Reborn Babies
Tabatha (top) and Anya (bottom) (photo: Deborah King)
Those are photos of dolls, not real babies. They’re called reborn babies and were handcrafted by artist Deborah King. You can see more photos of her work here, here, and here.
I’d never heard of reborn babies until Danny sent me this video, which features a reborn doll artist, a collector, and a psychiatrist. I would’ve included the video here, but embedding has been disabled for it. Check it out. It’s very interesting.
The dolls are quite sophisticated and made with painstaking care. You can have them made to simulate heartbeats and breathing. The life-like appearance is the result of materials like vinyl and/or silicone, and layers upon layers of paint. The hairs are individually rooted. They are weighted to feel like babies when you lift and carry them.
The dolls are meant as collector’s items, but there is a bit of debate surrounding them nonetheless. Some think it’s creepy, but others say it’s no different from playing with any other toy. Monica Walsh, a wife, mother, and reborn doll owner, said she plays with her doll “the same way a man might make a big train station and play with his train station or play with his sports car, his boat or his motorcycle.”
Almost all of the customers are women. Some buy them because they’re collectors. Other buy them because they want to regain the experience of caring for children. Some women dress the dolls, wash their hair, take them for walks in strollers, and take them shopping. A nursing home in the UK uses them to help calm female residents, who become less disruptive when caring for the “babies.”
Here’s an article if you’d like to read more about it. Both the video and the article came out when the BBC documentary My Fake Baby was about to air.
So what do you think GBD? Harmless hobby? Unhealthy attachment? Pros? Cons? You tell me.
Danny The Only Bloke
March 23, 2009The women into these things are a bit odd. Some of them at least, like the lady who had one made to look like her grandson she never sees.
Deep psycological issues their me thinks.