The Best Online Reborn Help Forum!

bluefairy · Veteran Member

Hanging in!

3crazykids · Veteran Member

hi my name is heather and i started reborning in may it took me months to finish my first doll. i took her out and got reactin but when i look at her now and its not purfect it doesnot have that new born look and as i do my second one i just cant get her face to look like i want but it take time and saverl doll later to get it right. it just take time im thinking on one more doll and take a rest for awile and come back
you do this for fun or you do it to sell i dont know if i will be good enough to sell anything i make right now im doing it for fun.

HAPPY REBORNING

Dee · Guru

Hello Alicia, my first baby took me about a month and a half and it was a tiny 15 inch,it was not perfect I used cheap mohair that I don't like and her cheeks are a little to red, even my second one I see things that could have been better but I'm ok with it, you learn from your mistakes, its trial and error I am working on my 7th baby I have gotten a lot of nice complements, I carry pictures of my babies in my purse at all times, I have'nt taken them out in public yet I don't know if I will. So don't be so hard on yourself, keep at it you will get better with each one you make. smile

bluefairy · Veteran Member

I want to thank both of you. I was beginning to question my abilitlies!!! Mental and physical. LOL. It has been a little over a month since I started reborning. And I knew that it was not going to be easy thing to do. Both of your comments have given me confidence. After all the reason why I began reborning was for the enjoyment!!! Thanks for all of your help and kind words. Alicia. smile

lastingmemoriesrebornnursery · Veteran Member

Here is a suggestion for the shine. Take the matte varnish, use a popsicle stick or a sculpting knife (or heck anything you have laying around lol) to take a glob of it out of the jar. Place the glob on the glass pallete and then whip it up!! Mix it and mix it some more. If you want you can add a toothpick tip of color (blush, flesh etc) to this mixture. Then mix it up some more. Then mix it up some more again lol. You want it to be reallymixed up! Take a cosmetic wedge sponge take whatever it is you were mixing with and wipe it on the sponge. then gently scrape off the excess. Pounce the sponge once on the glass palette. then pounce the baby! Pounce, pounce pounce pounce pounce. You really want to pounce it out. MAKE SURE NOT TO TOUCH WHERE YOU HAVE POUNCED!! Bake for 9 mins at the regular temp that you use to bake the baby. Viola no shine. Hope that this helps. By the way. I have been reborning for almost 2 years now and sometimes I still don't like how the baby turns out. It is all trial and error you learn with each baby that you do and your confidence grows you can do it just stick with it. Hugs Debbie

mkhammy1 · Senior Member

Hi! I started reborning about 3 months ago and I'm working on my fifth baby. My first one took me an entire weekend (8 hours each day) to reborn my first, not including rooting her hair! When I get started, I'm like a dog with a bone, LOL! I just couldn't put her down! I thought she turned out perfect at the time, but compared to the ones I've done since, not so much. I love her the best, though. I'll never let her go! I did take her out in public to a restaurant before I rooted her hair, and the restaurant owner loved her so much she has commissioned a portrait doll. Don't worry hun. We are our own worst critics sometimes. I have learned so much from this forum, and from the mistakes I made with the first dolls. I still have such a long, long way to go to perfection, but I think the process of getting there is really the fun part! Don't give up! You'll get there! Hugs, Melinda

Tina W. · Guru

We all have had our trials in reborning. It's definately a learning process. I also believe that we are way to hard on ourselves, as with any art form (or hobby) it should be enjoyable if not then it's just work! Anyway My first couple of babies I looked at and thought YUCK! But everyone who saw them were in awe including thier new mommies. So my advice to you is if this is something you love doing DON'T give up, relax a bit and explore the art as your reborning. Most importantly, don't be so hard on yourself.

ronelhamaty · Senior Member

I agree with all of the ladies, we all had to start from scratch and it is a learning process, You will soon develop your own style and it is okay if it differs from others, We are all unique and so are our babies. If we all look back at our fisrt babies we can only smile at them even though they were the most beautiful babies ....back then.
Keep on doing what you love and pratice makes after all perfect.

bluefairy · Veteran Member

All of you are such wonderful artists. It gives me something to work towards. All of your babies are amazing! I hope that I will have pictures to post that will be half as good. Thanks for all of your help. Alicia. smile

bluefairy · Veteran Member

Hey Debbie, I am going to give it a try. After applying and the pouncing and re-pouncing....should I still see a textured surface of the shine remover? Or I am I looking for a smoother surface? It is my first encounter with Authentic Reborn Shine Remover or any shine remover for that matter!!! But it is driving me nuts. I can't sleep! yawn I ordered the matted varnish from Genesis in hopes that it might be easier for a beginner to put on. But I have to received it yet. I was to it did not work as well. Thanks for everything and hope to talk to you soon. Alicia.

lastingmemoriesrebornnursery · Veteran Member

Alicia, I have never used the Authentic Reborn Shine Remover lol. Never even heard of it. I simply use the Genesis Matte Varnish. You will still see somewhat of a texture you can either leave it to create the illusion of real skin or you can pounce somemore lol

Play Days Dolls · Guru

I have been called a perfectionist by my family, and they didn't mean it as a compliment. LOL. I would not quit on a doll until it was perfect. (Maybe that's why I have so few finished dolls?)

I would work on the same doll for a couple weeks striving for perfection. Guess what... the result was terrible--the opposite of perfection. I managed to paint and fix the poor thing to the point where it had too many coats of paint.

I hate stripping paint with a passion, but I would do it in order for one more chance at the perfect skin on the perfect baby doll.

It was paradoxical. I felt like a failure, but still had confidence or maybe hope that I would create beautiful, lifelike baby dolls.

I finally came across a quote that made the difference. I don't know the exact wording or the source. It goes something like we all make mistakes, but the true artist knows which ones to keep. Besides that.. humans are not perfect.

We won't even talk about rooting. I have practice dolls with half-finished rooting. Rooting takes practice, and boy have I practiced. I don't want to say "practice makes perfect", but my rooting has improved by leaps and bounds.