Staff Photo by Allison Carter/Chattanooga Times Free Press – Dec 14, 2010 – Jeanette Neaton, a Cleveland resident, makes lifelike dolls called Reborn Babies. This baby is one of the twins she has made. She just started making the dolls a year ago.Jeanette Neaton has made dolls for 25 years, but no hand-sewn soft sculpture ever fascinated her as did the hand-painted realism of reborn dolls when she first saw the lifelike babies.
“I fell in love with them and wanted one for my birthday,” said the Cleveland, Tenn., resident.
“I searched the Internet and found one I liked, but it was $2,500. I wouldn’t spend that for a doll! I thought it would be fun to try to make one.”
Researching the craft online, she found companies that sold training videos and supplies. Her first doll started a hobby that has evolved into Jeanette’s Little Blessings Nursery, her cottage company that gives birth to baby dolls for collectors around the country.
“Reborning” is an umbrella term for the particular painting process that enhances a vinyl doll to re-create a human baby. Craftspeople like Neaton who practice the art are known as reborners, according to online sources about the art form.