Hi there everyone! I’ve been seeing on the reborn Facebook groups I follow that people are saying that the new Harlow kits have harder vinyl. Does anyone know why this is? Will the new stock of all the BB kits have this harder vinyl? Did BB change kit suppliers?
Thanks,
Julie
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I personally hope it was just a weird vinyl batch.
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Due to Covid and the shut downs of factories, we are diligently working to increase our stock which has fallen precipitously to very low levels. You can see a video of our warehouse from June 14 here:
Since that date things have only gotten worse. During 2020 we have only been able to bring in 30% of the number of kits we were able to bring in during 2019.
In order to bring inventory levels back up to pre-Covid levels as soon as possible, we have added another factory. This factory has been successfully creating the vinyl for our sister company Kinby.com for over a year now, and we have been very happy with them. We initially resisted utilizing this company for our Bountiful Baby kits (instead of just the Kinby line) because invariably there will be slight differences between factories, and we wanted strict uniformity across all of our product line. But the need for restocking is too great to wait.
We are working with this factory to get the vinyl as close as possible to the color and feel as our original Realborn vinyl. Please be patient with us as we work towards this goal, and bring our many out-of-stock kits back into stock as quickly as possible.
Nevin Pratt, CEO
Bountiful Baby
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Thank you for the reply Nevin.
I have seen no positive comments about these firmer kits on social media. I hope you guys find the right vinyl consistency soon
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Nevin, thank you for your response. I have been painting your dolls since January 2019 and if it hadn’t been for your dolls and your great prices and wonderful deals I wouldn’t have ever started. I am down to my last bountiful doll with my second non BB doll waiting to paint. This next doll could be my last because selling has been so difficult since pre-order Civic. Hopefully things will pick up for your company as well as those of us that get much joy from reborning. I am writing this to let you know how much I appreciate your company.
Sincerely,
Pens!hope Tull
I haven’t started painting the newer vinyl yet, so I’m not sure how that will differ, but I do have to say I was impressed with the creases on the Marnie kit. They look very realistic. The kit does feel harder, but very soft to the touch. I guess we’ll see how it goes!
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Personally, I like the “new” more firm vinyl. I’m working on Callie now and she takes paint maybe better than any baby I’ve done. She’s going to be an ethnic baby, where getting even skin tones can be tricky, but my flesh layers have been easy with her. There’s a different surface feel to this vinyl, so that may be it, but the paint takes really well. (Full disclosure, I prime and use air dry paints.)
As @BabyFeverBoutique mentioned above, the lines and creases are so well done. Very clean and crisp and defined.
I just did a “squish” comparison of Callie and Leif and their limbs are almost identical in firmness. (Aspen and Leif seem to be firmer BB kits, IMO…but for comparison sake if you have experience with either of those.)
Callie’s head is more firm (less squish) than Leif’s.
Thanks, Nevin, for your response. I knew the vinyl felt different and I figured something had changed. I hope you’re able to get kits restocked and get back on track. I’m sure this is more stressful than we can imagine. I’ve been here since the start and I know you’re doing the best you can for us.
I’ve painted Marnie; I use Genesis ~and I admit to a slight challenge with the first couple of layers but I got used to it and she painted up beautifully…I really noticed the difference while rooting lashes, but managed to get them in without breaking a needle.
The slight firmness to the vinyl won’t stop me from ordering BB kits.
Here’s Marnie ~
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She is BEAUTIFUL!!
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Thanks! I loved painting those wrinkly feet 
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She is beautiful! All your babies are beautiful. Even the one with forceps marks! 
@BBsupport, I know you are doing your very best for us and your company. I would dare say no other doll kit company out there are working as hard. You keep working hard, even through the complaining and just negative comments. This is a hard time for all of us, especially for a company like yours. I appreciate your companies “thick skin” and that you go ahead without a worry about the whining and such. I love your company!
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Thank you! 
She is soooo pretty!! I have a Marnie coming this week. I love seeing your gorgeous babies. 
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Thank you, Cindy! Excited to see your Marnie!
Your babies always beautiful karen
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Do you root hair though? Hard heads suck to root. 
@Katinafleming
I used to root hair, so I understand the hard head struggle. My Callie is one of those that could go either way, depending on your personal preference. I would say she leans slightly to the firmer side of the soft to hard spectrum. If I was still rooting, I would like this head because it isn’t “cave in” soft and rubbery, which always drove me bonkers.
I’d say Callie is harder than most BB heads, but not so hard that I personally would find rooting her a pain.
I know that wasn’t a lot of help. Since it’s so middle of the road, I’d say you may have to get one and see what you think, then return it if it isn’t what you want.
Another thing to keep in mind is that BB has said they are still working on syncing their factories to have everything match, so things could change batch to batch.
Again, not a lot of help, but I wanted to respond as best I could. 
ETA - I think I’m going to wig my Callie since she is an ethnic (India) baby with a lot of hair. If I do, I wouldn’t mind to test root a tiny spot on her noggin to better give an opinion. 
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