Monday, October 15, 2012

Oily Secrist Kits and a ruined reborn

A few years ago the topic came up on the doll forums about oily Secrist kits.

I had a couple of kits in stock that had gone oily.  They were from about 2006.

Secrist had told their dealers that they would replace the oily kits if the dealers returned the kits at the dealers expense and they said that the problem was limited to a small run of kits.

In 2008, I purchased this lovely reborn from the Secrist booth at IDEX:


She is the Prototype of Tika, one of the newest Secrist kits then in 2007-2008.  
You can even see her on the Secrist website HERE.

Apparently, the oily issue was larger than Secrist claimed as kits from as early as early 2006-2008 have been proven to be oily.

I have loved this little girl very, VERY much.



But this spring, she looked a little pale and shiny:

And the other day when I examined her closer, she was horribly oily and sticky:


I am very sad about my little girl.  She does not even look like the same doll.
I know she was painted with Genesis paints so Secrist's theory of using GHSP and Varnish to fix the oily problem is not true.  Even her feet, which were in socks and shoes were oily.  

I have written to the Secrist Company but I doubt that anything will be done.  
I certainly do not want a replacement kit for my reborn.  I don't trust them and I could not reborn Tika as she was when I bought her.  She is another artists work and I can't replicate that.  Ha, I can barely replicate my own work!  

I am afraid that there won't be a cure for my sweet Tika but I am going to try to bathe her and see what happens.  

I'm heartsick at the possibility of loosing one of my reborns.

2 comments:

  1. Aw, she is so cute! The oily vinyl thing is such an incredible tragedy! I have an oily reborn kit too (not from Secrist, another company... sadly this is happening to a lot of reborn dolls it seems) and I was told to wipe the doll down with rubbing alcohol every month or two. So far this has made my baby look as good as new and I haven't had any issues with the paint coming off (that was my big concern!). Anyway, I hope it helps.

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  2. Thank you for that information Jennifer. I will try the rubbing alcohol and see if that helps Tika. I really hate to lose this girl.
    XXOO
    Debbie

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