Culture Buzz A reborn doll is a play doll that has been transformed to resemble a human baby with as much realism as possible. Here is everything you need to know about them.
1. The craft of making reborn dolls began in the United States in the early 1990s. 2. Almost all reborn customers are women, particularly older women.
3. The internet has allowed doll artists and collectors to create an online society focused on reborn dolls.
4. The process of creating a reborn doll is referred to as reborning and the doll artists are referred to as reborners.
5. Reborn dolls are primarily purchased on the internet.
6. Depending on craftsmanship, they range in price from $50 - $4,000.
7. The International Reborn Doll Artists (IRDA) group was created to educate artists in the art form of reborn doll making.
8. Some consumers of reborn dolls use them to replace a child they once lost, or a child that has grown up.
9. These dolls are usually taken seriously and are cared for like an infant.
10. In 2002, the first reborn was offered on eBay.
11. Reborning is most popular in Britain and Australia.
12. “Preemies” are smaller dolls molded after premature infants.
13. Preemie dolls may come in incubators with a breathing apparatus attached to their nose.
14. Purchasers can have magnets attached inside the mouth or head for attaching a pacifier or hair bows.
15. Electronic devices that mimic a heart beat, or make the chest rise and fall to simulate breathing are common.
16. 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.
17. Reborn hobbyists refer to the emotional response to holding their dolls as cuddle therapy.
18. 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.
19. The remarkable degree of realism is achieved by dozens of layers of paint, beginning with tiny veins and mottled skin.
20. Some women dress the dolls, wash their hair, take them for walks in strollers and take them shopping.
21. At least one nursing home in the United Kingdom makes dolls available to female residents.
22. Reborn Doll therapy has had amazing effects on Alzheimer's patients.
23. They are sometimes called “memory” babies.
24. What started out as a sub niche of the doll collecting industry has soon risen to become a world wide phenomeon.
25. The best reborn babies come equipped with spines, squishy tummies and other soft, human like body parts.
26. If you're willing to pay top dollar reborns can even be tailor made to resemble a picture of an infant you provide.
27. Some reborn dolls are made to resemble monkeys and apes.
28. Hair and eyelashes are usually made out of real human hair.
29. People who amass a large collection of reborns make reborn nurserys.
30. You should never buy a reborn doll for a woman without her consent (if you are trying to fix mental problems).
31. Memorial reborn baby dolls can be made to memorialize lost babies.
32. Reborn babies will never grow up, never move away, and never wake you up in the middle of the night for a faux baby bottle because they are hungry.
33. In addition to a complete baby wardrobe the moms will have pacifiers, car seats, faux milk and faux juice bottles for their precious reborn babies.
34. Their bodies are soft and weighted with rubber pellets, micro glass beads, and sometimes sand.
35. The proccess of getting a newborn baby is often reffered to as “adoption.”
36. Reborn dolls are usually made individually by home-based artisans.
37. The first annual International Reborn Doll Artists Conference! was held in Orlando, Florida on January 21-23, 2005.
38. Reborn owners often rotate their dolls. Fran Sullivan, 62, says she rotates her dolls, choosing a new one to care for each day depending on how she feels.
No comments:
Post a Comment