Irish woman makes hyper-realistic ‘reborn’ dolls

March 22, 2010 by Shawn Douglas
Filed under: News

An Irish woman has been making hyper-realistic dolls of newborns for clients around the world.

Glenda Ewart used to be employed as a chef. But while pregnant with her first child, Ewart discovered the art of doll sculpting while searching online for baby clothing. Things have been different for Ewart ever since.

“I find it easy but other people do find it difficult,” Ewart told Fionola Meredith of The Irish Times.

“I probably spend too much time on each one, but I really enjoy every moment of it. It’s all about creating one of a kind, not churning them out on a conveyor belt. Besides, I’m the mum of three boys, so I love getting the chance to go out shopping for tiny baby girl clothes.”

Ewart, of Castlerock, Co Derry in Ireland, participates in what is a small but thriving international community of doll makers. The dolls — often called “reborn” dolls or living dolls — are the product of at least several weeks of meticulous work painting, rooting hair and scenting the doll.

Ewart explained the process of creating the dolls to The Irish Times, indicating that multiple coats of paint are required to recreate the mottled look of a newborn’s skin. After the paint is cured in the oven, the process of carefully implanting more than 20,000 strands of fine mohair into the scalp of the doll begins. Additional accessories can be added at a buyers request to make the doll even more lifelike.

The dolls are then sold to buyers around the world. Typical buyers request a recreation of their own newborn as a long-term memento, but others use it for more therapeutic needs. Some fashion themselves as adoptive mothers, going so far as to place the reborn doll into a pram or placing it in a specially created nursery.

The Irish Times mentions that some psychologists believe that such women are able to get the same rush of hormones from holding a reborn doll that most women receive from holding a newborn. However, Ewart simply believes “that people just love cuddling babies.”

Examples of Ewart’s dolls can be found on her Web site.