Personalization & Collecting

 A Little More Info On Getting An Artist-Made Doll...

 

1. Are you a Reborn doll artist? If not, are you planning on becoming one in the future? No, I am not a Reborn doll artist, just a collector. I am considering eventually becoming a Reborn doll artist to some degree though, as I do not want to be completely helpless when something eventually may happen to one of my dolls and I do not want to have to rely on sending any of my dolls off in the mail to be repaired by an artist. I have heard too many stories about Reborn dolls getting lost in the mail when that happens. I would worry very deeply about any of my babies being apart from me because of that.
2. When commissioning a Reborn doll artist, can I request custom features like birthmarks or specific expressions? Usually, yes. A few artists will create a complete surprise baby doll for you instead of giving you any creative control, but most will give you either most of the control or full control of what you want your doll to look like.
3. How do I know if a Reborn doll was ethically made? This is a bit of a tricky question. If by "ethically", you mean BPA safe practices or programs that minimize the environmental impact of the production processes when it comes to the creation of the blank vinyl or silicone kits, you may be able to find that information on the kit's vendor's listing, possibly. But if you mean "ethically" as in the kit was not a stolen one made by a company that does not have the rights to reproduce it, all you have to do is find a way to view the doll's Certificate of Authenticity or COA. Either locate the photo on the doll's listing page or ask the seller privately for a photo of the COA. Dolls with a COA, typically, are not "stolen" or reproduced kits.
4. What's the difference between a vinyl doll and a silicone doll? A vinyl doll is a semi-soft doll with very little flexibility, whose head and limbs may either be attached to a cloth, stuffed body or a vinyl body. A silicone doll is much more pliable, floppy, squishy and pose-able, creating a look and feel that is more lifelike in both appearance and touch than vinyl, according to most collectors and artists. 
5. What are these silicone vinyl dolls I keep seeing actually made of? First off, do not believe a single one of these listings. These are all scams. Vinyl and silicone actually negatively react to each other and cannot be mixed into a single material. Second, if a doll's listing says it is "silicone vinyl", it is never a silicone doll, even remotely. The dolls received from such listings always turn out to be vinyl.
6. Are there recognized sculptors, artists or brands within the community? Yes, I believe there are quite a few. Some sculptors that often get discussed among collectors and artists are Gudrun Legler, Bonnie Brown, Ping Lau, Joanna Kazmierczak, Shawna Clymer and Doris Moyers Hornbogen. Individual artists, however, are usually not as discussed, unfortunately. So I am not sure which of those are popular, but I can recommend a few whose works I absolutely love here: CamellynCreations, Orange Grove Nursery and Joanne Donovan. I personally have three dolls painted and rooted by CamellynCreations and one doll painted and rooted by Joanne Donovan. Unfortunately, none by Orange Grove, but I have enjoyed looking at her Reborn dolls since I was 16 years old in 2008 (unfortunately, her Etsy shop does not display all of the amazing dolls she has created over the years- she had a beautiful Jack and Rose from "Titanic", an amazing Hobbit character, a stunning Snow White from Walt Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and a gorgeous Edward Scissorhands on her old website/shop). As far as recognized "brands", there are a few, though most would not exactly claim their dolls as "Reborns". Paradise Galleries and Ashton Drake are the "brands" in this case.
7.  Is it common to see Reborn dolls based on movies, books, video games or TV shows? Yes and no. I do not think that the hobby has ever gone very long without at least one artist contributing a new fanart in doll form and in the spaces I hang out in, I do commonly run into them but in the wider scope of the hobby, no, they are not very common. To be more clear, if I hang around Etsy using specific keywords like "Mad Hatter Reborn Doll", yes, I will always see quite the handful of adorable little Johnny Depp dolls or if I linger on Reborns.com under the "Alternatives" tab, there's a solid chance that I will be seeing Dobby or Harry Potter for quite some time. But when socializing in the larger online groups, talking and sharing dolls, only rarely do I ever encounter someone else who has a fictional character in doll form. Usually a Wednesday Addams or a M3GAN at this point. Sometimes, a Child's Play Chucky.
8. Can I request an artist to make me a doll based on a fictional character from a book, a video game, a movie or a TV series? This depends on the individual artist's discretion. Some artists are understandably a little afraid to accept custom requests for pre-existing fictional characters because the sale of a copyrighted character, even as a fan-made work, can sometimes be considered copyright infringement in the courts. Other artists though are more than welcoming toward such requests, so just check with the artist you are considering commissioning beforehand if they are open to this.
9. More Q's coming soon!