Belgium -- These incredibly life-like dolls are so realistic you could easily be forgiven for thinking they were real babies. Costing up to thousands of euros each, they are certainly no children's toys, but handcrafted one-off works of art that take dozens of hours to create.
They are made to order for collectors but are also proving popular with grieving or nostalgic parents and grandparents as mementos of their own children.
They are the work of Belgian artist Beatrice Van Landeghem, whose workshop, 'La nurserie des Tis Lous De Bea', is based in La Louviere, southern Belgium.
The 'Reborn Babies' are carefully crafted in vinyl and are even weighed to make them feel exactly as heavy as human babies when carried.
The dolls are created from a kit composed of the limbs and head made from vinyl and a trunk made from fabric which are painted several times to create the skin tone of newborn babies.
They are then fitted with natural-looking hair and eyelashes.
The cost of a 'Reborn Baby' varies between hundreds to thousands of euros and takes around 25 hours to be assembled together depending on the level of precision requested by people who 'adopt' the dolls.
They are made to order for collectors but are also proving popular with grieving or nostalgic parents and grandparents as mementos of their own children.
They are the work of Belgian artist Beatrice Van Landeghem, whose workshop, 'La nurserie des Tis Lous De Bea', is based in La Louviere, southern Belgium.
The 'Reborn Babies' are carefully crafted in vinyl and are even weighed to make them feel exactly as heavy as human babies when carried.
The dolls are created from a kit composed of the limbs and head made from vinyl and a trunk made from fabric which are painted several times to create the skin tone of newborn babies.
They are then fitted with natural-looking hair and eyelashes.
The cost of a 'Reborn Baby' varies between hundreds to thousands of euros and takes around 25 hours to be assembled together depending on the level of precision requested by people who 'adopt' the dolls.
