…or has a religious connotation.
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This reminds me of the porcelain dolls years back. Tons of people bought artist sculpted and cast mold sets from catalogs and poured them. Fired them and dressed them.
China started mass producing them for pennies of what the individual artist could sell for and so artists sold their supplies and moved on. Or in a lot of cases simply threw out the molds.
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That is exactly what this is like and some of the early reborn sculptors moved on to our vinyl kits when that art came to an end. This is why you can find so many of Donna Rupert kits in porcelain as well as vinyl. From the moment I saw the first pirated kit I was afraid of this happening. I wish that I could see things going different this time, but right now I do not see how. In some ways I really feel that our government should do something, but I am not sure what it is I would want them to do.
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I think you are right. Outside of reborning ppl struggle with the term. My friend said when I first told her about reborns she thought it was something to do with being Christian.
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Just read this after I left my comment. it is exactly what my friend thought.
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I dunno what name to start using though. Realborn is nice but BB has that one. Lifelike has been used but I don’t think it has caught on as a doll title. Art Dolls can be anything from a realistic baby to a hot mess. It doesn’t speak baby to me.
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I was just asking my husband if he had any clever ideas…just for fun. Lifelike doll, true to life, lol we got nothin over here 
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Yup
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Yes, exactly! lol
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I see lifelike used in a lot of the scam pages also
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Yeah I don’t think another name would stick anyways because the term reborn has been around for so long.
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Maybe I will start saying Professional Artist Created Reborn Dolls. LOL! 
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What is the difference between Professional artist and Hobby artist?
The adjective!
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I think a hobby is something you do for enjoyment, it is something you do when you are not working for fun, to relax, it give you pleasure.
I am a professional artist outside of making reborns. I went to school, I am trained, this is my career, I pay taxes as a “professional artist”, have an art studio, I sell art in galleries, I am published, and I don’t make a ton of money doing it sadly. An artist can’t NOT make art. It is who we are all day long. We are constantly growing a body of work. This is how we communicate, how we live in the world.
I make babies as a hobby, I love it, I make a little money doing it. I won’t always do it, I needed a break, a distraction and this was a GOOD one. Making babies is damn fun. I sadly got a little too distracted and now I am back to working as an “artist” and it is a grind.
Artist’s identities are connected to what they create, there is a loop. Most of us are similar in how we think, and show up in the world. It is a hard but beautiful life.
Art is art to me, it is vital, and I think there is an artist in everyone. Beauty is beauty and if you cry when you see a painting, love cinema, appreciate music, get excited when you see a new line of clothing… If you knit, scrapbook, sew, decorate… it is all art, all creative.
Maybe I am making more of it than I should, AI can kick my arse with a couple commands and a giant computer “brain” full of images. Grrrrrr…
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Beautifully explained. Thank you so much! 
That explanation of the term ‘professional artist’ makes sense to me. However I think that this term is loosely (and in my opinion wrongly) used here when people think that if they paint a certain number of years they become professional.
For that reborn contest has the gradations: beginner, intermediate, advanced and masters.
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Definitely open to interpretation. Here are some examples I found on the internet.
An artist who: has specialized training in the artistic field (not necessarily in academic institutions) is recognized as a professional by his or her peers (artists working in the same artistic tradition) is committed to devoting more time to artistic activity, if possible financially.
How do you know if you’re a professional artist?
How To Know If You’re a Professional Artist or an Amateur?
Professional artists show up consistently and have regular practice. Not everyone has the time to paint everyday, but professional artists understand the importance of showing up in the studio, even when you don’t feel like it. Amateurs on the other hand, wait for conditions to be just perfect.
Also, here is a good article:What Makes an Artist Professional? | Artists Network
In my case, I think there are several factors by which I can call myself a prefessional. Yes, years of service is a factor I think but not necessarily the all defining factor. I have not receive any college training as an artist. I have taken classes in various forms of reborn art as well as other aspects of art. I have researched and experimented with many products and acted as a consultant in some product lines. I have taught classes to others. I do this as a business. I make a profit, I file taxes on it and I have a Tax ID number. This is more than just a hobby for me and I will always be involved in some form of art regardless of what it is because that is my nature. When it comes to artistic ability, I am certainly not a novice. There are some things I excell at and some that I do not It is like any other avenue of life, we all have our strong and weak points. One can always argue the point that art is subjective as well although I have my own ideas about what looks like artistic interpretation and what appears to me to be a hot mess! So yea, I think I can call myself a professional if I wanted to.
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Thank you, all good, valid points.
My question was not about you personally. It was in regards of suggesting the name for reborns as “Professional Artist Created Reborn Dolls”. I think it will cut off many people who loves to paint every day, but don’t consider themselves as professional artists, myself included.
Or in cases like @JoyW . She came in recently and took this art form, including sculpting, as a storm!
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Oh I know you were not referring to me so much as the issue. I don’t that there is necessarily going to be a one size fits all term for everyone. My suggestion was more in terms of what I might start stating in my listings to distinguish myself from the China made “reborn dolls.”
And for sure Joy is in a league all of her own when it comes to excellence! She is amazing!
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