Restoration fo Elfdoll Soah

Dye Removal Process on Elfdoll Soah

I originally posted this on my LiveJournal ten years ago (10!! omg it’s been 10 years!) when I had the opportunity to purchase an Elfdoll Soah from a friend who had sent her out to be dyed. When he got her back, the dye job was extremely uneven and streaky.

At the time, I had been wanting a Soah for years and the opportunity was just too good to pass up. So I jumped! …. haha, that’s a lie… I grabbed her up so fast it would have made your head spin!

I didn’t know quite what I was getting into, though.

Unfortunately, when it came to record-keeping, I didn’t fully think things through. When I received her, I didn’t have her in my apartment for more than 5 minutes before I started the process of removing the purple dye. That means I only have photos of purple-dyed doll parts rather than the full doll.

Apologies in advance for the size of the photos. Keep in mind, this was originally posted in 2009, and posted images were a lot smaller back then…

Streaky Purple Doll Parts

The dye job was so uneven and streaky over her entire body and face. I only have a couple of pictures of some of the body parts showing just how bad it was – but imagine this over the entire doll!

Elfdoll Soah Purple Parts
Streaky purple doll parts!
Elfdoll Soah Purple Parts
You can see how uneven the dye job was on these pieces.

The Scrubbing Process

A friend of mine came over and we started the dye removal process by soaking her in Windsor & Newton Brush Cleaner and Restorer and using a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to scrub her down. Surprisingly, this (along with elbow grease!) actually took off most of the dye!

Elfdoll Soah Body Soaking in Windsor & Newton Brush Cleaner and Restorer
Elfdoll Soah’s body soaking in a bowl of Windsor & Newton Brush Cleaner & Restorer.
Elfdoll Soah Dye Removal In Progress
Most of the dye was removed with W&N Brush Cleaner and a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.

Mostly Cleaned Head + Dyed Body Parts

Elfdoll Soah Head and Body Comparison
Comparison of the mostly cleaned head and the still-dyed body parts.

Sanding, Sanding, and More Sanding

Elfdoll Soah Sanding
Sanding, sanding, sanding….
Elfdoll Soah Sanding In Progress
Progress!

Dye Removal Complete!

After much scrubbing and sanding, and even more sanding and scrubbing, she was declared done! There was still purple dye inside her stringing channels that we couldn’t reach, but overall, she came out looking fabulous!

Elfdoll Soah Fully Restored
Fully restored!
Elfdoll Soah Restored Next to Windsor and Newton Cleaner
Here she is next to the bowl of W&N Brush Cleaner.
Elfdoll Soah Fully Restored Closeup
And here she is closer up!

Dolly Drama…? Chicago & Vinyl

When I attended the meet up in Minnesota earlier this month, it came to my attention that the Chicago group has a reputation for being “Anti-DD” and “Anti-Vinyl”. This makes me so sad..

While there may not be a large collector-base in the Chicago area of vinyl BJD, there is definitely an appreciation for them. Or rather, I’m not aware of a large collector-base in the Chicago area for vinyl BJD, but apparently that could just be because they feel like they are not welcome…?

That just makes me so sad!

Personally? I love the look of DD! And my first girl was a vinyl Obitsu 60cm Gretel, so I also have affection for the Obitsus. Unfortunately, what I don’t love about them is how easily they stain, which leads to my extreme dislike for how difficult they are to clean.

Those 2 things, though, don’t mean I don’t like them. It just means I’m not crazy about owning them! I love looking at others’ collections, and love oogling the pretties! I really wish I could be happy owning vinyl dolls.. especially since I think they are so adorable!

I mean, seriously, how adorable was Lily??


This was the 2nd version of my Obitsu Gretel, Lily. She was painted by an amazing artist who no longer does face-up commissions. She is one that I do miss… she was adorable!

The first version of Lily had my very first face-up ever! She was the doll that got me into customizing. And she was the one who taught me just how quickly vinyl can stain…

There’s a reason she had a purple “mask”… 😉 When I first attempted her faceup, I used chalk pastels as directed. However, I did not understand the need for proper sealant. Unfortunately, this left very large, extremely uneven eyebrows stained on her forehead. So I did the next best thing – I covered it up with purple paint.. Clever, right? That actually became fairly ingrained in her character. Totally by accident, but still loved her!

At one point, Lily also had the Obitsu 60cm body. This body almost instantly had staining. I was so used to cleaning resin, that I just could not fathom why in the world it was so hard to remove stains from vinyl. Once I read up more about vinyl and proper care, I realized I would either a) need to just be OK with stains, b) figure out how to do the oxy-clean & sunlight cleaning method, and/or c) stick with resins.

I have chosen to stick with resin dolls for the time being. That’s not to say it will be forever… But for right now it’s just one more way I can (attempt to) control the size of my collection.

All of that being said, it seriously makes me so sad that there are folks out there who do not feel comfortable sharing their dolls with the Chicago community. I have always known the entire group to be extremely accepting and friendly towards all collectors, and I really hope the vinyl BJD collectors give them another chance.

So if you are a vinyl BJD collector in the Chicago area – please come to meets! We love all the dollies and want everyone to feel welcome!

Previous Loves – Jasmine

Back in summer of 2006, DollZone had released their new 1/4 size dolls. My husband, being the wonderful guy he is, offered to get me a Felian for Christmas. <3

Unfortunately, neither one of us knew it was going to take so long to get her!

I got so impatient with waiting that I broke down and bought a gorgeous girl that was up on ebay for a fabulous price. That girl was a fantastic SoulDoll SoulKid Harang girl.

Little did I know they would both arrive the same day!

Jasmine arrived in January 2007 (I think). She has such a sweet face, and I was so enamored with her. 😀

Unfortunately, I was not thrilled with her posing.

When I decided to sell her, I was delighted a friend came forward and expressed interest in her. She now goes by Mina and lives nearby.

Souldoll Soulkid Aru

Back in 2011 (I think!) I inquired with one of our local doll collectors about an old SoulDoll Aru she was selling, and was the recipient of amazing generosity!

At the time, I received a 2003 or 2004 (not 100% sure) SoulKid Aru from one of our local collectors – for FREE! Aru was discontinued prior to 2005, and was definitely showing some age. She was pretty yellowed and needed a new face up for sure.

You may recall my grand plans to do some heavy modding to make her into an automaton (this post). And while I would have loved to move forward with that plan, I had bigger plans for this girl instead.

My sister has been getting more and more interested in BJD over the past several years, but has never been able to pull the trigger to get one of her own.

When she would show me pictures of dolls she liked, I started to notice a trend of slightly pouty girls – not too sad, but definitely with a slight pout. I realized this was the same sort of look SoulKid Aru has.

It took a bit of courage to finally attack her with acetone to finish cleaning her up. Whatever sealant SoulDoll used back in the day was definitely meant to stay!

I then packed her up and took her with me to Minnesota when I went a couple of weeks ago.

In the meantime, I had ordered eyes and elastic so I could finish her. These items were due to arrive that same week I was in MN so the plan was to finish her up and give her to my sister when we met for lunch.

Yeah – the post office hates me. Kind of.

The items arrived the day I left to come back to Illinois. So my sister did not get her that week. She didn’t know about her, though, so no biggie. Just a bit of frustration on my end.

So I came back to Illinois, finished her up, and mailed her to my sister. It was so tempting to keep her! She turned out soo cute! But my sister deserves her more and I couldn’t wait for her to get her.

And, after all that, I can present Lalee!

Lalee - SoulKid Aru

And her faceup a bit closer up…


TL;DR: Got a doll for free (OMG). Abandoned my original plans to mod her and gave her to my sister instead. Sister loves her. 😀

Souldoll Chiron Header

Previous Loves – Chiron

When Souldoll released their Chiron centaur back in 2009, I just knew I had to get one! He was amazing!

In January 2010, I took the plunge and ordered him in gray skin, with elf ears, and included the Souldoll painted sword and shield. Unfortunately, I had missed out on being able to order his fullset outfit, but no matter – he was epic! <3

Aaand then he was delivered.

OMG.

The box was HUGE!

Souldoll Chiron Box

Seriously. The box he was delivered in was bigger than our coffee table (notice the can of Dr. Pepper for scale). o.O

His actual doll box literally fits right inside of the shipping box he came in. There was no additional space between them. And the amount of padding/pillows/foam/bubble wrap inside the doll box was insane – and totally necessary!

His elf ears were so gorgeous – I was terrified I was going to break one.

Check them out! Talk about epic elf ears.. <3

Souldoll Chiron Elf Head

I took a couple pictures of size comparison between him and a Volks YoSD (shown with PeapodDoll Hooves), and the size of his hands compared to the older single jointed body from SoulDoll (my SoulDoll Paris). The size difference is CRAZY!

Souldoll Chiron vs Volks Mamu

SoulDoll Chiron vs Paris Hands

Seriously, though, he was just so huge I couldn’t keep him. My husband and I were living in a 1-bedroom apartment at the time, and we just didn’t have space to keep him.

But he was so cool! And detailed! The detailing in the sculpting was amazing. Truly a work of art.

Luckily enough, I was able to sell him to a friend, so he is still in the area. <3

I loved him, but I’m not sure I would order him again… Maybe a Yo-size or PKF-size centaur might be a better fit for me…