So. . . I’ve officially moved from artist to collector. And already trying to ensure this whole collecting thing doesn’t get out of hand.  Kinda like my aunt, who I can blame for getting me into this whole dolly world to start with (she was a porcelain collector; her out of hand collection was in the hundreds!) She started me on the Ashton Drake newborns. I had every one that Yolanda Bello sculpted. And now my Meekly has them. So. . . I suppose becoming a collector was going to happen eventually. But it took some time for me to feel set.

This is my little guy.  My Nico.

Since I started, I was on the lookout for sculpts that looked like my kiddos. I love portrait babies. I’ve wanted to have portrait babies. BUT I have never felt like I had the skills to reproduce them precisely. LOL! Mostly the hair. I still am not totally happy with my hair technique, esp considering they were both baldies with barely there hair. And I love the idea of rooting with their own hair (also meaning I have to wait until they actually both have haircuts. Being baldies, this process always happens loooooong after two! LOL!!) So anyway, needless to say, I do have a Linus Legler in my possession now. Who will be my Sneaky portrait baby. But still too scared to start on him. And I also have a Camille Timmerman Juniper Altenkirch who I plan to reborn as my Meekly portrait baby (unless another pops up that I fancy more to her likeness!) But these are ones I’ve planned for. AND not really collection babies, per se. Esp as I may never start them. HAH!

But Nico. . . This is a funny story. And how I ended up with him is pretty random (& cool). First time I saw him I thought he looked like my Sneaky (very similar to Linus, who was already sold out by the time I entered the reborn scene). I reborn the first one as an OOAK adoptable baby, and almost kept him. I even named him. I decided to sell him, because I couldn’t afford to hold onto my babies (hells, I still can’t! But that’s another story! ;)) And regretted it. But I told myself I could always reborn a second one later. And I did. A custom. I rooted her, and sent her home as a Katie. I LOVED her so much though that I think I took like a trillion pictures of her.

Fast forward, I’m on FB and scrolling through my feed and see a Nico for sale. I immediately wanted to buy her. And I never feel this way. I was like ‘Wow, she’s pretty! I could totally paint her a bit more and freshen her up. How much is she?’ Then I realized, reading the caption, DOH, it was KATIE! My 2nd Nico I was oggling. LOLforever. I guess that’s the sign that I did indeed do a good job on her. As I rarely, if ever, stay in love with my work. Read: I always end up seeing my flaws, a huge reason I also can’t hold onto my own work. (In fact, I already asked a few artists about custom painting the hair on my Linus! LOL!) I didn’t think twice about it.

Baby Katie, on her photoshoot day.

I bought her back! I thought, I could always fix anything wrong with her in person. Let’s say she was marked up. Or missing hair. But, her momma took amazing care of her!  She came home PERFECT!!! Literally! Didn’t keep me from taking her apart and doing a makeover anyway. Because my techniques have changed since I worked on her first and I wanted her mottle deepened. And I wanted to fix her hands. Esp her nails. These pics of him show his old hands. They’ve been a work in progress. But needless to say, after only a few days, I effectively had a very new Nico in my possession, who I absolutely would not be parting with. Behold, new Nico.

He was micro rooted, a fully rooted baby before. And well, pretty sure everyone knows by now. I hate hair. The maintenance esp. I just far prefer a combi head.  So despite my fear to paint his hair, I did it anyway. I removed his sealant, and pulled out everything I’d rooted until I got to the crown.  Then I trimmed the remaining hair super short. I knew the moment I had his hair trimmed and in that little thick tuft, it was the best decision I made. Because he looked incredible without any paint.  Then I painted him. Incidentally, the combi look isn’t one I’d ever have tried out. Because it’s thicker than I’d ever done. BUT it was perfect. And changed how I combi forever. I painted his hair using pale blond (beige and flesh tone strokes). Again, not how I might’ve done it, but what I was working with to match his blond mop. And the finished product was soooo cute I again took a trillion pics of him. I am sooooo happy with it. And although I don’t think my son looked anything like this when he was born (he was more strawberry blond at birth) I do loooove it immensely on this doll. And def something I may reproduce exactly on my Linus (depending on artists’ availability for painting his hair for me; too afraid I’ll focus only on the flaws if I paint Linus’ hair myself. Oh to be a perfectionist! :P)

Already I’ve had the best time showing him off. Took him on a trip to my MIL’s (her sister was visiting and looking to add to her doll collection too) and he totally freaked everyone out. Love it!!! 😀