In those forums, I met Catherine, a very innovative woman who created the concept of taking regular dolls and transforming them to works of art and the realistic baby dolls I had long been seeking. The story goes that Catherine did not have money to buy expensive collector dolls and therefore developed the “Reborn Concept” to create her very own collectibles. She started using play dolls; even dolls found in flea markets or garage sales. She called them “Reborn” because she took these ordinary dolls and brought them back to life.

The first concept for “reborning” was “The Water Babies.” The bodies were filled with water balloons which made them weighted and gave them a very realistic feeling. Unfortunately, the balloons did not last forever and resulted in some wet babies. Many of us in the Doll Fan community learned from Catherine and many others who were willing to share their ideas. This all started many years ago, and with a lot of trial and error we found the most successful methods to obtain the most realistic results. I have been “reborning” babies since then.

I first started creating the reborns as a hobby. I was finally obtaining the results I had been dreaming about for so long. Over time, I have learned techniques and created babies that I am proud to share with collectors. I place great importance in continually improving the process with new and innovative techniques to reach my ultimate goal of creating the most realistic reborns I can. I often attend workshops. Most recently I attended the “Doll Expo” in Orlando, Florida. There, I was able to once again join with many fellow artists to share ideas and improve my painting and hair rooting techniques.

My reborns are made using the best quality supplies available. My mohair suppliers are in Australia and Germany. All my babies have hand-rooted hair (mohair or human hair). The hair is sealed from the inside to assure you’ll enjoy many years with the babies looking as great as the first day you met them. They are also hand-painted with heat-set Genesis paints in a layering process resulting in a three dimensional effect which gives them realistic skin tones and textures. All reborns are given new eyes, using glass eyes or eyes from Dolls So Real or Bountiful Babies. These eyes have large pupils giving the reborns a more realistic newborn look. I don’t use sand in my babies and get wonderful results using the custom made bodies created Denise in BB or Spearson's well-known quality cloth bodies filled with pellets, glass beads and poly-fill.