Adventures in customisation: factory make up removal

Removing the factory make up of a doll is kind of a big step. You've leapt into the world of 'whatever happens to this doll, it's never going back the way it was....' 

Frankie Stein Picture Day without her face

Luckily with a doll like Monster High, there's not too much to lose if it goes horribly wrong. I'd removed all the glue from the head, so now all that was left was to remove the make up.

Originally, for the head, I tried some acetone nail polish, but all it really did was move the paint around on the face to create a look not unlike a post-party Effy from Skins. So I decided it was time to up the ante and move onto acetone! I'd heard that acetone can eat your doll's plastic if left on, so using the powers of Science I also mixed some bicarbonate of soda powder in a little water to hopefully neutralise the acid later.  The acetone was great and even removed the smudges I had managed to ingrain all over the face on my previous effort. I used a pin to scrape the very centre of the lips and get the acetone right in, and everything else was easy with a cotton bud. I also removed the scalp paint which was for reasons unknown to man nor beast, a peculiar light orange. 

After this I rubbed my possibly futile bicarbonate paste all over the head and washed it off. 

Stitchless Frankie

Now onto the body, to remove Frankie's stitches!

I used acetone on the body too, and this does take a bit of a shine off and leave the body kind of matte, but I'll sand it all down later anyway to remove the seams and MADE IN INDONESIA YO and respray it if necessary. At first when I applied the acetone, it dried too quickly and I rubbed a weird and sticky mess on the leg that looked like some sort of hideous infection. After a small portion of time was alloted to freak out, this was sorted out by a liberal dose of acetone and lots of rubbing, and from then on I rubbed all the stitches with a generous amount of fluid! It really does evaporate so fast... Once all the stitches were removed, I bicarbonated up the body and then washed it off. 

I also snapped the bolts off the side of her neck with a pair of scissors, they came off quite easily. I intend to sand down the remaining stumps and hopefully that will look like a pretty normal neck. 

Now I've got to wait for the things I've ordered in the post to come to continue the customisation, so expect some doll pictures instead for a few days!

A peculiarly artistic shot of Acetone and Bicarb