A woman has shared the hyperrealistic dolls she makes with clay and people can’t believe they aren’t real.
Vincenzina Care, 27, from Toronto, Canada, first became interested in toys at the age of seven, when her mother gave her a doll. She was heartbroken when the doll suddenly broke. To ease her anguish she decided to make her own replacement and the rest in history.
Vincenzina now makes dolls with facial differences and health conditions to make them more inclusive.
She hand-sculpts the dolls out of polymer clay using photos of herself as a baby as well as images from her friends and family in order to make the toys. She then either sells them as one-of-a-kind toys or produces them in vinyl so they can be sold worldwide.
Her miniature dolls can be produced in as little as a few months, although the fabrication of the larger dolls might take up to three years, depending on the size and condition.
“I started making dolls with different health conditions because I thought that it was important to represent all people in dolls,” Vincenzina says.
“Dolls were always used as a representation of perfection and I think we are all perfect however we are born. Some of these dolls are the product of many months spent researching a condition and using my creativity to sculpt the qualities I wanted the doll to have in order to make it as ethically universal as possible.
“I love showing expressions that people can relate to in dolls with different conditions and putting the personality back into the reality of all conditions that are usually dehumanised because they are different.
“I have made dolls with Down’s syndrome, dwarfism and cranio-facial duplication. My dolls are made to explore and study other conditions, so I can spread awareness.
She continues: “My main goal in life is to represent as many conditions as I can. I like to dress them like any mother would dress their child and to show the world that they are equally worth celebrating and valued as a little life.
“After I have used an outfit, I usually donate the clothing to mothers and friends, so they can dress their beautiful babies.”
Vincenzina lost her job during the pandemic but was able to transform her craft into a full-time career. She also works part-time in administration and teaches art to kids. She finds the doll-making process to be “extremely relaxing” and even described it as “therapeutic” when she was younger.
Nowadays, she tracks her progress by keeping cabinets full of her older dolls. She compares her past work to her recent creations as a way to see how her sculpting has improved.
The doll maker recently showed off the fruits of her labour on TikTok, and one post showcasing a doll with cranio-facial duplication went viral with over 106 million views.
She captioned the post: “It doesn’t matter how long you live, every life deserves love and appreciation.”
The video, which features a baby doll with what looks to be two fused heads, has 4.6 million likes and many are still in disbelief that the toy isn’t a genuine newborn.
“Who else thought the baby was real at first?” one person commented.
Another viewer added: “Omg…I thought it was a real baby.”
Of the reactions, Vincenzina says: “Although I have made many videos explaining why I make them and that they are dolls, a lot of people think they are real.
“I have mostly positive comments, but there are some people who aren’t very supportive.
“I understand for some it’s very hard to grasp a new outlook, when society has represented difference in such an ugly light for years.
“My family and friends are very supportive of my dolls and my message, as it took me years to show them first what my main goal in making them was.
“My mother loves to knit and crochet outfits for them and my father helps me make props to display them.”
Vincenzina charges £4,000 for each personalized doll and typically receives six orders per month. She is now booked through the end of the year.
She sells handmade dolls and makes money from them, but she also donates them and donates the revenue to causes that promote awareness.
She adds: “I hope to spread the message] that everyone is beautiful and deserves to be celebrated no matter who they are or how they were born.”
