An artistic grandmother has created more than 500 lifelike baby dolls which sell for up to $1,700 apiece.
Terrie Welborn, 50, buys blank vinyl body parts and devotes up to 50 hours making each kit look as much as possible like a real child.
Firstly, she washes the dolls before applying up to 20 layers of flesh-toned acrylic paint and adding details like veins and blemishes.
Creepy: An artistic grandmother has created more than 500 lifelike baby dolls which she sells for up to $1,700 apiece
Hobby: Terrie Welborn, 50, buys blank vinyl body parts and devotes up to 50 hours making each kit look as much as possible like a real child
The mom-of-three then brings them to life by painting the lips pink, inserting glass eyes and adding tufts of hair, eyelashes and eyebrows using mohair.
Weighted glass beads are inserted into the dolls to make them feel like real babies and Terrie glues a magnet in the mouth to keep pacifiers in place.
The replica babies, which range from preemie size to three month olds, are then dressed in cute outfits that Terrie buys while shopping for her four grandchildren.
Besides a few she keeps at home or gives to friends, the retired medical assistant sells the finished dolls on her Facebook page Terrie’s Doll Land, which has over 1,000 fans.
The simplest designs go for $125 but the more intricate masterpieces fetch upward of $500, and Terrie once sold one for a staggering $1,700.
While many become toys for kids, others are purchased by adults, including grieving parents, who give them names or treat them like real children.
Created: To make the dolls, the mother-of-three washes the dolls before applying up to 20 layers of flesh-toned acrylic paint and adding details like veins and blemishes
Come to life: The grandma of five, brings the dolls to life by painting the lips pink, inserting glass eyes and adding tufts of hair, eyelashes and eyebrows using mohair
Real life: Weighted glass beads are inserted into the dolls to make them feel like real babies and Terrie glues a magnet in the mouth to keep pacifiers in place
Terrie, of Gautier, Mississippi, said, ‘Usually when I show people the dolls they are in shock because they can’t believe they’re not real.
‘Others think they are creepy or say they look like dead babies.
‘I’ve had people scream when I showed them to them. My daughter was 14 at the time and someone said, “Oh, whose baby is that?”
‘I said, “It’s my daughter’s baby,” and it took the woman a minute to realize it was a doll. You have to be careful when you do that to older people.
‘Some see the artistry in them and others see the play element for kids.
‘A lot of elderly residents in nursing homes like them because they can sit and hold them and talk to them like a real baby.
‘You also get a lot of teenage girls who like to roleplay with the dolls.
Artistic: The Mississippi artist shared that she doesn’t get attached to the dolls and it’s the art side that appeals to her because she finds ‘making them relaxing’
Cost: The simplest designs go for $125 but the more intricate masterpieces fetch upward of $500, and Terrie once sold one for a staggering $1,700
Doll house: The retired medical assistant sells the finished dolls on her Facebook page Terrie’s Doll Land, which has over 1,000 fans
‘They might get up in the morning and dress them or take them for a walk.
Gifts: While many become toys for kids, others are purchased by grieving parents
‘I put glass beads in them so it makes them pose like a real baby and when you pick them up the head falls. It’s the art of realism.’
Terrie, who has a fifth grandchild on the way, said she’s created 14 dolls this year, spending a few hours on some and 40 to 50 on others.
And though they have a steep pricetag, she says she doesn’t profit because the blank kits can cost up to $150 each.
Her husband, construction worker Ken Welborn, 48, doesn’t mind the pastime and sees it as a ‘hobby that pays for itself’, she said.
Terrie, who is mom to Joshua, 31, Jacob, 29, and Tara, 27, added, ‘I love babies and I loved having my own children, but I don’t get attached to the dolls or anything like that.
‘It’s definitely the art side that appeals to me. I find making them relaxing.
‘My mom had porcelain dolls when I was a child and I always liked them, so I guess it combines my love of art and dolls in one.’