I am getting some people asking about silicone reborns. So i think i need to learn more.
Can anyone explain the different types of silcones ? vinyl silicone , rubber silicone,
is is possible to have a breathing silicone with a heart beat ? I thought they were poured as one solid baby.
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Vinyl silicone is not a thing… they do not mix.
That term is often used in crappy knock off/stolen dolls.
Silicone is 2 parts and pigments added together and very expensive. Poured into a mold made from a clay sculpt.
I have NEVER heard of a breathing silicone or one with a heart beat I do not see how that would work.
Some are drink and wets… they have internal tubing put in during the pouring process.
You can learn a lot about silicone on the Smoothon website.
(also tin silicone is not good for dolls… it deteriorates faster, and sadly often used by Chinese knockoffs)
Silicones dolls take a lot of work.
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Thank you , that is what i thought silicone and vinyl don’t mix.
I have not ever heard of one that breathes and has a heart beat either but a friend was telling me about this other lady telling her she has one and I said to her i wonder how they would do that. I thought it was poured as one piece.
I tried watching this video earlier but Its not captions with the words and I am hearing impaired and have two cochlear implants and can only make out parts of what they are saying. Thank you for the link though.
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The one that breaths and has a heartbeat is an ashton drake doll she is a rubber like vinyl. Not silicone some people think they are because it’s soft and flexible. My Daughter has her it’s called breathing Ashley.
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Babyclon has a breathing silicone and one they are working on now that is robotic.
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Thank you .
My gosh they are amazing.
Some of their stuff is really neat but I wish they were trustworthy and had never stole sculpts
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Oh no that is bad news… Silicones are so expensive i would be afraid to try painting one even.
The reason I finally got myself into reborning is that I wanted one. My hubby told me he would purchase one for my birthday which was in April. Well, that was around the first of this year. So, I started looking. In my research I found that good quality silicone babies are in the thousands of dollars. I also found that most decent vinyl reborns were up in the higher hundreds or more. Well, I could not allow him to spend that much for me a doll. So, one day, after a lot of research, and remember how I had wanted to do this about 10 or so years ago, I asked him if he thought I would be able to get a kit and make my own. He said of course I could! (He has more confidence in my work than I do, I think!) Anyway, he purchased the Easton kit that I had chosen, and I purchased everything else. I found out that I got the expensive end of that deal! 
Of course neither of us knew that at the time. So, that is why I have Sylvia. She is my Easton, and even though she is not great she is my birthday gift for this year. I now have 20 sculpts from BB and have one more on order. (Just keep seeing the cutest ones!). I am almost done with the 4th one. I have not been feeling well enough to work on Nikolas for about a week now, or more. Sigh… But, when I am stronger I will get him done, I hope! 
Oh, the Easton kit still did not rise to the price of the good quality babies, but neither is it as wonderful as them. So, I am still learning. I fell I learn more from each doll I do.
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I know that Mandy Boxall sculpted a silicone with a breathing mechanism (Ronan or Rowan) I’m not quite sure of the name but she does has video of it.
The term silicone vinyl refers to some German kits. They used it for kits made from very soft vinyl. China stole some of their kits, copied the term and now uses it for pretty much all of their kits. The German manufacturers now use the term 'silicone-like vinyl. It’s still just vinyl though, has no silicone in it.
Painting an actual silicone doll is very different from painting vinyl, from what I’ve heard. It’s also much more expensive.
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I’ve gotten a few requests for silicone babies too. Generally, the requests come from the same people who want a $100 doll. For the most part, the people are really willing to invest in a silicone doll know that they are expensive and probably have already looked into established silicone doll artists. I would love to learn how to do it. I’ve watched videos. It seems really neat. But I don’t know that there’s really enough of a market to justify the time and money into learning it…mini babies maybe. But I don’t think most people really want to pay the price for a genuine, good quality, full size silicone baby.
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I wonder if this is why people are getting confused and thinking they can get a silicone for cheap.
I think it’s that, and that some people just don’t understand why a doll would be expensive. Some have trouble understanding a $100 doll, since they can buy play dolls for $10. I imagine a $3000 doll would blow their minds.
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