Dollieh Sanctuary

Hi people! >w<

I'm having a little problem with my "vinyl" (I think) baby doll... He had deep scratches on his lovely cheeks and body. So I ordered some soft sandpapers and guess what happened, it caused a skin discoloration.. He has white cheeks and a white belly right now.. It looks horrible.. What can I do? Any suggestion...

A picture of the damage would be helpful, also the make and model of the doll so the exact type of material can be determined.

Without seeing the damage, I would guess that the grit of your sandpaper was on the low side. But not to worry, this would only be the first step of many you would need to do anyway.
What grit of sandpaper/abrasive did you use? There should be a number printed on the back of the sandpaper or on the package. If the sandpaper just has a number it is probably the US standard grading scale. If the number has a "P" in front of it, it is the European standard. Sanding with too low (coarse) a grit can cause this sort of "whitening" effect. What sanding does is make lots of little scratches in the surface around the mark you are trying to get rid of. Now you need to move to a finer grit to begin to make the scratches smaller. You want to end up with a grid of about 500 (P1000) or higher. But you don't want to make that jump all at once or start with the fine grit. For example if you started with 150 grit (P150), you would want to next move to about 320-360 (P500) to smooth it out more. Then move up to about 500-600 grit (P1000) to start polishing the surface. Next you might have to finish it off with an 800+ (P1500). The effect of all this is to make the "scratches" the sanding makes smaller and smaller with each successive increase in the grit.

I started with 1200 then I also used 1500 and 2000... >.<"

I don't really know what kind of doll it is but it looks like Yogurtinis http://www.giocheriacentocelle.com/wp-c ... rtinis.jpg

Here are some pictures, I don't know if you can see anything but he has lots of mini-scratches, marks,..

http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/201 ... 011222.jpg
http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/201 ... 011307.jpg
http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/201 ... 011429.jpg
http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/201 ... 011245.jpg

Thank you for your answer! I'll try that!

EDIT: Now I don't know how to get ride of the white marks... If I keep using the sandpaper he will get even whiter..

As K2! said, finer and finer sandpaper are the key. Once you have gotten rid of all the scratches, the next step will be fixing the color. The answer is Copic Markers, try to find one that most closely resembles the original color. Add color to the doll a little at a time. The other way to fix this is with blushing with powdered pastels, but that will require sealing like any other doll face up or body blush. The Copic markers or other artist markers have been recommended for this. Do not get cheap brands. You are not looking for the kind used on coloring books but professional ones. They will actually make the problem worse.

For more info on restoration of vinyl dolls, and materials check out TWin Pines of Maine. They are the experts! http://www.twinpines.com/products/clean ... remove-zit This has more information on replacing vinyl pigments.

Huh.. I see.. I will go for the Copic markers then. >o<"
Is it good if I buy these https://www.amazon.com/Copic-Markers-6- ... E6J8ASND17

Since you said you're not sure what type of doll he is I assume you didn't acquire him "new" as originally packaged. If he is a Yogurtini, it appears the gimmick with these dolls was that they were scented and came in yogurt cup like containers. So with this scene feature I can't be certain what that was, whether is was an exterior coating or a chemical mixed into the body or what exactly.
http://newtoybrands.co.uk/yogurtinis/yogurtinis/
I know very little about these dolls and what they are made of or how they are made, so my recommendations are rather generic. If your interest is only removing the original scratch and restoring the color, then continue with the sanding, moving up to the P2000. At that point if the sanding scratches haven't diminished enough you may have to move up to polishing with a buffing wheel. Also be careful with the sanding and work slowly. Does the doll feel like it is a hollow skin or solid? If it is a skin, you can't be sure how much wall thickness you have to work with.
Then work to restore the color as Zirconmermaid suggests.

Miraculously the white marks are completely gone.. Today, I just rubbed his face and body with some tissue papers and it worked.... >…<" I don't how but I'm glad it worked, haha.

Thank you for taking the time to answer me, both of you!

Klonoa wrote:Miraculously the white marks are completely gone.. Today, I just rubbed his face and body with some tissue papers and it worked.... >…<" I don't how but I'm glad it worked, haha.
Thank you for taking the time to answer me, both of you!

You may have been looking at dust from sanding that was stuck on the surface and the tissue had enough coarseness to wipe it away. In any case, a success is a success!