Nicola Vine started collecting reborn dolls six years ago. Photo \/ Anna Heath. <\/p>\n
Reborn dolls, which look and feel remarkably like real babies, usually newborns, emerged in the 90s when United States doll enthusiasts started taking baby dolls and adding realistic features. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe early reborners would get a play doll \u2026 pull them apart, repaint the facial features, usually add a wig and a cloth body, blush them and paint the fingernails \u2013 that\u2019s about it\u201d, Lower Hutt reborn doll artist Ngaere Thomson, 67, explains. <\/p>\n
Today, the process is often more detailed to achieve a realistic look. And the industry is worth tens of millions globally, with some dolls selling for close to $20,000 overseas. <\/p>\n
In New Zealand, the reborn doll community of artists and collectors is small, but growing. Dunedin-based reborn doll artist Annabel Clark says her reborn doll creations have been \u201cselling like hotcakes\u201d and is now looking at branching out to international markets. A private Facebook group for New Zealand-based traders has more than 1600 members. <\/p>\n
Reasons for wanting a lifelike baby doll can be deeply personal and varied. For some, they are works of art. Thomson, for instance, has 40 reborn dolls in her private collection and says she \u201cjust likes to look at them\u201d. <\/p>\n
Others may use them as healing tools, sometimes calling them \u201ctherapy babies\u201d, after experiencing trauma such as pregnancy, baby loss, infertility or to help alleviate anxiety.<\/p>\n
The artists: \u2018A really lovely experience\u2019<\/p>\n
For Clark, 37, the dolls are \u201ca hobby that\u2019s also therapy and a real interest\u201d.<\/p>\n
Clark, who has been making reborns for nearly half her life, says the therapy is twofold. <\/p>\n
\u201cI find the actual process \u2013 the painting and the creating \u2013 very therapeutic.\u201d<\/p>\n
She is an anxious person, and holding a doll has a grounding effect.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the reborn baby is complete, and you get to dress it up like a baby and hold it, because they\u2019re weighted \u2026 and you get to cuddle that baby, it\u2019s very calming and a really lovely experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clark and Thomson, who have their own children, are largely self-taught in their artistry. When Clark first started, she read books and watched tutorials, but now there\u2019s more free content available online.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know in the US you can actually go to in-person events … But there isn\u2019t really the capability of that in New Zealand yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Making reborn dolls is especially tedious for NZ artists, who struggle with limited local supplies. <\/p>\n
After a commission, Thomson explains she buys a blank kit or clay sculpt of the facial features and size the customer wants, paints up to 20 layers of skin tones, then details the fingernails, shading and blushing. Most sculptors and specialised paint brands have to be imported, making the process slower and costly.<\/p>\n
But the most laborious part is the baby hair, which is either painted on or rooted using mohair. For the latter, Thomson charges at least $200 more, \u201cbecause it\u2019s rooted individually with a felting needle, quite often one [strand] at a time, which can take a few days\u201d.<\/p>\n
The great-grandmother of two says a vinyl doll can take her a week to complete if working full time, while part-time hours may take her up to a month. <\/p>\n
Artist Ngaere Thomson says she’s always been interested in dolls. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n
Each doll is unique and many are custom-made, so prices vary. Silicone reborns cost thousands. But most opt for vinyl, which typically costs less than $1000 and is faster to make. Thomson sold the vinyl reborn she\u2019s about to work on for $950. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut I\u2019m probably one of the cheaper ones.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the rise of low-cost online marketplaces like Temu and AliExpress, artists say \u201ccounterfeit\u201d reborn dolls \u2013 when sellers take real sculpts, copy artists\u2019 existing designs, and sell them for a fraction of the price \u2013 have affected local demand. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo much hard work goes into these sculpts \u2013 [people] get really ripped off by certain websites,\u201d Clark says. <\/p>\n
For an experienced enthusiast, telling the difference between an authentic and a knock-off reborn doll is easy.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou notice [knock-offs are] a lot lighter; they\u2019re a lot stiffer, the joints don\u2019t move as much,\u201d Vine says.<\/p>\n
Thomson has around 40 reborn dolls in her private collection. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n
The collectors: \u2018People shouldn\u2019t have any shame\u2019<\/p>\n
Without her reborn dolls, Vine says her life would \u201cfeel kind of empty\u201d.<\/p>\n
Vine was in her mid-20s when she suffered her first pregnancy loss. Then it happened again. And again. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was quite rough,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Later came postnatal depression. After the birth of her second child, now 5, she knew she didn\u2019t want to carry more babies. But she enjoyed the feeling of having them. Six years ago, she started filling this lingering desire with almost eerily real reborn dolls. <\/p>\n
Vine has five reborn dolls in her Christchurch home, including Lulu, who Clark designed. The most she\u2019s spent on one is about $700.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey fill that void of wanting another child,\u201d she says. \u201cI know they\u2019re not going to ever replace having a child, but they fill those empty arms.\u201d <\/p>\n
But the dolls aren\u2019t simply for her healing. Vine says they are also a way to bond with her young daughter. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe helps me with them, brushes their hair, and we\u2019ll dress them in their little pyjamas,\u201d Vine says. <\/p>\n
Three of Vine’s collection of reborn dolls. Photo \/ Anna Heath<\/p>\n
For Tatiana Lane, dolls provide a \u201csafe place\u201d. <\/p>\n
The Wellingtonian retiree wanted children more than anything in the world. She also suffered from severe endometriosis. <\/p>\n
By the time she was 35, doctors had removed both her ovaries \u2013 one of which had a 5cm cyst \u2013 and her uterus. After the hysterectomy, she was seated next to a patient awaiting an abortion. She was heartbroken.<\/p>\n
Lane, now 53, may not be able to have kids, but she has more than 80 baby dolls. More than half are reborns. She says she\u2019s spent at least $20,000 since she began collecting six years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery single baby has something different about them,\u201d she explains. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe babies provide a positive input in my life … They give me something that nobody else can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some collectors like to role-play with their dolls and engage in activities expected between a mother and her baby. <\/p>\n
Vine, for instance, sometimes takes her dolls to the park in a pram, covering them with a blanket out of fear of what others may think. <\/p>\n
‘People shouldn’t have any shame in reborn dolls,” says Nicola Vine. Photo \/ Anna Heath<\/p>\n
Lane, on the other hand, enjoys a higher level of roleplay. Some of Lane\u2019s dolls are \u201cdrink and wet\u201d types, meaning they have an internal tube system that allows her to feed them with a \u201cpretend bottle\u201d and clean up after it wets its nappy. <\/p>\n
Her husband, 77, helps her look after them. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe supports me; he even burps for my babies,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
Sometimes Lane, who wears a Moby wrap to carry her dolls, takes one to hospital appointments. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey calm me down,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Doll enthusiasts often carry the burden of stigma, with some critics finding the hyper-realistic dolls unsettling. <\/p>\n
Lane recalls one stranger telling her she \u201cshouldn\u2019t be doing that, it\u2019s not even a real kid\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a lot of haters out there and I don\u2019t understand why,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Lane and Vine want to live without judgment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think people shouldn\u2019t have any shame in reborn dolls,\u201d Vine says. \u201cI should get out more myself with them, but I\u2019m just scared of what other people would think.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lane says she could be into \u201cway worse things\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not hurting anybody,\u201d she says. \u201cMen are allowed to collect trains and cars and war movies and whatever they want, yet it\u2019s not okay for us to have babies?\u201d<\/p>\n
Additional photos supplied by Annabel Clark.<\/p>\n
Varsha Anjali is a journalist in the lifestyle team at the Herald. She is based in Auckland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nicola Vine started collecting reborn dolls six years ago. Photo \/ Anna Heath. Reborn dolls, which look and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604713,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[95,4914,6144,50605,147939,298075,2225,117,111,43,139,69,5994,6737,57301,427,223,1455,80],"class_list":["post-604712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-and","tag-artists","tag-collecting","tag-creating","tag-dolls","tag-hyperrealistic","tag-loss","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-pregnancy","tag-reborn","tag-references","tag-story","tag-the","tag-warning","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}