My name is Claudia Maheux & I am the artist behind Flutterbies & Scutterbotch Nursery. I named my nursery after something my husband used to say when he was a little boy & my daughter, Diana, repeated with great delight when she was a little girl. I live in Montreal, Canada, which is often called the Paris of North America, because people speak French & the city is full of sidewalk cafes.

I have always been involved with artistic & creative pursuits. Over the years, I have sewn extensively & I also did much fine needlework, mostly silk thread specialty stitches on fine linen. When I saw my first reborn doll, I was amazed at the realism & a new passion was ignited. These little babies are more than just dolls; they are art that you can hug. The timing was right for my interest in these babies as I my daughter had just moved out on her own & I missed having a child around.

I am always amazed at the skills of the artists who sculpt these little babies & I am constantly striving to bring out the best in their work. I am very partial to soft vinyl or silicone vinyl as I find that they add to the realistic feel of the dolls. I rarely reborn more than one copy of a sculpt & because I have a full time job, I do not produce many babies. I no longer make custom babies because I do my best work when I have all my freedom when reborning.

I strive for a soft, calm look when making, dressing & photographing my babies. You will rarely see one of them dressed in extremely bright colors & I do not use vivid auction graphics.  I take most of my pictures in natural light, but I am not a skilled photographer, so you will occasionally see pictures that appear different from others in the set as I struggle with the process.

I use only the best quality materials for my babies. I use Genesis Heat Set Paints so that the colors will last forever. I do not paint the inside of the dolls to avoid the paint migrating to the surface later on & causing "bruising" over time.  I use the highest quality angora, kid mohair to micro-root my babies' hair, using the finest needles to painstakingly root 1-2 hairs at a time.

 I usually use high quality glass eyes as I find that the shine of the glass adds to so much to the realism. I prefer painting the eyebrows rather than micro-rooting them because I feel that most babies' brows lie very flat to the skin & micro-rooting rarely accomplishes this. I will micro-root eyelashes on sleeping babies but I am careful not to make them appear bushy, too long or too dark, as babies' lashes are usually soft & light. I will "open" a nose if the nostrils are very shallow &/or if the vinyl is very firm. I avoid doing so on very soft vinyl, if the nostrils are deep, so as not to compromise the vinyl ... which could lead to tearing later on.

I usually add a little "moisture" to the edges of the eyes, & occasionally on the edges of the nostrils. I often add "drool" to the mouth but I avoid an overall glossy look that makes it appear that the baby is wearing lip gloss. I always tip the finger & toe nails in a soft white color & I usually add "moons" for more realism. The are usually glazed for a satin finish & not a gloss. I often include magnetic paciifiers if the sculpt allows it to rest realistically on the mouth. My girls often sport a magnetic hair bow. Occasionally, my babies will have a name bracelet, which the winning bidder can keep if she chooses to keep the baby's name.

I use the finest quality doe-suede bodies I can find, searching for the best proportions for the sculpt. I never add a tummy plate or mix & match limbs unless I have color-matched them perfectly & the proportions are right. I never use sand in my babies as it often carries mold. I use a combination of fine glass beads & poly pellets to weight my babies & I use high quality polyfill so that they feel wonderful in your arms.

I am a proud member of the THE CANADIAN REBORN ARTISTS FELLOWSHIP AND LE CERCLE D'ARTISTES DE LA POUPÉE RÉINCARNÉE. These wonderful ladies have helped me develop into a skilled reborn artist & their support is invaluable to me. Thank you, ladies!

I also want to thank a dear lady, Yvette Bell, for knitting many of the beautiful blankets I use as props. They are so fine & soft, and they showcase my babies so well.

All my babies come with a signed Flutterbies & Scutterbotch Nursery Rebirth Certificate bearing the name of your choosing. I will also include the certificate for the sculpt if it is available.

Thank you for visiting my website. Enjoy the pictures!