How To Reborn a Doll

So, you’re ready to take the dive into creating your reborn doll? It’s not as easy as a lot of people seem to think. Creating a high-quality, realistic reborn doll takes many hours of hard work and dedication. Of course all of that hard work is paid off when you’re able to sit down and marvel at the masterpiece you’ve just created. If this sounds like something you’re interested in, you should follow the guides listed below to get on your way to making a life-like reborn doll.

Step One: Stripping and Preparing a Doll For Reborning

The first step in the reborning process is to find a vinyl toy doll, remove the limbs and head, soak them in warm water, and prepare them for painting. As you can expect, this is by far the easiest step, but it’s still important and necessary to create a high-quality reborn.

Step Two: Applying Base Paint

The real fun with reborning starts when you get a chance to paint your doll. Here we’ll show you how to apply base paint to your reborn, giving it the natural tan color that’s found with actual babies.

Step Three: Painting Your Reborn

The third step in the reborning process is the application of more paint over the base coat. It’s important to make sure you’ve thoroughly applied the base paint on your reborn before moving on to this step; otherwise, the paint may not come out looking the way it should. Here we’ll walk you through the process of applying paint over the base coat.

Step Four: Blushing

Every reborn doll needs to have the correct blushing done in order to look realistic. Basically, this step goes hand-in-hand with painting, so it’s recommended that you do your blushing while you have all of your painting supplies out and ready.

Step Five: Eyes

The fifth step in reborning a doll involves replacing the factory eyes with higher-quality, more life-like eyes. On the page linked above, we’ll walk you through the process of removing the old eyes and setting in new ones. It’s not a difficult or labor-intensive process, but it does require some basic knowledge.

Step Six: Hair Rooting

In order to create a head full of baby-soft hair on your reborn, you’ll need to root individual strands of mohair into their scalp. This can be done using the smallest drill bit you can find, or you can do it by punching holes with a felting needle, such as described in the link above.

Step Seven: Stuffing and Weighing Down

I bet you didn’t think reborning a doll would be this much work, but you’re almost there! Step seven involves stuffing and weighing your doll down with the right materials to give it a naturally realistic feel. There are many different things you can use to accomplish this, but all of them have unique properties.

Step Eight: Finalizing Your Reborn

You’re almost there, so bear with us through this last step. In this eighth and final step, we’ll show you how to piece together the limbs for your reborn doll, as well as how to install a magnet to use for pacifiers. When you get through this step, you should have a high-quality reborn doll that’s ready to be dressed and pampered to your liking.

Optional Steps

Applying a Matte Varnish

Although it’s not considered a necessary step in the reborning process, applying a coat of matte varnish to your doll will give it a more lifelike appearance. The varnish works to neutralize the glossy shine created from the paint. Of course, you’ll need to follow the instructions outlined here to ensure the matte varnish looks natural and stays properly on.

How To Open Up a Reborn Doll’s Nose

With a few basic tools, anyone can open up the nose of their reborn doll. It’s quick, easy and adds a subtle realistic detail that’s perfect for reborning. However, you’ll need to use caution anytime you modify your reborn doll, as there’s always a chance of causing damage.

How To Pierce a Reborn Doll’s Ears

Reborn dolls don’t typically come with their ears pierced, but many collectors and artists prefer the look and function of it. If you’re interested in piercing your reborn’s ears, click the previous link for a detailed outline on the process.

How To Attach a Tummy Plate on a Reborn Doll

Tummy plates are the front patch of soft vinyl that’s been carefully crafted with small, realistic details. Once they are attached, your reborn will have a realistic belly button along with soft wrinkles and other realistic details.

Applying Eyelashes

Still trying to figure out the perfect way to create realistic eyelashes on your reborn dolls? There are two preferred methods that result in natural-looking eyelashes, and we’re going to walk you through the steps for both of them.

Painting a Reborn Doll’s Fingernails and Toenails

Don’t pack up your reborning supplies just yet! Here we talk about the process of painting the fingernails and toenails on a reborn doll. You’ll need to use thin-bristle paintbrushes to carefully apply the paint, but don’t worry, as we explain exactly how it’s done.