Friday, March 19, 2010

How Has Vinnie Aged?

I wiped off Vincente's faceup today (I'm planning to give him a fresh new faceup, actually based off an 'old' faceup, if that makes any sense!). After he was all cleaned up I decided to take a photo of his head in comparison to the inside of his headcap (which has retained how his resin looked when I got him in Jan. of 2004). I was curious about the difference and to see how his resin has aged in the 6 years since I got him.

Of course, the inside of the headcap is a a bit brighter, but overall, he's fared better than I thought he would, considering he's been outside *many* times and was even stored near an aquarium with bright fluorescent lighting for the first 2 years I had him. Most of the yellowing is on the front of his face of course, where he's been the most exposed.

An interesting thing I noticed after wiping off all the paint, was that his lips and around his eyes (areas that had the most paint applied) resembles the same resin color as inside the headcap. It's a bit brighter than the rest of his face.

In the past I have surface-sanded his face very conservatively to treat yellowing. Today I also let him soak in 70% rubbing alcohol as well as using a magic eraser with the alcohol. It cleaned him up nicely!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I can't wait to see him redone! I am always surprised at how resin ages... and how quickly. Even though he's an "old" doll, he's not very old at all.

Christy said...

Yeah, I wish I would have stored him better in those 'early years'. It wasn't until later on that all that "uv light lingo" started to sink in. But he's much better when I get all the coating cleaned off...I think most of the yellowing is on the coating, and I use 'UV-cut' now.