Throughout history, various toys have been created. Every civilization made toys according to the technology that was present at the time. In fact, some of these items have historical value, teaching us how people lived during that period.
When
it comes to toys, you might think that video games or plastic guns are the real
American legacy. This is not true. Although other countries also had dolls
throughout history, they reached their peak in the US. Nowadays, baby dolls are
regarded as the American legacy to the world. Some of the most popular dolls
are reborn baby dolls, highly collectable items which are popular all over the
world. There are big
collections of reborns you can find online today.
Dolls
were created in a human image. Kids could play with them by moving their arms
and legs, walking them around, etc. It is a role-play game that was always an
important part of growing up for both girls as well as boys (just remember G.I. Joes and other plastic
soldiers).
Due
to this fact, people who were creating them always tried to add as much realism
as possible. This is how reborn babies were created. Reborn baby dolls (or
simply reborns) are dolls that are further modified to be more realistic. They
are often called lifelike dolls, and this is a pretty good description of the
item.
First
reborns were created during 1930s when doll lovers started a trend of changing
and improving paint, fingernails, hair, eyebrows and adding other small details
to already existing dolls. In a way, this was improving the doll.
The
trend persisted for quite a while without becoming mainstream. Still, given
that dolls were always popular as collectables, some people started noticing
reborns more and more because they were much better than other manufactured
dolls. Furthermore, every reborn was unique (at least it tried to be) in its
own right. This means that once you buy one of these dolls, you will be the
sole proprietor of a unique item, which makes them even more valuable in the
eyes of doll lovers.
During
the 1990s, some of the doll companies started employing reborn artists either
part-time or full-time. They started designing lifelike dolls for them, and
reborns finally became a mainstream attraction. However, there are some experts
who claim that dolls produced this way shouldn’t be regarded as reborns due to
their lack of uniqueness. In other words, every reborn should be hand-made.
How are reborn baby dolls made?
On
paper, the process of creating reborn dolls is rather simple and
straightforward. In practice, it takes a lot of time and skill to master all
the techniques. Given that a doll artist has to work with all these small
parts, there is lots of opportunity to make a mistake. This is why you need to
create lots of dolls until you’ve mastered the process.
Here are some of the things that a person has to do during
“reborning”:
·
Disassemble a doll and wash all of its parts
·
Paint all the parts (usually has to be done more
than once)
·
Bake the parts in the oven
·
Add hair or mohair
·
Add various small details and accessories
·
Dress a doll
It usually takes between 30 and 40 hours to reborn a doll.
Sometimes, it might take even more.
When
it comes to prices, they are based on several factors such as the popularity of
a doll artist, the quality of parts, the overall number of details and so on. The
cheapest reborns are around 50 dollars. The most expensive one was sold for more than $20,000!
Last thoughts
If
you’re looking for something to decorate your baby’s room, you might as well go
for reborn dolls. When your baby girl grows up a bit, she can play with them.
Keep
in mind that reborns are quite delicate and can easily be broken. So, ideally,
you should wait for a bit until you let your child play with them. Of course,
there is always an option of keeping them to yourself and starting a
collection.
