It’s been a while since we updated. We’ve been having lots of fun trying new things, painting new dolls and trying to stay warm. Good thing we have lots to keep us busy inside.
Our second version of Alba Asleep (reborn doll) was intended for the family that bought the first Alba for Christmas. Most of January was spent making sure that doll was painted and rooted as similar to the first doll as possible (request of the customer). Well, wouldn’t you know it, we finished the doll and have been ghosted by the customer. Yes, this is the same woman who had me paint Sarah’s hair so that it could be in time for Christmas! So now both Sarah and Alba Asleep (Jessie) are up for adoption. Lesson learned – always get a non-refundable deposit!!!
While working on Jessie, Bear was also testing out an idea for pacifier clips. One thing we have learned is that reborn collectors love their accessories, but they don’t have to meet the same safety standards, so clips made like friendship bracelets are perfectly fine for dolls. It turns out they are quick to make, and there’s an entire website dedicated to fancy knotting patterns for them. It’s now what Bear loves to do in front of the TV.
There has also been a lot of time spent researching smaller baby clothes. While parents plan for babies to grow into their clothes, doll owners do not. While some collectors only want “real” newborn clothes, we found that there’s not much beyond onesies and sleepers for that size. So started the search for preemie sized clothing. We found patterns, sure, but they were geared to babies in hospitals; very simple outfits. Some collectors might want that, but we also know some would love clothes that look and fit like baby clothes for their tiny ones. Now Bear is having fun trying to down-size baby clothes patterns. Her first attempts weren’t too successful, but it’s a work in progress.
There has also been a few requests for the animal towels recently, which has pushed us to create new designs. These have been a fun project as there isn’t really patterns that we like available, so we’ve had to take ideas from different places to come up with what we want. So far we’ve finished a monkey and bunny. Already requested are a white fox, a polar bear a black dragon (similar to Toothless), and a frog.
Amidst all of these new creations, is still the ongoing process of 3 more reborn babies. Lilly (the toddler) was painted at the same time as Alba, but Bear didn’t like how she was turning out so she stripped the paint off her to start over. She moved on to tiny Treasure, didn’t like how that was turning out either, so shelved it (it hasn’t been stripped yet, so we’ll see what happens there). Finally she switched over to working on Twin A, which is now painted and varnished and waiting for rooting. She also started Lilly again, and is much happier with how that’s coming along. Look forward to updates in our next post!
