AWOL

Wow its ages since ive posted here!

Since my last post i have finished memorial baby Angel, custom baby Alice, Zoey, almost finished a custom baby boy (just waiting on his glass eyes) and am ready to root portrait baby Hannah.

Hannah reminds me of Harry in that she has tons of lovely dark hair too.

Unlike Harry though, Hannah's hair has been my worst nightmare!!!

With Harry, the lady who dye'd the hair for me got his hair colour pretty much spot on.

Sadly not with Hannah though.

Hair lot number 1: Ordered from A in USA, came, too light.
Hair lot number 2: I got some excellent quality moahir so decided to dye my own. It took two days solid! Ended up being not dark enough either!
Hair lot number 3: I decided to dye more even though it was a right faff doing it, ended up being jet black so too dark
Hair lot number 4: Ordered from a different lady in the USA, she dyes to the colour you want, but oh my gosh its about the most expensive mohair there is! (sometimes up to £50 per 1/2 ounce, yes 14 grams worth)
Sadly this lot of mohair has been severely delayed being sent as the poor lady lost her relative and had to fly out of state to the funeral. My thoughts are with her family at this sad time xx

So its turning into a nightmare. I needed to be about half rooted at this point and as it is i havent a clue when the mohair will arrive.
I seriously could cry! I thought reborning was supposed to be fun hobby.

So i  now have yet another 3 lots of different very dark brown hair dye from superdrug and tescos to try. It takes me forever to do though, as you have to wash all the mud and yuk out of the Angora goat hair.
Then shampoo it. Its very light and easily washes down the plug hole, and you can only wash a tiny bundle at a time.
Then comb it which is hard work to get all the tangles out.
Dry it naturally
Dye it
Rise it
condition it for 30 minutes
Rise it, rinse it, oh yeah and rinse it again
Dry it naturally again,
Comb it,
Wet it to return it to its fine locks rather than beinf fluffed up looking, then let it dry again!

So im hoping the other mohair arrives on Monday if not i guess its going to be days and days sat on a stool by the bathroom sink again, processing more mohair!

.Betime ive done that i might get to do another post here sometime in Ausust 2013 lol.

I have got twin portrait babies to start soon as well, eek.

Memorial baby M is finished

Memorial baby 'M' is now finished and will be going to his mummy next week.
His mummy likes him so thats a relief.
Im hoping his mummy  will allow me permission to share a side by side photo of him and the real baby.

Here he is a few pictures:

Max on ebay

Well little Maxwell, Max is now on ebay. It took me hours to do his photoshoot, uploading pics, labling them with  my nursery name to help discourage the scammers and editing the  template.

Yes  you get scammers out there, quite a few actually!! They  steal other artists photos then say they made the reborns in the  photos to scam people into parting with  thier money.
Now if you are 'lucky'  with these scammers you get a very dodgy looking  doll   sent that is very poorly made and looks no where near as good  as the reborn in the photo. If you are less lucky they completely run off with your money and you get nothing at all!

Luckily there are quite a few genuine honest sellers out there though!
Its one of the things i will be applying for soon, an award where the judges look at close ups of my reborns, and ask a selected few of my customers at random if they found me to be ok or not.

Anyways Max is now on ebay. Ebay is rubbish at the moment, even prototypes arent selling, so Max will be lucky if he finds a mummy. I have had some loely feedback from other artists about him though, some have even valued him at £700-£800!!!
Luckily my reserve is no where near  that amount.

Here he is here:
Maxwell on ebay (Paige by Sandra White Sculpt)

So far within a few hours of being on there he has 21 watchers yay!

Updates

Happy Easter everyone xx

So a general update on how the babies are going:

Memorial baby M- He was assembled yesterday  but cloth body #2 still wasn't  right so he has had to have yet another body being made for him. He will look right eventually lol! The last body had him only coming up at 20" despite being a larger body, he needs to be around 22".
So im at stale point with him until  body #3 arrives.

Grace- Little custom baby Grace,  is just having her outfit being made for her. Her rooting is almost done. I  got a gorgeous gift box for £5 from TK Maxx to send her in as my usual boxes would be way too big for her.

Memorial Baby A- She is almost finished being painted and i am waiting on the two lots of mohair ihad dyed for her  from my mohair lady in USA to arrive. Hopefully the colours will be ok!


and my competition baby- I have now named him  Maxwell or Max for short. In between other things im gradually doing his template to put him on ebay. Its all using HTML programming and drives me demented each time! It  literally makes my eyes boggle!

Elise

The lady who booked my September slot decided to send me  the deposit sooner as the kit she had chosen was only left available in 2 suppliers.

Well if we got the Elise kit from one supplier she came with just the limbs, but from another supplier we were able to get a gender specific belly plate to  go with it for the same price.

So  the  kit arrived yesterday. As  i now already have the kit i will work on him in between other reborns, so  come September time he will have been 'fast tracked' as he will be a lot closer to being finished by then. I operate a timeslot list but i always try to 'fast track' them if the mummy wants to send the deposit sooner :) I hate keeping mummies waiting.

He is going to be a newborn looking boy. It  feels a bit rude having to paint his boy bits as all the belly plates ive done before now for boys have been belly plates without the 'bits' on them.

So, so far i have neutralised his  vinyl colour and laid down the starting layers of newborn mottling.

He is an open eye baby.
Here is  the blank kit before starting him

Baby M update & clothes shopping

Well baby M is almost finished.
I have a different body on order for him as i wasnt happy with the fit of the first one.
His rooting is 99.9% done, just a hair or two here and there to be added.
Then i will  glue it in place.

Next will be his eyebrows, and root eyelashes too.
Then fit felt in his head for his magnet to be stuck to.
Weight him and assemble  him.

I send his mummy a sneek preview pic of him and she thinks hes gorgeous :)

Im also doing the fun bit of clothes shopping for him. I always try my best to match the style of clothes  the real baby had in photos. Sometimes we have even been able to buy identical  dummies/soothers, outfits, cuddly toys etc. Im a bit of  a perfectionist and if i  can match something or get it as similar as possible i will do :)

Some mummies like brighter, darker, stripey, demin style outfits on their real babies
Some prefer softer baby blues, soft pinks, more traditional outfits, delicate sleepsuits and hand knitted  outfits etc.

I drive myself demented at times as i try not to do the  'oh that will do' outfit, nope it has to be as close as possible.
I once ordered a dummy/soother from Germany just to get it in the same colour as the baby had which i couldnt get in the UK, and I have been known to spend hours online and trawling thorough every shop i can find just to find an identical blanket. Sometimes it pays off and i positely squeal with delight, sometimes im less lucky and have to make do with a similar one.

Anyways here he is so far.  outfit is just  for a test, he wore paler outfit in his photos but i didnt have one to hand. Ive currently nackered my hip, over a week of excuciating pain so i wasnt able to go hunt for my paler ones, but you'll get  the idea from the pics anyhow.

Racking my brains

Ok so i said id never do it but im considering doing an unusual reborn baby.

In the past by other artists there has been reborns made to look like, goths,  scary freaky horror blood dripping things (really dont like those!), aliens, Harry Potter Characters, etc even seen a clown reborn. Considering i dont like clowns much i actually like the clown reborn i  saw.

You can already  get fairy kits  and monkey/gorilla/orangutan kits.

So im trying to think 'outside' of the box and maybe, just maybe do something a bit different,  but my brain is fuzzled and i cant think what to do?

Do i do a clown baby? one to look like a film or tv character  and if so what?!

I guess im going to have to put the idea  on the back  burner until a 'brilliant' idea pops into my head!
Any suggestions anyone?

And hello to my  new lurkers from my facebook list, feel free to say hello lol ;) xx

Memorial baby M rooting

Memorial baby 'M' is almost finished yay.
His hairline was shaven at the front.
At this point i usually get impatient to see what the  finished baby will look like so i tend to prop them together for a quick picture lol.
Here he is. Im waiting on a new body for him as i wasnt happy with the one that came.
I just have a bit more rooting to do then, i will be glueing,  magnet, brows, eyelashes and assembling. yay!

Ugh neutralising

Before i can paint all  the skin tones, mottling etc on a reborn kit i have to neutralise the vinyl. Well thats all well and good except the different brands of kits come in all shades of vinyl colours! Everything from an awful grey, to a yellow, peach, light orange, orange, very  orange and pink too!

The pink, yellow and grey are awful, pure awful to work with.
Bountiful  babies brought out both the pink and the grey. Their pink makes a great base tone for  doing ethnic babies,  but for  white/caucasian babies its awful.
The grey they brought out recently, its supposed to be a neutral colour. Eeek its not. Just about  every  artist  i know even the top artists have had real trouble trying to neutralise it into a more normal  colour before they can start painting properly.

Well memorial baby A is in this grey!
Bountiful baby have since had such negative feedback about the colour that they have changed the colour again on newer kits, but it still means i have to work with it as baby A is to look like the real baby and this kit is the closest to her.

I got her 'warmed' up and less 'ill' looking, but now ive gone too pinky. My newborn tones on her just arent  right! Its that grey vinyl.
I guess  if you build a wall with a wobbly foundation layer the  rest just isnt going to be right. And thats whats happened here. Plus her lips are a bit 'lipstick' looking for my liking.
I tried to correct the pinky-red with a green wash but its all just going very 'pear shaped' as the saying goes. So im going to strip her back and start again, whilst  scratching my head as how to neutralise her grey vinyl this time!

Normally with most peach to orange kits you would mix up neutralising paint of either mint green, terquoise or pale pale blue.

This time im going to  try and  warm the vinyl up (not literally heat the vinyl but paint  a softer warmer looking color to neutralise her).
So i think i'll start with a few very thin layers of yellow ochre and take it from there!

Here  are the different vinyl colours. I had already started working on baby A's vinyl at that point, so shes a tad less grey.
Look how yellow Lotte kit is comparred to the others as well!

This is baby A so far

But as i said im going to strip all  her paint off and start again!!!

Competition result

The results of the competition are in via email last night, and it wasn't me who won the prototype oppertunity or 2nd or 3rd place.

I didnt expect to win but part of me feels a bit useless and disappointed today.

Everything happens for a reason, and it was a long shot anyhow, and they say what is  meant for you  wont go by you. So it  wasnt meant to  be lol

Maybe one day my dream will come true?! Right now im in the 'im giving it up after ive finished the orders' camp again *sigh* lol

Well done to those who did win though :)

Rainbow of colours

I  decided to do a post about paints. Ever wondered how many paint colours go into a reborn baby?
4? 5? 6? 10??........





Here is my 'Rainbow' of paints that i use!
When i sit and think about it, its amazing how many colours i use and some colours like grey and bright blue and green that you would never think you would need!

Here they are.

I think there are some missing in these pictures.
I  also use about 12-14 ramekin dishes for mixing endless experimental paint combinations in, and porcelaine paint palettes too. I dont have a set routine. I just let my artist mode flow and sometimes it works sometimes it doesnt. No two dolls are ever exactly the same.
Some of my best reborns have been ones ive slapped the paint on in a furious mode.
My competition baby i painted 3 times! The last time i was getting quite furious with myself for my  sudden lack of painting skills. I thought to myself "well here we go again i'll   have to  restart it  for the 4th time!! So i threw caution to the wind and literally slapped the paint on 90 mph!! I was certain it was just going to  make matters worse, for not only was i guessing at colour combinations for each  layer of paint but i was also 'speed painting' me and my Aries temperament again.... *blush*.
As it was the going with the flow rather than analising every  stroke paid off with one of my best babies to date.
I guess my dad was watching over me that day. My aim was very newborn tones and by fluke, luck or magic i got it!!

Another thing i use is tons of paint brushes, often with just 2 or 3 hairs left in them, and cosmetic wedge sponges well lets just say i must be keeping them in business! Its funny as they cant be any old cosmetic/make up wedge sponge, no it has to be the firmer, denser variety!
Its  impossible to make just enough paint as well. All that time  mixing it, out of each mixture for each layer i'll end up needing approx a tenth, a twentyith of the mixed paint,  the rest will  just then evapourate and  dry out. Sometimes more thinners can be added sometimes not.
The paint brushes can be a touchy subject most seem either too firm or too soft. In the beginning i bought a properreborning set. Need to get another set soon but i'll have to sneek those in at almost £50 a set!

So ive just tidied up my tub of paints  tonight. I'll give it 5 minutes painting before they are all randomly scattered in the tub again lol!

Here is my competition entry pics!!!

Here is my 5 pics for the competition.
I hope the judges like them!  eek!

Photo shoot for competition

Im just  busy putting the finishing touches to my competition baby and doing his photo shoot!
Its tough going, and nerve  wracking.
Praying my baby is  good enough, but not expecting to win obviously!

1st prize in the amazing opertunity to be allowed to reborn a prototype baby!!!
That woud be all my Christmas and Birthdays rolled into one!!

I'll be back later on with the 5 photos im submitting... eek!

Questions, questions

Questions,  questions....

Here are my fun questions & answers.

1/ First Reborn doll made:

Well i actually made 2 reborns at once. A kit called Sugar and another called Erica
I must have been mad starting off with  £50 &  £60 kits. Sugar became a boy called 'Alfie' and Erica a girl called 'Bryony'.
Here they are:
Alfie

Erica

2/ Worst reborn

Freddie! This  doll  kit hated me, im sure it did. It was so problematic from start to finish. I once even slung its head on the floor in a childish 34 going  on 4 years old temper! *blush*. He gave me weeks of trouble fitting his eyes. I  have  never had an eye'd doll  kit have so much trouble getting the eyes in. The rooting gave me hell. Glueing it, everthing!! Luckily his new mummy absolutely adores him, which is good as i very nearly binned him lol.

Now i think he's kinda cute!

3/ Quickest reborn  to make

My quickest reborn was Finley. He was  reborned from a newly released  Limited edition kit called 'Jack'. He was the  first reborn i painted the hair on. He took me just 7 days to make!

4/ Longest Reborn to Make

Harry  bless him. He was a portrait baby. I never minded how long it took me to make Harry at all, i really enjoyed making him, but i felt so embarrased at how long his poor mummy was kept  waiting. If it was me id have been well cheesed off. I think he took me about 4 months+?!!!! His mummy was soo sweet and patient ;)

5/ Smallest Reborn

My smallest was two Reborns both made from the same kit. The kit was called Christina by sculptor Petra Lechner. They were both 12"  long. I loved doing this kit so much i have another  2 kits to reborn, so 4 in total!

6/ Biggest Reborn

My biggest reborns were twins Alice &  Emily. They were some of my earlier babies.

Alice & Emily were 26" tall  and wore 9-12 month size clothes. I loved them, everyone else hated them   lol.

7/ First Ethnic Reborn

My first ethnic reborn was  Trinity. Ethnic babies are incredibly hard to paint without ending up blotchy coloured or with orange tinges. I was quite pleased with her when i finished her.

8/ How many reborns do i own of my own?

Technically i have 3 finished ones  (Trinity, Alice & Emily), well in parts anyhow!!

Because i am always improving my techniques at such a fast rate i find i am a bit of a perfectionist! I cant keep a reborn as even sat in a box i start to critasize my   work and have ideas of how i could improve them. So before i know it i end up disasembling them ready to strip the paint and hair off and redo them!!! Bad  mummy that i am!

Kits wise i have about 30 waiting to be done.

 I used to  say i was giving up the hobby but id wait till until id used all my kits up first and sold them. These days i say i'll give it up after ive finished doing all my orders as well. Im lucky enough to have several orders in the pipeline  so i guess i wont be giving up  and time soon lol. My mum & hubby laugh at me and my giving up mode (its usually when  its not going right or i have artists block and is often weekly that i say it. Well it is a very  frustraiting hobby at times lol!!!).

The longest time ive 'given up properly for' was about 6 hours, in my before orders days. I actually got as far as putting all my reborn stuff in a huge box, paints, brushes, needles etc etc. The box  was so big hubby had to remove it for me. I enjoyed my  time not  being a reborn artist for the first hour,  was trawling round the reborn forums by the second hour..... and by  the 6th hour i asked poor hubby to bring it all back again lol.

Im sure he could have throttled me and my Aries  temperament!!! *blush*

9/ Work In progress

Im currently working on a memorial baby boy. Hes such a big 22" chunky fella the kit is i mean. (Libby kit by Cindy musgrove)

And am also working on a wee custom baby a 14" girl.

10/ What's  next?

Im lucky enough to have several  to do next:

A memorial baby girl

then a custom baby girl

11/ Don't bother

I once  tried sculpting. Haha  is all  i can say on that score.

The following monster 'baby' proves why the sculptors who sculpt the clay babies for kits are a lot  more talented than me!!

Here is my first attempt.  Don't say i didn't warn you! lol

and my second attempt!

Gee whizz i dont think i'll  be sculpting again in a hurry rofl!

Wow!!! Swap!

Wow!! Remember  that dream baby with a torso in my last post?
Never in a million years did i think id be able to afford one.......
Well i had a newish very popular kit, Andi. I wasnt that  fussed on it but everyone else seems to  love it.
So i posted it on one of the  artists forums for swapping. Several people wrote back offering various kits they had to swap. Some kits were lovely, some not.
But the end result is one of the ladies who i buy all my reborn supplies from her online shop is going to swap me for my dream baby kit.
I still  have to pay  nearly £40  towards it, but im well excited as ive done belly lates before but never a half torso.

Im  getting the girl torso but have a choice between two heads to go with it.

So i can  have either

Serah

or Julie

Oh  its so hard to  choose!!!

Tiny

Im  trying to find an outfit for the baby which is my competition entry.
I have to have this sorted to enter the photos by the 18th eek.

Mum is  busy knitting a cardigan to go with it.
The aim is a very  newborn look so im looking at cotton type sleepsuits like you would put on a just born  baby in the hospital.

Anyways trawling round the net i found this pic. Brings back some memories!
This kit is about  20" but is gorgeous. She is the Erica kit by Shawna Clymer. This was the first kit i did, well her and jointly sugar kit by Donna Rubert as well.
Mine ended up with lighter hair colour,  but i love this one. The prototype artist did an amazing job on her.

There is never enough hours in the day to do all these kits im falling in love with lately!

I Love this kit!!

Ive been looking  at kits again tonight,  as i often do, and ive found another one for my dream wishlist lol
Firstly excuse me for naked doll pics, im not obsessed with doll parts but i love this half torso by Adrie.
The torso comes with a half doe suede body, the legs/bum/belly part and arms
She then sells 3 different heads to go with it.
This makes a baby approx 18" so maybe at a guess a smaller newborn size maybe  if it was a real baby it would be about 6lb  something.
I love this kit!!
Its not cheap £128 with shipping, but considering what you get i actually think its a bargain.
If i did this one id possibly do a magnetic umbilical  cord that is removeable as well.
Ah i could just see her with a magnetic hair bow as well. And think of all the cute girlie clothes, ruffled bum baby vests, little tutus,  and headbands etc.
Aww!
anyways here she is!!!

with this head...

unpainted kit at the start...

Off to buy some lottery tickets lol!