When painting a reborn doll, there are many different paints and inks to can be used to achieve lifelike skintones. It is important before choosing your colors to make sure your paints will not wash off, wear out or bleed into other colors over time.
The best paints for reborns are the genesis heat set paints, which are regarded as the finest for reborns by many artists. Genesis paints will not wear off the doll, and they also will not bleed through vinyl dolls - a common problem with acrylic paints is that they often do this.
Genesis paints come in a variety of colors, so you almost certainly won’t need to mix the paints before using them. Many artists sell premixed genesis paints on ebay as well. You can usually pick up ethnic paint sets as well, which is ideal if you are looking at making at ethnic reborn baby.
Genesis paints shoud be thinned before applying to the doll. You can do this with oderless paint thinner. Make sure you do not apply too much paint - more is less! You can always redo parts that need touching up.
Getting the right weight for your baby is as important as coloring and clothing them.
You will find that most reborn dolls are filled with fiberfill, or fine sand as its very easy to get the correct weight with them.
Sand, while ideal for it does come with its problems however. For example, the baby is usually filled with bags of sand to make sure it gets weight in the correct places. If one of these bags splits it will make a large mess, and the baby will then be weighted incorrectly.
It is more common to find polypellets or even glass beads as weights in reborns. These are easy to use, will not leak and are also relatively cheap while not compromising on quality.
Baby fat pellets are also used, and can give a more realistic feel to the reborn if used correctly. It is important however that you are careful which body parts you use them in. They can react negatively with some silicon. Where possible, you should keep the pellets in fabric or nylon bags inside the body to stop this happening.
Before making your baby, you should know how old you are aiming the baby to be. You will need to choose how heavy to make the baby depending on this.
An average, babies gain about 1-2 pounds (1/2 to 1 kilogram) per month for the first six months, and n average of one pound (1/2 kilogram) per month from six months to one year. When deciding on the age of the baby at this to the babies starting weight. You can also find the average weight of babies for the first 36 months at the following sites as another indicator.
Click here for the average baby girls weight.
Click here for the average baby boys weight.
First you need to prepare the head. The head should be attached to the body through a plastic rod. Remove this and keep the head on its own. There should be a circular flat entry hole the head will stand up on.
Dont forget to buy your reborn mohair before starting! You will also need some rooting needles (I use a 36, 38 and a 40 gauge), and some small scissors. Make sure you have a comfortable table to work on with a good light source so you can see what you are doing.
To start with, warm the head. There are a number of ways to do this. a blowdryer will get the job done quite easily, or you can put the head in a microwaave for a few seconds - however, both ways lose heat quite quickly so you will need to keep doing it. You can either use a flexible neck lamp directly over the head to keep it warm (start if off with a blowdryer) or you can use a rice sock inside the head if you do not have a lamp; Simply put some uncooked rice in an old soc, and microwave it for 2 minutes. Then place the ricesock inside the head.
Get yourself a small tuft of mohair. The amount you cut off should be nearly twice as long as you want it to be on the babies head, as it will be rooted in the babies head which halves the size (nearly).
Lay this strip of hair down flat onto the head - it is best to start somewhere towards the base of the hairline. Bear in mind that the middle of the hair tuft is where the you will be rooting. If in doubt the hairline that is already on the head is a good reference point (although dont follow it exactly).
To root the hair, you will need your needle - Place it in the center of the tuft and press it into the vinyl until it stops. Congratulations - your first rooting is complete! But you can’t stop there, you need to do the rest of the tuft - and the head yet! To root more hair, just keep poking away in the general area of the first one. To make the hairs lie flat, keep the neelde in an upward poistion at all times.
If you make a mistake, you can simply remove the root by pulling it out. If all is going well, continue poking until you have enough roots from your tuft - generally this is around 50 roots, but the top artists use more. To keep the hair looking natural, try to work in inch strip at a time, then move onto the next.
When you are done on your first tuft, hold the hair up, and gently pull the hair away - this will take the excess hair with it and leave your rooting, so you can see your work. If its not enough, reroot in the same place until your are happy.
Continue rooting the head - apply more heat after each rooting. You should work around the base of the hairline first, and then move in towards the top of the head. You can use the same tuft of hair 3 or 4 times before you need to take a new tuft from the mohair you purchased. If the hair is looking rough before this, despose of it and get a new tuft straight away.
Things start to get a lot trickier from here in, so you should be sure to set aside an afternoon, or a few hours if possible before proceeding.
If you have a reborn doll with a face that is ‘awake’ then you will need to replace the eyes. This is a tricky process the first time. Different dolls come with different face styles and vastly different sizes. This also means the eyes can be different sizes depening on the head style. Some types have one size socket but need larger irises due to the way the face is shaped
If you have any doubt or concerns over this, you can measure the eye socket after the eyes have been removed. You should also be able to spot the different sizes by doing this.
Before removing the eyes you will need a few items. Make sure you have a hair/blow dryer, and a flat head screwdriver (philips or other screwdrivers are not suitable). You can use another item if it has a flat head. You will also need some replacement eyes. These are sold as comlpete or half spheres. If you are new to this, you should buy the half spheres. Otherwise, you have to cut the whole sphere in half so it will fit the socket.
Start by aiming the hair dryer directly into the eye socket. The reason this part can be tricky for first timers is the idea is NOT to melt the dolls face! You simply need to heat up the eye socket area until its nice and hot and the eye can be removed. Simply insert the screwdriver underneath and push with enough leverage to pop the eye out. If it is still really tricky to do this, start again but reheat the area a little more.
Once the old eye has been removed, you need to force the new eyes into the empty socket. This may take a few attempts to do, and you will need to be sure to heat it as before. You MAY be able to fit an eye straight away after removing the old ones, but do not rush this part. When putting the new eyes in, make sure to align them the same on both sides and adjust if neccesary before moving onto the next step.
If you have any problems with the eyes, there is another method, however it is less desirable. You can find this at the end of this entry however.
Once you have fitted, and aligned the eyes, you need to proceed and start on the babies nose. Once again, before proceeding you will need to fetch the needle files and paraffin candle. It is desirable to have a smokeless candle here, otherwise it can leave ‘burn marks’ from the residue. Even with the smokeless type however be sure to wipe down the file after each use to remove any dirt/residue that collects on it.
Be aware before starting that you need to make sure not to touch any other part of the head with the heated file and also to be careful that you do not make the nostrils too large. This is a common beginner mistake. Once they get too large, they are stuck this way.
Heat the file on the candle flame. Once it has been heated, use the file on the dolls nostril a few times making sure that any excess vinyl from that area is removed. It should also make the nostrils bigger. Keep reheating and repeating this step until the nostrils are an adequate size.
You can also use unheated files for small sections and to smooth it out.
When you are happy with the nostrils, you need to finish the nose off by cutting a small piece of the brown felt you should have purchased. It should be big enough to cover both nostrils. Put some glue on the back, and with some tweezers put the felt over the nostrils and inside the head. Be sure to make sure both openings are completely covered.
If you have problems inserting the eyes.
If you really cannot place in the eyes as mentioned above, the other option is to do it from inside the head itself. Use your X-Acto to carve around the back of the eye socket. Leave it partially attached (like a flap) so it will be easier to glue back on. Put the eye in place and use plenty of glue to keep it there and glue the flap back together as well.
If you have come this far then you will have the reborn doll supplies lined out in the previous sections and will be ready to get started. The list of reborn doll making supplies is quite extensive it is one of the harder parts of making a reborn doll! It’s a bit more fun from here though so lets crack on.
Start by removing the dolls head and limbs from the body. (you should have got the doll kit described previously). Take your
X-acto knife and with your other hand, feel out where the head and limbs are connected to the body. You’ll find a small plastic tie holding on the part after pushing the fabric back where it is connected.
Carefully cut the tie into two pieces to remove the body part.
With the limbs removed, you now need to make the limb sockets wider. This is to enable you to pour the dye easier and do everything with the face and head easier. However, it is very important not to remove the indentation, as you need that for reattaching the body parts of your reborn baby dolls later on.
As a precuation i recommend you wear the ventilationair mask as well as your rubber gloves. Also, where possible, do this next step outside, or somewhere well ventilated.
To remove the hair from the head of the reborn doll, use the pure acetone. You’ll also need to use the cotton balls, Q-tips and toothpicks. The key thing to remember when removing the hair is to not let any of the acetone drip down onto the face or it will ruin the colors and leave unwanted stains and marks. Take a cotton ball and get some acetone on it. Starting at the hairline, you’ll want to rub the cotton ball in a smooth motion to the back of head, almost as if your brsuhing the hair backwards. You’ll immediately see some of the painted on hair starting to come off.
Also remember that it is better to not use the same side of that cotton ball again, or you’ll start smearing the removed paint all over. If you will be wigging for the hair of your reborn doll, you dont need to worry too much about the top of the head, because it will be covered by the wig itself.
You are likely to have to work harder to get all of the remaining painted hair out of the small grooves. You can pinch and pull the head a bit to spread out and get inside the grooves but you will probably need to use a combination of the cotton balls, toothpicks and Q-tips to get the job done.
Keep repeating the process until you get as much of the paint off as possible. If you will be rooting with dark hair, you don’t need to be perfect, but with lighter shades, you will want to get every last speck off. If this is your first doll, you might want to consider a dark colour for now until you perfect this technique.
When you are happy with the reborn hair removal, you’ll need to wash the head and limbs, particularly the head with all of that acetone that was used. It is safe to Wash the head with soap and water and soak but where possible soak for a while first, for at least a few hours. (change the water to reheat it). You’ll also want to soak the limbs with some hot water and soap for an hour or more to help prepare them for an even coloring.
After soaking everything, wash the insides out and rinse. This is a good time for a break - or to leave your creation for the moment, since it will be soaking. Its prefectly safe to leave them soaking overnight, but be sure to NOT use commercial cleaners, bleach etc.
Now you have all the items you need to create a reborn doll you will also need some reborn items. Again, if you need these, you can get them in the store section.
• The 20 inch LaBaby doll (These are Berenguer dolls)
• 1 set of eyelashes
• Replacement eyes for awake faces
• A cloth body (with jointed limbs)
• 1 bottle of white glass paint
• 1 bottle of gloss for glass painting
• 1 bottle of sealer for glass paint
• 1 bottle Rit mauve dye
• Caulk
• Oil paints including flesh tone, red, white and purple
• Linseed oil
• Eyebrow penil
• A 2 pound baby of clear poly pellets
• Polyfill
• 1 pound of craft sand
• Medium brown felt
You now have everything you need, except you will need some hair. This will be covered fully in a later secrion, but you can either wig or root the reborn doll hair, and the supplies you need depend on which method you will be using.
For rooting the hair you will need 1 ounce of mohair and some felting needles. You should look at getting a 36-40 gauge needle to start with. If you plan on using a wig, it is a lot easier and you can buy which ever one will suit your baby. Mohair or synthetic hair is fine and you will need a size 14 or 15 wig.
If you have the items listed here and in section 1 then you are finally ready to begin your reborning journey and can now move onto our next section: Preperation.
If you have decided to make your own reborn baby doll you should be aware it is a very time consuming process. However, you shouldnt be put off yet - There are many techniques involved to build each part of the baby. If you cant get along with one method, then try another and it might be more suited to your style. This is part of the fun - because of the variety it gives reborns a uniqueness that cannot be recreated elsewhere.
To help you get started we have come up with a reborning guide - there is no definitive method but we beleive this is the best way to start. When you are more comfortable you can agjust your methods accordingly.
To help you get started we have come up with a reborning guide - there is no definitive method but we beleive this is the best way to start. When you are more comfortable you can agjust your methods accordingly.
To start with, you are going to need some supplies. If you already have these and are returning to follow this guide, you can skip this part. However, this should be read by anyone new to reborning. We recommend on starting with a LaBaby doll. These are excellent dolls to start on, but you can use any suitable dolls. We also suggest starting on a 20inch doll as the smaller ones can be a bit fiddly the first few times. You can find these items in the supplies section of the store here.
•
X-Acto Knife (or any kind of replaceable-blade hobby knife)
• Bag of cotton balls or cotton swabs
• Bag of Q-tips
• Pack of toothpicks
• Small Funnel
• Paint brushes – 1 fine-tipped and 1 squared, both small
• Makeup sponges
• Acetone (not just nail polish remover)
• Clear crafting glue
• Timer or stopwatch
• Blow dryer
• Old stockings or pairs of pantyhose
• Needle files
• Flathead screwdriver
• Small scissors
• A smokeless paraffin candle
• Air mask
• Latex/rubber gloves
• Tweezers
Thats quite a list but thats all for now - though you will need some more items for the doll itself. These are detailed in section 2 of our guide -
the reborn items.
