Frequently asked product questions

(Please note that you can always click on the picture of any item we sell (this accesses the Information Page), and more information on how to use that item is brought up.)

[size=28]Can I buy a vinyl part separately?[/size]

For individual parts, we try to keep the entire kit together, and not ever have separate parts.

The only parts, of any size, that we have available would be at this link:

Be sure to either click the “next -->” link to see them all, or else select a subcategory in the category chooser.

If they are not at that link, they are not available at this time.

Also, since we try to keep the entire kit together, we really do have no idea when any other parts might become available.

[size=28]Complete Beginner Kits[/size]

For beginners, we recommend one of our complete starter kits. Bountiful Baby for our complete starter kits.

The item descriptions for our complete kits also tells you what is included in them, so you can easily see everything needed to complete a reborn.

[size=28]Convection Ovens[/size]

You will want an oven that heats uniformly, without “hot spots”. You cannot use a microwave oven. We recommend a convection oven.

Convection ovens use forced-air circulation using a separate blower fan to accomplish that. Otherwise, if you use a normal oven (such as normal household ovens, or toaster ovens, or similar), you will likely have areas of excessive heat, and other areas of not-enough heat.

Some cheaper convection ovens also do not circulate the air sufficiently to keep the heating uniform.

So, you want a convection oven that is suitably large to heat the doll parts in, but is also suitably small to make it portable (so that you can move it to a well-ventilated area), and is high enough quality to heat uniformly. Other than that, the specific convection oven does not matter.

**The convection oven we have used for years here at Bountiful Baby is:

Haier Convection Oven with Rotisserie
Model: RTC1700
**
It has worked well for us. We bought it from Walmart, and it just happened to be what they had in stock when we were searching for one several years ago.

But, as mentioned, the specific convection oven is not particularly important, as long as the above criteria is met, and you can get convection ovens at many, many different places (Walmart, K-Mart, Best Buy, ShopKo, JC Penny’s, etc.-- even places like Home Depot and Lowes carries some kind of convection oven).

We also recommend an oven thermometer, like any of these:
Bountiful Baby
This is because the built-in thermostats on many ovens are notoriously inaccurate, and you do not want to burn your baby.

[size=28]Heat Set Drying Gun[/size]

**Heat Set Drying Guns are not intended for “over-all drying” of the doll. ** They are intended for spot-drying only.

All appliances have what is called a “duty cycle”. The duty cycle is defined as the percentage of time that the appliance is meant to remain turned on. For example, a 100% duty cycle appliance can be left on all of the time, and a 10% duty cycle appliance is only meant to be used 6 minutes out of every hour.
The heat guns have a very low duty cycle. And if they are used more than their operational duty cycle allows, they will burn out.

The manufacturer does not specify the duty cycle of the heat guns, but our own belief is probably only about a 25% duty cycle. But that’s just our opinion.

In any case, with heavy usage, they will definitely burn out. That is why we put the following in the item description:

… They are not designed for a 100% duty cycle and must be allowed to rest if heat setting large areas.

[size=28]Mohair Warning[/size]

http://pictures.bountifulbaby.com/inventory/mohairwarning.html for our Mohair Warning.

[size=28]Out of Stock Kits[/size]

http://forum.bountifulbaby.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=38978 for more information about all of our out-of-stock kits, and when they are expected to be back in stock.

This includes announced kits that are out-of-stock because they have not yet been released. We keep the link updated with the most recent information available.

[size=28]Plugs and Neck Rings[/size]

The manufacturer has varied the plug & ring sizes required by the kits listed below a bit from one production run of the kits to another. This sometimes means that a listed plug might fit that particular baby loosely, and sometimes means it fits tightly. If it is tight, try heating the vinyl before inserting the plug. If it is loose, secure it with a strong glue such as E6000. We recommend that you always keep a range of sizes of plugs & rings on hand in case that happens, and buy extra. That way you can also try the next size if you have a problem. We have priced the rings and plugs very cheaply to allow you to buy extra, and to experiment.

To find a neck ring size, measure the diameter of the bottom of the neck in millimeters. That will be the ring size.

To find a plug size, measure the diameter of the plug opening on the vinyl part in millimeters. That will be the plug size.

http://pictures.bountifulbaby.com/images/plugsandrings.html for recommended plug sizes for all of our kits.

[size=28]Rooting Needles[/size]

Bountiful Baby for our most popular beginner needle.

With needles, the bigger the number, the smaller the needle. Our larger needles are stronger than the smaller ones. Also, Crown needles are stronger than regular (but they root less at a time).

We have found that most people are happiest with our 38 gauge Crown needle, so that is what we ship with our rooting tool. But, we actually offer a bewildering array of needle choices. This document helps to describe them.

We stock two basic types of needles, and three specialized types (five different types of needles total). Our basic needles are: Regular, and Crown (previously labeled “ULTRA”-- our rooting tool comes with 38 gauge Crown needles). In Regular, we stock 36, 38, 40, 42, and 43 gauge. In Crown, we stock 36, 38, 40, and 42 gauge (the bigger the number, the smaller the needle). In addition, we have two specialized needles: (1) Forked, which we stock in 40, 42, and 43 gauge, (2) Twin-Crown, which we stock in 40 gauge.

So how well do they root?

As long as the needle size stays the same, the “finest” of the rooting is in the following order:

1. Regular
2. Crown
3. Twin Crown
4. Forked

Thus, as long as the needle gauge remains the same, the Forked needles root the finest, and the Regular needles root the thickest (you will also notice that the above ordering is how we present the needles on our website-- thus we list them on our website in the order of rooting fineness).

The Regular needles, as well as the Crown needles, are triangular, therefore they have three edges. The Crown needles have one single small barb per edge (three barbs total), with the barb approximately 1/8" from the tip of the needle. The Regular needles have two barbs per edge (six barbs total), and they are at staggered depths from the tip. The forked needles have a very tiny, almost invisible fork in the tip. And the Twin-Crown needles are described here:

http://pictures.bountifulbaby.com/inven … ncrown.jpg
For hair rooting, the “fine-ness” of the rooting depends on three factors: (1) the size of the rooting hole, (2) the number of hairs pulled into each rooting folicle, and (3) the elasticity of the medium being rooted into. The elasticity effects the degree that the rooting medium closes back in on the rooting hole-- the greater the elasticity, then the greater the rooting medium will “squeeze”, or close back in, on the rooting folicle. For example, rooting into vinyl or silicone will appear finer than identical rooting into polymer clay (before the clay is baked), because both silicone and vinyl are more elastic than unbaked polymer clay. So, the best needle also depends upon the rooting medium.

For rooting into vinyl (or a silicone/vinyl mix), a 38 gauge Crown needle roots about as finely as a 42 gauge Regular needle (remember, the bigger the gauge number, the smaller the needle). This is because our Crown needles pull fewer hairs per folicle. That is what they are designed to do.

So, even though our Crown needles (like are shipped with our rooting tool) root more sparsely than any other needle, they still work well, and are our most popular needle (by about 3 to 1). However, some people do not like them, because they root too sparsely for their tastes. For those people, they may be happier with 36 gauge regular needles. And yet other people want something that roots a little more finely than the Crown needle, but do not want to move all the way to a Forked needle. For those people, we recommend our Twin-Crown.

Our Forked needles are for advanced rooters only. They have a very small fork on the tip, rather than barbs along the edges. They root more sparsely than any of our other needles, but for our smallest forked needles, it is difficult to even see the fork on the end of the needle, let alone root with them.

[size=28]What am I getting when I buy a kit?[/size]

Bountiful Baby to view all of our kits.

Our kits include the vinyl head, arms, and legs, as stated in the item description.
A few of our kits also include the vinyl torso. Again, what is included with each kit will be stated in the item description of that particular kit.
The body is purchased separately.

If you are looking for a complete reborn kit, which includes everything needed to create a reborn, Bountiful Baby for our complete reborn kits.

[size=28]When will a particular kit be on sale/ When will your next sale be?[/size]

We do not know when any particular kit will be on sale.

Most of our sales are random or chosen just before the start of the sale based on stock and other factors, including our Deal of the Day. Our system is also designed to determine when and which items to put in our Special Deals tab, and it also determines when to take that item off sale.

Since there is not much human intervention, for this reason, we do not know for sure when any particular item will go on and off sale, or when the next sale will be.