How did we get here.What motivate you to make these dolls.I guess my love for dolls started as a kid
I had to get my dolls out of the garbage.Most class mates wouldnt even let me touch their dolls.So i always loved dolls.I guess i found out about reborns by accident.Whats your story…
2 Likes
I use to buy porcelian dolls stripped them and make outfits.This was for my cousin I made the outfit sandals and all.
1 Like
I bought a reborn in 2001 from Ebay. Got it home and it looked like it had been hit by a truck, it was so purple. Looked NOTHING like the pictures on Ebay; I wondered if I had gotten the wrong doll. SO…I decided to rip that little dude apart and figure out how to make babies on my own. So I did, and here I am. 
12 Likes
SO TRUE…I’M ABOUT TO MAKE LIBBY FOR MYSELF…reborn baby
1 Like
My mother-in-law used to make porcelain dolls. One year for xmas, my husband bought me a porcelain greenware doll kit and gave me the name of the person he purchased it from so I could take classes from her. I purchased a kiln and have made a lot of porcelain dolls over the years. I still have some kits I have not finished yet. I subscribed to Doll Crafter magazine (when they were still in business). I started seeing articles in the magazine about reborn dolls and decided to try making one.
3 Likes
I always love dolls even after I was “too old” for them. I accidentally discovered reborns when looking at cabbage patch kids. I bid low on a sweet little Nod on a soft body and won her. I then decided I wanted to learn to make them. Problem was… I was freaked out by unassembled dolls. I knew I would have to get over that. I did but it took me awhile before I bought an open eyed kit. Now people are shocked at the body parts laying around my house. 
6 Likes
I think it’s so funny. So many of you loved dolls when you were kids. I HATED dolls. I wanted to play horses or cowboys or Army or Doctor, or anything but dolls! I had one doll that I loved. His name was Butch. Yes, he was a boy doll and not pretty at all. There was absolutely nothing special about him. He didn’t even drink and wet. He also had only one arm. The other was in a drawer. And he was full of poke holes from playing doctor. So if you had told me that I would grow up to be a doll maker I would have laughed at you! I did love art though and the more realistic, the better I liked it. And I’ve always loved babies. So I think the combo of art and babies was just irresistible.
4 Likes
That’s exactly why I started doing this - still have the little culprit lol
2 Likes
The only babies I liked were water babies. I wanted to do a memorial for my aunt, she lost her twins boys a long time ago. So I bought some clay to try and sculpt them, while doing some sculpting research, reborns popped up. So I decided I would get a kit and paint them instead. Still working my project though. I wanted to get a little experience before I made them for her.
3 Likes
If you know me or knew me especially as a kid there was NOTHING girly about me whatsoever! But… I loved babies and was always a very maternal person, since k couldn’t have real baby I loved baby dolls! Loved them!! But grew out of it. Then my oldest daughter was born and she was always extremely girl but HATED dolls lol but when my second and third were born they just loved babies so I set out to find more realistic looking dolls for them besides the Walmart babies they only cared for so/so. I bought my youngest an Ashton Drake and it was atrocious and looked nothing like I thought. Sent it back and kept on looking and stumbled upon reborn and was totally hooked! Found a lady who had some that were affordable bought two and was head over heels. She and I became good friends and she eventually guided and convinced me to reborn and I quit my embroidery business and put my all into reborning I LOVE it!
3 Likes
I wanted a real baby when I was in 7th grade. So I looked on eBay and searched “baby for sale.” Up came these real looking baby dolls. I found them on YouTube a few days later. I got my first reborn when I was in 8th grade and my second when I had just finished 8th grade. (The Sienna and Nod sculpts). They were very good prices (180 and 160), which made me super happy!! But, I kept wanting more and more dolls. My dad said, “You can’t get any more unless you make them yourself.” So in August 2014, I painted my first kit, Sugar by Donna Rubert. And here I am now, 11 ish babies later. 
3 Likes
Yes Ashton drake dolls are photoshopped
1 Like
Here’s a bunch of our stories previously discussed:
http://bountifulbaby.discoursehosting.net/t/what-compelled-me-to-get-into-reborns/24734
4 Likes
I fell in love with BB’s gorilla baby reborns the moment I saw the photo of Pearl, and from making them, gradually changed and started doing human babies. Sort of a backwards step into what I’m doing now, but that’s what happened. I used to sell sort of customized prepainted BB apes at local art shows and donate some of the proceeds to help a nearby primate rescue center. Now I sell on Ebay and focus on human baby reborns. I still try to donate a bit to a cause that’s important to me though, and right now it’s the TEARS foundation that gives support to families who are facing the unexpected loss of a newborn.
3 Likes
I have loved dolls all of my life. Every picture of me as a child I have a doll in my arms. I played with them until I was 15yrs old. Back in the early 90"s I made one of a kind porcelain dolls. I sculpted them out of clay, made the molds and poured and painted them. I had some success with them put had some life changing events at that time that ended my career. I found reborning many years later and I am so in love with this art!
[/URL]
8 Likes
I always loved babies and little kids. When my youngest was getting into her teens, I wanted a baby doll to play with/make clothes for. I got one with hair and was halfway happy but then saw a couple of ashton drake dolls in a store. I decided to get one thinking the awful hair on the ones in the store was just because they weren’t brushed down according to the sales person. Got it but just couldn’t get past that awful hair and returned her. About that time I learned about reborns. I got some acrylic paints from bloomers and bows and used them on a few doll heads and some old dolls and then a kit. And have been hooked for years. I do go thru cycles where I don’t reborn much followed by only reborning. Mostly I make dolls for fun.
1 Like
For me, it began with the older dolls several years ago, Playpals, Vogue’s Baby Dear and Apple Valley (Zook Dolls) but the reborns sole my heart.
2 Likes
I was also a tomboy as a child. Played with tonka trucks, hot wheels cars, race car tracks, and Star Wars stuff. I had a few dolls and barbies but they didn’t get played with a lot. Rose the wheels off my bike though!
Then about age 11 when the cabbage patch kids are nearly impossible to get a hold of…my mom got one for me. I was soooo stoked! I wound up collecting about 12 of those. She started adding in a few porcelain dolls here and there and I continued to collect into my adult years. Even had a gorgeous dollhouse my dad had built for me so I collected miniatures as well.
I wound up selling or giving away most all of that and got heavily into painting ceramics. My mom got me started with ceramics when I was a kid too. Loved painting Native Americans and won “Best of Show” at two county fairs. I need to find some pics of a few of my pieces and show y’all some time.
Got married and had a couple kids. Then in 1996 my 3rd baby was still born. I was still painting ceramics and did so until the local ceramic shop closed down.
One day I was surfing Ebay and ran across a reborn doll and was fascinated. I never bought one… Couldn’t afford it. But I researched them and just kept looking. This was about the early 2000’s. I thought then it would be so cool to have one made in memory of my son. Eventually I stopped looking at them because I knew I’d never be able to buy one.
Fast forward a few years. I started seeing reborns on Facebook and talked to a lady about possibly
Making me a custom. It was going to be about $600 or more. WHOA! She sent me to look at kits and I started looking around and reading up on these things. I decided I could make my own baby. I had lots of painting experience. I looked at kits for literally 3 months before deciding on a Libby Musgrove kit. I finally ordered a complete Libby kit in November 2014 and here I am now. LOVE creating these little babies. I don’t get to work on them as much as I’d like but really enjoy this hobby… Even though it’s costing me a fortune LOL!
1 Like
AWEE thanks for sharing