Ideal room temperature for dolls?

I've never heard of any drawbacks to storing dolls (of any kind) in a cold place.

 

I don't think the cold affects resin much unless you take the doll from an extremely cold place and heat it up a lot (the rapid expansion from the change in temperature could possibly cause cracking). This would only happen in very extreme temperatures so I wouldn't worry. The only other thing you might have to worry about is condensation (which can lead to mould ick). As long as you house doesn't have rising damp and you haven't really noticed any condensation before you should be OK.

 

Hey I'm just wondering...So is it really bad to have a doll in a really cold area? Because my room is the coldest place in my house and I always have 2 fans running..(even if it's winter) Does that mean if/when I get my doll I have to keep him somewhere else?

 

No it's perfectly okay.

Temperature really doesn't cause any major issues.

Except for maybe HIGH HIGH temperatures of heat which could possibly warp the resin but I highly doubt it.

 

Agreeing with pandacharm, I think cold should be fine. (heck, if people can stand it, so can dolls!)

I've heard of cases of hot weather melting the faceup/coating on a doll, but never the doll itself. Humidity, in fact, may be more of an issue than temperature--as high humidity may increase the rate of yellowing.

 

I looked and did not quite find what would help me so I hope it is okay to post a thread about this....

I have a Luts Moon and just got my Dollzone fox about a week ago. I often sit by our gas fireplace and do whatever and since Heather (my Moon) goes everywhere with me he sits there too. Now the temperature of the fire gets hot enough to where if I am about a foot away it is uncomfortable. I try to keep him at least three feet back. Should I keep him away entirely?

Another thing, last night I went to finish some Christmas shopping and I left both him and Poe (my fox) in the car and it was probably only ten to fifteen degrees outside. It was horrid because I accidentally left them for about two hours, I felt awful.

Does anyone know if these kinds of temperatures for long amounts of time can cause damage? I heard that if the elastic is too tight and they are cold for a long time they can crack but otherwise...I am clueless.

 

I've heard that heat can speed up the yellowing process... not sure if that's just a rumor or if it's been proven. Anybody know?

As for cold, I don't think it affects the resin. People put their dolls/doll parts in the freezer to crack glue off and the like.

 

I know for sure that the cold doesn't effect resin, but you're right with the elastic. If the elastic freezes it's just like a cold rubber band. It can get really brittle and break.
As for heat, I'm pretty sure the resin can become pliable and be disfigured if it gets too hot...However, resin also has "memory", and when heated it can also pop back into shape. An example of this is given here.

If you want to be really safe, I would prevent your dolls from being near any extreme temperatures as much as possible. But as long as they aren't near any heat source or in any extremely cold environment for too long, I think it would be okay.

 

I've let a small part (a hand) sit in boiling water for 10 minutes at a time and it yellowed considerably, so I would say yes.

 

The only real danger of been too cold is mildew forming from condensation
That can easily be avoided if you wrap a white cotton handkerchief around a pen or a long ridged object and gently poke it inside the joints and give them a quick clean should the insides become wet.
It would have to be extremely cold (I mean almost Arctic cold) before any real damage is caused.

As for heat, yes it will cause terrible damage. Resin can become soft and/ or warped at high temperatures. Also it will yellow a lot faster.

 

While heat could damage resin, I'd imagine that if it is comfortable for you for an extended amount of time, it probably isn't too hot for the doll. You're probably going to be too hot before the temperature gets up near your body temperature. I wouldn't put the doll closer to the heat source than that though.
One thing you probably don't want to do is change the temperature of the resin rapidly. I don't know what would happen with resin, but going from hot to cold rapidly can damage lots of other materials, even if they would normally be fine at both the "hot" temp and the "cold" temp.

 

From what I've been told, extreme cold makes the resin more brittle (temporarily - once it warms up again, it's fine). I wouldn't recommend dropping, banging or anything rough like that to them immediately afterwards (or anytime really but you see my point, yes?). And as others have said, heat speeds up yellowing and can warp the resin as it softens. I've not had mine near heat so I haven't had to deal with anything like that but I've taken them outdoors into the cold. I've never had any problems with it but am aware that they can get brittle so I'm extra careful with them while I'm messing with them in snow and cold. But overall, I don't worry about them too much. I mean, unless you're tossing them around and keeping them in the deepfreeze longterm, they are strong little buggars.

LM

 

Thank you so much for your help everyone! I feel better now.

 

I should add my ten cents. It hasn't happened to me personally... but my friend Alex left her DOD Zen in her car in a black doll bag and it was summer here in Colorado. her car is green too so its retaining a lot of heat and she tends to leave the window open. Well It got really hot inside the car and it harmed her doll. It shrank the elastic, and it warped her left leg so now she doesn't stand as well. I say the heat is a bad thing. I never leave the kids in the car when its extremely hot. When its cold... I am semi okay about doing it, but like glass if its extremely cold and the temp changes really fast to warm temps then it might crack or do something to the dolls.

 

Oh dear...the poor thing. I guess heat seems to effect them worse than cold which strangely I did not picture. Well I will definitely be careful. I try not to leave them in the car if I can help it but of course, it does happen.

 

I wonder if the boiling water treatment would fix that leg? I'd imagine it warped because of the tension of the shrinking elastic pulling against the softened resin.

 

Yah I definitely think that is the case. I think she wants to try boiling it and move it back but shes afraid to ruin it worse. I just told her though since shes over so shes probably thinking about it