Carrie George

Interview by MacPherson Arts & Crafts

1. Where are you from and where do you live now?
I am originally from London in the UK, I moved to Essex when I was just 10 years old and have been here ever since.

2. Have you always been interested in dolls?
I have always loved dolls, had my first doll when I was just 2 years old and I still have that doll to this day.

3. When did you first become interested in sculpting?
I started reborning back in 2005, painting other artists kits. I loved the idea of sculpting my own so I looked further into that in 2007.

4. How did you first encounter reborn dolls?
I stumbled on reborn dolls whilst searching for a doll for my daughter. It was then when I first started buying my supplies.

5. Have you sculpted dolls from the time you started sculpting, or did you start off with something else?
I started off sculpting many heads till I was more comfortable to progress on to the limbs. I sculpted my first whole sculpt and sold as an Ooak.

6. How long have you been sculpting?
I have now been sculpting for 12 years

7. What medium do you use to sculpt your babies with?
I personally use super sculpey, it’s lovely to work with. I have tried fimo and living doll since and I just can not work this clay soft enough to sculpt anything with.

8. What inspires & motivates you to sculpt?
Pictures of real babies and seeing other artists sculptures what they create. Also pictures of my kids and my grand children.
My kids motivate me and my friends I have on Facebook.

9. Do you sculpt full time & do you have other hobbies?
At the moment I’m a night sculptor working from 7pm - 1am. I’m a carer for my poorly son and that takes up most of my spare time.

10. Do you only sculpt for kit production or do you do custom ~ portrait orders too?
I only started having my kits produced 4 years ago and have now started portrait babies which I have one in production now and one waiting. Some of my babies are also sold to silicone artists.

11. When did your first kit come out and what was the baby's name?
My first kit was called Logan, produced about 4 years ago.

12. How many kits have you produced to date?
My 4th is in production now which is a portrait baby from a friend.

13. Do you have a list of names of all of your kits you have produced as we would love to have an archive directory for your sculpts?
Yea course:
Logan
Jed
Demi
Jacob

14. Which baby of yours has been your all time favorite and why?
I have to say jacob, he’s the only one that was sculpted using photos, all the others were created from my heart and mind.

15. Do you plan to continue sculpting babies for kits?
Definitely yes, it’s slow going for me but I certainly will continue to sculpt kits for artists new and old.

16. How do you feel about the reborn doll industry?
Mm this is a hard question. The reborn community has expanded since I started. Only thing I dont like about it is the fact there are a lot more scammers that seem to hit old and new artists. There’s also a lot of competition out there.

What excites you and what upsets you?
I love looking back on my old sculpts and comparing them and from doing that I know I have achieved something I’ve always dreamed off doing.
There is only one thing that really upsets me in the doll community and that’s the production of illegal kits. It hurts me deeply that artists I look up too have had their work stolen and wrong people producing them into silicone.

17. How do you feel about the progression of the art of reborning over the past 10 years?
It’s progressed quite a bit since I started back in 2005. There’s a lot more mediums out there and new techniques have rolled in. It’s hard to keep up with it all.

18. Do you think that this industry has a long term future or do you think its just a fad that will blow over?
No it won’t blow over, this doll industry will be staying for years to come. I wouldn’t want it to blow over.

19.What are your plans and hopes for the future?
I hope I can be as good as the top sculptors out there. I hope in the future I can still achieve my goals and potential.

20. Do you have something new in the works?
Not at the moment no, I’m awaiting delivery of Jacob prototypes so I will be busy preparing all deliveries but once I get a spare day to start I will then start a new project.