Reborn doll
[1][9] Making a doll from a kit is called newborning and allows artists to omit some steps in the fabrication process.
[5][11] Because of their realistic appearance, reborn dolls have occasionally been mistaken for real babies and "rescued" from parked cars after being reported to the police by passers-by.
[5] Reborning follows a long tradition of collectors, artists, and manufacturers restoring and enhancing dolls in order to portray more realism.
[2] This has expanded the reborn market allowing artists to open online stores which function figuratively as nurseries.
The market quickly reached those who wanted to use the doll as an emotional outlet, either to mother or for therapeutic purposes.
[5][7] Doll manufacturers have also taken advantage of the trend and sell supplies, tools, and accessories catering to reborn followers.
[1] Starter kits are equipped with basic reborning necessities such as limbs, faces, heads, paint brushes, eyelashes, acrylic/glass eyes, weighting pellets, 'heat set' or air dry paints, cloth bodies, cable ties, nose drill bits, fake tears, thinning shears, cosmetic foam wedges, cotton dipped applicators, and glue.
The smaller the number the thicker the needle which will grab more hair and leave a bigger hole in the head of the doll.
Electronic devices that mimic a heartbeat or make the chest rise and fall to simulate breathing are common.
[7] Institutions have developed to aid reborn hobbyists with collecting by providing information, products, and social networking.
[1][7] There is a large price range depending on the quality of the doll, the sculpt used and the experience of the artist; they can sell anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars.
[6] If the complexion is too dark this is called a blue baby, and indicates it was dyed excessively or uses colored sand for weight that could have seeped into the vinyl.
Another feature to observe is the type of paint used for coloring and whether the doll is realistic in its details such as veins and newborn imperfections.
The IRDA group was assembled in order to offer education for improved skills in the art of reborn doll creation.
A reborn artist can join the organization at any skill level, but members are asked to uphold a list of standards that were created by the IRDA's executive board.
This ethical code stipulates the guidelines members are to follow in advertising, listing, and describing their dolls in order to divide credit fairly between manufacturers, sculptors, and artists.
[24] It is now published nine times a year, keeps collectors informed on trends of modern-day doll collecting, and continues to sponsor the IDEX trade shows that feature reborn competitions and conventions.
[5][27] Many reborn owners are simply doll collectors, while others have experienced miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal death, have no means for adoption, or suffer from empty nest syndrome.
[5] Studies suggest cuddling a baby releases hormones which produce a sense of emotional well-being, and some psychologists believe that this may happen with realistic dolls as well.
[21] Psychiatrist Sue Varma, teacher at the NYU school of medicine, says mothering reborn dolls rather than just collecting them can become a problem when it is used as prop and becomes the person's only form of socializing.
[10] Psychiatrist Gail Saltz with New York Presbyterian Hospital supports the use of reborns for people who do not want to make the commitment of having a real child, and also to comfort bereaved parents.
In this case, the likeness of the doll to the deceased child risks being harmful as a permanent replacement for the grieving parents.
In July 2008, police in Queensland, Australia, smashed a car window to rescue what seemed like an unconscious baby only to find it was a reborn doll.
The police stated that the doll was "incredibly lifelike" and that bystanders who thought a baby was dying were frightened by the incident.
[29] A similar incident was reported in the United States, in which police broke the window of a Hummer to save a baby that turned out to be a reborn doll.
[12] On June 18, 2019, NYC police confirmed that a dead infant found in a park in Queens was identified, more than an hour later, to actually be a doll.
[30] In 2009, reborners uncovered a blogging hoax in which a woman – described by ABC News as an "anti-abortion blogger" – claimed she was pregnant with a terminally ill child.
[33] On January 31, 2008, Inside Edition aired a segment showing artist Eve Newsom and her reborn dolls.
[34] In July 2014, an episode of Perception, an American fictional series about a neuropsychiatrist who helps solve murders, called "Inconceivable" was all about a real baby and a reborn.
A reborn doll also plays a significant part in the 2019 M. Night Shyamalan psychological horror television series Servant.
