A child appears in one of the most ordinary families. An excellent healthy boy, height 59 centimeters, weight 3.5 kilograms. Mom doesn’t want a soul in him, she dresses him up in beautiful suits, lulls him, rolls him in a stroller. Her son is just a miracle, he doesn't cry, doesn't stain diapers, doesn't raise his parents at night, because he is a doll. The most naturalistic of all possible is a reborn doll
She is distinguished from a living baby only by the motionless glass look and the absence of breath. Reborn hair - thin mohair, vinyl body, glass eyes. He is part of a huge collection of handmade dolls, made to order and sent to his "mom" in a wooden box by mail. "He's not alive!" - the uninitiated exclaim with admiration after the first impression, and horror replaces emotion.
It would seem an innocent toy, but why does it realize the primitive, most terrible fear of any mother - to see a child who does not move, does not breathe, does not blink?
Games People Play
Baby doll makers talk about the beneficial effects of their "wards" on the mental state of women. Taking in her arms a heavy doll that looks so much like a living child, a woman experiences the same feelings as when she sees a real baby. Childless ladies realize their maternal instinct, mothers of adult children remember their youth. At the Moscow exhibition in October 2011, girls over 30 gathered around the demonstration tent. " Despite the fact that the cost of a reborn doll starts from 20 thousand rubles, there were many interested. One - bought a "brother" for an already existing reborn, the other chose a "daughter" for herself.
The collector Inna Bogdanova, mother of an adult son, already has 70 doll children. They live in the living room of an ordinary Moscow apartment, she combs their hair, dresses them up, but, of course, doesn't take them out for walks. “This is my hobby,” says Inna, “I always wanted a lot of children, but there was no opportunity.”
However, more and more girls and women are making "reborns" not in addition to living children, but instead! Dolls buy a crib, a stroller, clothes for the season, a reborn is bathed daily, smeared with cream, photographed, and the photo is posted on the Web. The forums are filled with posts about how we walked ", suggestions" Check out our suit "and even questions - How do you sleep?" The usual conversation of young mothers, isn't it? It is only alarming that we are talking about the non-living.
49-year-old Linda Jacobson, a collector from America, the homeland of the reborn, admits that she makes up for the need for young children by buying herself naturalistic dolls. “We go to the park, I take them with me when I walk the dog, I carry them in a stroller or carry them in a sling, or lull them in a blanket, and many people think that my kids are real.” Linda is very happy when people on a walk take a doll for a living child and are interested in his age and name. But when a woman is asked a question about real adoption, she replies that this option is not for her, it is very difficult and too much expense.
Baby dolls have become very popular all over the world, the most famous incident associated with them happened last year: an Australian policeman saw a lifeless child in a car, rushed to the car, broke the glass, and what was the policeman's surprise when he found himself in his hands doll!
Where did they come from?
There are several versions about the origin of reborn dolls. According to some sources, these babies "began to be born" in the United States in the late 1980s. According to others, it turns out that reborn began to develop after the Spanish company Dolls by Berengeur appeared on the doll market. These "kids" were positioned as play dolls, and then began to be used as mannequins to demonstrate children's clothing. Now they are the subject of collectors' search. The most famous doll by Dolls by Berengeur is the La Infanta Leonor baby doll, an exact copy of the daughter of Prince Philip of Asturias and his wife Princess Letizia. This doll was a huge success and was sold out instantly.
Then puppeteer masters began to appear, giving the dolls, already similar to living babies, a truly human believability. Reborn translated from English means “revived” or “reborn again.”
At first, the artists worked on ordinary play dolls, then sets appeared - the basis for creating toy babies. Now you can order a doll of any race, sleeping, smiling, and of different “age” - from premature babies to first graders. In addition, there are fragrances that give the doll the smell of a child. And recently - what a miracle! - craftsmen have learned to imitate breathing and heartbeat.
Reborns came to Russia in 2007-2008 and have already gained enormous popularity. At first they were purchased abroad, but now their own masters have appeared - Daria Panova, Galina Gaisina, Lyubov Firsova.
Legs, pens, paints, hair …
Promotional video:
Each reborn doll is unique, so it has a name. date of birth and passport. It all starts with a blank-mold, they are of several types. Mold is a set of head, arms and legs. Sometimes it also includes a textile body stuffed with filler and weights to give the doll weight. The surface of the workpiece is degreased, slots for the nose and eyes are made, and the most difficult work begins - painting. The dolls are painted with acrylic or oil paints. First, the "baby" is given a natural shade, and then the master applies a unique pattern to the skin of a living child: veins, capillaries, marbling, specks and so on. To fix the result, the workpiece is covered with a special varnish, which also gives the skin some roughness and adds realism.
The next stage is the "implantation" of mohair hair. This is a very painstaking work: each hair is glued one by one to the doll's head. At the final stage, glass eyes are inserted, the body is stuffed with synthetic fluff with a plastic or glass weighting agent.
Psychotherapy or neurotic attachment?
In America, in the state of Illinois, there is a school for expectant mothers, where pregnant women undergo a "young fighter course" - they learn how to deal with children. Many mothers-to-be have never seen a newborn baby up close, and using the example of dolls, the school staff quite clearly tell the students about children, explain the principles of care, teach how to hold, swaddle, and put on diapers. Women confirm that after such lessons they feel much more confident, because the reborn is very similar to a living child. “A one-day-old baby looks like an alien,” says one of the mothers, “if I saw my Zach for the first time without preparation, I would be scared, he is so fragile and awkward! But during the course we were shown newborn dolls, and I knew that the first puffiness would pass, the legs and arms would not be so tightly pressed, and my baby would become handsome! " Pregnant women confessthat they really liked “playing with dolls”, they imagined that this was their already born child, and the maternal instinct began to “work - in advance.
But many psychologists insist on this. that such games are nothing more than sublimation and escapism, a departure from reality. There is nothing reprehensible in the dolls themselves and their collecting, they can really have a beneficial effect on the psyche, but immersion in their life, replacing a living person with a toy, neurotic attachment lead to the fact that lovers of baby dolls become patients of psychologists, and sometimes psychiatrists.
A terrible tragedy occurred in the family of Anna from Moscow: her child, a little son, died in a car accident. She could not forgive herself for this, she could not survive the grief alone, and the whole year of treatment in the clinic did not give anything. The doctors advised having another child, but their patient was unable to cope with her fear and pain of loss. Then one of the experts advised to buy a reborn. The girl followed the advice, and the craftsmen made a doll - an exact copy of the deceased baby. The toy was supposed to become a medicine, a softening of the transitional stage between the awareness of the tragedy and further life.
Anna started to come to her senses little by little, taking care of the reborn. The depression is over, and it's time for a new stage - to prepare for the birth of a real baby. However, time passed. and Anna did not even think to leave the doll, the girl transferred all her love for her son to her. “I will no longer be able to give birth to a child. - she says, - I will constantly be afraid of losing him, but with a doll it's not scary, I like taking care of her, walking with the baby, it seems to me that his cheeks turn pink on the street.