French Resin or Urethane?

First if you don't and I mean don't want your dolls to turn yellow quickly (6months-1year) DO NOT BUY French Resin. I have a Supia Roda from 2007 that was made in French Resin Pinky White. She was fine and perfect and glowed like no other doll I have in my collection. Once it the temperature went up all that changed on her nose first then the rest of her yellowed even tho I kept her in my dark room with the air conditioner on full blast and covered up. My Urethane resin dolls so far I have not seen a change in color. No yellowing, but I know eventually it will happen.....when I don't know. People will tell you that all resin be it French or Urethane will turn because it is unstable......period. Google it if you have to under polyurethane resin and it's chemical makeup and you will find some very interesting facts about it.

 

I, personally, do not want French Resin. I've heard it yellows incredibly more rapid than others and one Dollmore batch turned a little green, so, for me, I don't want to chance it with that type of resin. It's prettier, but only for a short time.

 

Anyone interested in this topic should read this first
http://www.abjds.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1156

 

The fact is that all resin yellows and whilst there are things you can do to slow the process, it's an inevitable fact of this hobby. Now for some people, it's a huge issue and they can't bear the thought of owning a yellowed doll, the rest of us fall into the "meh, I still love the doll, so what" or "Actually, that's a really nice colour!" categories and live with it quite happily so as with 99% of this hobby, it's down to personal preference.

From a personal perspective, I own both French and standard resin dolls and while I will say that the French resin does indeed "glow" I actually really don't like it. Photographing it in bright light makes him stand out like a sore thumb and suck up every drop of light in the lens, photographing him in low light means you lose every feature on him altogether and makes him looks like wax, AND I've had to work incredibly hard to make sure that he's yellowing evenly and it's not affected by clothing and the like.

I've also got standard resin dolls who have a similar depth to the resin and they photograph beautifully, so if you like the fleshy look of French resin, there are less yellow-tastic ways of getting it! Companies all use a different recipe after all and there are many sorts of opacity across the board.

Sadly for me, it's a mark of how much I love that boy that I havent re-shelled him in standard urethane because I truly loathe that French resin and can honestly say i would NEVER buy another French resin doll!

 

I'm one of those weirdos who actually stalk Marketplace for yellowed french resin Yellowing doesn't bother me at all, even if it's uneven. I like signs on age in dolls. I used to be completely opposite, only wanting new and shiny stuff, but it has changed since once I adopted a damaged doll body and spent some time fixing it and realized how much more one can get attached to a by far not perfect doll. Gotta tell you, it made me enjoy my dolls a whole lot more, because I stopped looking for imperfections in them all the time.

By all means, you should only go for french resin, only if you actually like the looks of it better (or you really like the doll and french resin is the only option), because it has no other advantages over urethane, aside from translucent looks. Once your eye gets trained, you can easily tell if the doll is french resin of urethane, even from photos. And to me, personally, they always, absolutely always look better in french resin, even if it's yellowed

 

I went to this link and read the thread. I understood that all resin no matter what the formula is will yellow but I had no idea they used tree sap in the resin. Is there a way to tell which dolls have that type of resin in them? Perhaps that type yellows faster than the other type of synthetics.

 

Well, of the dolls I know of that offer this choice, I've found their regular urethane to be really inferior quality (yes I've seen/handled it in person)! So in general I'd choose French resin and hope for the best. Luckily my doll area is very low-light anyway...

Raven

 

Hmm, I've had a french resin doll from Unidoll for two years now and he looks exactly the same as the first day I bought him. He has a beautiful translucent look to his complexion that I just love. I do keep him out of the sun but if he ever yellowed, it just wouldn't bother me too much. I agree, eventually all dolls will yellow with time.

 

I have both resins. My pinky white french resin is about 1-1/2 years old. She has lost a bit of the “pinky” color looks more white now. She still has that translucent glow. I keep her out of direct sunlight sometimes stored in her box. Compared to my urethane doll, the french resin is now a translucent white. The french resin and sculpt is what attracted me to this doll. She’s still one of my favorites. I’m a little more mindful of how she’s cared for. I would like to buy a Narae in tanned french resin.

My urethane normal skin resin girl arrived about a year ago. She’s kept out of direct sunlight; don’t see any change in coloring. I was attracted to her urethane coloring and overall sculpt design.

There are no guarantees on yellowing or the resin turning green. What it boils down to is a matter of choice.

 

I have a Limhwa Human, in french resin. I'm not sure how old she is, I bought her second hand and she was already quite yellowed- but she's still beautiful. Her high heeled feet were what she had had on the most, and her regular feet were kept stored away- and I can say, I switched her feet and they really stand out in color difference. XD I haven't noticed any yellowing on my other doll, but his resin color was yellowish in the first place, so I don't think I'll ever actually notice if he has yellowed unless I place him next to a brand new doll of his type someday.

My limhwa however yellowed pretty unevenly- her head and lower legs are yellow, but her thighs and mid-body are much lighter, etc. I don't know if that's a common occurence due to a doll wearing clothing or if it's because she's french resin, though. I don't think many people keep their dolls in direct sunlight, and I haven't either, but I still think my girl is beautiful. I don't think I'd purchase another doll in french resin unless if was the only thing the scuplt came in, though, she just feels a lot more fragile to me than urethane. XD

 

My first doll was french resin and although adorable, eventually her color bothered me. I love the translucent quality of their skin but will never buy another.

 

I love the french resin, I really like the look of it. The normal urethane can never get that nice "skin" look to it, it always will look at a bit more like normal plastics. But as has already been said, you really have to take care of the french resin. You cannot leave it in sunlight. But if you take care it can last a long time at around the same color. Like someone else mentioned looking for yellowed dolls, if you found a french resin doll that had already been yellowed and you liked the color you wouldn't really have to worry about it getting that much more yellow, as they seem to reach a point where it doesn't change color much anymore.

The french resin look is beautiful though, there is nothing like it. I think it's worth it to have at least one

 

I like French resin, but of all my dolls only 2 are French resin and I have quite a lot. They need more care and you have to accept that they yellow faster than urethane resin, although my white skin Delf boy has also yellowed considerably and he's made of urethane resin.

If I'm going to mod a doll with epoxy, I prefer urethane resin. There is no way I can make epoxy match with French resin.

 

I personally am a bigger fan of the matte, urethane resin. Now I may be a bit biased as I have never owned a French resindoll, but I have seen them. They do give a nice soft quality to the doll and the face, but I prefer not being able to see through my doll. It makes them seem more real to me; stronger, in a way.

 

I'm one of those who really dislike the translucency of the french resin. IMO, it makes the dolls look like they're made of wax, not like human skin.

I know of some formulations by the companies that use french resin mixed in because it has greater strength than regular urethane alone. That's fine by me, but I do prefer the french amount be kept below that "wax mannequin" threshold.

Pure white is interesting, but I have several yellowed dolls -- and GREENED dolls -- and love them and just work with the colors. And I'll take a pink doll -- only after it's yellowed to a nice peach tone!

 

Personally I dislike the translucent glow of french resin - while I've only seen photos of such dolls, I don't feel that it makes the dolls look more lifelike. It boils down to personal preference and if one is prepared to look after a doll that has a higher need of care compared with urethane.

 

To be honest, I really find no difference in my dolls in particular. I have two Angell Studio dolls made with french resin (one of them is in my icon - he looks yellowish in that photo, but his skintone is their 'butter' tone and so was yellowish to begin with) and the rest of my dolls are urethane, and I think the yellowest doll I own is my Dollmore Amos (he is however my second oldest).

I like the feel of the french resin a little more than the urethane (it's a bit grittier, I guess) but in terms of yellowing, I hardly see any difference. My dolls don't get much sunlight, though, so that might be why.

 

I do not and will not buy French Resin, I know a lot of companies offer it and it does have a wonderful translucency, but that is just the problem. Not only does it yellow faster, it yellows deeper. Some of my older and more yellowed dolls have had a light all over sanding to get rid of some yellowing prior to sale or when I recoat them (they are white skins and the characters need to be very pale) but this is rather ineffective on French Resin since it is translucent it yellows INSIDE not just on the surface, so getting rid of the yellow is much more difficult and takes some drastic chemical warfare.

I will also attest to anyone wondering that heat can yellow dolls not just light, I used to live in Australia, where in summer it was not unheard of for the temperature to get to over 118 inside the house (46 Celsius) and I did not have air-conditioning, and yes, my dolls kept in the dark still yellowed a little, though not much as I am VERY careful of this. I now live in frigid bloody upstate New York and have noticed that they have not yellowed at all since being here, under the same light conditions as previously, but with a difference in temp.

 

I have had both and will never buy another French resin doll again, no matter how much I like the sculpt.

The color changes don't bother everyone, but it bothers me to the extreme, so I just won't go there anymore.