Sneak peak of Lauren silicone after matting

This is a quick flash photo I took for those of you who have been asking me if I had matted Lauren yet.  She had literally just been rinsed off and still has water droplets on her in this photo.  I have several spots that I missed and need to go back and matte again.  There is one nail tip that I need to touch up.  The flash washed out her legs a bit but you can see on her left shin one of the shiny areas I missed matting well.  For the most part I am happy with her coloring and think she will be darling when the matting is all finished and she is put together and dressed.  I have a very special outfit for her that I had custom made to suit her little personality of expression..

Silicone Lauren Day 4 of painting

I have finally gotten Lauren all painted and she is now curing.  The next chance I get to paint I will be applying her matte layer.  She has been a bit of a challenge along the way as the layer of skin tone I gave her on Day 3 did not cure and I had to strip that off and redo it.  I still hate painting the nail tips with this silicone paint and am trying to find the way to do it more easily.  I am very happy with how her coloring looks in person and I hope when I matte her that I still like how her coloring looks.  We shall see!

I have taken 2 photo shots here.  The first one is with full spectrum lights near by and no flash.  The 2nd photo is with camera flash.   The camera flash brings out the detailing so that you can see it more distinctly but it does make the reds look more red than they do in person and it enhances the shine of the silicone.

Silicone Lauren sculpt by Jorja Pigott in progress UPDATE - WARNING BABY HAS NO EYES YET

I have been painting more on sweet little Lauren.  I "think" I am happy with her coloring at this point.  There is a part of me that would like to add more blush in her cheeks and darken the blue around her eyes and temples.  However, I am resisting the urge at this point because the last silicone I painted I did that exact thing at this point and then when I matted the baby those colors popped and I realized they appeared darker than I thought they would.  

I still have some time to think it all through and get input from more seasoned silicone painters before I decide.  I also have yet to paint her nail tips on my next painting day.

My camera battery was dying and I barely got these photos.  The flash would not work since the battery was so weak so I tried to place my full spectrum lights near enough to her that I hope you can see some of her detailing.  For some reason the lip coloring looks a bit darker in these photos even with no flash.

Silicone Lauren sculpt by Jorja Pigott in progress - WARNING BABY HAS NO EYES YET

Today I began painting my 2nd silicone sculpt.  I have learned from the previous sculpt that the red pigment has a purple undertone and have a better understanding of what to mix it with to get a blush color I like.  I am also keeping awareness that once the baby is matted even though it can slightly reduce the vibrancy of the coloring the reds and blues seemed to pop more without the shine.  Therefore I am going to paint with mindset that less is more when done.

Here is a flash photo of my baby so far.  She has her flushing layer, creases and blue undertones with veining.  The flash tends to wash out the blues in these pics though.  I so love this kit!

My silicone baby is now finished. I named him Adam because he is the first silicone baby I painted and Adam was the first man God made.  I am going to sell him as a bald baby but if the new Mommy wants eyelashes rooted I will do that for her. I would prefer lashes on mine but if she plans to root him hair she might want to get the lashes rooted to match. He is a boo boo baby. He was sold to me as a boo boo kit and then of course he is my first silicone to paint so he is not perfect as there were things I had to learn along the way. At the end of the day, I do love him even though he isn't perfectly done and if he doesn't sell I will just keep him here.

Here is a link to his photos as I have not made his auction template yet.  I took these photos with full spectrum lights and no camera flash.

http://s4.photobucket.com/user/lildumplinsnursery/slideshow/Adam

Silicone baby painting Day 5 UPDATED

Well here were are after washing off the matting. I had to back and matte a couple spots I missed and gloss the nails and lips etc. after I took this photo . This is NOT a good photo as it is indoors with a flash.

End result - baby is a bit more purple-ly red than I had intended but it can work for him because he is a preemie. It was a learning curve for me mixing these paints and I learned a lot about the nature of this red pigment along the way. It will be tomorrow after work before I can finish him and get some good photos of him. For a first baby I think he is not terrible.   I do think for the right buyer he will be a sweet baby.

Silicone Doll Painting Day 5

Just finished sealing and matting the baby.  I did add some mint wash to her final layer to help blend her coloring.  She will have to cure for 3 hours and then I can wash off the matting and see how she looks.  Crossing my fingers that she does not look too red when done!  This is the baby how she looks right now while waiting to cure.

Silicone baby painting day 4

I didn't take any photos after day 3.  Today I finished up painting my silicone baby.  Tomorrow I will be putting the matting sealer on the baby and once that cures for 4 hours I can then finish the baby.  I think I will be leaving this baby bald and not rooting her/him.  The hardest part of painting for me today was the white nail tips.  There is a definite art to getting the paint on thick enough to make a white nail tip and yet not too thick because it will run.  I haven't mastered this technique yet but I finally got it done well enough to make it for this baby.  Here is a flash photo of the baby now sitting to cure.  The flash does make the mouth look more red than it does in person and probably the overall coloring as well.  Tones will be more subtle once baby is matted.

Silicone baby painting day 2

Today I added blue undertones, veining, crease coloring and flesh layers. My next step is a final blushing and then matting. This is a flash photo taken right after the last flesh layer was applied.

I was asked by someone why the baby is so shiny.    You have to paint a silicone doll with silicone paint. It is shiny until it is matted. It cures a little less shiny than this after 2 hours but it is still very shiny. Once you are done painting you then apply a thin clear silicone layer and a matting agent to make it not be shiny any more. The matting layer will also make the coloring more subtle as it knocks down the vibrancy a bit along with the shine. That is what is hardest to me is trying to estimate what I think the coloring will look like after it has been matted.

Painting my first solid silicone reborn baby kit

With much timidness and excitement I proceeded to begin painting on my first solid silicone reborn baby kit today.  This kit is a Ecoflex 30 solicone Dawson kit by Rochelle Ferrell.  The kit makes a 17" preemie 1/4 limbed baby.  This particular kit is a boo boo kit in that he/she has a couple knicks in the back of the head and indentions in the fingers and toes.  The kit is still a very nice baby.

Here is the baby after day 1 of painting.  She has 2 flush layers of coloring.  Her tones are a bit too pink on her face at this point but it will tone down as I add flesh tones and other coloring.   Each layer of paint needs to air dry for at least 2 hours.   I have her set aside to dry over night now and will work on her some more tomorrow.

This photo was taken with a camera flash.