The Joy of Reborn Dolls Show and Hello Dolly Magazine are very proud to present
One of the most popular and successful methods of selling a reborn baby idoll is via the Internet on auction sites such as Ebay, Dollpile, Etsy etc. In order to showcase a reborn to it maximum potention most reborn artists use auction templates when listing a reborn.
For the upcoming issue of Hello Dolly - due out in February 2010 the cover competition is "Winter Warmer". How you interpret that theme is entirely up to you and we can't wait to see your entries. The closing date for the competition is 15th January 2010.
In the upcoming issue of Hello Dolly we have a tutorial on painted hair by the very talented Cassie Peek of Babydust Nursery.Cassie recently won an award from Colliii for her rooting work, a real achievement given the number of entrants to the competition, congratulations Cassie on a well deserved award.
Cassie was featured in the very first issue of Hello Dolly in December 2008 as our very first reborn artist interview. Cassie came to reborning in the same way a large number of people do when she was surfing Ebay and bumped into them whilst searching for baby clothes for her little boy. Cassie told us that what appealed to her was the community atmosphere of the hobby and being able to get honest advice and critique on her work.
Cassie says she gets a huge sense of achievement after completing a baby and gets a great deal of pleasure when she gets positive feedback from the ladies who buy her dolls from her.
More Dolls by Cassie Peek
To kick us off we start with a tutorial on the basic equipment you need to reborn a doll. You can use pretty much anything that will leave an impression in paint in the art of reborning, so it’s good to have a variety of sponges and brushes in your reborning kit, sponges don’t necessarily have to be expensive, you can use bath sponge, cosmetic sponge, sea sponge, pouncers or cellulose sponge, an economical tactic is to buy some cheaper bath sponges and rip or cut bits off to use in your painting.
Cosmetic sponges are highly recommended because they have a nice flat surface at one end and can be held easily. Also these can be purchased quite inexpensively in largish packets from places like ebay so they are easily replaced. You can also use circular sponges available from leading chemists but these do prove to be a more expensive option and possibly better avoided when just starting out in reborning.
Pouncers which I like because you can write on the bottom of them with the colour of the paint you are using which makes organising your colours (some of which are very similar) much easier. Pouncers give a nice even speckling of paint. Although they are called “pounce and toss” I have found they are quite hard wearing and very reuseable. The only downside to them really is they are quite short, they would be easier to use if they had a slightly longer body to them.
You will need an implement to scoop small amounts of paint out of your pots and there are a variety of little tools you can use to do this, the sticks used in places like Costa Cafe to stir hot drinks are really handy (shush don't tell anyone) was well as cocktail sticks, craft sticks available from places like Hobbycraft and the labels used by gardeners to identify plants. I recently got hold of a tiny little plastic spatula that came with a mini cosmetic jar which I love and wish I had lots more of because it is reusable and cleanable.
An essential reborning item is “thinners”. This is 100% mineral spirits and is often called “White Spirits”. The main issue with thinners is the smell, a lot of people find regular White Spirits can give them headaches, but there are low odour versions available, Bartoline White Spirits is a favourite with many reborners, I personally prefer to use Bob Ross Thinners, it really is low odour and doesn't leave your baby looking chalky which some other thinners can do. It is however more expensive to buy but I feel worth the results are worth the extra after all if you are going to spend £60 on a kit the last thing you want to do is skimp on the thinners and ruin the end result.
There are a number of different paints on the market for using in the art of reborning. Lots of people use Acrylic paints or oils and a growing number are using Air Dry Paints, all of which have their merits and their enthusiasts. But for the purposes of this tutorial I am going to talk about Genesis Heatset Paints because they are what I work with personally. 
Another important tool is your paint palette for using GHSP you have to use a ceramic palette, GHSP reacts with plastic and stains them so stick with ceramic. They may be a little more expensive but it’s a long term investment and unless you drop it, your ceramic palette will be your friend for many years. Another good purchase if you are going to reborn long term is a large paint palette, if you are using a lot of a specific paint colour on a doll sometimes the little paint wells just aren’t big enough.
The final items in your reborning arsenal are brushes, good brushes are essential and an investment in your art, you can collect over time a good selection of stencil brushes, Mop’s, Filberts, flat brushes and round brushes. Your brushes are an important tool so buy the best that you can afford as they will last you a long time. It can be heartbreaking to work on a doll and find the finish ruined by hairs shed from cheap brushes. I cannot stress enough just how important a tool and what an investment good brushes are, you are better off buying a few good quality ones than buying lots and lots of cheap ones.
