I bought a bad "reborn" and I feel bad.

Reborn is in quotes because I don't think it deserves to be called that.

So I have a baby doll called Martha, she's 14 inches and not very realistic, just a child's toy. But I love her anyway :)

A week or two ago, I started reading about more realistic baby dolls, and stumbled upon reborn dolls. Since I'm still a student and don't have $600 lying around, I looked for cheaper alternatives. I didn't care if the face looked super realistic, I just wanted to hold a baby of the right size and weight and put her in baby-sized clothing. (Finding fitting and decent-quality clothing for Martha has been rather difficult.)

So I found the Chinese (Taiwanese? Shang Hai-an? not sure) brand NPK, and they had decent reviews (though they were marketing towards older kids, not adult collectors), so I bought a closed-eyes doll from them for $94. Well, now I know, if you buy cheap, you buy twice.

The doll, to be called Maria, arrived today, and her face and hair looked surprisingly realistic. The hair was a bit long and thick for a baby, but that's fine, some babies are born with a full head of hair. Her eyelashes were real hair, too, really nice. But when I picked her up, I knew almost right away I would have to send her back. She was far too light -- I later weighed her at less than 3 lb (which just doesn't make sense for a 22" baby). Her limbs were stiff, with the knees and elbows permanently bent; what baby sleeps like that? There was no need to support the head, as it was very light and just moved very stiffly with the body, as if the baby had a steel rod for a spine.

I'd already bought her a onesie and started on crocheting a sweater for her, but now, the thought of dressing her up didn't fill me with excitement. I put the netting back over her hair and face and placed her back in the box. Fortunately, I can return her and onky have to pay $11 for shipping her back to the UK (I live in Germany).

So now I'm disproportionately sad and ready to find a real reborn, with glass beads and a floppy head. Heck, I'll even spend actual money on it. I'm going to Florida with my husband in October/November, maybe there will be an exhibition or something.

I guess I just wanted to vent. Thank you for reading.
Katie

Hi Katie!

So sorry you had such a disappointing experience!    

Back when i was new to the reborning world, I did the same thing.  I thought that this Ashton Drake baby doll WAS a reborn - not..lol....looked so
real in the pictures.. Got in person.. SO NOT LIKE THE PICTURES AT ALL!!        lol  I paid $139.00 and that was a long time ago.  Now that I reborn myself and see
all the costs and time/work for a quality reborn, i realize ... that I had gotten what i paid for..  

Now, I could put all the components for a "quality, realistic reborn, (before you even begin the long journey of painting to bring it to life (days/weeks) to quality hair and the long process (over 20 hours) of rooting it strand by strand into the head-) and have close to $200.00 dollars already invested. So, say it takes a month to create your reborn from start to finish.  Imagine working at your job for a month and not getting paid.  That is why quality reborns cost more than the "not so quality reborns/dolls", or the ones that have not been reborned but mass-produced.  

After purchasing 6 reborns, i decided to make them myself!  

I hope that your quest to find a nice reborn comes true soon!! There are some reborners that are not trying to make a living and enjoy the hobby and will
sell a reborn for what it cost them to make it, hope you find one!  

Hi Katie,

You have done what a lot of people have done and ordered what you thought was a reborn doll that turned out to be a factory doll,
I would mention that you will be unable to move the arm from the elbow in reborns, you can move them from where the arm is
attached to the body if the discs are in the cloth body.       I also had a couple of Ashdon Drake dolls dolls that were taken apart
and the face used off one and the limbs off another to be made into a reborn by a lady i knew.  

Don 't get dispondent you have a good few shows round Germany of Reborn dolls, I have done a couple in Belgium, and two
in Holland and loads of Germans came over the border to shop.   f you want details of who runs them let me know.