AN EXPO this weekend in Port Elizabeth will showcase a range of dolls that look uncannily like real-life babies when it opens at St Alban’s in aid of children born with cleft lips and palates.
Event organiser Chantell de Kock makes “reborn” dolls. She says the Baby Steps doll and teddy bear expo would be the first of its kind in South Africa.
The Rowallan Park artist said the term was used to describe dolls made to look like real-life babies.
She said most people were amazed by how closely the dolls resembled the real thing.
Although De Kock has a day job as a credit controller, she is also a teacher in “reborn artistry”.
She buys reborn doll kits from Johannesburg and Cape Town suppliers, but much of the art lies in the painting, which may require up to 50 layers.
She also adds hair, strand by strand, and other unique elements to each of her babies, so they sometimes take six to eight weeks to complete.
Lynne de Villiers, who joined De Kock’s reborn art class last year, said they chose the Port Elizabeth-based Cleft Friends Foundation, founded by Helena Cullis, as their charity beneficiary as her own grandchild was born with a cleft palate and lip.
De Kock said there would be 27 stalls at the expo, selling items that included doll clothes, dummies, cribs, reborn kits and more. The expo will be held at St Alban’s Correctional Service East Hall on Saturday from 9am to 5pm and Sunday from 9am to 1.30pm. The entrance fee is R60 for adults and free for children under 16.
For further information, contact De Kock on 073-312-9138 or (041) 406-6472.
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