Yellowing: Is it "Natural" or does it constitute "Damage"?

Well, I have actually bought 2 very yellowed dolls secondhand. I have no idea what the original skin tone looked like, and I like the color they are now.

 

well, I don't really like it ...
I mean, some people prefer tanned skin than white skin right? It's just like that. I prefer natural looking pink skin to a yellow skin

 

Layn
no matter at what speed at which firms yellow material ...
All this means that the material from which made the doll is cheap!

 

So the materials used in creating a doll that costs hundreds of dollars are cheap now?

Honestly, I'm not sure you understand just how these materials work.

The polyurethane resin these dolls are created from is extremely expensive to acquire and extremely finicky to work with. Part of the reason these dolls cost what they do is because materials cost so much in the first place. The fact that the material yellows at all is one of the prices we pay to have a customizable doll that can be carved away or added to, which is not something you can do with a 'regular' plastic. Yellowing is a natural property of polyurethane resin and cannot be stopped, although research over the years has made it less of a problem than it has been in the past. It's like how copper turns green with age. Same idea.

It would be completely counterproductive for a company to deliberately force its dolls to yellow. They wouldn't be gaining anything by doing that, and they certainly aren't trying to cut corners by using cheap material. I'm sure any of the members of the board who sculpt and cast their own dolls would be willing to go into more depth about just how resin works.

Just out of curiosity, do you have any proof that an affordable non-yellowing resin exists?

 

Specifically abou Resint , I can not prove anything.




But I'm sure that there are other materials not Resin,that are suitable for making dolls
with no yellowing, no embrittlement..resulting in a more qualitative.

Then....are not a secret that in mass production never use expensive material.
Our doll is mass production.

Expensive material is used only in exclusive things, not market!

By the way the high price is not proof of the quality)))

 

I really don't think BJDs can be called mass production. If a $500 made to order customized art doll isn't exclusive, what is?!

 

All of our dolls and even limited
it is not exclusive! They are made over and over again
But not once, in a single copy.
And the pricing on them is not an indicator of quality.

 

Mmkay, so here's the deal.

1) Yes, you could make a ball-jointed doll out of something other than resin, but at that point it would cease to be one of the dolls that we collect on this board. We specifically collect resin ball jointed dolls, and we do it because the resin offers properties we can't get in any other material.

2) These dolls aren't mass produced. Sometimes you get lucky and a doll maker/dealer has the model you want in stock but for the most part they're produced one at a time, by hand, to order. You can't really mass produce a resin art doll. The nature of the product and the material itself fight against that idea.

3) Non-yellowing is not an indicator of higher quality either. Different materials function differently and just because one material doesn't yellow as much it doesn't mean it's automatically higher quality.

4) Of course they're not all OOAKs. That would make these things prohibitively expensive. Just because there's more than one of a given mold doesn't mean they're mass produced. It is possible to have more than one of a given mold (say, a Shiwoo, because I have one of those) and have a product that's unique in its own way from a different one of the same mold. "Mass produced" would mean created hundreds of thousands at a time from an inexpensive material. That's nothing like the one-at-a-time hand-casting method used to create ABJDs.

I really, really don't think you know how the ABJD world and market work. Maybe you should read around the board a little more?

 

Tez

Yes, I guess you're right.

 

Hi all, I bought my first BJD in 2005 and wow! it's been nine years since, or thereabouts. And now being 2014, i've started thinking about the shelf life of my dolls. I've always wanted to store them in a magical attic somewhere, in a box when i'm elderly (and about to die, lol) so a young relative can find them and become the new owner. Ok, so that's wishful thinking. But how do you feel about dolls ageing?

What are some observations on the yellowing/changes in resin over the years you've had your doll(s)?

Are these things an issue for you, or are you happy to accept it?


Considering the cost of a BJD, I do care about how they hold up with time. My own quick observations - the Soom Kanoa i've had since 2007 has some noticeable yellowing at the headcap in particular, and light even yellowing over the rest of him. On the other hand, the Dolkot Kiss and Dollshe Van (both whiteskin from 2006) are pretty much still in pristine condition, resin-wise, with no visible yellowing at all. I'm rapt about that. A major factor in considering dolls I would buy is the resin and their tendency to yellow. I also wouldn't buy a doll in french resin again, because of how quickly and significantly the skin tone changes. Does anyone know how things will be in 10, 20 years time?

 

It's natural. Resin is a naturally unstable substance. A doll is going to yellow, no matter what. We can control the speed at which a doll yellows to some extent, but it cannot be prevented entirely.

I have bought a very yellowed doll before. I'm guessing she was made around 2007 (I don't know for sure, but her owner said that it was definitely a few years before 2009. Her joints and body parts are noticeably older looking than a doll from the same company who is newer). She is beautiful in her own right. I don't want to change her because I actually find it somewhat endearing and I don't want to hurt her (for example, what if I dye her the wrong color?!) or wipe her faceup, which I think is perfect for her right now.

I will say, however, that her yellowing is very yellow, and was brought on by improper care. Her owner left her in the sun for a month while she was in Italy, but she didn't know any better. Add that to her age and the fact that at one point, she had white skin... It was a huge let down to her previous owner.

I did get her for a great price though, with extras! I have no regrets and would do it again in a heartbeat. She's a gorgeous doll.~

I have another yellowed doll too. Her yellowing is different than my first yellowed doll, and it's quite lovely and peachy-looking.

I don't mind yellowing, and I accept that it is going to happen. Eventually, all of my dolls will age and change color and that's okay. I won't let it stop me from enjoying my dolls, because lord knows I paid too much money to have them to be too afraid to do what I want with them!

This being said, I would expect to pay less for a yellowed doll.

 

I don't mind yellowing, as long as it's even and hasn't gone to a very obvious butter-yellow shade. I think some dolls look quite nice with a bit of a yellow tone to their skin, actually.

 

I'll hit all the questions in this thread...

- Do you feel that yellowing is just a natural feature of resin, or does it constitute a damaged doll? Is yellowing a sign of a well-loved doll, or is it a defect that signifies improper care?
It can be all of the above. There's a certain level of natural yellowing, that's going to happen no matter what. You can be the most paranoid owner ever, handling your doll only in dark rooms with gloves on and keeping it in the box every second you aren't touching it, but it's still going to yellow (and are you really going to enjoy it that way?) just because of the properties of resin. That mellowing with age is a natural process. Now, if it's uneven yellowing because you plopped the doll in a window, it moves into a sign of "improper care," and if it's something like the strange "instant greening" I've seen reports of in older threads, that's a damaged doll, where the problem occurred even with proper care. But typical yellowing/mellowing isn't this type of damage, it's just a sign of age.



- When does yellowing cross the line between "acceptable" and "unacceptable"?
I think this all depends on the owner. One person might be disgusted with uneven yellowing on a doll in the marketplace, while another might be planning a major mod or dye job and think the heavy yellowing is totally fine for their purposes. Similarly, one owner might be horrified that their pure paper-white doll is now a creamy tone, while another might be relieved that the color is no longer quite so stark.


- Would you buy a very yellowed doll? If so, would you try to "fix" it? Why or why not?
Possibly, depending on what I planned for it and what hue it was. I don't think I could say definitively "no" or "yes" to just a hypothetical, due to all the different ways yellowing/mellowing can manifest. (Is it even or uneven? Green, banana yellow, or creamy? Is it just yellowed sealant? And so on.)

What are some observations on the yellowing/changes in resin over the years you've had your doll(s)?
One of my earliest dolls was a WS boy, bought back in my first few months in the hobby. Looking at photos of him from back then, it looks like he was about the same shade of white as his nearly-white wig, but he's now become a more creamy shade. I don't mind it, though I do have concerns that it might be uneven when I redo his faceup and remove the sealant and paint in that. Still, I think it'll be okay there. I also have a second-hand MNF body that I've been modding, and where I've done the extreme sanding and sculpting, there's a bit of a color difference appearing (which I think will oxidize out before too long, as there's a difference appearing as well in the brand-new LTF getting the same mods). Unfortunately, I can't recall the exact shade of my WS MNM heads, but I feel like they were originally whiter than they are now; the rest of my dolls are NS, and while I'm sure mellowing has occurred, with the colors they were to start with, it doesn't really show.


Are these things an issue for you, or are you happy to accept it?

I'm totally fine with it! With most of them, I can't even see a difference, and with the rest, it's a totally acceptable mellowing to me; if I want them pure-white again, I can likely find a way with enough determination to get them to look more white.

 

I would say this is solely dependent on which doll you're talking about. If you're discussing an older limited -- well, it's probably going to be yellowed; no way around that, age does that to dolls. However, I strongly doubt you could expect to get a rare older doll for less money just because it's yellowed. If we're discussing still-available basics, that's a different story. It's a case-by-case scenario.

 

- Do you feel that yellowing is just a natural feature of resin, or does it constitute a damaged doll? Is yellowing a sign of a well-loved doll, or is it a defect that signifies improper care?

It is a natural thing. Even dolls kept in boxes all their lives yellow. But that being said I also see it as a question of degree. A slight warm tint isn't the same as a doll going banana yellow.

- When does yellowing cross the line between "acceptable" and "unacceptable"?

When it makes the doll really unattractive.

- Would you buy a very yellowed doll? If so, would you try to "fix" it? Why or why not?

I have yes, and yes, I did fix it, for what it's worth, by sanding it. Whether or not that will last I don't know but I gave it my best shot.

 

Of course. I was referring to a run-of-the-mill doll on the marketplace, still in production but horribly yellowed. For example, I paid so little for my Bobobie Ophelia because it was a mixture of age and improper care, and I could get the doll new. But, like you said, a limited? I'd expect to pay more, just because it's most likely no longer in production. And, like my Resinsoul Mei, her yellowing is just her resin aging. I did not pay less because of it, and wouldn't expect to. If I didn't know what Resinsoul's normal skin is supposed to look like, I wouldn't even know she was yellowed!

Sorry, I totally should have qualified that statement, but I had to rush off to class.

 

I don't mind yellowing, my oldest boy is a creamy beige/yellow and I don't think it affects his beauty at all. Yellowing is unacceptable when it is too uneven making it hard to match the body parts.

Would I buy a yellowed doll? Depends on my attraction to the doll-how much I realllllly really want it, extent of coloration and perhaps rarity.

 

Does somebody know, is it possible that body changes to light yellow and head (face) still has original color- Fair.

 

I find yellow natural as well as acceptable as long as its even. as for trying to "fix" a yellowed doll. its a waste of time because they'd eventually yellow all over again either way.
that said I do make a valid effort to prevent yellowing, ie. putting my dolls away when I'm not using them. in my opinion, that's proper doll care 101.
I see no reason for someone to get a brand new doll and leave it sitting in a window for a month while they go on summer vacation. to me that's neglect.
but the natural yellowing that comes from playing with your dolls and taking them on frequent outings and doll meet, that's love.
of course when your buying a used doll online there no way to tell how it got that way and you can only hope for the best. Either way it wont stop me from buying one if I really love it xD

 

In fairness, the person who did that to the doll I bought didn't know that sunlight hurts dolls. It was a complete and total accident. It was her first one, and she knew practically nothing about them. I don't even think she had a DoA account or anything. She knew no one with dolls. But I bought the doll anyway because I really liked her when I saw her. Which, as the original poster wanted to know, I still will buy a doll even if it's yellowed.

But yeah, I'd call that natural yellowing from meets and outings "love" too. To me, doing stuff with them and having them yellow is much better than do nothing at all with them.

In regards to trying to prevent yellowing, I don't store my dolls in their boxes or away from light, but they do live in a chair on my room, and I always keep the shade drawn. Practically no sunlight gets in, and the dolls are in a favorable position right below the window where they get virtually no light. I do try a little, but I like to see them while I'm my room, and I'm in there a lot.

Of course, I feel like I should be more careful with the types of lightbulbs I use. Certain ones will still yellow a doll. I learned that from the local doll shop owner that sells BJDs. She had to replace all of the lights in her store because the dolls were yellowing incredibly fast. I figured I'd include that here because I didn't know artificial light could do such a thing until a few weeks ago.