage. So if you're doing one faceup every couple of months then you can probably get away with standing outside to spray, but if you're doing it a few times a month then you might want a decent respirator. And you can always opt for brands that are non toxic and environmentally safe. Vallejo makes water based non toxic sealers for airbrush use and follows US regulated safety guidelines, that's what I use.

Xhanthi Thanks for your response! You make a good point about the frequency of faceups. So if I do have a respirator, but I can smell through it (therefore it mustn't fit perfectly, right?), *but* I probably would only do one or two faceups a year and spray outside, that might be okay? Thanks, I'll keep that brand in mind. I'm actually a fellow Aussie (I think that's where you're based?), so it's good to know which materials are acessible to us.

Yeah it's probably not good if you can still smell everything strongly through the mask. Maybe ask at your local store about fitting issues and recommendations for solutions? I'm am Australian, but I live in the US! So I'm afraid I don't know what's going to be locally available for you!

U definitely want to get an organic vapor respirator mask (also known as P95 masks). That way you'll be able to breathe safely during the faceup and u can still use Mr Super Clear with minimal risk. If u dont want to use MSC b/c of the price, I reccomend Testor's dullcote (it's cheaper) or dulux brand sprays (which are available in Australia but only come in gloss and semi gloss). Hope this helps🤗

You're welcome! I'm so glad you liked it!

Very welcome

Thank you for watching!

Awww thank you! I’m glad it helped!

Agreed. Most of the time I only find nazally annoying voices or those with thick foreign accents that make me cringe... so I can't continue the tutorials. This women seems to have a nice, soft british accent that I can listen to.

Alice's collections (website) has a ton of dolls! there's so much variety. and if I remember correctly, they sell practice heads (bjd heads but cheaper so u can practice on them?)

I’ve heard it’s watered down guache

Watered down acrylic or gouache. You can water it down with water or a acrylic medium

@@tysirrah Why exactly do they water it down? Is it to make the color more transparent so to speak? Like to make it more "soft" so they can layer it or?

@@monochromedream-eatingbaku it goes on smoother when you water it down. so it goes on like ink and doesn't have clumps

@@tysirrah lomisplayground has a video where she tried qouache for a bjd faceup

That's a super good suggestion actually!

Awww thank you!

You use it to seal each layer of pastel and paint so you can build up colour saturation

Thank you!

@@xhanthi I just started doing this and I'm still learning I'm doing a life-sized replica of Chucky from Child's Play. And it's so strange it's like putting on makeup and I don't want to mess it up or make him look like a clown. I'm going to keep studying your videos. If I have any questions I'll try and get ahold of you

Oh wow Chucky!! That’s pretty awesome! I’m always scared to mess up too, especially the closer I get to the end, I start stressing that my finishing touches will be final disasters lmao! But, you can always start again and it usually doesn’t even come to that!

@@xhanthi yeah I really like it I've always been an artist I can draw a really good I can draw anything I can switch out my style then I started getting into a prop and replicas it is really fun I'm really glad that I heard from you you answer questions easily that I think are hard because I don't have the knowledge. If I can overcome these horrible times in my life and make it through I would actually love to spend my time doing something like this all the misery and pain that I've experienced in the past year has really changed my outlook and I just don't feel good and I don't know I'm just really sad and I'm trying to do stuff to cheer me up

I use Windsor & Newton brush cleaner to remove faceup, but I don’t know how to do minor removal!

Yeah they should, I would maybe consider subbing the coloured pencils for watercolour, just because sometimes the oil content in regular pencils can eat through sealant and stain the head underneath. So watercolour pencils are a safer option.

Thank you! I just use it straight from the pot, I don’t thin it at all.

@@xhanthi Thanks so much for your reply,it is very much appreciated.

I know i’m very late, but to anyone reading - you CAN have a practice head/doll to use over and over again!

It's a lot of hand stippling with a paintbrush plus some very light brush splatter with a very small brush!

I use Vallejo matt varnish

It's just called a kneaded eraser. There's a bunch of different sizes and brands but it's just called a kneaded eraser.

Babu Madarasova buy it online then ^^

this is really late, but yes, sealant is necessary.

If you take your time and watch a variety of How To videos before jumping in it'll seem a lot less intimidating when you go to get and use the airbrush. You just have to allow yourself the time to learn and be okay with feeling a little overwhelmed, because it'll pass and one day you'll just be airbrushing like a pro!

Dry

Always do dry, oil pastels damage the doll.

Nope, you can do faceups without an airbrush, it's personal choice. You just need an aerosol spray sealant instead of something like the Vallejo that I use.

Hi, I think the glossy one will do the same, hence you can paint on them but it won't look matte in the end. So instead your face will look kind of wet or be shiny like dewy I think. Can look nice too if you want this I know only from watching all those videos so don't give it a 100% credibility 🙆

It's just a preference, MSC is more expensive and more finicky in humid climates, it's a more toxic product too so you have to be sure you're using the right safety gear with it. I find it easier and safer to use a water based sealant instead.

Sounds like you need a fluffier brush and to clean more often

Maybe the sealant wasn't sprayed evenly?

Sounds like oil from fingers on the doll are grabbing the pastels. I suggest soft cotton gloves during doll handling during the face-up process

The pastel is a dry powder you brush on, so it’s chalk pastels not oil pastels, and I use watercolor pencils for some details rather than wet watercolor, I hope that helps!

Chalk I guess. The non oil based ones because the oil will stain the material permanently if I get that right

Soft chalk pastels, using oil based products on dolls will stain then because oil tends to eat right through the sealant!

I’m not sure what apple barrel paint is!

im really new to bjd dolls but I’d try looking second hand dolls. i know you can also buy heads separately so that would be a good option too! it will be much cheaper.

@@bingchungus Acbjd on aliexpress is a recaster though, not really a dealer so to speak. (Don’t worry my own dolls are recast and i’m anti recast hate!)

@@akudumb3021 Is there any legit sellers on aliexpress at all or not?

@@PrincessofKeys Yeah there were some! I recommend you join a BJD group as i genuinely saw someone say that there is a company selling legits. There of course are recast companies too

Hello, I haven't tried it, but from watching other's videos and reading comments I know that oil based pencils and pastels can leave permanent markings on the face and stain it, so it's better to use non oil based pastels I hope that's right 🙆

You want to use the soft chalk pastels, oil based products will stain your doll!

No, don't use oil based pastels, soft chalk pastels only

You could try Arteza, they’re pretty affordable, alternatively you can buy single Derwent pencils from Blick.com and just get one or two super essential colors to start with

@@xhanthi Thank you very much! I do have one of the smaller sets of Arteza pencils so hopefully that will get me through until I can make enough money to invest in better materials.

I can’t say how long a makeup from Aliexpress will last. A lot of things on aliexpress are cheap knockoffs so who knows what the quality will be like. In general a faceup is much like a piece of art, so it won’t last forever if you drop it, scratch it, constantly touch it etc, but a faceup should be durable enough for gentle play. Each one’s durability will depend on how it was made though, the sealant and paints used etc.

@@xhanthi okay thanks 😊

I did some of my dolls with regular pencils, some chalk and sealed it with X-22 because I run out of MSC and water pencils. I'm gonna renew them because they've gotten a little dirty... as I did those makeups 10 years ago.

The clear sealant works as a primer

So I don’t use MSC, I use Vallejo matt sealant through an airbrush instead. So just go with whichever you like better, you definitely don’t need both

Is it okay if I use the paint over type sealant or it is a must to use the spray type? Sorry, I'm a total beginner 😂

You can totally use paint over sealant, that’s exactly how I use it. If it’s a bjd that I’m painting I’ll clean and seal the blank head. Then do my first painting/blushing layer, then seal and do as many subsequent layers as I need before adding one last layer of sealer at the end. The. The very last step after that would be adding gloss for lips and adding eyelashes. Hope that helps!

@@xhanthi but I still need 3 types of media right? Or I could just use the color pencil without the other 2?

Well the sealant is like... Mr super clear? It pretty much helps "save" what youve already done on a doll project, ppl sometines do doll faceups (doll make up/body blushing) and the use the sealant between layers... Do you draw? Like on a phone/ tablet app? Its kind of like that you do one layer of make up seal it that way when you do the next layer, say you mess up, you wont have to start all over youll just have to erase what got messed with like an eraser or something or water and a sponge

And sometimes stringing is refered to when you have to restring your doll bc the elastic they use can lose its form and lose the stretchiness so sometimes youll have to replace the elastic if the dolls elastic becomes too loose sometimes you can just shorten the string a little.. At least thats what ive gotten from all the videos ive watched... Im not a bjd owner but i do want one so im really just doing research (kinda) before i do get my doll. Just look up how to restring a bjd and therell be tons of videos

That depends on the company but it’s not greatly different to buying anything online, each company has a website that usually lets you know where to buy, whether that’s direct or through a distributor. Some big bjd companies are, Iplehouse, Volks, Fairyland, Doll Château. I recommend buying direct from the company and not through places like ebay or aliexpress because those are typically going to be fakes. Hope that helps!

@@xhanthi Thank you for letting me know 💖

the faceup may fade or rub away over time.

You won’t be able to draw and will directly stain your doll if any pigment will stick at all

I can really only recommend things I’ve actually used, and these are all just suggestions to give people a starting point to begin their own research.

Practice, not talent!

LOL