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| Preordered Classic Cool Ken arrived in mid-July. |
This past June when Classic Cool Ken became available as a preorder from
the ShopMattel website, I ordered one along with Boho Glam (the latter doll has
yet to arrive). The preordered Ken did not arrive until mid-July.
I
purchased another Classic Cool at a Walmart store a week or so after the
preorder. If you follow this blog, you have probably seen the results
of the "parts" I painted in between the first doll's cornrows. As a comment to one of the posts, Jewell
suggested in lieu of painting the scalp, I could have used a fine-pointed Q-tip and acetone to remove
the original paint. A member of a
Facebook group made the same suggestion.
The preordered doll arrived in time for me to try this
technique and send that doll to my niece for her end-of-July birthday. The lack of time, however, prevented me from
completing that task, so I sent her the first Classic Cool, after repackaging him, of course. I wrote her a note to
let her know that I painted the doll’s scalp to give him a more
realistic appearance.
I finally found time to try the acetone technique (but I used fingernail polish) on the
preordered Classic Cool Ken, which was for me a total failure.* A fingernail polish-dipped Q-tip removed hair
from the scalp as well as from the edges of the braided cornrows! I
needed to have used something thinner than the end of a Q-tip. I even tried removing some of the cotton from the end of the Q-tip, but it was still too wide. Since I did not have anything pointed and firm enough to both absorb the fingernail polish and remove the paint only from the desired areas, I removed all the paint with fingernail polish and cotton swabs and repainted the
braids and sideburns.
After-paint-removal and after-painting photos are shown next.
I was going to temporarily give him earrings (without piercing the lobes) using nail art crystals, which have an adhesive back, but I did not have any more on hand. (I have used these before to add earrings to dolls, never for myself. I rarely even polish my nails.)
*Acetone and fingernail polish both work well to remove manufactured paint from vinyl dolls, but if the desired area is tiny, the correct tool will be needed to only remove paint from the desired areas. I even tried using a thin-bristled paint brush, but of course the bristles were not firm enough to allow the necessary pressure needed to remove the paint. With that said, I must admit that the natural color scalp looks better than the painted scalp and both are far better than the manufactured black scalp.
Here's Classic Cool Ken dressed and ready to rejoin the doll family.
dbg
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He's looking good, Debbie! I didn't try the Q-tip on mine because I figured it would be too wide. I remember seeing a tool around here that looks like a tiny squeegee with a tiny sponge tip, but I can't remember what it was for or where I would find it. I don't want to remove all of my guy's hair. I still haven't ordered my acrylic paint set yet. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Roxanne. I have a sponge-tipped cuticle pusher that might have worked.
DeleteJust pick up a couple of bottles of acrylic paint in the desired colors the next time you shop at Walmart. A paint set will probably include colors you will never use.
dbg
Ken turned out nice and the cornrows look more natural. Thanks for sharing. I wondered if taping off the area would have prevented the nail polish from hitting the sides of the braids.
ReplyDeleteThanks, MDW. Taping over the braids with masking tape or painter's tape might have worked, but it also might have been more time consuming to cut strips of tape the size of each braid as opposed to just removing and repainting.
Deletedbg
Hmm, I wonder if that thin sticky tape used to mark off human nails for French manicures would do the trick.
DeleteI really like what you're doing with your Classic Cools. I wonder if they'll ever make a girl with a complete head of molded cornrows. That would look so high fashion :D
Thanks for sharing your tutorial, I agree it would be next to impossible to find a tool thin enough to remove the paint in hair part wide lines on such a tiny head, better to remove it all and paint the braids in since they're more obvious.
Ken looks great. Lighter hair color = Ken goes to a very good colorist. He's a guy who knows how to take care of himself.
ReplyDeleteFor a split second I thought about giving him blonde cornrows, Gini, but that would have required mixing paint and this "colorist" didn't feel like doing that. I grabbed Coffee Bean gloss paint instead. :-)
Deletedbg
It looks so neat like he just came from the shop! Mattel needs to take a look!
ReplyDeleteI have him. I considered removing paint to expose scalp, but decided to just flock instead. I like his face, I just wish he didn't have molded hair. I like the way he looks now that you repainted his hair.
ReplyDeleteHi Jaye,
DeleteI bet he looks good with flocked hair. Maybe Mattel will reissue this head sculpt with rooted hair or molded short hair in a different complexion.
dbg
I agree that he looks good with his repainted cornrowed hair. I have never tried this, but when I remove eyelashes or eyemakeup from a doll, I use a toothpick and put on a very small amount of cotton dipped in nail polish remover with acetone to get a "tool" that give a very narrow and controllable way to remove paint. I will have to try this with my Classic Cool Ken!
ReplyDeleteI think your toothpick tool will probably work well, Phyllis. I tried using a toothpick, just dipping it alone in the fingernail polish remover, then I rolled the wet tip back and forth on the area where I wanted paint removed, but of course it was not wet enough to remove the paint. It removed some, but not very much. Adding just a little bit of cotton will probably work well.
DeleteAfter painting the cornrows or while painting them, I used the same toothpick to scrape paint away from the areas that were accidentally painted or to even up the lines.
dbg
I like him better with the scalp painted a different color. It gives him a more realistic look.
ReplyDelete