What is a reborn? Well if you go back to how it started in Australia, it was literally transforming an ordinary
play doll into a more beautiful looking doll. Then, people decided, they could have a go at sculpting their own
babies, they are known as ‘sculpts’ made from a specific clay, that can be baked in a home oven. When the
sculpting artist has finished the baby, they are sent off for mass production. Sometimes these are limited
editions, that are say 250 of the kit only, and others like popular kits of Luca, by Elly Knoops, are an
unlimited supply. Once the kits have been produced they are sent to the online, and bricks and mortar stores
ready for the reborn artist to purchase and create their magic.

You don’t know the feeling of holding a blank kit in your hands and waiting for it to talk to you, a boy, girl,
Caucasian, bi-racial, African American, Asian, twins, triplets, the list goes on. It’s then that the real fun
begins, there are a few ‘steps’ involved in the transformation process and every artist completes these in their
own way. Just as a car company keeps tight lipped on their new and best designs, you will find Artists are happy
to share some things but keep signature painting skills to themselves. You need to add a base skin tone, then add
some blushing, veining, eyebrows, finger nails, and then there are milk pimples, dry skin, lunago hair,
birth marks, blotchy skin, broken capillaries, anything you would see on a real baby you can expect to see on a
reborn baby doll. After the baby has been painted you have two choices, to paint the hair on its head, in tiny
single stokes, or to micro root the hair in the head using a specialized needle one hair at a time. The next
process is weighting and filling the body with tiny glass beads, and Polly fiber. Recording the babies weight,
hair colour eye colour (or closed eyes) length, time and date of birth are also important in the creation of new
life. If the baby is going to be auctioned off on ebay, then its off to the shops to buy some cute new clothes,
and home for a photo shoot, which normally tires out the best of babies. I finish off the transformation, by
wrapping them snugly in a new baby blanket and set to work on finding a forever mummy.. Some lucky babies are
made for their mummies specific requirements, for example a girl, with dark hair, blue eyes, magnetic dummy and
20 inches long.