If your household is like mine, you have a house full of undressed Barbies with no clothing to be found anywhere. My daughter LOVES changing out her Barbies’ outfits, but is always losing the tiny garments. Well here’s a fun solution to keeping those Barbies permanently dressed – Hydrodipping! Why not include your children in the fun hydrodipping activity too to create cute and unique outfits for your undressed Barbies?
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Supplies Needed to Hydrodip a Barbie
All of the supplies that we used are linked here. So, you can click on the hyperlink to grab your supplies too.
- Oil based spray paint – this is the type we used and it comes in a huge variety of colors!
- White primer spray paint
- Large plastic storage bin (that you’re not worried about getting stained)
- Warm water
- Face mask
- Plastic gloves
- Electrical tape
- Undressed Barbie or plastic doll of choice
How to Hydrodip a Barbie
1. First you’ll want to brainstorm a design for the Barbie’s new outfit. Some of the more simple ideas that we thought of were a one piece swimsuit or tank top with capri pants
2. You then want to use the electrical tape to tape off the skin areas that you do not want the spray paint on and leave only the skin areas that you want to be her new outfit. Below is an image of our taped Barbie doll. You can see that the only exposed skin areas are the ones that will become her tank top and capri pants. All other areas are taped off to protect the skin from spray paint.
3. Make sure that you have covered the Barbie’s face and hair with electrical tape too. I actually used an extra plastic glove to wrap around the Barbie’s hair and face. I then secured the open part of the glove to the Barbie with more electrical tape so no paint would get onto the Barbie’s hair and face. See the picture above for reference.
4. Next, put on all your protective gear. So you’ll need your face mask to prevent you from breathing in the spray paint fumes. You’ll also want to protect your hands from the spray paint with some plastic gloves. Then make sure you move outdoors in a well ventilated area to perform all of the spray painting.
5. Now grab you white spray paint primer and spray paint the exposed Barbie skin to create a solid white base. Make sure you spray the front and back of the Barbie with the primer and allow her to fully dry based on the time listed in the spray can’s directions.
6. While the Barbie is drying, go ahead and set up your hydrodipping area in a well ventilated area. For this, you’ll need your large plastic bin and fill it with warm water.
7. Next grab all of the spray paint can colors that you prefer. Make sure these are oil based spray paint and not water based spray paint. Oil based spray paint will sit on top of the water while water based spray paint will dissolve into the water and won’t work.
8. Begin spraying the spray paint on top of the warm water alternating between the different colors to make a cool colorful pattern.
9. Next, grab the Barbie doll with your gloved fingers placed on the taped areas. Remember the taped areas will not have paint on them, so this is a good area to hold. Don’t hold the areas where the Barbies skin is showing.
10. Holding the Barbie parallel with the water, dip her into the water and use your free hand to wipe away any spray paint that didn’t get onto the Barbie while pulling her out of the water.
11. Turn the Barbie over and repeat steps 8-10 for the Barbie’s back side to make sure all of her skin is covered.
12. Allow the Barbie to fully dry and then remove the painters tape to reveal your custom made Barbie outfit!
Here are our final creations. We hope you enjoyed this activity as much as we did!
