Per our tradition here at CustomDollBaby.com, once Allie Payton was finished with all her painting, we took some photos for her interim review. This gives us the chance to make sure all the blushing, creasing, veining, finger nails, eyelashes and even eyebrows are just right.
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I love everything about creating lifelike baby dolls...but I especially love the blushing layers! Using rosy reds and peachy pinks, the blushing layers really bring out the lifelikeness in the hands and feet and the warmth of the face and cheeks. I like to start with low lights - adding a blood red color to all the vinyl parts to warm the skin. Then I come back later with a peach and pink color to highlight the really rosy parts - like fingers and toes, cheeks and nose. Allie Payton is an extra special baby with a birthmark on her forehead. So I carefully created a special birthmark color to replicate the exact position and pattern of the real baby's birthmark. What a sweetie! Time to add some skin! With the veins all done, Allie is now ready for her flesh tone layers. I love the rich peachy complexion of Flesh 08 on my babies. We'll apply and cure a few layers of flesh tone to make our "under skin" work more subtle and lifelike. Each coat of paint takes about an hour to apply, dry and cure. So check back later for more Allie Payton updates! If Dracula were a reborn artist, I imagine that this would be his favorite step. With the mottling complete and cured, we next paint on subtle blue vein patterns in the hands, feet and head. (It looks more gruesome when its wet.) Once dry and set, we'll just barely see those little veins under the skin. The magic of bringing a doll to life begins under the skin. Lifelike babies have many, many layers of transparent painting to create the appearance of warm living flesh. We started Allie Payton with a base coat of flesh tone. This allows the layers that follow to adhere better to the vinyl. Next, we add the mottling layers. I use sponges that I hand plucked to create skin textures. Each color has a different pattern. Then, layer by layer, we add transparent layers of reds and blues to bring the skin to life. Check out Allie's progress and Wyatt's time lapse mottling video! Allie Payton's Progress PhotosBefore we start painting, the baby first has a bath. A warm, soapy dish detergent bath helps to remove any machine oils, dirt or other impurities that may interfere with the painting. I even use a clean toothbrush to scrub those hard to reach places. After the warm bubbles comes a second bath in rubbing alcohol (brrrr!). This guarantees smooth, even painting. Now that the baby is all clean, this is the last time I'll ever touch her with my bare hands until the painting is finished. We're so excited to begin the beautiful portrait baby of Allie Payton based on Aubrey by Denise Pratt! Here are her before photos. I don't typically do so much wardrobing in the before photos shoot, but she's such a little sweetheart that I couldn't resist the urge to keep changing her clothes!
Keep checking back for more updates as we transform this doll into a baby! I'm still waiting to get the call from Santa letting me know who wants a baby for Christmas this year. In the meantime, I'm working on little Presley. His mottling and flesh tone layers are coming along nicely.
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Reborn Doll Babies
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Reborn Doll ArtistHi! My name is Kim. I am a reborn artist based in NC. I have been creating dolls since I was a child. I discovered the art of life-like baby dolls in 2011 and have been reborning ever since. Archives
December 2016
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