Originally, it's believed that reborn dolls started in the U.S. during the early 90s before spreading to the UK and other parts of the world. Today, Tonight is an Australian news show that recently did a piece on the newfound popularity of reborning in the land down down under. The segment is broken up into two parts, both of which are posted below for your convenience. If you haven't seen them yet, take a couple minutes out of your day to check them out.
The segment kicks off with a collector taking a stroll through the grocery store with her reborn. Once shes confronted by other shoppers who want to see her baby, they are shocked to see it's actually a reborn. Of course this isn't anything new or original, as most collectors and artists have plenty of stories regarding people who have mistaken their dolls for babies. The segment then goes on to talk about how Christine collects reborn dolls to fill the void that was left behind when her grandson relocated with his family to New Zealand, which one of the most common reasons why people collect and make them.
At one point in the video, artist Lynn talks about how she feels a bit awkward sticking a needle in her doll's head. This process, known as "rooting," involves poking several dozen small holes into a doll's scalp so the artist can implant hair or fibers used to mimic hair. Toy dolls tend to have cheap-looking hair or even strokes of paint that's made to look like hair. Both of these techniques result in a toyish look that's far from the level of quality in reborns. As you can see in the video, though, Lynn takes her time to carefully root the needle into the doll's scalp so hair can be implanted at a later time.
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