"Shout Out Sunday" Staci from Kootenay Reborn Nursery

Happy Sunday everyone!! Today is all about spreading the love & giving a "Shout Out" to one of my absolute FAVORITE artist!  Her name is Staci & she's the amazing artist behind Kootenay Reborn Nursery.  As I stated in a previous post, I will be dedicating Sunday's to artists that I admire & that I'm inspired by.  Staci is absolutely one of those people!

Kootenay Reborn Nursery is located in Canada.  You can find her on Facebook here.  Please take a moment to like her page.  You won't be sorry.  Staci may not be one of the "big named" artist but her work is just as good if not better.  In fact, one of her babies just won 2nd place in the ROSE/DEDS doll show last week!  CONGRATS STACI!  Very well deserved!!  She has such a great heart & doesn't mind sharing her "trade secrets".  In fact, I credit HER for teaching me how to paint hair.  Her tips and tutorials have been a game changer for me.  For that, I will always be grateful!  Ok, enough of my blabbering on!  Let's get to the good stuff! The pictures!!!

Thank you Staci for being an inspiration!!!  I look forward to seeing your future creations

"Show Off Saturday"....... Homemade Tiebacks/Headbands

Happy Saturday everyone.  I'm starting a new thing on my blog where I will have subject focused topics.    Saturday's will be focused on something new that I learned whether it be a technique, or a DIY project or simply a tip given and the results good or bad.  So... welcome to DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!!!

"Show Off Saturday"

I've been obsessed with purchasing tiebacks/headbands for my reborn babies lately & let me tell you the prices are adding up.  They start from $10 plus shipping for each tieback on Etsy!  So I told myself..."Self, you can make these yourself".  They didn't look particularly hard, but I didn't know where to start.  So I did what any normal, computer savvy woman would do & Youtubed the directions! lol  Yes ladies, youtube is your friend.  And as my Facebook friend said "Youtube is like college, you can learn anything" lol.

Click here for the Tutorial I used.  There are a billion of them.  Just type in burnt edge flowers or singed flowers & you will get a bunch of hits.  Anyway, I tried my hand at them yesterday.  I went to Walmart & purchased $1 pack of regular ribbon and some hemp cord for $1 as well.  I purchased a cigarette lighter as well which was less than $1.  Then I went to work.  I attached the flower to the hemp cord by using a needle & thread.  You can also use hot glue or fabric glue.  Anyway, here is my very 1st creation & I'm so stoked at how it turned out.  It was sooooo easy.  I actually stayed up most of the night & made a bunch of them.  I'm so proud of myself.  I would love to see you try it & share!

By the way, please excuse my model Quinlynn as her painted hair isn't finished yet.  Please be mindful that these are cell phone pictures.  So the quality isn't the best.

Inspiration or Plagiarism? How do you tell the difference?

Happy Saturday guys!  I've decided to start touching deeper topics on my blog due to some things that I've encountered on Facebook.  First let's be clear that these are my opinions only.  I'm not saying that my views are the gospel but I'm entitled to my views.  I don't like drama & therefore I don't comment on things that are dramatic on Facebook.  I choose to be positive and to stay in my lane & mind my business.  The reason I've decided to speak on things here on my blog is simple.  This blog is mine.  It is a place where I can share my thoughts and my opinions on my own terms.  I hope you can respect my opinions & I would love to hear yours on some of the topics I will be discussing :).

Topic 1:  Inspiration or Plagiarism?

I receive a lot of request for private orders where the customer wants me to "copy" a reborn baby by another artist.  Their words would be "I want you to make me a baby that looks just like "this" one & even provide a picture or link of the reborn baby from the original artist.  I always professionally decline the request but it makes me so angry.  First of all, it's insulting to me as an Artist that you don't trust my judgment to create a gorgeous reborn baby but secondly it's not fair the the artist who originally made the baby.

I would never want anyone to copy my work exactly unless they are following a tutorial.  It's not right & there are so many reborn artist who do it. Their excuse is "the customer is always right" or I just used their work as an inspiration.  Each artist should strive to have their own distinct style.  There's nothing more awesome than looking a reborn doll & knowing who the artist is without even reading who made it.  We should all strive to reach that level one day.  But going around attempting to "clone" other people's work is sickening to me  

Which leads to the next question.  When is it inspiration or plain old plagiarism?  

I'm sure we all have our opinions on this, but I will say I'm inspired by so many artist.  I may love the way they paint hair, or love the way they paint lips & details & I get inspired to do better with my own work.  I'm inspired to practice harder & work harder to do better, not to knock off a replica of their work.  

Here's an awesome article here on inspiration versus plagiarism.  Please take the time to read it.  I hope it will change your mind on continuing to hijack someone else's work & I truly hope I haven't offended anyone.  Again these are my thoughts & opinions.

Eboni Noelle almost finished - Ethnic AA Biracial Karlotta by Karola Wegerich almost done

Happy Tuesday everyone.  I just wanted to drop in & provide some updates.  I took a couple week off from reborning due to personal issues going on but I'm back at it.  I'm finally almost finished with her & I adore her.  I've been testing my abilities with painted hair and I think I've finally gotten it down but I adore rooted hair also.  So, I tried my hand at lightly rooted hair over the painted hair where you can still see the painted hair under it.  I still have to work on that but I think Ms. Eboni came out cute considering it was my first try.  She's extremely lightly rooted & I love the affect.  Eboni Nicole is looking for a home & will go to the bay soon.  I will take reasonable offers on her outside of eBay.  I hope you love her as much as I do.

I also provided a short video of her because my photography skills SUCK! lol