Your stories

I first heard about reborning when I was researching dolls on the internet for my existing miniatures hobby and I saw these dolls. They looked so much like real babies. I did some research and found there was a whole world based around them a community that I hadn’t known was there. That was about five years ago now.

Still life: Kath's crates of baby bits

I think I’ve always loved babies, too. I used to dress my cats up and push them around in a pram when I was a little girl. I have three lovely grown up children of my own now and three grandchildren. I’ve always had a soft spot for children though, so when I saw these dolls I thought "Oh, how lovely!"

The idea of reborning is to make a vinyl kit into as realistic a doll as possible. Some people might find that weird, but I see it as a work of art. They’re painted, and then they’re stuffed and weighted to feel like a baby. They’re not light like an ordinary doll. They’re heavy.

Artists buy a kit of 'baby parts'

They come as a kit and you choose what you want. You can get everything from really small preemie (premature) sized kits to toddlers… open eyes, sleeping or crying. I much prefer the sleeping babies. I think they’re much more realistic.

They’re not toys. I have made a doll for a child in the past, though. I made it lighter and put a wig on it instead of rooting the hair so it would be more suitable.

Individual strands of hair are attached

When I started I realised it was quite an expensive hobby to have. To buy the kit can cost upwards of £50. It was obvious to me that I needed to sell in order to carry on the hobby. I usually make them according to my own preferences and hope that buyers like them, but I have made dolls to order before. The one I’m working on now is for a customer order.

The doll I'm working on now is a kit called “Ariella”. It’s a larger doll – made to look like a three to six month-old baby. You get the limbs, head and everything. This one’s a sleeping baby. I'm shading it at the minute. When you first get them they’re just plain vinyl – they don’t look very life like. I've added capillaries and some shading to this one so far. It takes a long time. The paint that we use is heat-set oil paint put on in many layers.

When the hair is done, the doll is weighted. Most of us use granules. We started off using sterilised sand that you might use in a child’s sandpit. It was sterilised in the microwave. But because of import regulations (some countries don’t allow sand to be brought in, especially Australia) we now use little tiny glass granules, inserted into the head in a little pouch.

Kath's pride & joy: a one-off clay doll

Then around that pouch, we stuff polyfill, a soft fibre filler to make the head heavy. This is also done in the body. You buy a cloth body. It looks a bit strange until the arms and legs are attached. I use soft elastomer pellets which feel very much like baby muscle. In the body they add weight and feel very soft. We add the soft fill again until the baby feels sort of “floppy” like a real baby.

The arms, legs and head have ridged in where the body “suit” is attached and fixed with cable ties.Then you get to pick baby clothes. I spend a lot of time in Mothercare! Then I post the doll out. By courier, usually.

One of Kath's finished dolls, "Anna".

A lot of reborn artists do make a living from this hobby. Some internet ones make a lot of money. Collectors buy them, mainly. When this new phenomenon started, people who used to collect antique dolls or other items switched to reborn dolls, simply because they’re so realistic. I collect myself. I even have a special one-off doll that was made from a lump of clay. It is incredibly detailed, even down to having cradle cap!

I don’t know of people who buy them for other reasons myself, although I have seen stories in the media about people who ask for dolls to resemble their own children who might have died.

My aim has always been to make something that looks realistic and that people are happy with and I have achieved that. I’m happy to say that all my dolls have sold. I’ve made about thirty five so far. In February I had one very big sale – I made £990, but that is really a one off.

 I’ve never sold a doll for that amount and I was quaking in my shoes! Ebay is very fickle, though and the next doll I sold went for £215. It was just as nicely done, but that’s the way it goes. Some reborners regularly make a lot of money, but for me, as long as I can keep going and not be losing money I’m happy to carry on.

My husband Keith is very supportive about my work. My daughters have children of their own and they love what I do because they know it makes me happy. My son is 22 and he’s very typical, not quite sure about the dolls but very happy for me when I made my big sale!

Kath Cryer