Ali's Babbas Nursery

Reborning is the art of turning an ordinary vinyl doll into a more lifelike doll - so much that they can easily be mistaken for real babies!  Factory paint and hair is removed, and the doll is repainted and assembled onto a new soft jointed body that is weighted to feel like a real baby.

Berenguer dolls are often used as they are very lifelike to start with.

BEFORE

AFTER

More frequently doll "kits" are used.  There are many beautiful sculpts to choose from.  The kits consist of an unpainted head and limbs. There is no factory paint to remove, so reborning can start right away.

This is the Sarah kit by Kim Van de Wetering and is one of my favourites.  Oliver was reborned from this kit (see past babies page)

I paint my dolls with Genesis Heat Set paint which is odourless and non toxic.  It is applied in many thin layers, tone by tone, to gradually build up a very lifelike skin tone and texture.  It can take many many layers to achieve just the right look.  Each layer has to be "heat set" onto the vinyl and cooled before the next layer can be applied.  Once heat set, the paint will not rub or wash off.  Delicate eyebrows are painted on using a colour that tones well with the hair, and finger and toenails are given a "manicure".  They are coloured and the tips just painted with a very thin ivory line - just as if the nails had been trimmed.  Lips are painted in a realistic colour - remembering that babies don't wear lipstick (!!) and sealed with a couple of coats of slightly moist looking Genesis Glazing Gel.   If required I can apply a final layer of Genesis Matte Varnish to the vinyl.  This gives an extra protective covering and helps to prevent the vinyl become shiny through dressing and undressing the doll.

Once the painting is finished I begin rooting the hair.  I use Premium angora kid mohair for my dolls.  I have found that this is the most like baby hair.  It comes in many different shades and can be straight, wavy or curly.  I Ultra Micro Root the hair, which means only 1 single strand of mohair is inserted at a time using a very fine felting needle.  This takes AGES but the result is really worthwhile.  It looks just like the hair is actually growing out of the dolls' scalp.