How to Care for a Resin Idol

Resin holds fine detail better than almost anything else at this price, which is why it is used for idols where the face and the ornament matter. It also asks for slightly different care than brass or marble. None of it is difficult.

Everyday dusting

A dry microfibre cloth, once a week. Work from the top down so you are not resettling dust on surfaces you have already done.

For the recesses — between fingers, inside a crown, around a mala — use a clean, dry, soft-bristled brush. A retired makeup brush or a soft paintbrush is ideal. This is where dust actually accumulates, and where it dulls the piece fastest, because those shadows are what give the idol its depth.

When it needs more than dusting

Slightly damp cloth, wrung out until it is barely moist, then dry immediately with a second cloth. That is the whole method.

What to keep away from it:

• Soaps and detergents. They leave a film that dulls the finish and builds up in the recesses.
• Alcohol, thinner, acetone, nail polish remover. These will lift paint. There is no gentle version of this.
• Metal polish or brass cleaner. The gold on a resin idol is a paint finish, not metal. Polish is abrasive and will cut straight through it.
• Soaking or running water. Resin itself is fine, but water sitting in seams and under the base is not.

Sunlight and heat

Sustained direct sunlight fades pigment over time — this is true of any painted object, and it is the main thing that ages an idol. Indoors, keep it off a windowsill that gets hard afternoon sun.

In a car, a windscreen sunshade when you park in the open is worth the small effort. It is not that the idol will be damaged by one hot afternoon; it is that hundreds of them compound.

Handling and moving

Lift from the base, not by a raised arm, a trishul, a flag staff or a tail. Those are the thinnest points on any figure and they take the whole weight if you lift by them.

If you are packing it away, wrap the piece in cloth or bubble wrap and support the projecting parts separately. Do not stack anything on top.

Small chips

If a corner of the finish comes away, leave it alone rather than reaching for household glue or touch-up paint — both are usually more visible than the chip. A fine artists' acrylic in a matched shade, applied with a very small brush, is the only thing that disappears properly. Most chips on a base or a rear surface are genuinely not worth the risk of making them worse.

The short version

Dry cloth weekly, soft brush in the detail, barely damp cloth when it needs it, nothing chemical, out of hard sun, lift from the base. Do that and a resin idol looks the same in five years as it did in the first week.