-
Step 1
Choose a color. For brighter shades, choose acrylic paints that are rich and deep. It's important to use professional quality acrylic paint for the best results.
-
Step 2
In your dixie cup or small dish of similar size, squirt an amount of paint that is the size of a dime. Fill the cup or dish a little over half full with water, and mix the paint and water together until the mixture is the consistency of ink.
-
Step 3
Lay the doll on the newspaper or rags, hair free of tangles and fanned out. Dip your comb into the paint and water mixture, and gently comb through the doll's hair. Keep combing the color through until all hair has been covered with the paint and water, and touch up roots if needed with an artist's paint brush dipped into the paint mixture.
-
Step 4
Dry the doll's hair upside down to avoid coloring any part of the doll's face or skin and let the hair dry for three to four days.
-
Step 5
Brush, style and wash the doll's hair as needed after it is completely dry.
Okay gang, to show you that things don't always work sometimes here are my results with dying Barbie's hair. This is in two sections Acrylic Paint and Rit DYE.
"Dying with Acrylic Paint"
For the first experiment
I followed these instructions.
http://www.dollraves.net/arttips/dye.html
So here is where I started.
A typical blond barbie (the instructions said that the best hair to use was the super shiny stuff. So that's what I did.) I did not have a flea comb but DID have a very fine tooth comb. I chose a very dark shade of blue paint (since the instructions said to expect a lighter color)
I've mixed my paint with plenty of water and am ready to begin combing it in.
Combing the color in was such a messy job that I never managed to get a good picture.
I continued to comb the hair as it dried, even though I knew from the start
that it was
going to be much lighter than my desired result.
Two pictures after the hair has dried. A very pale shade of blue, kind of an
ice blue.
Not even dark enough to call a sky or baby blue.
There is a definite streak effect to the color - not something I was trying to do on purpose.
I decided that maybe my paint to water ratio was off, so I tried again with more paint and less water.
The color is certainly darker but you can already see the blotchy coverage. Adding more paint also made the hair much stiffer. I thought that rinsing the excess paint out might help it soften up.
BAD IDEA! All the color came out. ALL OF IT!!
This is my final doll when all was said and done. She has a lovely blue paint spot by her eye some blue roots and dingy grayish hair - NOT BLUE!
My conclusion was that I wasted a LOT of paint!! I personally
will not be trying this again. Even though it dried with color the first time - if you cant get it wet after
that, it means no styling.
Okay this one I have done before with beautiful results!
This dolls hair was dyed with RIT back in 2003. Her hair is
soft. It doesn't
'bleed' color, and has not faded since I first did it.
Wizzy (Wonderwizzy) supplied me with the instructions and I am copying them here:
Dissolve 1 teaspoon of RIT powder into a bowl of 1-2 cups BOILING water (won't work well if it's just hot not boiling)
Dunk volunteer's head into the dye bath, being careful not to get her face or neck wet.
Dye will wick up the wet hair to the roots. Use a spoon or old paintbrush to add dye to hairline as necessary.
Rinse hair in COLD running water until water runs clear.
Repeat if color isn't vivid enough.
Okay instructions provided . . . here is what I did.
I used the same package of RIT dye that I used previously since I had plenty left over from the previous application.
Shown next to each other is the doll that I dyed over three years ago and my new volunteer.
Dunking the dolls head. as you can see if find it easier to use a finger
tucked in her neck hole to hold the doll.
You do NOT need to get close to roots by dunking the dolls head. Use a
paint brush to apply near the roots.
The dye will wick (travel) on its own down to the roots so you DON'T have to
get the brush right up to the vinyl.
Remember the color you see in the bowl is not going to be your final color.
Now here is where things went wrong for me this time.... When I rinsed the hair - ALL the color came out.
Here she is afterwards. You can see that she has a slight green tint to
her hair, but not much!
I think it was the type of hair that made this experiment fail.
ANYWAY - those are my Hair dye disasters! LOL Attempt at you're own risk!
