Using Jo Sonjas acrylics over thinned Genesis Matte Varnish

I recently had someone ask me if you can thin down Genesis Matte Varnish instead of using it full strength as a prep sealer and then paint over it with Jo Sonjas. I wasn't sure as I had not tried it before.  I had been told by someone else who uses other air dry paints( LDC) that she found sometimes the paints would not stick to GMV that had been thinned down.    However, I was not sure if she was using Genesis thinning medium or odorless thinner.  I know that the Genesis thinning medium is a bit more "slick" when it dries so it stands to reason that other paints might not stick to it as well.

Recently I was painting a Berenguer with Genesis paints to be donated to the nursing home.  I had "tried" to sand the grooves in the doll's head in hopes of painting mottling over the head for a bald baby as I do not root hair on babies for nursing homes since they  get handled a lot.  Once I had finished painting this doll I sealed her with Genesis Matte Varnish thinned down with Masterpiece Odorless Thinner.  I thin the GMV down so that it spreads easily yet still knocks down the shine on baby and leaves just a hint of texture to baby.  Once finished I was not happy with the look of the head because my sanding job was not as perfect as I would like it to have been.  At that point I decided that some painted hair would help to disguise the lack of smoothness to the head.  However, for some reason I haven't yet been able to paint hair well with Genesis.  I do however paint a decent peach fuzz of hair using air dry paints.  SO I decided to get out my Jo Sonjas and see it it would work on top of the thinned heat set Genesis.  I mixed my hair color using a ratio of 50/50 JS paint to JS Flow Medium.  Then to that mixture I added just a couple drops of water.  I got out my liner brushes and my comb brush and went to work.  The paints seemed to be sticking just fine.  Once I got the hair painted I decided it was a bit too hard looking for my preferences so I then took a wet cosmetic sponge and lightly "washed" over the hair so as just to lighten the coloring of the hair without removing all the paint. Remember at this point the JS paint is only dry to the touch and not cured so you have to be careful not to totally remove it.  Once done I went back and touched up a few strands of hair that needed darkening and then left baby's head to cure.

48 hours later I checked the hair with a wet q-tip and the paint was not rubbing off so I decided to go ahead and seal the hair.  I used Genesis Matte Varnish thinned down with the Masterpiece Odorless thinner just like I had used to seal the Genesis paints.  Once I pounced this on the hair with a cosmetic wedge, I took a round pointed toothpick and used the tip to "draw" lines through the wet Genesis Matte Varnish.  I then set the head aside to allow the thinner to flash off.  Once the thinner was flashed off I heat set the head in the oven for 12 mins on 265 degrees.  I pulled the head out and let it cool.  I checked the head once cooled and in a couple places where the texturizing I had done on the hair strokes was a bit thick it looked like it might need more curing so I put the head back in the oven for 10 mins more at the same temperature.  Once it cooled again I could see the GMV was now fully cured.  When heat setting Genesis Matte Varnish you have to play with it like this because application thickness and varying ovens will affect how well it cures and each time is just different.

The finished product is a nicely painted head with a bit of textured painted hair.  Click image to see larger photo.