Dyeing Phicen figures with Rit Dye (NSFW)

I ran into some similar tearing with the groin on some of the figures I repeatedly dyed, but I've never seen anything like what you have going on with the arms and armpits.

I wonder if I used TPE glue if the joints would be flexible enough to still be used, or if they would just re-tear…

Nooooo... well, the color looks great, but getting rips in your TPE flesh is not worth it. I'm definitely sticking to oil pastel! Is TPE glue different from silicon glue? Hope it works.

Here's the body I dyed covered with powder. It's dulled the color a bit, even though I tried to spread it as thin as possible, but interestingly, even after all this time, the dye never faded anywhere near as bad as I've seen in previous attempts (maybe it's due to being down in the Bat Cave -- I mean, my Man Cave???). I will have to paint hands and feet -- what really is amazing is I bought the sandals from the Spartan Army Commander, and holy-hell the feet on those figures are insanely huge. I compared the feet from the SAC -- which I haven't put together yet -- against male figure feet, and they are actually the same size. So, I stole a pair of feet from a male figure to paint up. I feel bad, because now Naomie is going to look ridiculous with these giant boat-feet. Outfit is still being worked on, and is obviously not complete, but with the pieces that I chose, and the glue that I had used on the tears that I showed above, none of them will be visible. The light in the photos is a bit too stark -- sorry -- which is why I took one next to my wife's mini-me (Pale TBL).

You know what they say about big feet, right? Oh wait... I meant greater stability! Excellent recoloring and outfitting, such a contrast to the skin tone on your wife's mini-she (kickass figure). Protective powder can dull colors indeed, so that may be something you consider when matching the color of the head. Or maybe the body is just more dusty and she washed her face...

Stryker2011 wrote:

I don't know if those tearings really are due to the dipping process, because I got 2 S23B bodies with those exact same tearings in the exact same places from boxed figures: Skarah and Fighter Woman. I didn't do any modification to the bodies, didn't even stress them in extreme poses. They just came with the tearing. This could be due to some faulty batch of bodies.

The tears weren’t there before the dying process; the heat, and no doubt the 1- 1.5 hour dunking time, definitely caused it.

Hey ALL!! Cherry kit bash. I have had the ugliest of times to get the colors to go on my Phicen seamless silicone figures. FIRST: These are not silicone but a TPE....Thermoplastic Elastomer. Phicen didn't respond when I tried to contact them. Spray paint...wrong answer. Ended up with tiny holes at neck and armpits. FAIL. I had to wash off the paint.
Since it was said to be silicone, I contacted Smooth-On on the best way to paint/color the figure. It would not cure. Washed it all off. Told the rep that. He asked what I was using the mixes on. I told him Phicen. That's when I learned what they were. Fail. Researched again and found Plaid FX flexible Acrylic Paint. Which was said to work on TPE. I move the arms after 3 days of curing and the paint rippled then split. Peeled that paint off like dead skin. 3rd FAIL. THEN....I found you all and now going to try the pastels on my next figure. I have the Lady Death head sculpt and trying to make the body white like the head. Doing a Silver Banshee figure from Superman. So, more to follow on that.

Now, I will say that my male M36 Phicen that I was making a Parasite figure from Superman. I used the synthetic dye. He soaked in that concoction for a week and he turned out to be a good purple. Next was the head sculpt. For the love of God, head paint could not make the color of the body but it still worked.

My kit LOBO on the M36 Phicen, nothing worked. I ended up buying a large plastic Lobo body. He definitely wasn't the pure white color from the comics. It was this light grey. Finally got him to be white. Why don't they make a white synthetic dye? Yes, understand that they have white shirts or use bleach for dark clothes. OH well.

I want to send a huge bear Hug to Ephaine. She found the solution. THANK YOU!!

Hey there, mypint! Welcome to the forum! It sounds like you've been on a journey that is sadly quite familiar to many of us. I'm so glad you found the forum and I'd love to eventually see your own results once you are satisfied with them.

And yes, agree with you on Ephiane, I'm so thankful she shared her technique here or else I'd never have been able to progress with many of my own projects.