After having spent hours getting your girl's face just right it is only natural to want to protect your work as well as possible. Sealer is THE thing to use. You also might have heard that repaints are sealed with resin - this is only a fancy word for saying sealer.

    There are several kinds of sealers: mate, satin and gloss. Each has its use in repaints.

    Mate is the most versatile. You can seal everything with it if you don't want any shine whatsoever.

    Satin sealer gives just a little bit of shine. The make-up and eyebrows are good candidates for it. Of course, you may use it on the moist parts of the face: the eyeballs and the lips.

    Gloss on the other hand, should only be used on the eyeballs and lips. Put it anywhere else and the doll looks unnatural.

    Don't forget to seal the nail polish of the doll as well. I generally use the same kind of sealer on the lips and nails.

    Also, don't think that you have to use a particular type of sealer every time on the same part of the face. For example, the lips can be sealed with any of the three kinds. It is more a personal preference then anything else.

    When sealing your work you should keep in mind that photographs pick up even the smallest amount of shine and exaggerates it. I chose to only apply the mate sealer before I take pictures of my dolls. Once that is done I might go over with the satin or gloss. Lately, though, I tend to leave the whole face mate.

    Experiment with the different kinds of sealers and decide for yourself which one you like best. Take several kinds of photographs with different light of a doll with mate sealer and another one with satin or gloss. This way you will find out sealer and light combination is the best.

    You can find many different once whenever acrylic paints are sold. However, I amount of shine in the different kinds of sealers varies by manufacturer. I have found that it is quite difficult to achieve a truly mate look. "Windsor & Newton" seems to have the best mate sealer. Unfortunately, this particular brand is hard to find as few stores carry it. Do check with the stores in your area as some will order it for you.

    Another wonderful use of the mate sealer is to apply it between the different layers as you repaint. If you are painting the pupil of a doll and find that you need to remove it, the nail polish remover will lift the white paint below it as well. If however, the whites of the eyes were sealer only the pupil paint will be lifted off. Be careful not to get overzealous with the q-tip or you will go right through the sealer and into the white paint.