Making reborn dolls gives local woman joy
A local woman who makes reborn dolls says she was inspired while working for a welfare organisation in Limpopo and Mpumalanga which took orphans and abandoned babies in.
Yolande Stevens told Herald she used to see babies being dropped off every day and when she moved to Bloemfontein, it left an empty place in her heart.
“I had a longing for the babies being there every day. For our 15th marriage anniversary my husband sent me to Johannesburg to learn how to make reborn dolls,” says Yolande.
After completing the reborn-making course, Yolande hit the ground running.
She has been making these reborn dolls since 2007.
Her beautiful reborn dolls are works of art and she puts a lot of effort into bringing them to ‘life’.
The kits are imported from America and each kit consists of an unpainted head, arms, and legs.
It takes roughly 13-14 layers of paint for a doll to be perfectly painted.
Yolande says the clothes for her dolls are custom-made.
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“The hair is mohair and gets rooted one by one with a rooting needle. From start to finish it takes around 4-5 days to complete a ‘baby’, yes I call them babies,” says Yolande.
When she is working on the dolls she likes to jokingly tell her Facebook friends that she is ‘making babies’.
“My husband’s work moved us around often, even to Zambia and Zimbabwe, and ‘making babies’ was something that I can take along and do wherever we go. I have a passion for babies, so I would not call making babies a ‘job’, making them fills a hole in my heart,” she says.
Although she works as an accountant she makes time for her dolls after work and on weekends. Most of the dolls are sold by word of mouth.
“The market is not only for little girls who want their own real-looking doll, but adult ladies who for instance have lost a baby and have that longing to hold a baby they never had the privilege to hold. “Other ladies get these babies because they only had boys and longed to dress up a baby girl. I have also made dolls for old age homes, and they give comfort to Alzheimer’s patients. “They are also used in therapy for people in distress.”
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The dolls are made with love and care from vinyl (something between silicon and plastic).
She says she prefers not selling them to very small girls as they can get damaged by dark colour clothing or blankets, ink, or the hair could get damaged from handling.
However, if any damage occurs she can assist with doing some maintenance at no cost. Yolande has always loved dolls since she was a little girl.
She used to take her lunch money and lay-buy dolls at the hobby store rather than buy food.
“If I could have had a reborn doll as a little girl, it would have given me the ultimate joy.
“I have several dolls of my own. The joy these babies give to the people who buy them is enough to keep me making them. With the exchange rate, the supplies are extremely expensive. And even so, I am selling them at the best price I possibly can in order to make some girl or lady’s heart happy.”
Each doll costs R3000 and comes in all ethnic groups.
