Applied for the PRA*ISE award

Well, I've come a long way from my first baby, so today I decided to apply for the PRA*ISE award. If I get it, it will confirm to me how very far I've come and if I don't then I'll get feedback telling me what I need to work on. It was quite a process, with 10 pics of 10 different babies (specific parts and sizes of photos) as well as 10 customer references, but it will be well worth it either way!

Here's a compare picture of my first reborn's face and my 27th reborn's face. Quite the difference! I am now working on my 32nd and 33rd (the Sugar and Honey AA twins) reborns. I decided that, after 30, was when I would apply.

At 40, I will apply for the Excellence in Reborn Artistry membership.

When I hit 100, I will apply for the Collii Award. The PRA*ISE is a big one, the Collii is huge.

If you know of any others, let me know :)

Trying something new

I went to start rooting the boy twin yesterday and discovered that I didn't have enough of the right color for both twins. The other 2 colors I had that were even close, one was too light and the other too dark. So I decided to try something new, that I have been wanting to try for a long time, but have been too busy with custom orders - combine 2 colors. The colors looked to be from the same angora goat, since they had the same wave, but one was jet black and the other medium brown. I put them together, the black over the brown, and rooted through both. Here's a picture of how it's going so far. It looks better in person, the combined colors give it a natural highlighting color variation. I did notice that, in a few places, one color was a bit more prominent than the other, so I will have to watch out for that while rooting, but all in all I like the look :)

Sugar and Honey coming along

Here's a pic of Sugar and Honey right now. Honey just needs 3 more layers, Sugar needs 7 more. Then they'll be ready to root!

Check out these eyes on Honey - these are the glass eyes from bountiful baby. I just love them! My first time using them, def NOT the last. I'll be using these a lot more now that I know how wonderful they look. Couldn't tell much from the picture on the site, but in a baby they look so real.

Twins progress

The twins have come an amazingly long way in a short time. 13 layers done on Sugar, the boy, and 1o done on Honey, the girl. So here's a picture of Sugar, who only has... 6-8 more layers to go. Going to bed tonight, but tomorrow with catch Honey up and then finish their painting. :) By tomorrow evening, my custom girl's glue will be dry so I can finish rooting her.

rooting paused, AA twins started

I've been working on rooting the custom girl baby, but the hair is so fine and also long. When I would turn the head in the bowl, to root the other side, it would start getting pulled out. So I had to pause and glue what is done, before I can finish her.

So, while waiting for the glue to dry, I started the AA twins. I am doing Sugar as the boy and Honey as the girl. Sugar is sleeping, so no eyes for him, but Honey will have dark brown eyes and they will both have the curliest dark brown hair that I have. Sugar's will be short, of course, and Honey's just a bit longer - and she will have magnetic ponytails, so she can look like a very young baby and also a little older.

But, getting ahead of myself, because I have just started painting. LOL I have 2 layers done on each so far, getting ready to do several more before going to bed tonight. Here is a picture of the baby I am using for my reference. Pictures of the reborns in progress coming tomorrow or Wednesday!

Babies I'm going to make before Christmas

Right now I am finishing up a custom baby - the last custom for this year, because I need to get some regular babies made for my customers. Especially before Christmas!


So after this custom (1 more week to finish), I will be making regular babies. I am going to do:

AA twins Sugar (boy) and Honey (girl) by sculptor Donna Rubert, 0-3 month, can be together or separated.

Caucasian limited edition of 250 Raven Awake (girl fairy) by sculptor Shawna Clymer, 0-3 month.

Caucasian limited edition of 500 Felicia (boy) by sculptor Shawna Clymer, preemie.

AA twins limited edition of 300 Nicole (boy) and Natalie (girl) by sculptor Menna Hartog, preemie, can be together or separated.

Hispanic twins limited edition of 300 Baby (boy) and Sofia (girl) by sculptor Joany Solares, preemie, can be together or separated.

Asian Alina (girl) by sculptor Adrie Stoete, 3-6 month size.



If I still have time (I may be dreaming here LOL) after these, I'm planning on doing:

Caucasian Tayla (girl) by sculptor Denise Pratt, preemie.

AA Chrissy (big eyed girl) by sculptor Elly Knoops, 0-3 or 3-6 months size.

Caucasian Stephanie (girl or boy, not sure yet) by sculptor Gerda Van Keulen, newborn.

AA Niklas (boy) by sculptor Birgit Friedrich-Gutzwiller, 0-3 month.


And, of course, I have several more kits I would like to get to, but those will be "someday." LOL

I start doing customs again in January, so I will have 4 months to do regular babies before starting those. During 2010, I will be alternating a month for a custom baby and then a month for 2 regular babies, so both will get a chance. :)

Lots of babies coming up!

The good, the bad, the ugly, and the very good.

Nothing much happening today, but wanted to write some stuff from the last 7 months so that I don't forget it in the future.

The Good:
I love making customers happy! When people get their babies, they are always amazed at how real they feel and look. I love getting the email, after they get the package, and hearing about how much fun they are having with the doll. Custom portrait customers can't believe how much the doll looks like the baby picture. Other custom orders who just want a certain type of baby always love their babies too. One of my neighbors ordered one (awake girl with dark brown hair, 0-3 months size, you choose the rest, you do great work) and was so pleased with the baby that she almost cried. It was a birthday gift for her best friend and her friend was so happy with it that she did cry. :)


The Bad:
There are many kinds of pleasant and enjoyable customs, but 2 kinds of dreaded customs. One is when there is no picture and the customer wants an exact shade/tone but can't show you what it is. There are so very many tones and shades of "copper" or "peach" that this does not work at all and takes a lot of patience, time, layers, and stress to finally get it to "that's just what I wanted." The other kind is when there is a picture but the customer wants it "like this except like this other picture for this and this picture for this and..." so on. Different sized babies and different shapes faces are not going to look just like the picture. This is also usually the type of custom where the customer is trying to be the artist, directing and leading every step. With no room for the artist to create, this is very stressful as well as even more time consuming to try to follow the customer's directions exactly.

The Ugly:
Airport security and reborns do not mix! One of my customers took their baby with them on a flight. When they got off, security stopped them to check the baby. Why a metal detector and x-ray wasn't enough, I don't know, but it wasn't. The security guys cut the soft body open and sifted through the inside. :( My poor customer was in tears, as was her fiance when he found out what happened. I had never heard of such a thing before, only heard of no problems with airport security, but have since found out that this is not a rare occurence. They are bringing the baby back for repairs and thankfully she can be fixed.

The Very Good:
When I have a non-custom baby done and for sale, I take them with me when I go out. Running errands, grocery, etc. Once the girls and I went into Walmart and, inside at the front of the store, was stopped by someone asking how old the baby was. Soon we were surrounded by a large crowd of some customers and a lot of employees. The store manager came up to see what was going on, thinking something was very wrong. After figuring out what was going on, he told everyone the show was over and go back to work. I started apologizing, but once the crowd was gone he turned back to me and said "That is just wonderful work. Do you sell them? Great! Can I have a card?" and then started asking me all about them. LOL

Tied for 1st place in reborn contest

One of my babies tied for first place in the Safe Haven monthly reborn contest! I was one of the runner-ups in the www.realistic-reborn-dolls.com contest last month, but that was the closest I've come to winning. So I am a happy camper :)
This is a picture of the baby that won - it was a custom Honey that I made for my neighbor last month.