What could go wrong? Reborning a cheapie?

Would it be a bad plan to have a cheap vinyl doll I already own be reborn? Would plug sizes and such be a problem? Weighting is less important to me than the appearance. It’s not a vintage doll, so the material hasn’t degraded. I think mainly just a paint job would improve her appearance. I’m not up for the task. Would it be silly to pay someone much more than the doll is worth to reborn? Might the material not take the paints as expected since it was cheap? Anything else I haven’t considered? Anyone have thoughts or experiences they can share?

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How about a picture of the doll so we know what kind of doll you are talking about.

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Super cheap. These are the clothes she came in. For what I paid, I’m surprised she had clothes at all. The hat is still connected to the head, there’s “hair grooves”.

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If she’s vinyl she should be okay to reborn. If you keep her on the existing body, you wouldn’t need any plugs, especially if you’re not going to weight her. I use moleskin instead of plugs. Hair grooves can be painted or rooted over.

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Hmmm. You could reborn her. But I personally would use air dry paint. She could release some nasties when heated.

You also want to take her eyes put before you reborn her if you use heat set paint.

That said. If she is your first. Starting with a dark vinyl could be quite the challenge for you.

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I’ve never heard of moleskin being used in that way before. Interesting. If that were used, could she be weighted then, or need a cloth body for that to work properly?

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Oh no. I wouldn’t do it myself. I’d hand it over to a pro to play with. Lol

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Oh she’s super cute! She’d be fun to see reborned

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I bought her for about $2.50 on sale after the holidays. At that price, I just couldn’t leave her behind! :smile:

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She could be weighted. She’d have to be taken apart first. Then some glass beads in the limbs about 1/3-1/2 of the way and the remainder packed with polyfill and sealed with moleskin. The head and body can be weighted with pouches of glass beads or polypellets surrounded by polfil so the pouches don’t move around. How big is this doll?

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Her limbs feel really firm. I don’t know what a traditional reborn kit feels like.

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She could be reborned, but it might be tricky because the vinyl is rather dark.
But if you can find an artist who’s willing to do it and you want to pay for it, why not?

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She could be put on a cloth body but you have to cut the shoulder section of the existing body to use as a neck flange. The neck piece on these types of dolls are attached to the bodies, not the head. If she were mine, I’d put her on a 12" cloth body. Are you wanting to keep her an ethnic baby?

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Yes, I like her pretty brown skin. I’d like to see her creases enhanced, blushing, lashes, eyebrow improvement… not sure on hair. Darker lips and maybe earrings. Oh, and nails done. Any other suggestions?

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Oh, I’m definitely interested in buying an actual reborn, this wouldn’t be a substitute, just thought this little gal might be improved.

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