Collecting reborn dolls is a growing trend among doll collectors. Typically hand crafted by a specialized reborn doll artist, these custom dolls are highly sought after. They are frequently stunning life-like facsimiles of real-life babies. As a result, they are often called fake babies, or twin babies.

Why “reborn babies?”

The term “reborn baby” refers to the fact that the custom dolls originated from a completed doll. The retail version of the doll is stripped down and used as a blank by a doll artists and “reborn” (recreated) as a custom design. The new doll will often have new skin tone, hair, and clothing.

They are frequently designed to look like a baby from a family photo. In this instance, they are often termed “fake babies” or “twin baby dolls.”

Sometimes the dolls do not originate from a completed doll, but come from a soft vinyl doll kit that the artist can start with. These are technically referred to as “newborn dolls” since they come from a blank kit, but most collectors simply refer to all lifelike dolls as “reborn dolls.”

Reborn doll sculptors

The doll sculptor is the artist who designs the blank doll kit, while the doll artist is the artisan who brings it to life as a reborn doll. Some popular doll sculptors have risen in the art world who sculpt the doll kits that artists use in their doll creations. Some of the most common are:

• Adrie Stoete
• Angie Harris
• Birgit Gutzwiller
• Didy Jacobsen
• Elisabeth Steger
• Eva Wakolbinger
• Heike Kolpin
• Jackie Gwin
• Kim van de Wetering
• Linda Webb
• Manuela Muth
• Nel De Man
• Reva Schick
• Rolanda Heimer
• Rita Rich-Arnold
• Sheila Michael

Reborn doll artists

Some of the more popular reborn doll artists have moved on to become doll sculptors, such as Reva Schick. Reva has designed a number of popular doll sculpts available in soft vinyl doll kits, including:

• Ariella By Reva Schick
• Melina By Reva Schick
• Rebecca By Reva Schick
• Ophelia By Reva Schick
• Maya By Reva Schick

An increasingly popular reborn doll artist who is known for hand crafting her dolls with a high level of craftsmanship and attention to detail is Karen Whitmore in Valdosta, Georgia. In her studio, Neverland Nursery, she produces amazingly detailed and lifelike reborn baby dolls.