** This is a monthly blog feature, for reborn artists by a reborn artist! This is not a sponsored post by the sculpter or distributor, just a featurette I personally would love to read about the ins & outs of specific sculpts in the market currently. I will try to cover all the important points, my fave parts of the sculpt, proper eye size for open eyed sculpts (because sometimes distributors have different eye sizes listed), body type, limb type, vinyl colour & whether neutralizing washes will be required per skin tone, & baby clothing size! Think I missed something? Feel free to comment with additional info you’d have liked to see about the sculpt & I’ll try to include them in my next feature & answer the current questions in the comments section below.

Now introducing ‘Harley’ by Melody Hess

Pulled from Melody’s website: Harley is 19″ long with a head circumference of 13″. She has full arms and full legs. She will be included with a doe suede body (your body will be signed by me if you order your kit off of my website) and a Certificate Of Authenticity. Her vinyl is a light cream skin tone with no need of any neutralizing and the perfect baby skin softness.

Edition Size: 500
Status: SOLD OUT 

First off, Melody didn’t lie one bit about her skin tone. No neutralizing required, and she was a nice 19 inches in total. I believe I used one flesh layer to lighten her a bit, but only because I like my Caucasian babies a little on the paler side. But truly fabulous base colour!

Now to start, let me just say I was super super excited about this sculpt. A beautiful face (totally reminded me of my Meekly at birth), full length limbs (my fave!) and Melody was even offering a contest open for artists. Which, let me just say, for a still-relatively-new-to-the-profession reborner, it’s a tremendous opportunity. And super fun! I also believe Melody’s contest is still open so if you happen to have a Harley in your possession, it’s probably not too late to still get your baby in before judgment day. 😀

All the prototypes I saw of Harley were AMAZING too!

I immediately had an idea of what I wanted to do for my contest submission but I ended up being approached by a previous client to reborn her keeper Harley, and, of course, I said yes! She wanted Harley as a boy with painted hair.

Which brings me to my next point: Gender! This sculpt works as both a baby or a girl! And not all sculpts can be either, or at least not successfully. Some just look more boyish or girly. Harley made an adorable boy, and for the record, my Harley was going to be a girl, with barely there rooted hair. 😉

Here are some pics of my little Harley (& contest submission)!

Perfect little ears!

See? Such soft vinyl – perfect for posing.

I personally thought Harley’s body was a little ill matched for the limbs (pre-birthing). Because the limbs are skinnier, like a real newborns would be (great touch, Melody). But once I put him together, I was amazed that he was perfectly proportioned. I think left to my own devices, I could probably have put him on an 18 inch full limb body too and probably would have gotten away with it. But I gotta say, I just love the full body with a ruched bum – the one Emily Jameson and Laura Lee Eagles always use for their babies. I think it has to be my favourite body ever, and this is the one that comes with Harley. So truly, no complaints on body size from me! 😉

Also, hers came signed by Melody (which makes it infinitely cooler!)

My fave addition: his milia!

His head is on the softer side, but won’t distort when filled well with polyfil (as some super soft sculpts will sometimes do). Although I didn’t root him, I imagine he’d be perfect for rooting as he’s super soft. But if you prefer a firmer surface you can stuff him with some polyfil before rooting too.

Some of my additional fave features of Harley Hess:

– He magnetized easy, despite having an open mouth. Which means both modified and magnetized pacis work for him. Usually, again, it’s one or the other with an open mouth sculpt.

-His open mouth also meant he can suck on his fingers. And since all of his fingers are separated (AWESOME!) you can pose him chewing on almost any of them! (& I did).



See? Super cute & totally realistic!

You can also bend his legs and fingers. Almost unheard of for a vinyl sculpt that isn’t an LDC sculpt. Truly super soft & flexible!

– I also loooved his feet so sooooo much. I don’t think I’ve ever had a sculpt that had such realistic newborn foot wrinkles. It was one of the pleasant surprises about the sculpt. They look just out of utero wrinkled. I only wish I’d thought to give him a heel prick. (I love heel pricks).

All told, he is the perfect newborn sized. He fits all of Carter’s newborn stuff, and H&M baby size 0-1 mos. With his existing body, he’d probably wear 0-3 mos for most brands (& not swim in them). But on a slightly smaller body, you might be able to squeeze him into some preemie shirts & footless pants. 😉

Have a question about Harley still? Let me know in the comments! Or if you’ve reborn him (or are a collector and have him on your wishlist or in your collection already) let me know what you love most about him!!