How to Remove and Replace the Head on a Reborn Doll

Recently, I had a customer who needed to remove the head from her doll's body in order to have some work done on the doll. Although removing and replacing a doll head is quite easy, it can seem intimidating to behead your baby doll! I made this video to illustrate the proper way to do this to help overcome the fear of ruining your baby.


Some things you may need to remove your reborn doll's head for may include adding a magnetic pacifier, changing the eyes, or perhaps adding stuffing or weighting. Hope this video helps you on your way to improving your babies everyone!

How to Replace Eyes on a Reborn Doll Tutorial

I had a customer request this video a couple months ago because she needed to fix her baby's eyes. While changing the doll's clothes, her daughter had placed too much pressure on the eye, and this particular doll being as soft and flexible as she was, the eye got shoved back in the socket a bit. So I thought I would share this video with the rest of you in case anyone has a similar problem, or if anyone just plum wants to change the eyes on their doll! Hope it helps.


As a side note, if you are working with a doll that has a cloth body rather than a jointed full body, you can view my post on removing and replacing the head on a reborn with a cloth body. Also, typically the replacing of eyes requires you to replace the eyelashes as well. You can view my tutorial on fixing reborn eyelashes to help with this.

Valentine's 2013 Reborn Giveaway!


I have some exciting news everyone! I am holding a giveaway for this sweet reborn baby girl!! Starting NOW until Valentine's day, February 14, 2013 at 11:59 pm PST you can enter to win this precious girl. The giveaway will be held on Facebook. Entering is easy; here's all you have to do:

The Differences Between a Tummy Plate and a Vinyl Torso on a Reborn Doll

Reborn Andi with a Tummy Plate
I've lost track of how many times a customer has asked me what the difference is between a tummy plate and a vinyl torso. Looking at the pictures on eBay, I can understand why someone not completely immersed in the doll field would be confused by the two. When being posed for photos, the reborns are all "dolled up" so to speak to give them the most realistic appearance possible. In photos, cloth portions are hidden by clothing or a blanket, seams are covered by diapers, etc. It is how a new reborn owner might pose their reborn baby in a cradle at home. After all, the point is to make the reborn baby look real. So how do you know which is which underneath the fabric? Well, I hope this post will help.

What Type of Glue Should Be Used on a Reborn Doll?

The results of using bad glue
A couple months ago, a lady emailed me, asking if I could perform repairs on her reborn which she had purchased from someone else a few years ago. It had been her first reborn doll and held a special place in her heart, but to her dismay, the hair had been gradually falling out! She sent me some photos of the back of her reborn's head, and sure enough, there were bald patches creeping up all over the head. I told her I would be happy to replace and SEAL the hair, and so she sent little Shanna (the reborn doll) over to me.

Upon initial inspection, it appeared that there was no glue on the inside of Shanna's head to hold her hair firmly in place. But what was really baffling was that I could see only a few of the hairs poking through the vinyl, much fewer than what was left on the outside of her head. And so I proceeded with the task by first removing the original hair in preparation of a new rooting job.

How to Care for Reborn Mohair

You loved gazing at the photos of your reborn doll online, and her hair just looked so darn cute in the photos. But now that you've taken her out of her box, her hair looks, well, a little messy. (Your hair would be messy too if you had taken a several day journey by box!) So now you're holding your beautiful reborn baby and wondering just how to go about caring for mohair. Here are the answers to a few questions you may be asking:

How to Make a Magnetic Pacifier for your Reborn

Whether you have a reborn or are making a reborn, you may want to give your doll a pacifier that will enhance his or her realism. Since the reborn can't actually suck on a pacifier, the way to make it appear that the reborn is sucking on one is to create a "dummy" pacifier with a magnet.

To start, get a regular baby pacifier of whatever color and brand you prefer. Make sure it is sized correctly for your reborn's face, usually a size 0+ will work for the standard newborn-sized reborn. Using a craft knife, you will cut off the nipple. I prefer the craft knife over scissors because I can get much closer to the plastic. With scissors, you often end up with a small bit of the nipple left, and that makes it hard to glue the magnet flush against the pacifier.