Lifelike baby dolls to be used therapeutically by parents who have lost a newborn

Rebekah Cilia Walking into Jennifer Hubbers’ home I am greeted by a number of babies in antique prams. No, they are not all her children, neither has she kidnapped them: they are actually what are known as ‘reborn dolls’.

Reborn dolls are dolls that have been transformed to resemble a human baby, with as much realism as possible, and Jennifer Hubbers is Malta’s only reborn doll artist, known as a re- borner.

A lot of people do not understand the process involved in reborning or why reborn dolls are made, but Jennifer enthusiastically explains in great detail what is involved. Her hobby of reborning began in 2013 as a result of her fascination with Silver Cross prams.

Her original intention was to buy one of these prams for her youngest daughter and because the pram was so beautiful, she felt it could not just have any doll in it. So Jennifer searched the internet for baby dolls and she came across these reborn dolls.

The dolls were very expensive so she took the risk of purchasing a blank kit. There are replica kits, which are less expensive, but they are not made from the same type of material. The kits even come with their own certificates.

However, her daughter was never into playing with the dolls or the pram: “it was more for me,” she says.

Once her first doll was finished, she said: “We went to Sliema with this baby doll and the pram and everyone was looking, even just to see a Silver Cross pram and this doll in it. Everybody was stopping me!” Her daughter, who was younger then, was playing with the doll – not like a baby but a doll – and so people kept coming up to her in disbelief when they realised it was a doll.

Jennifer loved creating the doll and that is how her hobby of creating reborn dolls began: she has made 24 dolls so far.

The process of creating reborn dolls

Reborning involves numerous time-consuming steps, with Jennifer saying that if she had to sit down from morning to evening it would take her at least two weeks to finish one doll. Just the rooting of the hair, one at a time, takes about 40 hours. Each hair is individually rooted and then a special glue is used on the inside of the head to keep the hair in place so that it can be washed and brushed. Jennifer also roots the eyelashes one by one, as well as the eyebrows.

The process begins with a basic kit of head, arms and legs and then multiple layers of paint are applied by hand, with the body parts baked each time. The kit is put together with a doe suede cloth body which is stuffed with polyfiller and glass beads. Clips and tiebacks are used to secure the limbs to allow for movement.

Other physical features are then added to the doll, including veins, nails and mottling – the blotchy appearance of a baby’s skin. The doll is finished off with a sealant so that it can be washed and will not get scratched.

The dolls feel like a real baby, even the weight of the doll is made to replicate the weight of a baby, with the use of the glass beads. Carrying one of these dolls gives the person the same experience as holding a real baby and Jennifer even includes what are known as ‘wafers’ to give the doll a baby smell.

She can customise dolls to look exactly like an actual baby by adapting the skin colouring, weight and birthmarks, and either with hair or bald, and even the gaze of the eyes. The eyes are made from mouth-blown glass and covered with silicone to give a glazed look.

A magnet is stuck on the inside behind the lips so a pacifier can be used and sometimes Jennifer also includes some magnets in the head to hold a bow or a clip.

A large variety of items are needed for both internal and external modifications which Jennifer says are all very costly, especially since they are all only obtainable from abroad. As the dolls are so expensive to make, Jennifer unfortunately has to sell them in order to be able to buy more kits and supplies.

A real – not a copy – reborn doll can set one back up to several hundred euros and the most expensive reborn doll that Jennifer knows of was sold for US$24,000.

Some of Jennifer’s dolls also have what is called a ‘tummy plate’ which is used if the doll is to be dressed with a crop top, with the belly-button showing. Others include the back plate and intimate parts.

Tools and ovens are also required, as well as a great deal of patience and artistic skill. Jennifer is a self-taught reborn artist but is generally very creative, although she said at the beginning it was a steep learning curve.

The dolls also come with diapers, onesies, two outfits, socks, shoes and a pacifier.

Buyers of reborn dolls

Reborns are most popular in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Australia. There are very few collectors in Malta and reborn dolls are often compared to baby dolls. So far, Jennifer says, it is very much a foreign market.

One woman who Jennifer knows has a collection of about 150 reborn dolls. Although many owners of reborns are simply doll collectors, some have experienced a miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal loss and have no means of adoption, and then there are the mothers who suffer from empty nest syndrome.

A woman who had recently lost her baby contacted Jennifer to ask her to make a reborn doll like her baby, and sent her pictures, and Jennifer was happy to oblige. She has also made another two dolls identical to real babies, this time for children who are now grown up.

She told of making a reborn for a woman whose friend, a nurse, could not believe that it was not a real baby and checked its pulse