Kkhymn's Corner

Nail Polish Eyes

Well, I have been busy still trying to figure out my medical coverage with Medicare. I may not have all the health insurance I need until next year, after I re-enroll in the different Medicare plans. It is pretty stressful. If you all could send prayers for good health, at least as best as it can be with my chronic list of crap, I would appreciate it.

I have been busy still customizing my Blythe girls. And getting some new vintage dolls too. But I will share more details of my dolly finds in another post. Today I want to share one of my budget friendly experiments with dolly eye chips. I have been painting them with nail polish! I saw a video of a girl doing this with BJD dolls, and thought I could try it with Blythe eye chips.

Now before I go into the do’s and don’ts of this process, I know this is a very controversial subject in the dolly world. Some people are very against painting with nail polish because they fear it will damage the eye socket, and that the eye chips will also get cloudy over time. The standard practice is to paint eye chips with acrylic paints. So, just know that painting eye chips with nail polish does have its risks, but I am a risk taker. Creativity is often about taking these risks. And, so far I have had no problems with my nail polish eyes. In fact, they have come out brilliantly with rich colors I could not get out of acrylic paints. And, this is such a budget friendly solution for many of us who can not spend $20 on a pair of hand painted dolly eyes.  But, yes, do this at your own risk.

What you will need:

• Clear acrylic eye chips for your doll
• Thin paper backing that is for the eye chips
• Bottle of nail polish in your choice of color – metallic polishes look amazing
• Bottle of clear top coat
• Makeup remover wipes or alcohol swabs
• Black paint and brush to paint the eye pupil
• Craft glue to insert each eye chip into the eye sockets.

Do’s and Don’ts:

• Be sure to test the color on your nails or a piece of plastic before painting your eye chips. Once you start painting the eye chips, the nail polish is difficult to remove and start over. So you only have one shot at the color.
• Do not use acetone to remove any nail polish remover from the eye chips. Acetone will gradually ruin the plastic. I recommend trying to scrape the nail polish off the eye chips with your fingers, using soap and warm water. If this does not work, throw the eye chips in the trash.
• Do not use your paint brush to paint the nail polish on the eyes.  You will be painting with the nail polish brush in the bottle.
• Remember to check the look of your eye chips while you are painting them. Look at them from the front of the eyes next to the light so you can see any missed areas of polish.
• To protect the eye mechanism from any potential damage from the nail polish, do use a thin paper backing on the eye chip. Then glue it in the eye sockets. Some eye chips come with the paper backing (e.g., from Cool Cat). Others do not. However, you can order the paper backing from Cool Cat separately or make your own.
• Do not use nail polish to paint the faceplates of your Blythe doll. The plastic is softer than the acrylic eye chips, and the risk is much greater for damage. Use acrylic paints, pastels and other standard items on the faceplates of your doll.

Step 1: Paint the Eye Pupil

Paint the pupil of each eye with black acrylic paint. I use a black paint pen that can be bought in craft and art stores. It saves me from taking out a brush too. Let the paint on the pupil dry completely before painting with the nail polish.

Step 2: Paint the Eyes with Nail Polish

Paint the Eyes

Paint Several Layers

Check the Eye Color

Select the color of nail polish for your eyes. Be sure to test the color of the polish on your nails or piece of plastic before starting them on the eye chips. The color on the bottle doesn’t always come out the way you think it will once on the nails or eyes. You can decide to layer two different nail polish colors together for your eyes. But I usually just pick one color. Darker or richer colors work best, and metallic polish gives amazing results.

Using the color of your choice, start painting the rest of the eyes with your polish. Use the brush that comes with the nail polish to paint your eye chips. Do not use your paint brushes to paint the eye chips.

Keep painting layers of nail polish around the eyes. Do not wait for each layer to dry. You can mix two different colors of polish by layering them on top of each other. You want to paint  thick even layers on the eye chips to make sure the color is evenly saturated. I usually paint 2-3 layers, with the first layer being the thinnest and each layer following being thicker on the brush. Remember to check the color of the eyes while you are painting them. Look at them from the front of the eyes against the sunlight to see any missed areas of polish. Once you have the desired color saturation for each eye, let the polish dry completely.

Step 3: Add a Layer of Clear Top Coat

Now that the colored polish is dry, add a layer of clear top coat nail polish to the eyes. Use the brush in the bottle to paint the layer. Let the top coat dry completely.

Step 4: Clean the Eye Chip

You most likely got some polish painted on the edges of the eyes. Or maybe some got on the fronts of the eye chips as you were painting them. Using you fingers, scrape any excess nail polish off the edges of the eye chips. Then using an alcohol swab or make up remover wipe, clean the front of the eye chips.

Step 5: Add Paper Backing

Now take the thin paper backing for each eye chip and place it on each eye chip. I place it with the shiny side visible to me. Your eyes are finished and are ready to be glued into each eye socket of your dolly’s eye mechanism.

Well, I hope this tutorial helps you with your creative Blythe Adventures.  It is important to note that nail polish painting is not recommended for use on the Blythe face plates; it is best to keep to the standard practice of acrylic paints and pastels for the face make up. Again, many people in the dolly community are staunchly against taking this risk when painting the acrylic eye chips. But for those who dare to try, I hope you have as much fun as I have!

© https://kkhymn.wordpress.com

Meet Abby Blythe

Ok. The stuff with Medicare continues. I have drastically decreased my doctor appointments cause I just don’t have to funds to pay for all of the it, even at 20 percent of the cost. I am really hoping I have insurance the last few months of the year. If not, cross your fingers that nothing goes wrong with my sad body. It is just the way life goes sometimes. I am trying not to stress out. I know next year I will have some sort of insurance, but I am still waiting to hear what social security will do with my benefit amounts after the work review, and it is getting harder not to worry about the funds you have now or the funds that you will not have in the future.

I have been keeping busy with my dolly groups on Ravelry and Facebook. There has been more dolly drama, which has been energy draining and sad.  But I am hoping things calm down and people can just move on and love their dolls. I know that in the “real world” people are not always 100 percent honest about things, people do get taken advantage of, and one’s generosity is not always appreciated. But what happened to “Doing unto others as you would like to be done to you?” Simple respect seems to have been forgotten these days, and I am just feeling as old as my body is acting. It is just sad.

On a happier note, I was able to get one of my “grail” girls. In dolly speak, a “grail girl” is the “holy grail” of dolls you long for on your wish list. I have a few “grail girls” on my wish list, but I have wanted a Blythe girl with long straight black hair and bangs ever since I started this hobby. And there were really only two girls that fit the bill – B2Holic Blythe and Bow Wow Tradition. The two dolls are from different doll molds, so they are not completely identical. But they are both limited edition dolls, and very hard to find for a reasonable price.

But, the universe was kind to me. I went on Blythe Kingdom and happened to see a used Bow Wow Tradition, sold nude, available for sale in the USA. I immediately negotiated the price and have been in love ever since with this girl. I have named her Abby, because I have now customized her to by my Abby Sciuto Blythe from NCIS. I love Abby’s character on NCIS, and I have wanted to do her as a Blythe doll for the longest time.

I did all the customizing myself:

I did slight lip carving. It really isn’t a skill I have mastered. I repainted her lips with three different colors of acrylic paints – red, burgundy wine, and black. I did not feel like changing her lashes, but managed to paint her eyelids black.

Abby’s Skull Eyelids

Then I got these really cool vinyl skull nail stickers from Etsy and put them on her lids. The Etsy store is StickItVinyl, and she has pre-cut vinyl stickers for your nails that fit perfectly on Blythe eyelids. You just place the sticker on the eyelid and then rub it off with your fingernail to transfer it onto the desired surface. I put a coat of clear varnish on top of the sticker to protect and seal it. The sticker does not interfere with the eye mechanism because it is so thin, and it is perfect for me because I can not draw or paint anything cool on eyelids.

I also gave Abby all new eye chips. I painted one set metallic black with acrylic paint. And the other three sets were painted with metallic nail polish! I painted a couple layers of nail polish, then one layer of top coat,  then added the paper foil backing that came with each eye. It protects the eyes and eye socket from any potential damage from the nail polish, and protects the polish from any glue in the eye socket. She got a pair of ruby red eyes, smoky grey eyes, and sparkly olive green eyes all with nail polish! The nail polish are so rich and have a different sheen than the acrylic paints. I am definitely becoming a nail polish addict again, thanks to Blythes!

I also found the perfect pull charms for Abby. I got a skully butterfly shaped rib cage pendant from a necklace at the Hot Topic store at the mall. And, a Jack Skellington pull charm from Etsy. I added a few beads to her pull strings too.

Nail Polish Eyes

Then came the hunt for the perfect outfit. I had a friend of mine custom make me an outfit for Abby, including the white lab coat. Then found more punk style outfits and boots on Ebay and Etsy, and had a friend make me an NCIS t-shirt too. I got a Caf-Pow drink from the CBS store, and knitted the perfect grey hippo using Rebecca Danger’s Harriet the Haberdashery Hippo pattern. I used Lorna’s Laces sport weight yarn for the smaller sized hippo, the colorway was 50 Skeins of Grey -Charlie Tango.

Abby and I have had some great adventures together. We have taken a short walk in the woods (aka my backyard) and were surprised with tickets to the Circus last weekend. My body is not happy and is screaming bloody murder after this outing, but it was so worth it. You can see the circus photos in my Flickr set here. I had never been to the circus before, and I had more fun than the kids around me. I definitely needed some fun to fight the bad with some good.  I am also slowly becoming a baseball fan – the Dodgers – watching the games on t.v. and learning all the lingo. You may see one of my dolls in a Dodger outfit soon. LOL.

Still practicing random acts, just more quietly in the background. I just don’t think people get what I do with my knitting and the random acts. It doesn’t seem to inspire others to follow and practice their own. Maybe they are practicing it quietly in the background too. I have stopped worrying about it or trying to get others to follow. I am just doing what I do. Keep sharing the dolly and monster love.

© https://kkhymn.wordpress.com