We are making progress!

I have given Miss Pouty a coating of Genesis Matt Varnish, weighted her limbs, glossed her mouth and nose and put her together all but attaching her head.  I don't have a single outfit here that really fits her so I have to go shopping.  This dress is a little small in the shoulders but will do for now.  I tried to get a decent photo of her today.  Her mohair is being shipped out Monday so hopefully  next week sometime the rooting can begin. I will add her eyelashes after she is rooted. 
I do love her so far!

So Miss Pouty likes her body now.....

though you wouldn't know it from the look on her face!

Okay so now I have tapered the chest and neck area on the body and I like it better.  It is still full enough to blend well with the overall size of the body yet it doesn't make her neck look so dwarfed into her body.  Keep in mind she is loosely put together here for photos as I have yet to go back and GMV her all over.  These are flash pics. 
I do like her body better now. 

BEFORE:                      

AFTER:

Miss Pouty and her body

I did work on her coloring a bit more today. However, I wanted to see how she looks on her body and I am not pleased with this BB body. To me it is too fat in the chest area. I thought about seaming up that area a bit to make it slimmer but then I thought it might work to just run a gathering stitch at the top of the chest like some bodies have and see if that cinches it up enough.  So here it is with the gathering stitch and as you can see that didn't solve the barrel chest look.  So I will be taking the body apart at the neckline and stitching it up some to make it slimmer in the chest. 

Will keep you all posted here.

 

This is not a good photo for baby's color but this is what the body looked like before I sewed the gather.

Someone is pouting!

I am getting brave and decided to reborn one of the big 9 month sized kits from Bountiful Baby.  The bravery comes in when I shall root her hair.  I do hate to root!  I have reborn one of the other bigger Bountiful Baby Rubert kits but I gave that one painted hair.  After seen this one reborn by several other artist I knew I just had to reborn one for myself.  These kits come from some of Donna Rubert's earlier sculpts that were produced in porcelain, long before the day of vinyl reborn kits with so much detail.  Bountiful Baby has bought out the rights to them and is now producing some of them in vinyl.  While the limbs on these kits are not as detailed as the newer kits produced by others today they still make adorable babies.   She is called Cuddles and she is by Donna Rubert.

So here is Cuddles so far in the painting process.  These photos were taken with a flash.

Custom Nala boy is all ready to go home!

He is all together and ready to go home to his new Mommy!  (I do see a couple hairs I need to thin out around his temples but other than that he is good to go)

He is 23 inches long and weighs 6 pounds and 15 ounces.  A very healthy boy!

These photos taken indoors with a flash.

Why does a nice reborn doll cost so much?

 I often get messages through Ebay or my website from people wanting to know if I can make them a reborn for less than my usual pricing.  Considering that I price my reborns in a very modest range compared to many reborns of the same quality on the market, I find these type questions irritating.

While there are always those who upon seeing a reborn doll for the first time will say they find them "creepy" or "strange", there are just as many more who appreciate their beauty and the creativity that goes into them.  However, when informed about prices some people do get a bit taken aback.

Why does a nice reborn doll cost so much?  This seems to be the proverbial question in the minds of buyers these days.  Yes, we are in a struggling economy and we all like a bargain.  However, we all can't expect others to give stuff away because of a bad economy. 

Reborn dolls are a wonderful luxury that many people would like to own but the reality is not everyone can afford them.  Just like other things in life that we value, sometimes one has to save up to buy that coveted luxury item.  If you wanted a diamond ring you wouldn't go to a jeweler and expect them to sell you a top quality ring for $50.  If you wanted to buy a priceless antique you wouldn't get it for a mere few dollars.  If you were a coin collector you would know that you have to pay the market value for that next desired coin.  Well reborn doll collecting is no different nor should it be.

Reborn dolls do seem like a lot of money if you are comparing them to the typical nice dolly sold at the local doll shop but then we are not talking about a mass produced product.  When I make a doll I can have at least $100- $200 just into materials to make her. It takes me 2-4 weeks to make one, often working 4-6 hours at the time on any given day during those 2-4 weeks.  That can be a lot of hours per doll. This is not adding in the many hours spent taking photos, uploading photos, and compiling and editing an auction/for sale template then listing the lovely baby for sale.  

Let's also mention Ebay fees.  Even with Ebay's promotions listing fees can run at minimum $2.00 and as high as $10.  On the happy day that baby  sells Ebay gets 12 percent of what the doll sold for.  Now that Ebay will only allow sellers to offer Paypal we must hand over another 3 percent of the overall sale to Paypal.  The buyer actually can pay via money order but we can't offer  them that.  They have to ask to pay via money order before we can accept that method of payment.   The total of Ebay fees and Paypal fees can really add up fast and before you know it one owes $50, $60, $75 or even $100+ depending on how much baby sold for.  Add this to the $100-200 in the cost of supplies for the doll and WOW!  That leaves very little profit for many hours of work that is more often than not below minimum wage.  I have sold a few dolls through Etsy and privately and while Etsy does have lower fees than Ebay there are still fees to pay as well as Payapal fees.  I often have Paypal fees for private sales as well since many people use Paypal to pay and I often sell dolls for slightly less via Etsy or Privately to pass the savings on to the buyer.  Therefore, I am still not really making more money on sales outside Ebay.

So there you go!  A quality reborn is not a cheap item.  Here at Lil Dumplins Nursery, we strive for top quality and that is exactly what you get and nothing less.

My latest custom reborn baby in progress

I have been working on a custom ordered reborn the last 2 weeks using a Nala kit with alternate limbs.  This is going to be a boy when finished. I am still waiting on his mohair to arrive to start rooting him and he will have light baby brown hair.  I got his chubby body sewn today and his limbs weighted. His head is not attached in this photo, just propped up there. This photo was taken with a flash (because I have a dark house) and so his mouth looks a bit more red than it really is as the flash does that. He is a big boy at 23" long. I am loving him! 

 

 I dug through my box of clothes and this is the only outfit I could find that would fit on him at all. This is a 0-3 mos sleeper and it is a dead fit.