A woman who worked as an insurance contract manager decided to retrain and leave her job 17 years ago to dedicate herself to making reborn dolls and now earns 1,500 euros for each piece. This has allowed him to have a stable income and support himself, all thanks to his creations, which are so realistic that they seem real.
Sylvie Bedra, 55, spends her days painting tiny veins, implanting hairs one by one and applying vinyl nail polish to create her famous ‘reborn’ babies, which is how these types of hyper-realistic dolls intended for collectors are known. Their weight, their size, the texture of their skin… everything is designed to faithfully imitate a newborn.
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It all started one day when she decided to browse eBay, when she accidentally came across the world of reborn dolls. “I was just aimlessly wandering around the website and came across an English nursery that sold these incredibly realistic babies. One of them looked a lot like my son. I had never played with dolls before, but I found it fascinating,” she says in an interview with Le Figaro EmploYo. So he decided to buy one.
Her dolls began to be searched on eBay
When he received it, his disappointment was so great that he decided to repaint it on his own. And that first attempt was a success: the beginning of a change of direction that I did not expect. “I already painted pictures; I loved to create. I spent a year researching techniques for making reborn dolls, only in English because nothing similar existed in France.” Over time, her dolls began to be highly sought after on eBay, even outside the country.
Now this former insurance manager creates between two and three dolls a month. It all starts with a kit: a vinyl head and limbs sculpted by (mostly American) artists. She hand paints them, bakes them, and then implants the hair “hair by hair, with a needle, using mohair or real human hair,” she explains. Then add the eyes (which are usually blown glass), eyelashes, nails and just enough weight to make them feel like a real baby.
“To make a newborn doll, it takes approximately one week. For a toddler doll, a baby around one year old, it can take two weeks,” he details. The process is slow and precise: a poorly achieved skin tone or a color that is too pink, and realism is lost. “Experience is essential. It’s like any other craft,” he highlights about his skill.
Since she started, she estimates she has created about 400 dolls, all different. “I use the same kit to make a blonde baby, then a redhead, with curly hair or another style. I’m not interested in making the same brunette doll several times.” Now she works mainly on commission, for loyal clients who are usually adult women collectors or art lovers, many of whom she met on Facebook. “They like to change their clothes, comb their hair or simply admire them. It is a visual pleasure, not a substitute for a child,” he remarks.
Sells the largest dolls for 1,500 euros
Even so, she does not accept just any request, especially when they ask her to recreate deceased babies. “I refuse to cross the line between art and recreation. I’m not looking for absolute realism; I just want to create beautiful objects, not perfect copies of children.”
Their dolls sell between 500 and 750 euros for newborn size, and up to 1,500 euros for larger ones, the size of a small child. Some renowned artists can auction theirs for up to 6,000 euros, says Sylvie. “But in the world of crafts, the time invested is never fully compensated. We think about it day and night, we often work late, out of pure passion,” he confesses. Today, his income is between 1,500 and 2,000 euros net per month, depending on sales.