CARE FOR YOUR PIECE

If you display your figure collections in an open shelf, without any dust protection, you will need to clean them from time to time. And you have to be careful about cleaning your figures lest you risk damaging them.

How you clean your figures will depend on how dusty they are. In some cases, you might find some stains that can’t be removed by simple dusting. It doesn’t happen often but there may come a time when you may have to clear up a nasty stain that you couldn’t reach with a tool. You must know how to clean and take care of your figures. Specially, if you need some hardcore cleaning.

What You’ll Need

Before you start cleaning, prepare your cleaning tools. Here’s a list of things that you might need. You might not need them all depending on how dirty your figures are.

• a can of compressed air or an air compressor if you have one

• 2 pieces of microfiber cloth – one for wiping and one for drying

• make up brush or kabuki brush

• Q-tips

• water

• dishwashing liquid

• cotton, toothpick and nail file

Cleaning the Dust Off of Your Figures

How you clean your figures will depend on how dusty they are. If they only require light dusting then just spraying them compressed air or using the brush to wipe of the dust will do the trick. I normally use a make up brush for light dusting and use compressed air to get dust off the places that are out of the brush’s reach.

As always, when dusting, start from the top moving to the bottom.

Don’t use a paintbrush since these tend to have rough and hard bristles than may scratch the figure’s surface.

When using compressed air, do be careful on figures that have small removable accessories. If you use too much pressure, those accessories may end up flying across the room and be lost in a sea of dust bunnies.

Cleaning Off the Nasty Stains

In some cases, you might find some stains that can’t be removed by simple dusting. Here’s where the microfiber cloth comes in. Do not use regular cloth to wipe the stains of your figures as they can leave light scratch marks. If you are not bothered by light scratches, then use any regular cloth. Use water or dishwashing liquid to help wash off any stains that a simple wipe can’t remove. If there are any stains in hard to reach places, use the Q-tips.

Use your second piece of microfiber cloth to pat dry your figure. If you use water for cleaning, it may leave water stains if you let it dry by itself. Patting dry is an essential step especially if you have hard water in your area.

Cleaning Tight Nooks and Crannies

It doesn’t happen often but there may come a time when you may have to clear up a nasty stain that you couldn’t reach with a Q-tip. For this kind of a cleaning job, I have come up with my own solution. I got a toothpick and smoothed out the tip using a nail file. Then I wrapped a piece of cotton at the edge. This allows me to clean up stains that are otherwise impossible to reach.

For Some Hardcore Cleaning

Now if you have to clean figures are actually muddy, you can give them a bath in lukewarm water with a bit of dishwashing liquid. I can imagine this can happen if you have figures that have been neglected for years or have been submerged in a flood. Do not use hot water since it may deform your figures. Do not use any product with bleach or alcohol since that can damage the paint. Use a mix of Q-tips and microfiber cloth to do the hardcore cleaning. And pat dry.