What is inside a $3000 reborn doll???

First off, I do not want anyone asking me who reborned this doll I am going to be talking about. I won't be telling who it is. My purpose for this post is to call all reborn artists to the highest standard of work because, as for one, we never know how much our babies will go for on eBay and for two, we never know just who is going to be taking our dolls apart.

The doll in this post was originally sold for $3000 on eBay. Then one of my friends bought the doll on the secondary market for much less. She was unhappy with how the dolls head was weighted~it was so heavy in the back that the dolls head would just flop back with her nostrils in the air (one of my personal pet peeves).

Upon removal of the dolls head, I was appalled to find the above items stuffed in the head. Sand and ready-for-the-garbage plastic bags~one of which was a bag for fiber fill stuffing. There was NO stuffing in the dolls head. Now, I did check on the reborner's website and saw that she does say that she uses sand in the dolls, double contained so that it will not leak, so she was not misleading in her auction, I don't think. Many people today still use sand in the dolls. I do not. It does not feel as nice as glass beads and it can just be dirty and nasty. This sand was the dirty and nasty sand. It was very gravely. However, it was contained inside a double layer of vinyl gloves which is what I use to contain my glass beads in as the vinyl will not deteriorate over time.

The sand (Above)

Above is the other thing that I found which I thought had gone out with the dish water many years ago: PAINT on the inside of the face! This is not a good practice in today's reborn world. The paint can bleed through to the front of the face causing bruising and the paint can also crack (which it did while I was struggling to get the bags and glove of sand out of the head~they were stuck to the sealant for the hair). The cracking of the paint will cause peeling which will cause the dolls tone to change. The doll will no longer look as it did when first purchased.

Reborn artists, don't follow these practices! Be sure to make your work on the inside as neat as it is on the outside. Your buyers will appreciate the extra time and care and your dolls will hold up better over time. If more of us hold to the high standards of the artist reborn doll, more and more collectors will want reborn dolls. It's the history of the bad practices and the lack of care that turn buyers away from reborn dolls.

If you doll happens to bring a high dollar on eBay, be sure to give one last check of that doll before sending it out. This doll was missing paint under the chin~a problem that could have been easily fixed. I am certain that the paint was missing before the doll was shipped~however, it was not seen in the auction. I remember the auction for this particular doll. I wanted this doll and would have paid the $$ had I had them. To me, it was an artist quality doll. Although it is still a very pretty doll and looks real in most light, I would have been very sad to have received this less than perfect doll.


Now...onto progress in the nursery!

The Latino Arianna now has three layers of color wash~two layers of one color and one layer of a second color. She is coming along a lot better than before however, I as still struggling with blotchyness in her tone. Since I has stripped her once and re-coated the vinyl with the Matte Varnish, I am pretty convinced that it is the vinyl that is causing the problems. Now, don't get your panties in a knot against Doll Dreams kits~this particular kit was a "seconds" kit, rejected for quality from the Doll Dreams team. It was sent to me as an extra little something to work play around with.

I have a weft of her hair stuck under the hair band. I think I will like this hair for her very much!

I will keep working on her and see just how she turns out~we might all be very amazed :)

Have a great day!