I first really started to consider making reborns after my 8 year old daughter asked for a "real baby" for her upcoming birthday. Like hell that was going to happen. She quickly specified that she wanted a realistic baby doll. Ok. That I could deal with. I fondly remembered a Lee Middleton doll that I had as a little girl and I thought BINGO. I went searching for one, only to find that they were no longer being made...off to eBay! While searching for a Lee Middleton, I stumbled onto the reborn category.
I called my husband over and showed him the dolls and I said, "I bet I could make one of these." He agreed. He asked me what I needed to get started and he would buy it for me as an early birthday gift. He really is the best.
After a lot of research and time spent watching reborn tutorials, I decided to purchase a beginners set. I ended up ordering this one from MacPherson's. I chose this set for several reasons:
it had Genesis paints, which is what Kim at CustomDollBaby.com used;
I had a NuWave oven from many Christmases ago that my grandmother would get a kick out of me finally using;
it came with the most colors, which matters to me because I am like that;
it did not come with a doll kit, so I could choose my own baby;
It had everything needed to make a reborn (minus that uselessly small amount of hair);
I have an unnatural drive to avoid excess shipping costs even if it costs slightly less to assemble supplies from multiple sources.
Mac's was running a pretty awesome promotion at the time: spend enough and get a mystery kit for free. Challenge accepted. I was immediately drawn to the face (and price) of David by Tina Kewy and I threw him in the cart, too. Hubby checked out and I waited.
I didn't have long to wait. My package arrived within 3 days. Inside were the items I had ordered and my gold medal spender's award - a Jamie Kewy kit. I was thrilled to have gotten an awake baby in the promotion. The way I had it figured is that I wanted to start with a sleeping baby so I would not have to fool with eyes.
So, I queued Kim's wonderful video series, Reborn with Me, and went to town on David. I followed her tutorial every inch of the way. Here is a sample:
Doesn't she have the nicest teacher voice? I should work on mine...
At the end, I had a baby that was encouraging. He wouldn't be winning any prototype contests, but he wasn't completely awful. I decided to go with Prisma pencil drawn hair as I felt emotionally unprepared to stab my creation over and over again.
Hubby was super creeped out, which I took as a compliment.
Riding high on his heebie-jeebies, I restarted the series and got out my second kit to see if lighting could strike twice. Only this time I would be needing eyes. Well, if I was going to purchase eyes from Bountiful Baby, I might as well make good use of that flat rate shipping and get some hair, too. In for a penny, in for a pound, I always say.
Jamie was also not-horrible. Despite his raucously colored eyebrows and his pluggy rooting, he got nods of appreciation from the umpteen million people that I tortured with his pictures. It was then that I had a decision to make. Keep my creations and let my remaining supplies from the beginner set lay fallow or sell them and use the money to buy my next litter of kits.
As hard as it was, I sold them. I really didn't see another way to get more kits. You see, I wasn't hooked as bad as I am now and I was still trying to be responsible with the money that I devoted to this hobby. I know that it is common for beginners to strip their kits and start over multiple times, but I couldn't bear to do that.
Whether you keep, gift, trash, strip, or sell, take plenty of photos. Now I can look back fondly on those bloody red creases, moldy-looking mottling, and hair plugs and feel a sense of accomplishment. As long as you are growing, you are practicing success and practice makes perfect, right?