Dolly Anyone???

What are reborn baby dolls? ( In case.. U're wondering about those dolls)

A reborn doll is a manufactured vinyl play doll that has been transformed in order to achieve as much realism as possible in order to resemble a human baby. The process of creating a reborn doll is referred to as reborning, and the doll artists are referred to as reborners Reborn dolls are also known as living dolls or unliving dolls.
The hobby of reborn dolls began around 1990 when doll enthusiasts wanted more realistic dolls.Since then, an industry surrounding reborn dolls has emerged. Reborn dolls are primarily purchased on the internet but are available at fairs. Depending on craftsmanship, they range in price from hundreds to thousands of dollars.
The International Reborn Doll Artists (IRDA) group was created to educate artists in the art form of reborn doll making. Any artist can join the association, however certain ethical guidelines must be upheld by members.
Reborning involves numerous time consuming steps. The most basic form of the process involves taking a vinyl doll, adding multiple layers of paint, and adding other physical features to the doll. Artists can pick different brands to best suit what doll they wish to create.Consumers can also buy reborn doll kits that include the doll parts and supplies for creating their own reborn. A doll made from kit is called newborning and allows artists to omit some steps in the fabrication process. Many supplies are needed for both external and internal modifications of reborns to make the doll seem more realistic.
Some consumers of reborn dolls use them to replace a child they once lost, or a child that has grown up. Others collect reborns as they would a regular doll. These dolls are usually taken seriously and are cared for like an infant.Critics debate whether reborn dolls are harmful, or whether these dolls can help in the grieving process and relaxation. Because of their realistic nature, reborn dolls have been in several news stories that cover various interest in the dolls to incidents involving the police

History
The craft of making reborn dolls began in the United States in the early 1990s. Reborning follows a long tradition of collectors, artists, and manufacturers restoring and enhancing dolls in order to portray more realism. The internet has allowed doll artists and collectors to create an online society focused on reborn dolls. In 2002, the first reborn was offered on eBay. This has expanded the reborn market allowing artists to open online stores which function figuratively as nurseries. The niche market for the dolls began with doll collectors who admired the superior lifelike accuracy of the doll. The market quickly reached those who wanted to use the doll as an emotional response, either to mother or for therapeutic purposes. Mass media coverage has helped to develop the phenomenon in other countries. Primarily reborning has grown in the Britain and Australia, but has also reached Canada, the rest of Europe, Africa, and Latin America. Doll manufacturers have also have also taken advantage of the trend and sell supplies, tools, and accessories catering to reborn followers. This has allowed reborners to invent new techniques causing the dolls to become increasingly realistic over time.Magazines, books, organizations, and conventions dedicated to reborn dolls have also appeared since these events. 

Fabrication

Vinyl doll kit shown side by side (unpainted parts & painted "reborn" doll on cloth body).

The creation of a reborn doll takes time, knowledge, supplies and effort. To create a reborn baby doll, an artist learns from existing reborn artists what is involved, learns the techniques and gathers the necessary tools and supplies. The appearance of the doll depends on the reborn kit or doll used, skill of the reborn artist, and the quality of medium that the reborn doll was created with. Some reborn artists allow customers to customize their doll through input sometimes including a photograph. Custom orders for reborn baby dolls come from clients wishing to replicate a child lost as an infant, a baby they would like to have, a child representing a grandchild or child who lives too far away for visits, for a doll collectors exhibit or for other reasons stated by their client.

Reborning

Some vinyl or silicone/vinyl dolls can be used for reborning, however with the advent of reborn doll kits, most reborn doll artists prefer to use kits that contain the head, limbs and sometimes a cloth body. Dolls and doll kits vary by size, shape, materials and cost, making some more desirable or popular than others. According to Kevin Titterton of Doll Reader Magazine; Berenguer Babies, Zapf, Lee Middleton, Ashton Drake, Apple Valley, and Secrist Dolls are doll companies that make dolls which are easy to transform into reborns.Kathryn Peck of Doll Reader Magazine explains that with JC Toys Berenguer Babies, it is because the dolls already resemble human babies in their expressions, body shapes, surface materials, and other lifelike attributes.Ashton Drake uses a trademark vinyl for their incredibly realistic baby dolls in a collection called "So Truly Real" that lends itself to reborning.

Newborning

Newborning is a term coined by a doll company called Secrist Dolls, in an attempt to be different and unique in the world of reborn doll artists, however this terminology never caught on and is not used by the general reborn artist community. Most reborn artists call the art of creating a realistic baby doll 'reborning' whether the baby doll is made from a reborn doll kit or a manufactured doll. Secrist dolls state that if a reborn is created from a kit as opposed to whole manufactured doll, it is called newborning. This information is not fact, but a marketing tactic. The Secrist doll company started making Reborn Doll Kits in 2005. In 2009, they began producing supplies, tools, and tutorial videos specifically for reborning or newborning. JC Toys began selling kits in December 2007..




Supplies
Depending on the technique used, supplies for reborning are easily obtained from a number of sources. Genesis Heat Set Paints are the medium of choice for most main stream reborners. Reborning with acrylics or oil paints is also done but not as popular because of quality issues and difficulty in reborning. Starter kits are available for beginners who are not willing to research and acquire supplies from various sources. The Starter Kits from one company are equipped with basic reborning necessities such as limbs, faces, heads, paint brushes, eyelashes, weighting pellets, heat genesis paints, cloth bodies, cable ties, nose drill bits, fake tears, thinning shears,cosmetic foam wedges, cotton dipped applicators, and glue Other companies also offer reborning kits. Reborning supplies may be purchased separately from a variety of sources. Heat set genesis paints are an odorless, non-toxic paint that dries when the artist chooses by applying heat. A heat gun or oven can be used to set the paint. Heating the head and limbs at 265 for 8 minutes, after painting each layer of color, and testing the permanence of color with a wet q-tip is part of the reborning process. The nose holes may be drilled out for realism with a dremel, or drill bits, if desired, put not all reborn artists create 'breathers' - reborn baby dolls with the nose holes drilled out. The noses holes can be painted to look like they are open instead of actually drilling the hose holes out. aAcetone or a paint thinner medium is needed for removing the factory paint from the doll, if a doll is used to reborn with instead of reborn kit that needs no preparation except a soapy bath to remove any residue that may be on the kit from handling or molding. Reborn babies can have hand rooted hair, painted hair or occasionally be left bald. Fine mohair, human hair, or wigs can be used, and is available in a variety of types, prices and quality. Rooting tools called felting needles are utilized in rooting the hair, usually mohair, into the baby's head and are available in numerous sizes 20,36,38, 40, and 42. The smaller the number the thicker the needle which will grab more hair and leave a bigger hole in the head of the doll. Wigs are glued on. Eyes for a reborn doll are offered in a variety of brands and sizes.

Process

Vinyl doll kit shown side by side (unpainted parts & painted "reborn" doll). The doll has a "chest/belly plate".

The technique of reborning a play doll typically involves a number of steps. To begin the doll is taken apart and factory paint is removed. Then a blue color wash is applied to the inside of each vinyl part to give the appearance of realistic baby skin undertones. For dolls with an awake appearance eyes must be replaced. The outer layer of the vinyl doll is given its skin tone by adding dozens of layers of flesh colored paint. The doll must be baked inside an oven after each layer of paint is applied.Lighter skin tone dolls can take fifteen to thirty layers.The effects of the blue color wash combined with the outside layers of paint creates the appearance of veins, and gives the doll its newborn mottled look.Manicured nails and opening of the nose holes are other details that are added during this process.The next step is to apply hair. The hair can either done in one of two ways; wigging or microrooting.When microrooting, hair is added strand by strand. This can take up to thirty or more hours per head. Once the hair is finished, the original vinyl body is weighted with a soft stuffed body filled with pellets. The weight corresponds with its age to achieve a real effect. Various additions also can be added to give the doll an even more life like appearance. Reborns heads are often weighted, so that owners have to support the head like one would a real newborn. Purchasers can have magnets attached inside the mouth or head for attaching a pacifier or hair bows. Electronic devices that mimic a heart beat, or make the chest rise and fall to simulate breathing are common.Reborns can come with an umbilical cord, baby fat, heat packs to make the reborn warm to the touch, or voice boxes that mimic infant sounds. For preemie dolls, they may come in incubators with a breathing apparatus attached to their nose.