Removing Freckles for a New Custom (Codename: Lady Luck)
- wingedmermaid
- Dec 5, 2015
- 2 min read
Updated: Mar 30, 2021
Sometimes, you find a character you really love and can really relate to and think “Hey! She would make such a cute custom doll!” And then you realize that Grace Thomas would be a perfect base for this character – and she’s currently 20% off at American Girl – so…
You get another Grace Thomas.
But you’ll notice there’s something a little different about this Grace. She’s missing most of her freckles. She started out as a regular, fully-freckled Grace Thomas…
..and about an hour, twenty Q-tips, and a good portion of a bottle of acetone-free nail polish remover later, most of her freckles were gone.
This was my first time removing freckles from a doll. I’ve removed the designs from the rear of a My Little Pony before, but it’s been over ten years since then (and an American Girl doll is a bit more nerve-wracking to work on).
I recommend reading several tutorials on removing American Girl doll freckles before attempting something similar. Please do not take my methods as a tutorial – this is just the process I ended up following and may not be the best practice method.
Using acetone-free nail polish remover I found at Target, I filled the cap with remover, then dipped a Q-tip partway in and dabbed off the excess liquid. Then, using circular strokes, I rubbed away at the freckles. I changed out Q-tips often, so I wouldn’t be rubbing the paint the Q-tips picked up into the pores of the vinyl.
Removing freckles was actually more difficult than I expected! I started out with lighter strokes, but by the end, I was scrubbing harder to make sure I got her cheeks as clear as possible.
At first, I thought to keep the freckles on the bridge of her nose intact, but it looked a little strange. At the same time, I didn’t want to completely remove her freckles, so I settled on fading them. To do this, I very carefully made light circles on each freckle, so as not to distort the shape too much. I’m happy with the result! I think it looks pretty realistic!
The final step was carefully wiping down the area with gentle soap and water (I used a drop of liquid Ivory soap, which seemed to work pretty well), and quickly drying her off so no water would get into her eye sockets.
Step one: complete! I ordered her wig, which should arrive in a couple of weeks, and then it’s on to the part I’m kind of dreading – removing her original wig. The last Grace wig was such a nightmare! Maybe I’ll luck out and this one will come off more easily…
