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.