News Summary

The term "newborning" may

be new to some art and doll lovers,

but not to avid collector Deborah Smith.

Newborning — painting, baking, shading and blushing vinyl parts to create an ultra-realistic doll — is something Smith first heard about a few years ago while browsing eBay.

Her hobby kicked in to high gear after she took a class on the craft earlier this year. Now she makes her own newborns, complete with clothing and a name tag.

"I've made around seven," she said. "I have one on eBay and have sold one so far, but I have a real hard time giving them up."

Creating the dolls is a time-consuming process that takes practice, Smith said.

She starts with a blank kit, where she first paints the inside of the pieces purple to give the skin a translucent look.

Then she paints on the different layers of skin, moving from light to dark starting with the veins. In order to make each layer permanent, she then bakes the pieces after each coat for about eight minutes at 270 degrees. After veining the arms, blushing the cheeks, hands and feet, she also highlights the nose, ears and fingernails. Before putting the doll together, Smith adds hair to the head, eyelashes and eyebrows by micro-rooting it with high-quality mohair.

Smith finally fills the body, arms and legs with fiberfill and weight pellets, then seals and attaches the body parts, making the newborn ready to be clothed.

"I've taken it to Wal-Mart to look for clothes and people want to know how old it is," said Smith. "People aren't aware that they could be dolls."