La Nación An artisan “creates hyper-realistic babies” in Brazil

In the workshop of the Brazilian artisan Ana Paula Guimaraes, several hyper-realistic babies are sitting on the sofa, and others “sleep” in their cribs. "I don't just make dolls, I make dreams come true," she explains to AFP Guimaraes, while, holding the head of a newborn baby, she finishes coloring the lips in light red with a brush.

They are called “reborn babies”, an art that consists of creating dolls with such precision of detail that they look like flesh and blood babies. In his workshop in Contagem, in the state of Minas Gerais (southeast), the resemblance of these "creatures", which appear to be between a few days and 2 years old, with reality is amazing.

The body is made of cloth, the head and limbs are made of rubber, and the hair is made of sheepskin and implanted “thread by thread.” Various types of paint are used for eyelashes and nails. Some have slightly marked veins. And even birthmarks.

“The most difficult thing is to achieve realism in the skin tones, because there are more than 20 colors that we use to give that realism, and also the hair implant is a very laborious part and can be the most difficult,” he says . Clients can choose the color of the eyes, hair and skin, as well as the shape of the face.

World War II

Guimaraes, who has always worked as an artisan, has been creating “reborn babies” since 2008. She has already made over a thousand. It takes an average of seven days to make them, and then he sells them for up to 7,000 reais (about $1,300) to customers, mostly Brazilians, but also from countries like Portugal, the United States, France or Australia.

“First I saw a girl doing them on TV and I loved it. I also wanted to start making them, since I have been working with crafts since I was very young, ”she explains. This discipline, with a strong presence in Europe and the United States, has its roots in the scarcity experienced in World War II, when mothers repaired their children's broken dolls with all kinds of materials.

Hence the name “reborn” (reborn). It then evolved into creating the babies from scratch. Guimaraes' clients include collectors, children (“although they are not toys”), parents who “want to perpetuate their grown babies” and people with reproductive problems or who have suffered abortions.

“Once a client came looking for me because she had been trying to get pregnant for eight years and she asked me for a baby. Two months later she became pregnant naturally, after undergoing numerous treatments,” explains Guimaraes, who runs online courses for those who want to learn this expanding art in Brazil. “Oddly enough, the baby I made was identical to the baby that was born,” she adds.

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