Born from vinyl: Sask. artist’s reborn dolls offer surprising benefits

Artist Lorna Robert creates lifelike babies out of vinyl -- known as 'reborn dolls.' (Teena Monteleone/paNOW)

By Teena Monteleone

A unique vendor was turning heads at a craft show north of Prince Albert this past weekend.

Lorna Robert was selling baby dolls that look so realistic, you’re compelled to pick them up just to prove to yourself they aren’t.

The artist, originally from Spruce Home, has been making the lifelike babies known as ‘reborn dolls’ since 2010, after she was bitten by a tick and developed Lyme disease.

“I was quite disabled but had to do something, so I started making dolls. I have a background in art and I’m also a child psychologist, so my life has been around young children and it was a good match for me,” Robert said.

Now she sells her work internationally and has customers from all over North America, Spain and Indonesia.

Nearly all of the reborn dolls Robert had on display at a craft show in Spruce Home this weekend were sold. (Teena Monteleone/paNOW)

Some grandparents order them as keepsakes to remember their grandchildren as babies. Others simply collect the dolls like they would any other.

But Robert said her creations are so much more than just dolls; they serve a deeper purpose and can be used to help women through miscarriage, infertility, the loss of a child or anxiety and depression. She has also sold dolls to senior’s homes for residents living with dementia.

“I got a letter from a granddaughter once who said her grandpa had been suffering from dementia for 10 years, but when he received the doll, he started talking to people again, sleeping through the night, and eating. He would coo at the baby and sing to her and the granddaughter said he hadn’t been doing any of that for years,” Robert said.

The process to make the reborn dolls look so realistic begins with a vinyl mold of a baby that she purchases from various sculptors. Robert does about five different colours under the skin to get the look of blood flow and the tone of skin just right. From veins to fingernails, no details are overlooked.

“The hair is hand rooted with a little barbed needle one at a time (along with) the eyebrows and eyelashes,” Robert said.

The doll is then assembled on a cloth body and is weighted so it moves like a baby. The price for one starts at about $450 and goes up from there depending on some of the materials used, like handblown glass eyes, or if the vinyl sculptor’s design is a limited edition.

Each doll can take between 40 and 100 hours to complete depending on the detail. Robert has made more than 500 reborn dolls so far.

“People either absolutely love them or they’re totally creeped out by them because they look so real,” Robert said. “I don’t mind that because I think any good piece of art that elicits that kind of emotion is probably a good piece of art. And you never know the viewer’s background. For some people, the dolls may bring up sad memories.”

Whatever the reason for purchasing a reborn doll, many who visited Robert’s vendor table at the weekend craft show agreed — there is comfort in cuddling such beautiful and huggable works of art.