Bongo's Bumbles

 When people encounter Vincent Gray, do they respond more to his sculpt's realism or to the sense of quiet vulnerability you've built into his character?   Sometimes, Vinnie goes shopping with me.       You know, I would have to jokingly say his sculpt is overpowering. That cute little nose, those pouty lips and those chubby little cheeks always seem to make everyone fall in love with him almost immediately instead of finding him creepy or scary like I had originally expected. Which is all well and good, I think. Because even though I personally enjoy horror themed Reborns, I find I am not such a big fan of randomly scaring people when I go out with my dolls. When I go out with one of my dolls, I generally prefer to be left to chill. Not that I will be unfriendly if someone asks about my dolls! I actually really like that. I just do not enjoy scared people when I am not expecting or looking for it. So the soft, adorable, sleeping appearance of Vinnie's sculpt so...

Upper left to right, Princess Ariel from "The Little Mermaid" and my own character, William Duckson, made for "Howard The Duck". Lower left to right, my own Texas Chainsaw character, Cain Sawyer and Casper McFadden from 1995 Universal Pictures' "Casper".  My Nursery Is A Space Where My Fandoms Become Tangible        The Reborn Doll Collecting Hobby is a hobby that, traditionally, focuses on doll collectors who curate collections of baby dolls which are made to seem as realistically close to actual babies as possible. Since it began, doll artists and collectors in the hobby have strived to achieve and maintain a visual and physical quality in their dolls that strongly calls to mind the expressions, the details and the tactile presence of real infants. Now, every artist and collector has their personal reasons for wanting this in the hobby. For some, it is simply that they think real babies are adorable, for others, maybe they just enjoy baby fashion. F...

 What My Dolls Mean To Me   A few of the dolls in my collection.          I collect dolls both as an art form and as a therapeutic coping mechanism. I am not ashamed to own up to that and in fact, my dolls are something I am quite proud of. Reborn dolls are an artistic endeavor, from the sculptors who create the blank doll kits, to the artists who paint and root the dolls and the curated collections of dolls displayed by collectors as artwork. In my opinion, Reborn dolls deserve recognition akin to works displayed in museums. We are not ashamed of Michelangelo or Magritte , why be ashamed then of artists who create dolls? The only difference is the "canvas". For that matter, we usually are not ashamed of people who choose to display sculptures or framed prints or paintings in their homes, so why then should we feel that way about people who choose to display artfully painted and rooted dolls? To me, it is the same no matter how you look at it- the dol...