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Author Topic: Sticky legs on Barbie, melting fashion dolls  (Read 14176 times)

Offline tropical

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Sticky legs on Barbie, melting fashion dolls
« on: Saturday 16 June 2012, 10:22 am »
I have a barbie with sticky legs. The plastic is breaking down. These dolls are all skipper dolls and have spots on the legs. One has orange spots, one has white spots. One has just sticky legs. I read that many dolls of the 80's have this problem because of the bendable legs. Can you someone  post ideas for helping the legs be less sticky or how to better store the dolls so they legs don't get sticky. I know the legs should not touch each other and I think storage in plastic bags makes in worse. I know the plastic needs to breath. I know shoes will melt on to the feet. I have a lot of 80's barbies that are reported to have sticky legs but mine don't. I live in a mild climate. Could storage in a hot place with out air conditions cause this melting? Brain storm some ideas. Will Barbie melt if you lived in Palm springs and the air condition broke? How long would it take to melt? There is a doll called Action Dusty that melts much worse then Barbie. Petra get hip melt. Petra is a kind of Germany Barbie Clone.

Offline Rider of the storm

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Re: Sticky legs on Barbie, melting fashion dolls
« Reply #1 on: Saturday 16 June 2012, 09:30 pm »
according to this site :http://collectdolls.about.com/library/weekly/aa081800b.htm

1. keep them cool
2. keep them dry
3. keep out of direct sunlight or artificial lights as well if possible Once plastic breaks down there is no stopping it  the only thing you can do to sticky dolls is to read this article :

http://collectdolls.about.com/library/weekly/aa081800e.htm

Offline tropical

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Re: Sticky legs on Barbie, melting fashion dolls
« Reply #2 on: Saturday 16 June 2012, 11:03 pm »
Here is an article on bent leg era dolls.
http://www.dollstuff.net/diary/200903291

Offline apanda0622

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Re: Sticky legs on Barbie, melting fashion dolls
« Reply #3 on: Wednesday 27 June 2012, 02:27 am »
I think baby powder helps the legs from getting too sticky.

Offline tropical

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Re: Sticky legs on Barbie, melting fashion dolls
« Reply #4 on: Tuesday 10 July 2018, 05:15 pm »
I was never able to find any way to stop or cure the spot on the legs of the workout skippers. However. I was able to "fix" the issue and I will share this information with you all.
I took my two workout skippers one with orange spots and one with white spots.  I took two skippers that were created a bit later then workout skipper. I took glitter jewel skipper and sunsensation skipper.  I heated the heads with a hairdryer on hot. I was able to gently pop the heads off the two doll and by heating also the heads on the working out skippers to transplant the heads on to the bodies that did not have spot. It was a not so nice way to do it. I would of liked to not had to ruin two perfectly good dolls. But, I had already collected all those dolls from the 90s, so I had them on hand and they don't really sell on ebay very well. This is the only way to stop the problem. The legs on workout skipper never did become sticky even with the spots. Spots is a different issue from sticky leg. But, I felt weird about keeping those dolls with the spots as I worry that plastic decay and the implications of it. It was at the do or die point. I had to either give up and discard the dolls or I had to make a bold move. I am happy with the way it turned out. When I say, they never did get sticky, they may have been tad sticky, but not super sticky to the point that you can really say in its so sticky when you touch it. I have other dolls that I touch them and I wonder if the legs are beginning to become sticky, but I don't have a clear idea. I don't own the older sorts of dolls that have the problem. I collect later barbies. At first, I thougth sticky legs and leg spots were part of the same issue.

 

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