Before you paint, you've got to be sure that the vinyl is free of dust, dirt, oil and debris as this can interfere with your painting.
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You're invited to Reborn with Me! Join me as we walk step-by-step through the process of turning a Bountiful Baby Realborn (R) Asher Awake into a lifelike Portrait Baby Doll!
I get a lot of questions about how I achieve such beautiful biracial and African American skin tones on my lifelike baby dolls. I learned from the best and now you can too! In the AA Reborn Painting Tutorial by Kate Charles, you'll find the information you need to create gorgeously lifelike reborn dolls with a wide range of rich complexions! Have you ever wanted to add little elf ears or fangs to your reborn baby doll? That urge hasn't struck me just yet, but like you, I need a sculpting medium that will allow me to make tiny tweaks to vinyl reborn doll kits. If I could tweak an eyelid, or fill in a clef chin, my portrait dolls would look significantly more like the children they represent. So, which medium is it going to be? This is the story of how one trip to Michael's changed my life. At least it changed how to do skin texturing. LOL Thanks to this nifty contraption called a "Foam Stipler," I can now seal and texture my dolls' skin faster and more consistently. This lesson is a follow-up to Sealing and Texturing Baby Skin. What's new?
You've been rooting for hours. Things are looking good. Then a glimmer of scalp catches your eye. What is that? Could it be? Yes, it is! Its a bald spot! A BALD SPOT. Hours of rooting mysteriously disappeared. Its enough to make a grown woman cry. Here are things to look out for to ensure bald spots do not happen to you. That's right, if you follow these 5 simple rules, you will never fail as a reborn artist. Rule #5: Expect to FailWait! This fifth "Never Fail Rule" is to Fail?? That's right!
Perfect Curls At Last!Nothing brings a reborn doll of color to life like the perfect hair texture. I hope this helps you find the perfect curl for your babies!
You finally did it! After hours of rooting, your doll finally has a head full of perfect hair. Protect your work with this simple trick!
I must confess: I used to be pretty ambivalent about paint sealant and skin texturing. I once went to a doll show where almost every baby I handled felt a little like fine grit sandpaper. I appreciated the need to seal, but I was not feeling the texture. A few months later, I finally found a solution! Creating your first African American reborn baby doll? Here's a quick tip for working with the premixed flesh tones. Bountiful Baby offers premixed complexion paints from Flesh 02 (dark brown) to Flesh 08 (peach Caucasian). Veining is the process of painting subtle blue veins on the doll to add a super-realistic appearance to the skin. Combined with mottling, veins make the baby look like she has blood flowing under her skin. It has taken me years of practice to perfect the veining step because blue paint is highly pigmented and staining. These Pro Tips will help you get the perfect subtle veining look your baby deserves:
Check back as I continue to build out the Tech Specs blog. Questions currently on the hopper...
Got another question? Shoot me an e-mail and I'll answer it here! I get really scientific when I weight my dolls because I really want to achieve the most lifelike weight distribution possible. First thing I learned about weighting: real baby weight on a doll feels much heavier than a real baby. The first doll I ever made was 7lbs and she was far too dense. I’m guessing that may have something to do with the fact that 7 lbs of mostly water feels softer and lighter than 7 lbs of glass. I needed to find the ideal doll weight. |
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AuthorHi! I am Kim. I've been creating dolls all my life. I started stuffing cotton balls into my mom's pantyhose when I was a little girl. Now I hand-craft dolls that look and feel like real babies. Archives
December 2021
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