Reborn baby dolls are life like replicas of a new born baby. They are crafted from a combination of vinyl and polymer clay accessories. The face and the body of the doll can be customized depending on the customer’s specifications. These dolls are made to look like real babies, from the skin, wrinkles, eyes, even the veins, fingernails and toenails.

For people who love babies and those that cannot have babies resort to collecting reborn baby dolls as their hobby and others go as far as being obsessed with this hobby. Some people find these dolls creepy and bizarre because it actually looks like a real baby and some even order a replica of their baby having exactly the same look from the skin tone to the specific birth marks.

The Body of a Reborn Baby Doll

These dolls are made to look like a real one. They are made by precision and quality materials that catch the actual features of a real new born baby. From the hair which is often rooted with mohair. Some have real hair. The limbs, hands and feet are created so that they really look like a true baby, even the wrinkles and veins are there. The fingernails and toenails are also applied using a special kind of paint and with specific techniques.

Size of Reborn Baby Dolls

There are different sizes that are available in the market. There the minis that measures at a mere 6 inches long. The newborns are those which are 14 inches long. The preemies or the premature babies measures 15 inches to 17 inches long. The normal baby dolls available have a length from 14 inches to 20 inches. And the toddler doll which usually measures 20 inches to 22 inches long.

Accessories of a Reborn Baby Dolls

Just like a real baby, these dolls come with some accessories to have the real feel of having a baby. A lot of reborn baby dolls that were custom made have adoption papers, complete with baby’s clothing and even a hospital band. There are also weighted bodies that are made up of sand to have a real feel and weight of a baby. Reborn baby dolls are intricately made to look like a real baby that it comes as far as having milk spots, dimples, umbilical cord stubs and belly buttons and even got its own genitalia.

Controversy Behind Reborn Dolls

The highly realistic appearance of reborn dolls has divided the opinions of people. The people who appreciate these dolls, the hobbyists and those that consider these dolls work of art have highly positive opinions about reborn dolls. But, there are people who have questioned the hobbyists about these dolls. For them, these lifelike dolls are creepy and bizarre that it brought some women into obsession. These dolls were crafted not to raise a controversy but to catch the true appearance of a real one for art for collectors and not to be an obsession.

The existence of dolls has dated almost since the beginning of modern humans. Remains of past civilizations show that young girls fancied dolls and are still valued by children and other collectors. Also, dolls today are used for health purposes in hospitals and also in art as models. There are different types of dolls and these have different uses and appearance.

Bisque Doll

Bisque dolls from the name itself are made of the bisque porcelain. Some dolls have heads made up of bisque and others are wholly made up of bisque porcelain. The distinction of bisque dolls from other dolls is their realistic, skin-like matte finish. These dolls were commonly manufactured by French and German manufacturers. Many of these dolls are collectibles and can be worth thousands.

Bisque dolls where produced as playthings for children and resembles a grown up lady but later a more child-like appearance was released in the market. These dolls are usually dressed in the latest fashion trend. They can be dressed with different clothing.

China Doll

These dolls are made up of partially or wholly of glazed porcelain. The name China doll was because the material used to make the doll, which is porcelain, comes from China. Some call china doll as bisque dolls but the difference between the two is that bisque dolls have skin-like matte finish while China dolls are glazed porcelain.

China dolls are usually dolls with glazed porcelain head, with painted, molded hair and its body made up of cloth or leather. Antique dolls were produced by German manufacturers. These are usually collectors’ items.

Paper Doll

Paper dolls are dolls made up of paper. Its clothes are separate and usually held on by folding tabs. These are inexpensive toys for young children.

Today, paper dolls have been turned by artists as art form. Paper dolls have been used in advertising, found in magazines and newspapers. There are also vintage paper dolls that have become collectibles.

Dolls have been around for a very long time now and are usually fashioned to look like a real human beings. Different kinds of dolls have been made from different kinds of materials ranging from stone, clay, wood, bone, cloth, paper, porcelain, rubber and plastic.

Dolls became more popular not only to children but also to adults. They have been made one of the collector’s items. Different brands have been established and they have their own different looks and attributes. These popular brands are the Barbie dolls, American Girl, and the Madame Alexander brand.

Barbie Dolls

Barbie is a fashion doll produced by an American toy company named Mattel, Inc. The first Barbie was released in March 1959. The woman behind this, Ruth Handler got her inspiration from a German doll called Bild Lilli. Bild Lilli is a blond sexy lady from a comic strip. Ruth Handler, saw this doll as she went for vacation with her children. When she went home, she brought with her three Bild Lilli dolls, she gave one to her daughter and the other two she used as model for her new creation which is now known as Barbie.

Barbie has the body of an adult lady. The doll’s popularity grew and became the figurehead of the brand Mattel dolls and accessories. Barbie was named as Barbara “Barbie” Millicent Roberts who was from its creator’s daughter named Barbara. A story of Barbie’s life was created, complete with her parents her school her career and even love life, Ken.

Many children, teenagers and even adults have looked up to Barbie because of her fashion and her career. Barbie was made to have a lot of careers to show that women are not only meant to be housewives instead they can do a lot of things just like men. Barbie became famous up to this time and even became a cultural icon.

American Girl

American Girl is not solely about dolls, they also have a line of books and accessories. American Girl was based on ten-year-old girl characters. The viewpoint is of girls that have been part different periods of American history. But now the American Girl dolls include stories of contemporary girls. The stories are meant for young girls but the issues behind the stories are quite mature like child labor, slavery, poverty, racism, alcoholism, animal abuse and war.

The company was headed by Pleasant Rowland in 1986. The products could be initially be bought by mail order. In 1998 the Pleasant Company became a subsidiary of Mattel.

Madame Alexander

Madame Alexander dolls is a line of collectible dolls. She first released her collectible dolls in 1923. Madame Alexander was originally created by Bertha Alexander which was later known to be Beatrice Alexander. She was the first American entrepreneur who made collectible dolls. Her first model collectible doll was from the licensed character Scarlet O’Hara from the book/movie Gone with the Wind. She also made a lot of dolls honoring living people.