Doll Painting with Genesis Paints

• Start by placing a small amount of several colors of the paint on a mixing tray of your choice. Because the Genesis paints are set by heat, your paints can be mixed and left open indefinately. There is no need to cover the paints to keep them from drying out, even the paint left on brushes will stay wet and ready for use days or even weeks later. Here I have placed two different shades of the flesh tones on the tray, plus shades of blue, green, white, ochre and red. I’ve also placed portions of the Genesis glazing gel and thinning medium on the tray. Mix the colors to get just the shade you want. Grab your baked polymer dolls and start painting!

• Here I have mixed the dark Flesh 02 color with a small amount of the thinning medium. I just want a wash of color on the face and I am able to accomplish this by thinning the paint. Using the glazing gel will create a wash with a slight satin shine to it, using the thinning medium will create a wash with no shininess on the cured piece. After applying the paint, I go back over it with a dry brush, to blend and lighten the wash even more.

• The great thing about this paint is that if you are not happy with the shade or color or if you have made any kind of painting mistake, you can simply remove it. Water will remove the paint, I actually prefer just a dab of nail polish remove for larger areas.
• Now that I’ve got the faces painted to way I want them, they are ready to be heat set. I use the Genesis drying gun for this and the paint cures in a couple of minutes.

• With the face paint set, I now move on to the details of the face. Eyes, lashes, eyebrows and cheeks are created with just a touch of these paints. Remember, you can undo any mistakes made, so be creative! .

• Notice the man’s face in this picture. I accidently used two different shades of flesh clay. After baking it was obvious that the man’s forehead was much darker than the rest of his face. Rather than having to throw this sculpt out, I used a flesh color mix of the Genesis paint and was able to mask the problem. I thinned the flesh color paint with the glazing gel on these faces, you can see a slight sheen after the paint has been set.

• So mix up a plate of Genesis paints and bring your dolls to life!