I began my dolly journey December, 2010. I started looking for a doll for my new grandbaby and stumbled upon reborn dolls. I was intrigued and hooked. I have always dabbled with art and decided this was an art that I wanted to try. I began studying real babies and internet pictures of newborns. I ordered my first kit and gave it a try. Now, it looked good to the untrained eye and I was pleased with the first attempt and decided to give it another try. That doll was awful! I kept practicing and I was even more pleased with each doll.
I learned from trial and error and I have taken several classes from some great artists. I started painting with Genesis Heat Set Paint which had to be baked between layers with a Nuwave oven. The vinyl smell was strong and the process was long. I was on dialysis and wasn't sure what poisons the heated vinyl was producing. Thus, began my journey with air dry paints. Switching from a paint that could be wiped off until baked to one that dried within seconds was a challenge. My acrylic teacher used to chide me about dabbling in my paint. She could tell that I had always used oils. Before attempting my first acrylic baby, I decided to take a class on switching to air dry paints offered by Debbie Henshaw of They Never Grow Up Nursery. That was the best thing that I could have done. Over the years, I have changed techniques and realized the key to real looking skin is very thin layers-takes much longer-but the results are so worth the time. I achieve my skin tones with the three primary colors, red, yellow, and blue.
I love this special hobby and I plan on "making babies" for a very long time. Tell me about your first experience. I love talking dolly talk.
Reborn dolls are no longer reborn dolls. Reborn dolls is a term that started many years ago when artists took dolls off the shelves of stores and repainted and made them look more realistic. Thus, the doll was reborn. Now, we buy kits that have never been painted so the term "reborn" isn't exactly true. They are "newborn" dolls. However, the term "newborn dolls" isn't sticking. People are still using reborn dolls and everyone knows what they are talking about. Will the term, "newborn doll" ever catch on? Who knows?