18 year old senior student becomes a reborn artist to pay for her graduation

Kierra Caldwell, a senior student at Baldwin County High School, in Alabama, the US, has turned her deep love for dolls into an art and a promising business. 

She brings us a very inspiring story for all of us members of the Reborn Community, who can actually understand her, feel with her and praise, once again, the talent and courage that goes into being a reborn artist.

Becoming a reborn artist by chance

Kierra, or Kiki as her friends call her, started to develop a strong interest for reborn dolls at a very early age. The babies’ lifelike appearance and uniqueness really attracted her, so she started collecting them. She was taking good care of them, dressing them and loving them as their babies.

However, as a collector of reborn babies and being only 18 and a student, she could not afford to continue her collection and hobby by buying reborn dolls from other artists, so she decided to give it a try 😉

Just only last summer, her auntie bought her a reborn doll vinyl kit and she tried her best. Using heat paints, basic brushes and tools, a cloth body and the home oven, she made her first creation. 

And the business flourishes

But…surprise, surprise! People liked a lot what she did, so what started as a way of having more affordable reborn baby dolls for herself, became an income-generating activity for Kierra. Since then, she has created already 10 custom dolls that have been delivered or shipped to their new happy families.

Paying for Graduation

The unexpectedly turned Reborn Artist is using her income to pay for her senior school class fees and for her graduation expenses in May 2019.

Her clients

Her reborn baby dolls sell for amounts between $200-$375, and she mainly sells to collectors and families. Aware of the therapeutic power of these lifelike dolls, she has been really moved the few times that she made a reborn baby for families who have lost a child. 

Learning and improving her techniques every day

As most of the Reborn Artists, Kierra is a self-taught reborner, getting her skills from online training and, mostly, trial and error. At this stage, her dolls are made with cloth bodies and still bald. However, she is very keen to keep on improving her artistic skills and start rooting hair soon.