JND Studios: Mera 1/3

[Billy Talent]

Put some water on that hair, put some water in a spray bottle and spray her hair....I wanna see what happens....
Mine will arrive next wednesday

[pdenham]

Originally Posted by Billy Talent

Put some water on that hair, put some water in a spray bottle and spray her hair....I wanna see what happens....

You first.
Or are you alluding to the fact that she spends most of the movie with her hair dripping wet?

It's gonna get boxed back up soon, so I probably won't do anything further for a while.

I sent JND an email asking what products and techniques would be safe, and what I should not do. In the same email I couldn't resist hammering some suggestions about the Reeve portrait, so the reply I got back mentioned nothing about the hair and simply said "we'll think about it".

I've been rearranging and futzing with it every few days and I can totally live with it as it is right now.
I watched the film again the other night and paid close attention to her features, suit, and hair. The only time it's dry is in the Sahara and Sicily sequences. It's mostly straight with some loose curling towards the ends. It also has lots of scraggly, un-brushed looking fly-aways, so what I ended up with isn't entirely screen inaccurate.

Hopefully yours is gonna work for you right out of the box.
I'll look forward to hearing your impressions when you get it next week

[Billy Talent]

Originally Posted by pdenham

You first.
Or are you alluding to the fact that she spends most of the movie with her hair dripping wet?

It's gonna get boxed back up soon, so I probably won't do anything further for a while.

I sent JND an email asking what products and techniques would be safe, and what I should not do. In the same email I couldn't resist hammering some suggestions about the Reeve portrait, so the reply I got back mentioned nothing about the hair and simply said "we'll think about it".

I've been rearranging and futzing with it every few days and I can totally live with it as it is right now.
I watched the film again the other night and paid close attention to her features, suit, and hair. The only time it's dry is in the Sahara and Sicily sequences. It's mostly straight with some loose curling towards the ends. It also has lots of scraggly, un-brushed looking fly-aways, so what I ended up with isn't entirely screen inaccurate.

Hopefully yours is gonna work for you right out of the box.
I'll look forward to hearing your impressions when you get it next week

Yes I wanna give her that look she has in the movie where her hair is wet, that's the coolest look imo.

I am gonna do the same gonna send them an email to make sure it's safe to spray some water on her hair.
And also if I straighten the hair, can I re-curl the hair again....

They should add a little booklet or note, with what we can do to the hair, what we shouldn't do...what temperature the room should be etc
My country is so friggin hot and humid in the summer, I can't stand the summer it's like a sauna 24/7
So kinda worried what will happen to it.... in a room that is humid and hot

Going for this effect

[pdenham]

Originally Posted by Billy Talent

Yes I wanna give her that look she has in the movie where her hair is wet, that's the coolest look imo.

I am gonna do the same gonna send them an email to make sure it's safe to spray some water on her hair.
And also if I straighten the hair, can I re-curl the hair again....

They should add a little booklet or note, with what we can do to the hair, what we shouldn't do...what temperature the room should be etc
My country is so friggin hot and humid in the summer, I can't stand the summer it's like a sauna 24/7
So kinda worried what will happen to it.... in a room that is humid and hot

Going for this effect

A booklet on hair care with these would be a great idea, but I think I know why they dodged my earlier email questions.
If you read the company info on their site, they are very cagey about the materials and processes they are using, treating them like trade secrets.

I hope you have better luck than I do. I wonder if engaging them in public on social media, where other people can gang up and endorse a question/pester for an answer, might yield a more direct reply?

Since this is a serious possibility for you to attempt, I'll follow this up later with the long answer, of everything I've found out so far.

Short answer for now is- some kind of water treatment was what I was likely going to try at some point. I was planning to do it for a dry look, ultimately. But I agree that if it can be pulled off, that wet look would be killer!

The big problem I see with this figure in particular is that when you look close you can see it's not just one flat color.
Daniel has said they had to go in and actually paint the hair to get it looking the correct hue and shade.
Before we do any water treatments, we really should know what kind of paint they used, and if it's likely to run or wash out easily.

It's funny, but looking at that pic above, it really does look like her hair must have had curls similar to how it is on these figures, before being drenched.

If it can be softened without losing any of the color, it should be possible to get that same, or similar, effect.

[tarim69]

I've mentioned previously, I used a hair straightening iron on Harleys ponytails.. it was way too curly. Lowest setting.
It took 3 seconds...
No problem and no damage to the coloring.
I also apply a miniscule amount of pomade to the 2 long front bangs every few months.

[pdenham]

I missed your earlier post, so thanks for chiming in.

That was ballsy using a flat iron.
A little too long, a little too much heat and it could have just as easily melted into a nasty goo.
At least that's the case with other forms of synthetic doll hair.

The one flat iron technique that sounded the safest to me was to heat it up, unplug it, wait a few seconds to about a half minute, and then go in and use it.

Trying to work the curls out with my fingers, there did seem to be a faint, slick trace of something on my fingertips afterwards.
Didn't feel tacky or stiff/gritty like mousse or spray hold would make it.
I was guessing they were using a minimal amount of some kind of pomade to keep it set.

I get the impression you should stay away from anything with oils. For one thing it would act like a magnet for dust and then make cleaning it out a struggle.
I don't know if all pomades are water based, but there are definitely a few out there that are. That would seem to me to be the safest, especially if it comes in contact with the silicone.

When they boxed these up to ship, they had no problem keeping the hair in close contact with the skin, so whatever they put in for production was non reactive.

[Billy Talent]

Originally Posted by pdenham

A booklet on hair care with these would be a great idea, but I think I know why they dodged my earlier email questions.
If you read the company info on their site, they are very cagey about the materials and processes they are using, treating them like trade secrets.

I hope you have better luck than I do. I wonder if engaging them in public on social media, where other people can gang up and endorse a question/pester for an answer, might yield a more direct reply?

Since this is a serious possibility for you to attempt, I'll follow this up later with the long answer, of everything I've found out so far.

Short answer for now is- some kind of water treatment was what I was likely going to try at some point. I was planning to do it for a dry look, ultimately. But I agree that if it can be pulled off, that wet look would be killer!

The big problem I see with this figure in particular is that when you look close you can see it's not just one flat color.
Daniel has said they had to go in and actually paint the hair to get it looking the correct hue and shade.
Before we do any water treatments, we really should know what kind of paint they used, and if it's likely to run or wash out easily.

It's funny, but looking at that pic above, it really does look like her hair must have had curls similar to how it is on these figures, before being drenched.

If it can be softened without losing any of the color, it should be possible to get that same, or similar, effect.

Got a reply, it's a shame...guess no wetlook then.


The dye for toning down can fade when it comes into contact with water. We do not recommend using water.

[pdenham]

Good to know.

Looks like a flat iron is going to be way to go to straighten- though the caution against water gives me pause using a water soluble pomade now.

I didn't realize that you wanted it actually wet, for a "wet look". I was thinking of soaking it as part of the process to straighten it- which you would want to do as a first step in trying to replicate a wet look. But water would always run off and evaporate anyway.

What you would want is, after straightening it
- use some form of heavy product in it- to weight it down, so that it drapes like it is wet
- a random speckling of some kind of product to give it broken and scattered highlights, as water droplets would do (maybe something like using a toothbrush to fleck decanted gloss medium on it?)
- some kind of product to clump groups of strands together (see pic)

All those would work as visual makers to suggest the hair is damp/wet.
Just like a Hollywood facade of a building, you're just interested in creating the appearance of something for effect, not having it actually be that thing.

One other problem you'll have here is with the hair on the crown of the head. It's parted more to one side (more so than the pic here), which makes it drape differently than if it were wet. It's also styled to give volume and shape there, which would also visually contradict that effect.
To counteract those, you're going to have to get very close to where it's rooted, including possibly going in and changing the part- all of which might be asking for trouble.

A lot of caution flags, but I'm convinced there are ways to do it, if you are fully committed to it.

I'd spend a lot of time researching on theatrical make-up and sp-fx forums- joining those and asking a lot of questions there.

also, maybe scout discount stores and thrift stores for old dolls with rooted hair that you can practice different techniques on in advance of trying anything out on this.

[Billy Talent]

Got my mera in but couldn't take any decent pics, it's still at my sister's place, will do so later this week.

it looks pretty amazing! I am now afraid to wet the hair though.
The water effect on the base is really cool but I really wish the base had an aqua led strip light built in with some coole watery led effects, also the card that comes with it...it should fit the overal character type
The card with gold lettering would be better

I know ''museum'' style bla bla bla, I just want the OPTION to be there to be able to turn on led lights on the base.

My sister and newphew were amazed at how realistic her face was, and so was I!
If I could afford it I would definitely buy more JND

[Billy Talent]

Mine arrived, I noticed the face was dirty, like the green rubbed on the cheeks somehow.
I thought it was damaged at first