What Exactly Are Reborn Dolls?

Reborn Dolls

Reborn dolls are indeed as they sound, they are dolls that have had their factory finish stripped away and “reborn” by being transformed into realistic baby dolls. The material that they are made from is mainly vinyl. To create the life like baby dolls that these reborn dolls are, you will need to get the original doll from a specialist manufacturer. There are several, but the most popular brand has to be Berenguer. Berenguer baby dolls are the obvious choice because the attention to detail that their dolls have to resemble a real baby is amazing.

What Is Reborning and Newborning?

reborn dolls

Reborning is an art that takes an original factory made doll, such as the berenguer doll and strips away its factory finish, such as hair and skin color, in order for the reborn baby doll artist to add their own features and use their own techniques to transform what was a toy, into something truly realistic. Newborning is way of creating the same end result, but cuts a few of the steps out. The reason that this can be done is because when hobbyists and artists alike create a newborning doll, they are making them from reborn doll kits. These kits are assembled and the artist can apply the dolls paints and hair without going through the early steps involved in the reborning process.

Reborn dolls are by no means toys. They are instead very collectible items that can be of heirloom quality and quite expensive. Their prices can range from a hundred dollars right up to a few thousand, depending on the quality of them and whether they have been professionally made. Some artists only make unique custom reborn dolls. These kinds of dolls are commonly known as Ooak baby dolls (one of a kind). These will probably be the most expensive kinds of reborn dolls you can buy.

The number of processes that these reborn dolls have to go through include, re-weighting as well as the inclusion of realistic baby hair and repainting. Effects like a heartbeat, small imperfections and tears are used to make the final result more realistic and life like. You will find that reborn dolls are often made by people who do this for a hobby as well as experts alike. You will find that a large proportion of these can be found on eBay. These kinds of eBay shops are often also referred to as nurseries, online. Amazon is also becoming a popular resource lately for reborn dolls, and their selection is increasing by the week. If you want to buy reborn dolls offline then there are many fairs around the country, and it is unlikely that you will have to travel far to find one. It’s also worth mentioning that top quality reborn dolls are now becoming very sought after by many collectors and enthusiasts.

Reborn Dolls

Should they be allowed or not?

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding these realistic baby dolls over recent years. Many artists and fanatics will tell you that these dolls are truly wonderful collectors items that bring a smile to many peoples faces, while other think that they are creepy and should not be made in such a realistic manner. Some parents use these life like baby dolls as a way helping them through the grieving process of losing a child, or when a child has grown up and moved on with their lives. While some people might not agree with that, there are many that consider it to be a very good idea. Love them or hate them, one thing is for sure; reborn dolls will be around for many years to come.

 

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Reborn Doll Kits

Reborn Doll Kits

Realistic baby dolls or reborn dolls as they are more accurately called these days have become extremely popular this last few years, so much that collectors are now going crazy over them, as well as people who want to make their own from scratch using reborn doll kits. What are reborn baby dolls? you might ask. Well they are not just ordinary dolls, but life like baby dolls that you can buy from specialist stores or from professional artists that base themselves online.

reborn doll kits

People who buy them range from collectors to people who actually want to treat them as if they were a real child. There has been a recent increase in television coverage including documentaries that is now increasing the popularity of these dolls. This has now started a wave of enthusiasts that want to make their own. This has led to the increasing demand of people buying the above mentioned reborn doll kits.

Reborn Doll Kits

What Do Reborn Doll Kits Consist Of?

The reborn doll kits are not too expensive to buy, and they consist of the base doll, as well as paints and a set of instructions. The more expensive kits will come with added extras, such as glass eyes and mohair, as well as other options to deliver different grades of quality. These reborn doll kits start off as just ordinary dolls, that need to be prepared for the reborning process.

The factory paint that was originally on the doll will need to be stripped off the reborn baby doll before this process can begin. Most factory produced reborn baby dolls come with a waxy orange pigment look to the skin. Once this is removed, a new pigment layer is added that will act as a base coat for the artist to build up the many layers that will be needed to create an authentic skin look.

Reborn Doll Kits

Where Are The Best Places To Buy Reborn Doll Kits?

If you are thinking of where to buy reborn doll kits, then you need look no further than online. There are of course a good number of offline resources you can go to for your reborn doll kits and ready-made reborn dolls, such as reborn doll fairs. You can also buy other kinds of reborn baby dolls from these fairs, like, Ooak baby dolls and Berenguer baby dolls. However, many artists sell there reborn baby dolls and reborn doll kit catalogues from either their own websites or from online auctions such as eBay. With eBay and more recently Amazon, you can find any reborn doll kit that you want, as well as any accessories you might be thinking of. The prices at these places are very competitive too.

If your intension is to make reborn baby dolls and you are fairly new at reborning, then you should be really looking at using reborn doll kits. If you are unsure about where to buy your first reborn doll kit, then you would be best advised to buy reborn doll kits from Amazon or eBay as the support system as both of these resources are second to none.

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Realistic Baby Dolls – 3 Tips On Buying Reborn Dolls Online Without Wasting Money

Realistic Baby Dolls

One of the easiest ways of being able to purchase realistic baby dolls or reborn’s is by going online.  In fact there are very few traditional stores that will sell realistic baby dolls simply because they feel that they are too life like.  However, before you actually go out and purchase your first life like baby doll,  you need to do some research beforehand.  Below we offer some tips that should help you to make the best purchase possible.

When it comes to buying realistic baby dolls including the custom made types there are numerous websites where they can be found.  The most popular websites that now sell these types of realistic baby dolls are eBay, Amazon, ubid, bidz and reborn.  As you will soon discover when you look at these sites the types of dolls and how much they cost varies greatly.

realistic baby dolls

So in order to get the best deal possible it is a good idea to spend time comparing what these sites have to offer.  Don’t just look at the price but also what features and attributes that each of these life like baby dolls comes with.  You may be surprised that you can get the same doll for much less on one site than another.

How much you spend on these dolls will depend on a number of factors.  Certainly the more expensive ones will often come with a device that not only makes the chest move up and down as if the doll is breathing.  But also is one that actually when you place your ear close to the realistic baby dolls chest will hear a heart beat sound.

When looking to purchase such realistic baby dolls online at the websites we have mentioned then there are certain things you should be looking for.

Realistic Baby Dolls

3 Things To Look For…

1.    The realistic baby dolls skin should have been created from soft materials and vinyl that provides the same kind of feel you would get as if you were touching a real baby.  Also the materials used should be of the hypoallergenic variety.

2.     Next you need to find out what materials have been used in order to fill these life like baby dolls so that they weigh similar to a real baby.  Certainly with the custom made dolls you will find that the person who has created them will have used tiny glass beads, glass dust and fibre fill.  Also these materials are one’s which give a more realistic feel to the baby when held of touched.

3.    Another thing to look at is how the skin colour on the baby has been created.  With any realistic baby dolls several layers of heat genesis paints will have been applied.  This technique helps to ensure that depth is given to the skin giving it a more realistic appearance. Plus no matter how many times you handle or wash your baby the paint will not fade or be rubbed off.

Realistic Baby Dolls

Above we have taken a look at some of the things to be looking for when purchasing realistic baby dolls online.  Time not spent on researching these particular types of life like baby dolls before buying will not only waste your time but will also lose you money.  Remember these realistic baby dolls are not cheap to buy.

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Life Like Baby Dolls – The Art Of Reborning

Life Like Baby Dolls

The interest in life like baby dolls also known as Reborn’s is increasing.  When you are looking for these dolls including the custom made versions the best place to carry out your search is online. As you will soon discover there are very few shops that actually stock these dolls. The simple reason being that they find them a bit “too life like”. There are some versions of these life like baby dolls that can be fitted with an electronic device.  It is this which causes the life like baby dolls chest to rise and fall.  Plus this device when you place your ear close to the chest will hear a tiny heartbeat. It is features like this that really sets these life like baby dolls apart from any of the competition

Life Like Baby Dolls

The custom type Reborn baby dolls you can purchase will have taken several hours, days or months to create.  The bodies of these life like baby dolls including the face are crafted from vinyl and will be painted several times to create the mottled skin effect that newborn babies have.  Plus to further enhance the look and feel of these dolls, mohair has been used for the eyelashes and hair.  Also to give the feel that you are holding a real baby these life like baby dolls are specially weighted.

Life Like Baby Dolls

The Rise Of Reborn Baby Dolls…

Although the interest in these life like baby dolls has only caught on around the world recently.  Since the early part of the 1990’s reborners as they like to know have been collecting them in the USA.  It has taken time but each new doll that has been produced and which is available for collectors to purchase are becoming increasingly more lifelike. These realistic baby dolls have now become far more mainstream these days with a vast selection of highly skilled professional artists selling their work online for some very high prices. Amateurs are also getting the opportunity to make them with the many kits that are becoming available.

As mentioned these types of life like baby dolls are also known as “reborn baby dolls”.  It is this term, which helps to distinguish them from those that have been produced on mass in a factory.  In fact these realistic baby dolls will be individually created by one person and as mentioned takes quite some considerable time to complete because of the skill level required to master this type of art.

Life Like Baby Dolls

Where To Buy?

However, you need to be wary if you are going to start purchasing such dolls online, as not all of them are what they claim.  Certainly it is advisable that you do some background checks into the seller of the products first before you make your purchase.  Remember these dolls are not cheap and the more realistic they are the more expensive they will be.

A quick search online at auction sites such as eBay or a visit to Amazon will show you just what types are available.  Plus you will also see just how expensive these life like baby dolls can cost.  If you are going to purchase yours from an auction site then carefully check not only the rating a seller has but also all feedback they have received.  This way you are more likely to be purchasing life like baby dolls that are of the highest quality possible.

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The 6 Steps to Creating a Reborn Doll

Reborn baby Doll

As a starting point for creating a reborn baby doll, many people choose Emily, Ashton Drake, Berjusa or Berenguer baby dolls. These are very popular makes of reborn baby doll, and they have been around providing the highest quality to the consumer for a good few years now.

Berenguer baby dolls are probably the most famous of these makes for their very malleable vinyl texture, realistic faces, as well as being very inexpensive. The attention to detail of this particular kind of reborn baby doll is something that the berenguer company have been priding themselves for, since they started producing the reborn baby doll some 50 years ago.

Reborn baby doll creators and one of a kind (OOAK) dolls use a very similar rebirthing procedure. Just to add, it is unsuitable to use vintage dolls for rebirthing. The facial moulding and vinyl construction with the vintage dolls will not allow the level of realism required to transform that type of doll into a reborn one. As a breakdown of how these dolls are assembled, we have put together what we consider to be the main six steps involved in the creation of a reborn baby doll.

Reborn Baby Doll

Reborn Baby Doll

The Six Steps…

1 – The original reborn doll must first be first disassembled and its paint and hair must then be removed because the skin tone and hair provided at the factory stage is far from suitable to make these dolls look like the realistic baby dolls reborns are.

2 – The doll must then be cleaned with a long handled paintbrush to remove residue and chemicals. You can use a delicate soap such as any kind of baby soap. This will ensure that any impurities from the factory are fully removed.

3 – The hair must then be rooted as well as dyed. Mohair is commonly used and each hair must be individually micro rooted using a special needle by hand. This procedure takes a long time to complete, and with the right patience as well as care, the end result will be amazing. After all, you want this to be one of the best life like baby dolls money can buy.

4 – The paint should now be applied as well as detail to a natural skin tone. Wrinkles, lips, eyebrows as well as other realistic touches with pastels, and oils should be added and fine brushes should also be used. The paint will need to be applied to the reborn doll with a special Genesis paint. This is a heat set paint that has to be applied in several layers in order to provide the true reborn baby doll look.

5 – It is now time to reassemble the doll by filling the individual areas of the reborn baby doll with different materials like plastic pellets and polyester, as well as sand. This will make the weight more realistic all round. You must not forget the choice of eyes available, as you can choose if the doll is going to be awake or asleep. Glass eyes are normally used and are given a special coating to provide a realistic wet look to them.

6 – Finally you should dress the reborn doll with appropriate clothing for dolls, as well as hats and dolls shoes. You should then of course give your reborn baby doll a name.

Reborn Baby Doll

Another Consideration

Many of the professional artists around today are making custom reborn dolls called Ooak baby dolls. These are basically one of a kind dolls. Some people even have them made in the same likeness of their own children. If you are starting out, you should consider buying some reborn doll kits from eBay or other online auctions, as most of the materials needed for you to create a reborn baby doll come in the one pack, making life much easier for you.

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