Protect your dolls face during rooting

Your reborn baby's paintwork is all done...and she looks beautiful. Now all you have to do is the rooting but you fear damaging the paint during this long and brutal process. I understand your fear!

Over the course of 5 years now, there have been a few dolls that developed shiny spots on the high places of the dolls face and ears during rooting, no matter which paint and products I used.

I finally came up with a solution! This solution came to me during the re-rooting of silicone heads for other people. Silicone is very sticky and rooting is very messy with loose hair going everywhere! The combination of sticky and loose hair is not good for a silicone doll! The poor doll would look like a gorilla when I was finished rooting and much time was spent removing that loose hair from the dolls face.

So here is what you do to protect the face of any doll that you are rooting:

Fold a clean, white wash cloth in half creating a triangle. Place this over your dolls face like in the picture below. Tuck the two corners over and behind her ears.


Then cover the cloth with a clear non-zipper, gallon size storage bag. Again, tuck the bag over and behind the dolls ears with the opening of the bag now at the back of the neck.

Be sure that there are no "pressure points" pressing on the high points of the dolls face and ears...meaning, make sure the bag is secure but not tight.

Push some of the excess bag up into the dolls neck flange so that you can get your fingers in there to hold and move the head as needed.

Secure with a big rubber band, wrapping it around the flange twice if needed.

Now your doll is protected and the rooting can begin. The cloth allows protection and cushion and the bag prevents friction on the dolls face by sliding in your lap or on your rooting pillow~whichever way you hold your doll during rooting.

If you have applied glues inside the head to eyes or to magnets, remove the bag and cloth after each rooting session so that the glues can air out during your break.

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As of 12:45 am this morning, the Latino Arianna's art work is finished! I am tired today and my right arm aches a lot! I am left handed and root with my left hand, but on Saturday, my horse and I took a fall hurting my right arm and shoulder. Holding onto that big Arianna head all day yesterday and into the night made me aware that my arm needs a few more days to heal!

My horse and I are fine though~I am very thankful to God for watching over us during that fall. It could have been very, very bad as my horse stepped in a hole while we were trotting. He is 25 1/2 yrs old and has never fallen before. It was really scary!

Have a great Wednesday! Just a few more days until the show but my fun starts tomorrow with the arrival of my friend/assistant for this show. Friday will find us shopping all our favorite baby stores in the area of the show~weeeee!