Little Something About Me

I’d like to welcome you to my site I hope you find your visit fun and user friendly. Please let me know what you think and don’t forget to sign up for new baby notices [Newsletters].

A little about me, I’ve been married for thirty-two years to Doug, I love him dearly, and he’s helped me so much through the years with the technical side of my Reborning. I’ve been Reborning since the summer of 2001 and Doug has built, spruced up and maintained my site since then. He deserves a lot of credit being able to work with me and put up with my sometimes very finicky expectations. We live on the beautiful west coast of Florida, have two grown Sons and two wonderful Grandsons. I couldn’t resist, I have added a category of pictures for both boys in my gallery. :0)

To explain a little about Reborning, most times, a vinyl kit consists of a head, limbs and sometimes tummy plate. I take great pride and have so much passion for this incredible art. I don’t cut corners, I use the highest quality product I can and am always looking for ways to improve my skills and the products I use in this process. It’s a learning process every time I pick up a kit and I always enjoy how challenging it can be.

Painting the vinyl with Genesis Paints is done by painstakingly building layers of paint to produce depth for the most perfect skin tones and the ‘living skin’ look of a real baby.  I spend many hours adding layers, whether they are the veining layers, skin tones or the blushing layers.   Each layer is heat set and cured before going on to the next. The more layers that are added, if done properly, the more transparent look it has. And with each layer it’s more exciting as I watch the baby slowly come to life.

The hair rooting process involves thousands of hair follicles with a very fine felting needle, following the natural hair growth pattern, a very tedious process but well worth the time and energy spent and is seen in the end result. I always use a high quality, premium mohair which resembles soft, fine baby hair.  The hair is glued and secured on the inside of the head so there is less hair loss and can be gently combed or brushed.

Sleeping babies have hand rooted eyelashes which are also glued inside and for my awake babies, I hand apply human hair or Mohair eyelashes with a good clear drying glue.  I like to trim eyelashes so they’re realistic and not overwhelming to the baby’s age and face.

Nothing is overlooked; baby’s finger and toe nails are given a hint of color and painted with opaque cream color paint on the tips for a just clipped look.

I use the bodies that are recommended for that particular doll or one that is similar and more to my liking. I take great pains in weighting my babies as each piece is weighed as I go to make sure each piece is comparable to the other parts and makes for a very realistic feeling baby. I use glass pellets, sometimes plastic doll pellets and very soft Poly fill. I use T-shirt material to make stretchy sacks, fill them partially with glass pellets and sew them shut. I use one or two for the body, depending on the size of baby, and one in the head. Each one again is weighed so it balances with the limbs and head. I like to weigh the head just a bit heavier to give the baby a floppy, more natural feeling.

As you will see as you browse through my site, my babies, over the years have really evolved in realism and are wonderful creations to be cherished for a lifetime and beyond.  Debbie’s Reborn Gallery babies will come to you with their own Certificate of Authenticity, if available from the sculptor, and my own Birth Certificate. Each baby is one of a kind in that they each have their own little personality that shines through and that can never be duplicated.

As tempting as these babies are for young Children they’re adult collectibles and should be treated as the heirlooms they are.

If I’ve missed something please feel free to email anytime and I’ll get back with you as soon as possible.  Thank you and enjoy!