SILICONE BABIES LABOUR OF LOVE
Hobbyist painstakingly produces ‘reborns’ so realistic they are mistaken for real thing
EVERY strand of hair is painstakingly hand-sewn into the heads of Sheree Ras’s reborn baby dolls. Ras also hand-paints the silicone “babies” she creates with materials she imports from the United Kingdom. If not helping her father at the family business, Ray’s RC Hobby Shop, where the dolls are also sold, Ras will more often than not be found hard at work on her “baby” creations – an activity she describes as “inventively satisfying”.
The 32-year-old hopes that her hobby will one day become a fully fledged business.
The art lover, who has been in the reborn doll industry for five years, said she developed her love for the lifelike figures as a result of her mother’s doll-collecting hobby.
Her mother had for years collected dolls which were “as near as possible to being human”.
“When I first laid eyes on my mom’s collection of these dolls I instantly fell in love and became so interested that I wanted to make them too.”
Comparing the dolls with their porcelain counterparts, Ras said the reborns were more realistic.
Once she had decided she wanted to make her own dolls, she did some research and got started.
Of the doll-making process, Ras said: “It is basically four steps.
“The first step [is] sculpting the baby out of clay. Afterwards you have to mould the baby, which is done with the silicone.
“The baby then gets prepared with many different washing techniques and when it has been washed and cleaned, the painting of the different layers of the skin and the rooting of the hair, one strand at a time, follow.
“We then give the baby to its mom or dad with a set of instructions on how to take care of it.”
Ras said making the dolls was an intricate process – and an expensive hobby.
“Since this is a hobby for me, one can only imagine how expensive it can sometimes get,” she said.
“From the purchasing of the material, which I buy in the UK, to the time I spend designing and finally making the babies . . . it can get rather expensive.”
Ras uses the profits from the sale of a completed doll to buy materials for her next creation. To date she has sold 17 of her “babies”, which usually take between three and five months to create.
“At the moment, my profits are covering the basics and I always manage to put bread on the table.”
The dolls range in price, depending on their size and how much work goes into them.
“I’ve got tiny handheld ones ranging from R200, right up to my most expensive ones which can cost R13 500.”
She said people bought the dolls for a range of reasons.
“My most popular clientele would be older women who are collecting them.”
In one instance, she sold a doll to a couple who could not have children.
Jackie Kasselman, 41, from Nelspruit, who had collected vinyl reborn dolls for 11 years, was Ras’s first customer.
Kasselman said: “I learnt on the internet about the silicone babies, but to buy them overseas is unaffordable.
“Sheree actually made it very affordable to be able to own a silicone baby and her work is outstanding.
“When I was buying the baby from her she would keep me updated throughout her process and would send me pictures of how it was progressing.
“I take her [the doll] with me wherever I go. I dress her up and it feels [very near to] a real baby.
“People compliment me, as some of them think it is actually a real baby.”
‘ People compliment me, as some think it is actually a real baby