Removing stain marks on TPE doll IS possible!

[The Doll Laboratory]

Hello,

I just wanted to share my experience with the removing of stain marks on my TPE doll. Those who know my girl Svetlana know that I like black dresses, especially if they fit tightly (see here or here).
Last time I wanted to dress her in black lingerie again and the inevitable happened: stain marks!



I promptly orderer Indigo's stain remover and a couple of applications later, most of the staining was eliminated (I'd say 95%). But there was still a hint of staining visible. Now I must say that there was two type of marks on the body. Those left by the lingerie (panty and straps) which appear violet in the photos and the black ones left by the photographic background I used for the shooting (Svetlana sat on it for a couple of hours). The latter was more of a "dry" staining, like if I had rubbed black charcoal powder on the skin. While Indigo's stain remover eliminated 100% of the lingerie staining, I needed something to remove the "charcoal" leftover. For this I used a paint thinner.



Now, I won't tell you which product I used for the final cleaning. I checked my doll yesterday, after she remained a couple of days in her box, and the skin appears to have not been affected by the application of the thinner. However, I want to let some time pass before letting people use the product as it may have long term side effects. I will tell Indigo what it is as he is in more qualified than me to test the product and check if it is safe for TPE. Here is a picture showing all the dirt I was able to remove with the thinner:



It's good to have people like Indigo experimenting with TPE because the staining really was a problem for me. I am relieved to know that there are now solutions for this!

Von Rubber

[Stepford_CT]

I ran across this link while researching crocking (staining caused by dye bleeding onto another fabric, skin, or furniture):
http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/cl ... -bleeding/

[hansdampf21]

Thank you for posting this, Von Rubber.
It shows another time to the community, how well Indigo's stain remover works.

But the stain from the photographic background is completely another thing, which has nothing in common with fabric colors. As you've stated, it's more a charcoal powder (sounds like another permanent tattoo possibility with that stuff. What is it?)

However, it's highly risky to use paint thinner on TPE, as it dissolves out mineral oils. This should only be a last resort, if at all. Saturate it with mineral oil then, to prevent the TPE from drying out.

[The Doll Laboratory]

Hello hansdampf21,

Thank you for posting this, Von Rubber.
It shows another time to the community, how well Indigo's stain remover works.

But the stain from the photographic background is completely another thing, which has nothing in common with fabric colors. As you've stated, it's more a charcoal powder (sounds like another permanent tattoo possibility with that stuff. What is it?)

However, it's highly risky to use paint thinner on TPE, as it dissolves out mineral oils. This should only be a last resort, if at all. Saturate it with mineral oil then, to prevent the TPE from drying out.

You are absolutely right with everything you've said. The photographic background stuff is a completely other thing. I used the paint thinner very carefully and in limited amounts and washed the doll with baby towels just after every paint thinner application on very limited areas. I won't use this stuff again other than if it is absolutely necessary. I don't know what type of Dye was used on the photographic background. It's a cheap one I guess. It looks like it was done by soaking a white sheet in black watercolor! I won't let it touch the doll anymore, believe me!

I have found other stain marks on my doll during the last shooting. But this time from clothing. I tried the paint thinner again but it didn't remove anything. So it does definitely not work with regular fabric colors staining. Indigo's stain remover will have to do the job for this.

Von Rubber

[Indigo20]

Hello VonRubber,

thank you very much for your article about Svetlana, the very nice emails we had and for talking about the situation.
I'm happy that the stain remover worked for you.

Within the second part of my answer I'm showing how the stain remover does its work with very strange stains like the brown stains from Svetlana.

As discussed in our last email I'm showing the TDF community the result of the thinner you used.
Thank you very much for the provided information about the thinner and for the permission to talk about that with the community.

VonRubber, thank you very much.



I. The used thinner:

According to the safety data sheet the thinner is a solvent compound of 60% alcohol, 30% ketone and 10% glycol ether.

The used alcohol is Isopropyl alcohol (Isopropanol).
Isopropyl alcohol is causing a dry out effect inside TPE.
It makes TPE hard because the alcohol is binding the included mineral oil.

The used ketone is methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) (Methylisobutylketon / Hexon)
Ketone are doing a slow destructure within TPE.
The most known ketone is acetone, followed by methyl ethyl ketone (MEK).

The used glygol ether is ethylene glycol monobutyl ether (EGBE).


Here is the test, made without the glycol ether:

Glass container, TPE piece, Isopropyl alcohol and MIBK.

2 Alcohol & Ketone.jpg (90.57 KiB) Viewed 9436 times

4ml Isopropyl alcohol + 2ml MIBK

3 TPE piece start.jpg (41.5 KiB) Viewed 9436 times

The result is really worst after 3 hours for a TPE piece within a bit of that solvent mixture.

Here you can see the surface that was on the ground.
It is dry and hard.

4 TPE piece surface dry and hard.JPG (42.09 KiB) Viewed 9436 times

Here you can see the TPE piece surface that was not permanent in contact with the solvent mixture after rubbing with my finger over the dry TPE surface.
The solvent mixture was only a bit soaked in.

5 TPE piece rubbed with the finger.jpg (68.22 KiB) Viewed 9436 times

Here you can see very small washed out TPE particles within the solvent mixture.

6 Washed out TPE particles inside the solvent compound.jpg (91.16 KiB) Viewed 9436 times

VonRubber and I talked about the situation.
We both are knowing, that 3 hours for the test are really long.
It was our intension to show the effect if it comes to a longer or permanent usage of thinner for removing stains.
Effects become visible after an amount of time.
Like one cigarette is not killing you, permanent smoking does...and yes, the one cigarette is not healthy.

VonRubber told me, that he is doing a mineral oil treatment for compensating the loss of mineral oil.


II. Facts about stain removing from TPE:

Staining from dark and black clothing looks really worst.
It is causing dark blue and / or dark purple stains.

It sounds crazy, but that is not a problem for the stain remover I created.

TPE likes the pigment color brown and red.
That is strange but that is true.
Brown, red and red-brown stainings are very uncommon.
Most of it happen with pantihose, nylons or a surface that has some of that pigments included.
That happened with the photographic background used from VonRubber.
TPE is an active material and soaked off the pigments from that background.


Let's look on this test I made with dried edding, deep pigmentation and the stain remover:

Dried edding in blue, red and black.
Deep pigmentation with light brown, red and red-brown.

1.jpg (39.26 KiB) Viewed 9436 times

Result after the first application.

2.jpg (29.66 KiB) Viewed 9436 times

Result after the second application.

3.jpg (22.8 KiB) Viewed 9436 times

Result after the third application.

4.jpg (21.72 KiB) Viewed 9436 times

Result after the fourth application.

5.jpg (15.18 KiB) Viewed 9436 times

The stain remover made it after 4 days.
I can understand the "need for a quick result".
All you need is time, a bit patient and the love to your doll during the time the stain remover does its soft and safe work.

[life-is-plastic]

When we want to order your stainremover Indigi, do we PM you? I've looked on the website and eventhough there's a shoppingbasket, there was no way to add the stainremover to it.

[jibjibjub]

Those results are impressive. I'm sold.

[david 68]

where do i go to order the stain remover?

[The Doll Laboratory]

Hello,

I did what Indigo suggested to me and gave my Svetlana a baby oil wash. I have purchased a bootle of the Penaten brand in Germany:



Oiling the body was a nice and sensual experience and made the skin of the doll look a lot shinier as usual. Even after the oil soaked in:



But there is one more positive aspect about applying oil on TPE: it completely cleans the surface of the skin. I have used dry baby towels during the oiling (don't use paper tissue!). Baby towels are usually wet but if you leave them to dry for a few hours you can use them with oil instead of water. I used about ten towels for the entire doll and the baby towel + Penaten Oil combination took away A LOT of dirt!



The negative aspect is that the skin becomes very tacky because all the cornstarch powder has been eliminated as well. Washing the doll is then mandatory. As Indigo pointed out, when you apply water on the doll, it doesn't penetrate the skin anymore but leaves water pearls on the surface:



I used soap and water to clean the doll. I didn't applied too much though:



A wash glove will make the cleaning easier. Note that I wash the doll while she sits on a plastic stool placed within the bathtub:



This is how I dry the doll after the bath:
- I first place a big white sheet over the bed.
- Then I put a bath towel over the white sheet and lay the wet body on it.
- Finally the doll is thoroughly dried with a second bath towel.



Last step of the maintenance consists of applying cornstarch powder with a big make-up brush:



The product I use is the following:



Once powdered, the doll looks almost like new!



Is it only me or does Svetlana look sexy even in maintenance mode?

Von Rubber

[cheeky+swine]

Thats all fantastic information. Thank you so much

[tubee]

The used alcohol is Isopropyl alcohol (Isopropanol).
Isopropyl alcohol is causing a dry out effect inside TPE.
It makes TPE hard because the alcohol is binding the included mineral oil.



VonRubber told me, that he is doing a mineral oil treatment for compensating the loss of mineral oil.

This is what I've been wondering. Isopropyl alcohol does a great job of cleaning and disinfecting. If I were to clean TPE w/ iso-alcohol and then treat the doll w/ mineral oil would the oil prevent any negative effects of cleaning w/ alcohol?

[Tybalt]

I wish there was a spray coating to prevent color staining.

[samara78]

Svetlana looks brand new. I cannot advocate occasionally oiling your doll enough. It freshen the tpe skin, and gives dolly a healthy glow.

[Stepford_CT]

I wish there was a spray coating to prevent color staining.

It's called Scotchguard.

[Indigo20]

@ VonRubber:

Thank you very much for showing the cleaning and care from Svetlana.
Perfect !
BTW, I do it exact in the same way like you, VonRubber, also the usage of the bath tub seat.

Svetlana looks always sexy !


@ tubee:

Why do you wanna use harming stuff first and afterwards stuff to avoid the negative effect ?
Do you wash your hands with acid and afterwards you are using moisturizing creme ?


@ Stepford-CT:

Copied from the safety data sheet from Scotchgard Fabric protector:

Scotchgard fabric protector.jpg (34.44 KiB) Viewed 9237 times

Acetone = Ketone = destructing of TPE
Isopropyl alcohol = dry out effect for TPE

> both effects are shown from my test

Petroleum naphta = lighter petrol = disolving TPE material


Damn, honestly meanwhile I'm really angry.
I'm not the "TPE care police".
Is it so hard to switch on the brain ?
Is it so hard to search for safety data sheets ?

What is going on, please tell me, what is going on here ?