Sanding doll heads

Sanding doll heads was something that was a very common thing to do in the past when all that was available for reborning were manufactured dolls. A lot of those manufactured dolls had molded, grooved hair lines that needed to be removed.

I still, on occasions, reborn a manufactured doll and need to sand the heads.

These are the tools that I use:

An electric Craftsman Rotary Tool. Battery powered rotary tools are not powerful enough for this job.

An electric Craftsman 3D sander. I am not sure if these are available any longer as Craftsman had a hard time making the design so that the little "feet" that hold each sander would not break. This is my third 3D sander (they did warrant the first two) and I have a brand new on in the box in the closet! They closed them out after I had to replace two of them in a year so I bought two so that I would have them later. Thankfully, this third one is holding up really nice. I hope they redesigned these as they are a GREAT tool for sanding heads.




Along with the Rotary Tool and 3D sander you will need extra sanding tips for the Rotary tool, extra sanding discs for the sander, salon nail buffing blocks and most importantly, a mask to protect you from inhaling vinyl. I already wear vision glasses so I do not have an extra goggle but do cover your eyes. This process makes a MESS and you will have chunks of vinyl and vinyl dust everywhere around you and all over your body. Do not do this procedure in your work area or you will have dust in your paints and supplies~it's best to do this outdoors if you can.

You can expect to spend 1 1/2-2 hours sanding one head.

Begin sanding head first with the rotary tool on medium high speed. (You do not have to strip the paint off the head) Work in long strokes keeping the sanding tip level against the head and work your way around the head. The rotary will leave more lines and sometimes gouges, especially for the beginner. The 3D sander will help to remove these however, get the overall head as even as you can. If there are molded lines that are deep and hard to sand, squeeze the head in that area and then use the rotary tool to "get" them.

Once all of the molded lines are removed, place course discs on the 3D sander. Sand the head using only ONE disc at a time, being careful that the others discs to do not catch your fingers, clothes, hair or another part of the doll head. Do not apply pressure on the sander, just let it do the work.

Go over all of the head making it as smooth as possible, paying close attention around the hair line at the face and ears. Be careful not to nick the ears. Rotate the sander to utilize the other disc when the first one you are using becomes dull.

Be sure to not run the sander (or the rotary tool) in one area too long as the friction makes the vinyl hot and it will melt. Allow the head to cool as needed. I usually do 2-3 heads at a time to allow rotation of the heads to cool and...if I am going to make a mess I might as well take full advantage of that mess!

When the head is smooth, change the discs to the fine discs and go over all of the head again.

Then, using salon nail buffing blocks, hand sand the head all over again, paying close attention to the hair line around the face.

After you strip the original color from the entire doll, going over the head to further smooth the vinyl, your head should look like the one pictured below on the right. The left head is an original of same sculpt.

These are Berernguer heads. Sanding the heads not only makes the rooted hair look better with a smooth scalp under it, it also thins the vinyl allowing for an easier time rooting. :)

Tomorrow I will cover how to strip the manufactured paint from dolls.


**********Nursery Notes*************

Well my little list yesterday was MUCH longer than one person could do in a day! The sanding of the heads and stripping of the dolls took most of the day! I thought my arms would simply fall off by the time I finished those jobs! I did manage to root the lashes on Megan (she still needs glossing, nose backing and magnets) and I started rooting Vienna. Grrr...I always hate just getting started on a head of hair as I am never happy until I am about 1/2 way done, which I am not. Hopefully I will like her better before I go to bed tonight.