Another Bendi babe

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time you know that I haunt the aisles of the craft stores looking for clearance items. This week I found some "trim and project color-changing special effect finish" Dimensions decor paint from Dutch Boy called Chameleon on sale - 8 oz for $1.00. Of course I had to buy it! Of course I had to try it out IMMEDIATELY! Here's what I did with it ....

First off - this isn't a nice little acrylic paint. I don't know what Amorphous Silica is but the jar has a huge CAUTION notice on it about ventilation. I really need to get a respirator, sigh. This color is called Teal Sky and it is supposed to shift from teal through purple to a near black. The instructions said it works best on curved surfaces and over a black base coat. I decided a Bendi doll (blank doll form) had enough curves so I pulled out a big one from my Bendi bag (yes, I have lots of these on hand). I painted it black (mixed regular acrylic paint with some Jo Sonya textile medium). Then I painted a light coat of the Chameleon over it - this was full strength as the instructions said not to dilute it. It went on white and when it dry it looks either purple or a very dark grey. I don't seem to get the shifts of color in between the two. But it's still a really, really neat effect - essentially a two-color doll depending on how the light hits it. If you look carefully at the arms you can see the 'hands' are a different color than the legs.

I also used this doll to try out some Aves Expoxy Sculpt. I haven't used it before - just the generic epoxy from the hardware store. This stuff was nice and odorless - at least compared to the stinky Marine Epoxy. That's what the vines, leaves, and berries are made of.

I used a Sherry Goshon mold for the face - but totally changed it. Wound fibers around the arms, decoupaged the torso and stuck buttons on it, used holeless beads here and there. Guess that's about it. The Bendi's are great for trying new techniques.

UPDATE: I took her to doll club and under the bright lights there you could see the color shifts really easily - it shifted all through the spectrum like it was supposed to. Guess my basement studio is too dark, LOL

You can click the photo to enlarge it.