Avoiding housework

Baby Talk
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I have so much housework to do and don’t even want to get started, I feel like ordering Chinese and pitching a tent in the backyard.

I am just getting back to reborning and selling a baby still feels like the first baby sale, it feels so good when someone likes your work and is willing to lay down some hard earned money for it or use their stolen credit card to try and buy it…hey if someone is willing to go to jail to buy your baby it is a compliment in its own way.

I did all the things I said I would not (because that is the way I roll).

I said I will just paint the kits I have, use what I have then buy things I need when I make sales.

Nope.

I went to the Carters outlet, I hit three BB sales, I bought a stack of rubbermaid containers, some new brushes, a big box of glass sand (I hate the crunchy sound it makes when you put the beads in limbs so I use beads for head and body but the super fine for limbs).

I ran up the very credit card I was making babies to pay off.

My rational is “It takes money to make money, its an investment” who am I kidding this is a creepy addiction and I know it. I love it. Kids don’t need to go to college, house payment shmouse payment.

What is it about this that is so satisfying?

There are a million things I should be doing but I am having so much fun doing this.

Now I want to find out what it takes to be a prototype artist, what is it that sets a really superb baby apart from a hobby baby?

If there are collectors on the forum tell us what you love in a reborn. Is it attention to detail, the quality of the sculpt, realism, unique style, a pretty baby, a softly painted baby, is it the total package (the way the baby is costumed). What is your favorite style baby; realism, vintage, dolly-esque, ethnic, fantasy…

I am in love with painted hair, do people like it as much as they like rooted hair? I think rooting is a skill for sure and it is damn time consuming but painted hair is a skill and it is easier to care for, you can also get the exact style you want and its awesome newborn hair.

I like vintage babies because they are unique and its always done in so many different ways. I am also in love with sculpts that have intense realism and the artists who know how to create layers and layers of color and texture.

I can’t collect or I would have to trade my biological children for vinyl children, my house is too small for collecting.

I have yet to see a real reborn in person (besides the ones I make).

I dress babies for me, not for other people. I dress them in things I find that I like. I like them to look like a baby of mine.

Ok…kids are hungry, dishes are piles up, towels are not going to fold themselves so its back to the domestic grind.

Talk to me about what you love about making babies, and what you love about collecting them, we are all on the same page here for the most part, I am interested.

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Can I come and eat Chinese food and live in the tent with you? Can we bring our babies? lol

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I collect, but have been on restriction for over a year now. :grin:

The last baby I bought was painted by a prototype artist. I bought him because I absolutely loved the sculpt (still do) and her paint job was beautiful. He is detailed and looks very realistic.

I actually thought I would like a rooted baby, so I bought one of those too. Nope, don’t care for it at all. I like painted hair much better… if the artist can actually paint hair. If not, bald is just fine. :grin:

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I love your style, Gina, always fun to read!

I started reborning in 2002 and I’m still at it. I love the way reborning has changed and evolved along the way, and now going back to air dry and kind of what we started out doing in the beginning. What goes around, comes around. I used to paint with acrylics and oils, air drying and curing and all that and then Genesis came along and I was absolutely thrilled to paint and stick baby parts in the oven :laughing: Now I’m wondering if air dry is really the way to go, bought all the supplies, and have tried it a couple of times and I don’t care for it. :roll_eyes:

I am a painter, been painting since I was 6 years old and asked my Dad for REAL paints…I was not having a great time with those baby watercolors I’d been using. He bought me the paints and some canvases and I was off!

I HAVE to paint. It’s in my blood. It’s in the very fiber of my being. I have collected dolls my whole life, literally since I was born. Painting and dolls is the perfect way to merge my two great loves in life.

I used to root hair. Actually ENJOYED rooting hair. Then I ended up in the ER with eyes swollen into slits, needing a breathing treatment and being told that ummmm…mohair comes from animals, most of which I am allergic to. Oh. Alrighty, then. No more mohair. I DO root lashes, but I wear gloves and it takes all of 2 minutes, so I’m ok. Usually. Unless I forget and rub my eye.

So painting hair became a necessity. I’m not that great at it, but I keep trying. I enjoy the process.

I honestly have enough baby clothes to start my own boutique, so when people stop buying my reborns I will open one and live out my retirement a happy old woman.

Wait. What was the question? :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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See, Karen – you and the others have what I don’t have and will never have. You are artists. I am not an artist, and it is not in my DNA. But, I love reborns, so I make them. :slight_smile: Seems I have always “made” what I wanted but couldn’t afford. Sewing, crocheting, etc., etc. I have a daughter who is a talented artist. But not me. I knew this going into this hobby, so that is OK. I have tried to interest my daughter in painting these dolls. She would be so good at it. But so far she has not taken the bait. :slight_smile:

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Gina, I LOVE reading your Novels!! If I can remember some of your questions I’ll try to give you some answers. I love babies to look as close to realistic as possible but with paint on them. I notice so many babies now are monotone in color and don’t look like they have been painted hardly at all. That I DON’T like. I love vintage style clothes or babies dressed in softly colored “jammies” that make them look soft and cuddly. Hair is ok painted (if it’s done well) or rooted (as long as it’s done well also). Personally I don’t care for babies dressed in too many frills or clothes that make them look like they are going to the Prom or Out on the Town. I love what I consider “simple elegance”, that’s my favorite. Your babies are all so pretty that you won’t have any problem selling them at ROSE unless your prices are
“way too high”. I wonder how the coming year is going to go at the ROSE show (as far as selling) since there is going to be sooooooo many vendors there. Pray for good sales for everyone. You are going to have the greatest time you can imagine!! Can’t wait to meet you!!

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I started out as an admirer of reborns. I spent many hours watching unboxing videos on youtube and dreaming, but I could not afford to buy one myself. A friend of mine bought me one a year and a half ago, and it was then that I got to experience the wonderful weight. Since I was a small girl I have always loved to hold small infants. Having a reborn was like my own little slice of heaven, as my own child was 16 by this point. I had definitely missed it.

When I ran out of quality unboxings to watch, I began to watch videos of people painting. I have never considered myself artistic, (think stick figures standing on green grass next to a bushy tree in front of a crooked house with a big yellow sun in the blue sky… that’s my level) Yet, as I watched these videos I felt drawn to it. I found myself thinking how easy it looked yet knowing it couldn’t possibly be. Especially for someone with no real artistic talent to speak of. __

Eventually I just had to bite the bullet and put in an order. I have only painted a couple of kits thus far, but I haven’t hated the end result so maybe I’m just a teensy bit artistic after all… Plus I REALLY love the process of making these dolls. It’s so therapeutic.

As far as which type of baby I love the most… I love pretty realism, a good weight and naturally cuddly. I haven’t tried painting hair yet. It doesn’t look easy. I’ve just seen too many with painted hair that I didn’t adore. I love the look of rooted hair, but it gets messed up so easily. I think painted hair is ideal when it is done well. I love the sleeping babies the best, as the lack of blinking doesn’t give away the fact that it’s a doll. (although open eyed kits tend to have very cute expressions.) When it comes to baby clothing, it’s really tough to choose a favorite type. I tend to lean toward delicate and vintage for girls and cuddly pajamas for boys.

Sorry for the novel. Writing is another of my hobbies…

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First of all, I share the sickness. I have way too many kits than I can deal with in the next year (or two or three) and I still look for more. Then there are all the “accessories” some of which I don’t really need but must have :wink: . I also like real looking babies but I also like the more “gaudy” type baby…I definitely need layers and depth. I did start out as a collector after my son died in 2011 but then found myself buying them for family members…most who didnt even want them LOL. I always loved dolls growing up and I also painted a lot in high school and wish I had never stopped but life got in the way. So I guess painting reborns was a natural progression, for me as well.
I keep trying to paint hair and won’t stop until I get it right…I think I need a new test head, the little one I have is too dolly like to hard to really paint realistically on but still good practice. In the mean time my rooting skills keep getting better and I do like the applied hair when its done correctly…I don’t like all the ones I have done but think I have the hang of it now.
I also dress my babies they way I used to dress my kids, the way I like :slight_smile:

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I love realism- I want my reborns to look like real babies. Lots of mottling, variation in color, and depth. One of my favorites is very pinky newborn, and her weighting is just perfect-she feels so good to hold. I go back and forth between awake and asleep. The sleepers are so sweet and peaceful, but I like the personalities of awake babies. I love the realism of rooted hair, but on one of the dolls it is rubbing off the back of the head. Some babies I have a plan to root, but after I draw the prisma hair I just can’t cover it up! Vintage style clothing and cuddly sleepers are my favorite. On rooted babies I prefer tie-on headbands or magnetic hair decorations so there is not elastic pulling on the hair. Some of my favorite artists on here are: @specialmoments whose ethnic babies are gorgeous and realistic, @cajuncuties- I love her soft colors and have been tempted many times to buy ( why am I not rich😩), and the artist of Incredababies- I’m sorry I can’t tag you I don’t remember your user name. Her babies might be described as hyper realism? I love her use of color-so beautiful!

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I believe Incredababies is @jenn1.
Just following along, enjoying everyones story :slight_smile:

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C’mon over, babies welcome!

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I hear ya! I could so easily be a collect-a-holic.

I love painted hair, there are more things you can do when you paint hair and you can get all those super fine baby hairs.

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You can tell you are a painter, you babies are so softly painted and your hair is awesome!

I am playing with the idea of air dry. I have a giant toddler I will have to air dry paint, I will see how it goes and just use the Golden paint I have in my studio before I invest.

Thanks for helping me get Maggie put together.

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We are all born artists, just the fact that you make what you love makes you an artists. Sewing and crochet are mad skills, not everyone can do it. A real artists makes art for themselves not for other people. Keep making…

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You and I are on the same page Lynn. I am not a fan of lace and shiny…My kids (the biological kind) were always naked or in soft cotton. I never made them wear shoes until they started walking in public. I cuddly baby is like a cupcake.

Thanks for the encouragement. I needed to rationalize going to the show, traveling, spending the money, so I am vending. I hope there is a good turn out. Can’t wait to meet you too!

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I am glad you found your inner artist. Painting hair is a learning curve for sure. I illustrate and sculpt but I don’t do realism so I struggle. I think it is getting better in increments. You need to try it, and just keep working it until you get it, reborning is smoke and mirrors and a lot of repetition.

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I think it must be common for some of us to paint what we know. I find most of my babies have the same hair my kids did and I am always checking skin tone against mine not thinking “Hey I have old California raisin skin, not newborns skin!” I love that new born pink-red, its surprising how hard it is to replicate and look natural. I think we our brains are trained to think dolls should all be peach.

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I started out by looking on Ebay for two of the dolls (vintage) that I had as a child and wanted to buy in my dotage, and came across the reborns and instantly fell in love. I bought two reborns, and was so disappointed at how badly they were done, that I, being a craft person with a minor talent for drawing, decided to try out reborning for myself. Then came the addiction. You all know about that, don’t you? :wink: I enjoyed creating these baby substitutes very much and was so excited when they sold for me. I vowed that I would keep one of the better kits for myself one of these days. I only have one as a sister to my ten vintage dollies, Saskia. I wonder sometimes if these babies aren’t a substitute for my dream of a perfect child, (my daughter is bi-polar and not able to relate to anyone else but herself). Who knows??? All I know is that I love working with, dressing and then sending my babies out into the world to their new mommies.

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I love it when you can see someones unique style. Post a photo of some babies I want to know what you mean, sounds cool.

I lost my daughter at 19 (cancer) and my Baby Clair at almost 19 weeks (BRA). I don’t think a doll would comfort me but I do know that staying busy and distracted makes life feel better. I am sorry about your son, I feel ya mama. I like creating things, it helps me stay in the now.

I am glad reborning comforts you.

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I am sorry about your daughters diagnosis, as a mom you know she is perfect in her imperfection. Mental illness is tough road and hard on everyone. My mom was bi-polar and a borderline (and an addict) , my MIL was bi-polar as are two of my nephews. One of my nephews did not make it past 21 but my other nephew is thriving and an amazing chef. He crashes and burns, gets a tune-up (you know what I mean) gets back on his meds and he just blows me away with how deep his soul is, he is a beautiful man and one of my favorite people, but its work for him.

I like what you said about creating the perfect child but maybe you are just recreating the best time with your daughter over and over, before she got sick when everything was possible and you had a different connection.

I am sorry your daughter is struggling, she is in there, that baby is still there, she may have just chosen this life, like this, so that she could understand and learn things she needed to. I can’t help but believe she chose you because she knew you were the one she needed to travel with.

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