My mother-in-law, Liviana Sirmans, was angry and amused at the same time. She had witnessed a fireman breaking the back window of her SUV that was parked at the Walmart parking lot. Apparently, a couple had seen a baby in the back seat and called for help. A fireman arrived and proceeded to break the window of Liviana’s SUV to “rescue” the baby.  The couple had thought that a reckless mother had left her baby by itself locked in the car. There was indeed a baby in the back seat, but it was a reborn doll, so life-like looking that it was mistaken for a human baby!

Liviana loves dolls and has been collecting them all her life from different countries like New Zealand, Greece, and Italy (her home country). These dolls vary in size and are dressed in their country’s national costume. Her favorite doll is Aldo, a porcelain Capodimonte (Italian porcelain manufactory).

Aldo was gifted to her by her husband for their 25th wedding anniversary in Venice. Aldo is dressed in a navy outfit as a servant boy, and he poses at     Liviana’s entertainment center in her living room.

The first reborn doll she ever saw was in Australia where she flew for her son’s wedding in 2002. She liked that doll so much that when she returned to the States, she bought one for herself from an online seller in Canada. Besides the doll, the seller shared links to video tutorials that taught Liviana how to make these dolls herself.

Ever since, she was hooked, and she became a One-Of-A-Kind (OOAK) doll maker. This means that each doll she makes is unique and no two dolls are alike.

To begin with, Liviana shops for the necessary supplies. Kits can contain a set of vinyl arms, legs, and one head; pattern and flannel-like fabric to sew the body; heat-set paint to color the head and limbs; and glass or acrylic eyes and eyelashes.  Also included are magnets, pacifiers, polyester pellets, and polyfill to fill the body.

Additional necessary supplies include Mohair strands or human hair, felting needles for microrooting the hair on the doll’s head, and of course, clothes to dress the doll and diapers. Liviana both buys and makes the clothes. For example, she knits the booties herself, and sometimes, she knits hats and sews dresses too.

Her doll making tools include paint brushes, cosmetic wedges, felting needles, heat set glue, and nose drill bits.

Liviana buys the body kits, Genesis paint, eyes, and eyelashes from Bountiful Baby, a large store and manufacturer of reborn supplies located in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Mohair strands come from Jann’s Reborn Doll Eyes, an eBay store where the artist, Jann, sells doll eyes and hair.

Her Procedure

Each doll is a unique work of art. It takes several hours of tedious work and patience to rebirth these dolls. Liviana’s rebirthing process begins with washing the head, arms, and legs and then painting them. She uses several layers of paint and then bakes each layer at 265 degrees Fahrenheit for eight minutes until she achieves the desired color. On some dolls, she paints tiny blue veins and even fake tears on their face.

Then, she stuffs the arms and legs with plastic pellets, enclosed in a stocking, for weight and with polyfill. She affixes the eyes and eyelashes on the head, draws the eyebrows, and paints the lips and nails. She continues by microrooting the Mohair using a felting needle and glue to keep each hair in place. She drills the nostrils and pushes a small piece of dark colored fabric behind them to give the illusion of depth as if breathing. Then, she stuffs the head with the same materials as the limbs.

She finishes the head by placing a small magnet behind the mouth that holds a magnified pacifier. Liviana always cautions her customers that magnets could interfere with heart pacemakers. So, they should keep their doll away from their chest and away from electronic devices like mobile phones and computers.

Last, she sews the cloth body and stuffs it with pellets and polyfill like the rest of the doll parts. She attaches the head, arms, and legs onto it.  The doll is now finished.  All it needs is a diaper, clothes, and booties. Some dolls wear hair accessories or a bracelet on their wrist.  Voilà!  A beautiful baby doll is reborn.

Each doll comes with a “birth certificate” signed by Liviana that bears her shop name “Bimbi Belli Nursery” at the top. The buyer writes the doll’s name and purchase date on the certificate. Liviana also includes care instructions, and she repairs damaged dolls for her customers.

Reasons to Buy a Reborn Doll

Their realistic appearance may daunt some people, but the truth is that reborn dolls can offer emotional support to mothers who grieve the loss of a child or had a miscarriage. They also make a great educational aid for young girls and mothers-to-be who learn how to care for a baby, or for residents of nursing homes. As a toy, they make a great gift for older girls.

For example, my mother has two of Liviana’s reborn dolls on her bed.  She likes them so much that she talks to them every day.  This is her way of expressing her yearning for grandchildren, and for coping with the “empty nest” syndrome.

Reborner  hobbyists   like Liviana are unique artists who create dolls so realistic that they resemble human babies    in      their facial expressions, body shape, and surface of the skin.

Since 2002, Liviana has created 200 fully reborn dolls in various ethnicities like white, African American, and Asian. These beautiful dolls can help a grieving parent who lost a child or add to the doll collection of a doll enthusiast.

They are popular among manufacturers, consumers, collectors, and artists who enjoy their life-like appearance. With proper love and care, Bimbi Belli babies bring joy and love to everyone who encounters them.