Jayden - Completed

This custom ordered Jayden was a joy to do,  I almost regretted completing it, the sculpt is such a fantastic one I will miss having it in the "to do" pile. 

I must do another photo session with this little one before he or she is collected by the new mum which may be any day now.   I will miss this face.

WIP - Jayden

I am currently working on a custom order for a Natalie Scholl "Jayden" sculpt.  I've completed the skin tones and am just waiting to hear from the lady that has ordered the baby.

I absolutely love this sculpt, it is so very realistic,  I would love to leave this baby bald,  the head shape is just perfect for being a baldy, but the customer wants hair on this baby so I am just waiting to hear from her with her choice of hair colour.  Such a shame!

 

I will update my blog in a couple of weeks time when i have finished this baby and have updated photos.

Kimberley Beth

A sweet friend of mine and fellow doll enthusiast Christine Derry asked me to reborn one of the Bethan Rose sculpts, I knew she liked what I had done with the prototype for the sculpt but was really honoured to be asked to do one specially for her.   I think reborning for a friend is possibly more daunting than doing one for a stranger as when its a friend you really really want to give them the baby of their dreams even more...disappointing someone you care about is very hard to swallow after all.

Christine was incredibly patient with me as I worked on Kimberley Beth really slowly and was really precise in what I was doing... plus there was all the hassles of winding up the magazine etc which kind of brought me down.

I was finally able to present Kimberley Beth to Christine at yesterday's Discover Dolls fair and it really made my day to see her reaction and I managed to get a couple of fantastic pictures of just how pleased she was with her new baby.

Discover Dolls - Peterborough - October 2010

What an amazing day! The show was great, lots of very familiar faces and lots of new people,  I got to see a lady who I used to live quite close to but had lost touch with since my move, so that was a bonus! I also got to spend time with Sam Brown, a fellow reborn artist and good friend, who spent the day with me on my stand and was saleswoman extraordinaire, which gave me time to take lots of pictures for people at the photobooth,  I will have to post a selection of the photos I took (including some incredible ones of Ceinwen's fairies) in another post because I have too much here just talking about the show!!

Sam and Ceinwen

I was really fortunate in that I had three babies adopted on the day, which really pleased me, Finn and Georgia both found new homes so I was really happy with that as well as Christine picking up her custom baby Kimberley Beth.

Christine Collecting Kimberley Beth

Sue collecting Finn

At the next table to me was Ceinwen Clarke who was displaying her amazing fairy creations and they were truly eyecatching and the amount of effort and time Ceinwen had put into not only the dolls but their individual outfits was wonderful.

There is something really satisfying about watching all these people who have come with such expectation and empty hands leaving with their new babies either wrapped in blankets or in presentation boxes and baskets with huge happy smiles at the end of the day.  As an artist knowing you have given that pleasure... well to be honest, there's not a feeling like it.

I did take a lot of photographs of the stands, the visitors and the dolls on display and below there is a slideshow selection for you all to enjoy.

Maya

Maya is another of the dolls that I will be displaying and with luck rehoming at the Discover Dolls Show this weekend.  Maya has been created from a Deshawn sculpt by Jen Printy.

Maya measures about 19inches and has gorgeous baby blue german hand blown glass eyes.

Come along and meet her at the Discover Dolls Show on Sunday 17th October at the Holiday Inn, Peterborough.

Motorcycle Museum Doll Show - 26th September 2010

I had a fantastic day at the Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham, I joined Cathy Read and Lisa Dawson on the Discover Dolls stand for the day, thanks ladies, it was great to have such good company.

Shows are always so much more fun when you have company to share the day with.  The Show was its usual mix of teddies, vintage dolls, reborn dolls and OOAK's and as usual the customer turn out was excellent, and customers seemed very enthusiastic about the artwork on show.

I was particularly delighted to have one of my babies adopted on the day, Charlie was rehomed to a really lovely lady who loved him on sight. 

Teeny Tiny Finn

I will also be presenting for sale this sweet little morsel at the upcoming Discover Dolls, Finn was created from a Tamie Yarie sculpt,  Quinn, at 12 inches this little sweetie fits into your hands so well.  But even being so tiny Finn is wonderfully detailed.

The tiny delicate limbs have all the detail and beauty of a full sized sculpt. 

Finn will be available for a cuddle at  Discover Dolls on Sunday 17th at the Peterborough Holiday Inn.

Come along and say hello.

Georgia

The sculpt I used to create Georgia is one of my favourite sculpts, there is something so endearing about the cheeky face that Evelina Wosnjuk has created for this sculpt.  Everytime I look at Georgia's face I find myself smiling, it's something I just can't help doing.

Georgia will be one of the dolls I will be presenting at the upcoming Discover Dolls Show in Peterborough at the Holiday in this coming Sunday 17th October. 

The Discover Dolls Show is a great show with 3 rooms full of wonderful dolly art and supplies.

Dionne - Latest Ebay Baby

It's been a while as I am not the best at keeping my auctions up to date, having far too much fun with the doll shows and doing the work.

But my latest baby up on auction is created from the very realistic Jayden sculpt from Natalie Scholl  who I have named Dionne.

Dionne's auction runs until this coming Sunday 19th August 2010

I am hoping that Dionne finds a new family.  To view Dionne's auction click HERE.

Tessa Off to Meet Her New Family

Tessa is one of the biggest babies I have ever done, she is very similar in size to a Reva Schick Ariella and wears clothing up to 3 months very comfortably.  I didn't want to make her too babyish as she is so big so I gave her a full head of curly blonde hair. 

Tessa has gone to live with a lovely lady who has renamed her Angel and I wish Cathy many years of happiness with Angel.

Feedback

Hi Lisa love - i have been on tenterhooks all day wanting to let you know ho much i love my little girl. ngel is beautiful and is sitting on the bed beside me as i write to you. My little dog Bonnie has quite taken to her too and is snuggled up fast asleep with her head resting on Angel's feet - I love her shoes by the way, they are so pretty, and Thank you for the photo albumn love, what a sweet touch. She was in a lovely sturdy box and so well packaged, and in her pretty dress, she was as pretty as a picture. Thanks for everything. Cathy.xxx

Dolly Oven

When the concerns arose last year regarding fumes being given off from vinyl during heating when curing the Genesis Heatset Paints I wanted to get a small stand alone oven that I could use for my dolly art only.  The first oven I got was a Tefal mini oven which turned out to be a bit of a disaster, it cremated the tea towels on the baking trays within 3 uses and burned the trays as well before long.  Which was really irritating. 

The main problem I found with the mini ovens is where the heating elements are placed,  either in bars placed on the bottom of the oven or on the top, or in some cases... both!   But these elements are usually exposed, which is fine when you are cooking food you want to go brown... but not really good for heating a kit evenly.  

I do have to say though that the mini oven did come in very handy for keeping me warm during a particularly cold craft fair... we ended up switching it on, heating it up and then opening the door and standing in front of it to defrost.

I was very lucky to receive a new Mini Oven from my parents in law for my birthday, this one is a Combination Oven, so it can be a convection oven, a microwave or a grill or a combination .  Very handy!

It has a large internal cooking space so can take quite big kits, I managed to bake an Arianna kit in it quite happily. The elements to this oven are completely concealed within the walls of the oven so there's no problem of heating elements being too close to the kit and the temperature maintenance of the oven is very reliable and accurate.   All in all after having this oven for over a year I would recommend it very highly as a suitable oven for reborning.

Christines Doll and Teddy Fair - Weston Super Mare - July 2010

Going to Weston Super Mare was a first for me, never been there before. One of the things I am loving about the Dolly World is the fact that I am getting to visit towns I have never been to and didn't even know existed, it's a fantastic experience and it's definitel widening my horizons.

As Weston Super Mare was quite a trek for us, almost 3 hours and was almost half way between myself and my friend Natalie Milne we thought it would be really fun to make a long weekend out of it. So off to Weston we went. I was as excited about seeing Natalie and her family as I was about the show!

My stand on the day.

The room that we were all displaying in was large, bright and well lit, with lots of space for the stands and wide aisles between the stands giving visitors plenty of room to look around and browse.  As well as reborn dolls there was kits and supplies on offer and teddy bears. 

More photos of the day below.

 Natalie Milne and her daughter Sophie

Dulcie travels to Ireland

After a 10 day auction Dulcie, my sweet little Michelle by Evelina Wosnjuk was adopted by a new mum in Ireland who has renamed her Amy Leigh after her granddaughter. 

After being carefully packed for travelling Amy Leigh arrived in ireland to very positive feedback.  

I wish Amy Leigh's new family many years of enjoyment of her company.

Mitsuko- Searches for a Home

I'm not the best most proactive person at marketing my beautiful babies, got to improve that, but over the last year I've been so engrossed in Hello Dolly that I've not dedicated the time into showing off my work... slapped hand time... so I'm going to make a more concerted effort to empty out the Nursery of it's current sweet inhabitants to make room for some new work.

Mitsuko was created from a Lotus sculpt by Adrie Stoete, I loved creating her, I wanted to give her a creamy Asian complexion with a sweet flush of blush but without being overly mottled.

I love Asian baby hair, quite often you see a thick mop of hair that has a mind of it's own and sticks up all over the place and I wanted to achieve that with Mitsuko.

Mitsuko is on Ebay for 10 days in the hopes that she will capture a new mum's heart and leave the Nursery and find a new home.

Mitsuko has a beautiful Peach Satin traditional Cheongsam outfit that she will be travelling home in.

To view Mitsuko's auction click here

WIP - Georgia

The pile of painted kits is growing steadily,  I've been a bit of a misery of late and the only thing that has cheered me up has been painting... rooting?  Not so much!  I've no doubt at some point fairly soon I will have to crack on with the rooting.  Now I have a Rooting Companion it is only fair that I road test it thoroughly!

One of my recently painted kits is a gorgeous Estelle by Evelina Wosnjuk, definitely one of my all time favourite sculptors, who can resist that cheeky face and the beautifully detailed limbs. This is will be my second Estelle, the previous one went to a home in France.

The next step will of course be hair. Look out for a progress update soon.

WIP - Maya

Coming soon to Best Beloved Nursery will be baby Maya...  I've finished her skin tones, I wanted to give this delicate kit soft baby tones. 

Maya is being created from a Jen Printy DeShawn kit. I love her sweet delicate features, I haven't quite decided if she is going to be a dark haired baby yet, so you'll have to wait for the update on that one.

The more I look at this kit the more I love her.

Dulcie on Ebay

Dulcie has been reborn from a Michelle sculpt by Evelina Wosnjuk, this kit has proven to be one of my favourites to work on so far. I do love the detail that Evelina puts into her sculpts, so many tiny little creases and beautifully shaped head and limbs. 

The tiny details just make the sculpt so realistic, you can't help touching the sweet little toes. 

Baby Dulcie has been carefully and lovingly reborned using the best available fillings, paints and mohair.

Dulcie is approximately 18 inches in length with curved arms and legs. She fills the arms so well and feels so realistic. 

 

Dulcie is on Ebay for 10 days. I am hoping she finds a new home to go to. To see Dulcie's auction click HERE

 

Benjamin - Custom Order

Benjamin has been a joy to create, the lady who comissioned him had very specific ideas of what she wanted in her dream baby.  We started off by going through a list of sculpts that she could look at until she found a face that she liked the look of,  finally she decided on Benjamin by Regina Swailkowski

Benjamin will be making his way home this week to his new home.

Brighton Photo Booth

One of the hardest parts of Reborn Art is the final photography, the photographs that we use for our auctions and to show the quality of our work on our websites.

We are always striving to create a natural, realistic photograph. A lot of what we do as artists is about illusion and the photographs at the end of the process are as important to us as the creation of our dolls. That is not not an easy task.


At the upcoming Brighton Show I will be co-womanning a photography stand with a dear friend Cassie Peak of Baby Dust Nursery where we will be taking quality photographs of visitors dolls.

We will be bringing along proper lighting equipment, backgrounds and props so that we can create beautiful photographs.

Examples of Photographic work:

There will be a nominal charge for photographs.

3 Photographs for £5
10 Photographs for £10
20 Photographs for £15

Photo sessions will last approximately 20 minutes, pop along to the booth (Stand 27) and book your session.

Make sure you bring the outfits you want your photos taken in and your email address.