Maria Lynn Grover is not only a sculptor and artist in her own right, she also shares her talents as a mold maker and caster with her fellow artists. She’s excited by the lineup slated to come from Maria Lynn Dolls this year: “Over this coming summer, we will be pouring several new releases from some fantastic sculptors, including soft-body partial babies, full-body silicone babies, and some lovely new miniatures as well.
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In a career that’s already passed the half-century mark, artist Beverly Stoehr has designed dolls for porcelain, vinyl, resin, and more. “My first and greatest love is creating babies,” she said. “I’m looking now at a new sculpt I made to be cast in silicone. I’m looking at coming out with two different sizes: one would be a 22-inch older baby and the other an 18-inch newborn. I would love to see my new sculpted baby produced as a kit for reborners.”
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Launching her career as a reborn artist in 2010, Susan Gibbs switched to silicone babies in 2014 and has become a highly regarded teacher as well as an award-winning creator. Though the global pandemic put a halt to her in-person workshops and classes, she was able to continue her online courses in silicone painting. This year she added something new: a contest open to her online students from 2020 through 2022.
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Julia Kristal has always loved dolls and collected them into adulthood. In college, while she was focused on music and education, she also began learning to draw and loved using colored pencils to draw realistic portraits. She also learned to knit and crochet, and she began making dolls using yarn. When she finally stumbled across reborn dollmaking and sculpting, she had found her niche. Since her love of dolls had never ended, it probably was inevitable that she would eventually become a doll artist.
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The idea of Enchanted Kreature Kits (EKK) started at the very beginning of my reborning days. I started reborning in March 2011 under the name Enchanted Moments Nursery. As a “noob,” I had no idea where to find blank doll kits. I didn’t know that there were reborn doll supplies and kit dealers out there, so I found everything I started with on eBay. I was so excited to buy a lot of reborn dollmaking supplies for a hefty (to me) $100. It included three blank kits, a set of used paints, and a Bountiful Baby DVD tutorial on how to reborn. I watched the video three times before I was brave enough to paint my first one. My first attempt was on a Berenger play doll, and my son instantly fell in love with him.
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A relative newcomer to the silicone baby doll scene, Nadaleena Mirat Brettmann has been painting dolls for three years. “I have been purchasing blank kits from the amazing Bonnie Sieben, cast in silicone by Kristin Englert — two of the kindest people in the dolly world, with immense talent!” she said. “I have, however, moved to sculpting and painting my own lifelike sculptures, which will be available in limited editions of six to 10 babies.”
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A couple of years ago, when my 2-year-old granddaughter Keira was visiting, my daughter said she was really intrigued by puppets and asked if I had any of the nylon puppets left that I sold many years ago. The puppets I made were popular in the 1980s, and I literally made and sold hundreds of them at that time. I knew I had one packed away but couldn’t remember where it was stored.
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My husband and partner Dave and I are working to get our new company off and running. It has been a big job, since it is so different from my start. In the beginning, I was co-owner and sculptor at The Doll Artworks, starting in 1990 until the year 2000. The Doll Artworks produced molds making porcelain dolls. My job was to sculpt each doll, paint the sample, wig and dress them, and then do the photography for advertising.
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