The Obsession... or not?

It looks like reborns and reborners make the headlines more and more often these days.
After "My Fake Baby", documentary by BBC, and a segment on "20/20", even the Italian tv had a few short minutes of the news dedicated to our passion.

I know that because my mother in law supposedly jumped off her chair and said to everyone, "Those are the dolls my daughter in law makes!".

My mother in law also once said that I'm in need of specialized medical assistance due to my "obsession with dolls", but since she said so for other things, I brushed her off.

Until this week some fellow doll friends pointed me towards another blog.
www.almightydad.com/general-interest/reborn-babies-pandering-to-a-mental-disorder
(I've gotten permission from Almighty Dad to link his blog to mine, by the way).

Reborn babies pandering to a mental disorder?

Well, supposedly we are crazy my friends. Totally off the hook, "out there as a balcony", grossly translating an Italian way to say it.

We make these real looking dolls, then dress them, feed them, cuddle them, stroll them around, buy expensive furniture for them, set up nurseries... in this man's opinion we even get up in the middle of the night to check on them!!!

Although many friends of mine were pretty offended by Keith's piece, I was actually pretty amused.
I don't see myself waking up in the middle of the night if the house isn't on fire, one of the cat isn't peeing on my bed, or my son doesn't need me.
Hubby can fend for himself.

Not to mention the other allegations... the best thing about dolls is that they are available for me when I want, and not the other way around. I don't need to keep them on schedule, check that they don't wear the same clothes for three days, sign school papers, send them to tae kwon do.
I don't need to have dinner ready at a decent time for them.

Still, some things Keith said resonated with me.
Why can't we get pleasure in creating, handling, collecting our dolls, without being labeled as mental instable?
Or laughed at?
Or called creepy, and all the other nice words that are thrown at us?

Simply, why do people need to judge and put down what other people like?

Somebody told me that opinions are like hineys, everyone has got one. ;)

But still, we have the option whether or not to express openly that opinion.
And as much as in this great Country there's the right and freedom to talk, sometimes maybe people would be happier leaving other people a little bit alone.

I'm so lucky to be able to share a lifelong friendship with two persons that I hold as high as sisters.
We live a continent and an ocean apart, see each other two times a day (usually in the same month), and every time we quickly update the news, current number of children, town gossip... and then there we are, sharing the deepest folds of our souls, as if I never emigrated and we'd seen each other every week.

I have almost polar opposite views than my friends in many very important topics, starting from position on abortion, to having children, to piercings, to house neatness, to... many others.
Dolls are another thing we don't agree on.

But this is what makes our friendships so strong and important... the ability to look at the other, disagree, share opinions, sometimes fight, and still respect each other.

I'll say it out loud: RESPECT EACH OTHER.

And if for a few people a reborn makes the difference, if for somebody dolls are a "mental crutch" quoting Keith, so be it.
They are legal, and have no side effects.

Playing with Preemies!

At some point this week I realized that my couch was literally covered in preemies... four babies of different birth were taking up space, being moved around all the time, lying on the headrest.... always in the way.
Not for a single moment I acknowledged their presence for what it really is (an invasion!) or resolved to put them away...
So today I decided to have some fun.
After taking a photoshoot of Lakita and Beau, who are up for adoption (see THE ADOPTION ROOM for info), Tati and Giordana got in the picture as well.

Four very different babies, three of them reborned by me, one a precious gift from a wonderful friend, gathered on the Boppy near the window to have a group picture taken.

How do you take pictures of four squirming preemies?

These are some of the results...

New, new new!

It's springtime in my heart.

My house is a total, full blown, almost helpless mess, my palette is full, my paintbrushes are red hot.

Not a single doll in sight is escaping my enthusiasm!!!

I'm re-transforming the living room to be my reborning room.

It's always been my "lab", since we don't have a spare room and my bedroom isn't big enough to add a working corner, but now it's becoming "professional".

Poor living room!

Husband is helping a lot... he repainted a dresser for me, a large, huge one, to collect all my reborning stuff and tools. I'm excited just looking at it!!!

Problem is, it's almost full already!!!

From new to new... today I received a surprise from a lady on Doll Fan. She sent me a mini Berenguer doll!

You saw from my last post that I'm heavy into my minis now... this baby will be a mini reborn.

I'm not starting on him straight away just because my Loving Eyes Emily is under the brush now... complete makeover.

(By the way... Emily's eyes are PURPLE, not brown.)

Can one feel like Spring in late Summer... or early Fall???

Maybe it's because I was born in this season, I feel it most than anything else.

Life starts now.

Before and after Anneke Doeven OOAK

Recently I've found myself going like a banshee after some old babies of mine... changing, fixing, re-reborning, you name it.

I seem to find it relaxing... and indeed, taking an old doll I haven't touched in ages, a doll who is often in completely unsellable conditions anyways, and giving it a complete makeover, IS relaxing.

I don't need to fret, I don't need to think too much about how people (and potential buyers) will react to it.

I don't even need to finish it in a timely manner.

This baby was my first OOAK and her name is Astrid. I remember falling head over heels for Astrid's peaceful, abandoned expression in only 8 inches.

Unfortunately, Astrid developed a crack on the side of her head, which reappeared even after the artist very nicely fixed her free of charge.

I didn't feel like bothering the artist again, after years. She would likely sculpt me a whole new head, and it wouldn't be Astrid anymore. Also, I felt the artist had fulfilled her committment fixing Astrid the first time.

So I started messing with her. ;)

This is the new Astrid, fully reborned and with a modified body. I may give her a whole new body later, but for now she needs clothing! I'm off to mess with my fabric scraps and knitting needles now.

First baby up for adoption! Asian baby Ai

Finally... proudly... and with a racing heart... I'm offering Ai up for adoption.

Ai is an incredibly sweet and cuddly Japanese baby girl! Her name means "Love".
And very faithful to her name... Ai loves to be held, cuddled, changed, fed... she really likes company.

I took all her pictures in natural daylight, the only one in which I used a red-eyes flash is the one that shows her beautiful blue eyes.
Of course Ai comes home with all the outfits you see in the pictures, plus her blankie, rattle, Panda socks and all what she needs to travel.

Please, take your time to see my baby's pictures, and if she steals your heart, contact me for any questions and to adopt her.
It's quite hard for me to see her go... she's a sweetie.

More pictures in the Adoption Room!

Ai is now adopted, thank you!!!

In loving memory

Just a few minutes ago.
An email from an old address informed me of the passing of a person who has been very important in my life.

A friend.

This is supposed to be a doll blog, and I don't know if I should or not post this.
But I feel I have to.

Rossella, you will never be forgotten.

Day twoo!

Here we are again...
I confess this whole blog idea is getting me more enthralled in it than I've thought.

Yesterday night it dawned on me that I'm not English mother language.
All of a sudden, like lightning.

Like I've ever been barely proficient in English, you know.

But in the whole blog creation, design, cursing, not ONCE I thought that my English could read quite weird on page at times.

Well, you'll only have to hope that I'll post lots of pictures and limit the writing to the bare minimum. ;)

Hoping to lure that hope in you, I've added two new pages. They are on the right side of the layout, which I hope is better this way.

One is a baby gallery, and the other my Portrait Reborns gallery. I'm still in the process to hunt down and post all the pictures that need to be there so please be patient and most of all, visit them often.

I want to thank personally Anne, Candy, Sally, Nancy, Cathy, Glenna who are some of my wonderful dolly friends for being the first to take the time to read, post a comment, subscribe, to this page.
You girls are the stuff that make this blog alive!!!

Welcome to Babies by the Bay!

There's more than a bit of emotion in writing the first welcoming lines of this blog.

I've wanted a place to reach out to other doll lovers, reborners, and to find new adoptive mommies to my babies for quite some time, and now all of a sudden I have it.

Probably for the first time in my life I'm at loss of words... if these became news there would be many esulting people in my extended family.

Welcome you who are curious and you who aren't sure what to think, let's play dolls together!

(Many thanks to Bea, on the left, Camilla in her arms and Mischa who I'm holding. I'm the one on the right).