Charlotte Meadows: The “Real Life” Doll maker

At first glance, sleepy little faces, some yawning, others smiling, snuggled in tiny blankets, look incredibly real.

Take a closer look and you realize those little bundles of joy are actually dolls.

Charlotte Meadows, a local doll maker, is the creator of CAMS Reborns, and has been crafting life-like dolls for little girls all over the world.

What started out as a request to create a doll for her niece became a small business opportunity for Charlotte.

“My little niece, Gracie Hardin, got me started making reborn babies. She begged me for one for Christmas one year. So I got online and looked them up. I was shocked how real these babies looked and how expensive they were. I searched and searched on eBay until I found a cute, half way decent priced baby and ordered it. I was really excited to see this baby in person so when it came in I opened it and was disappointed. I thought, oh my gosh, I gave all that money for this. It was a cute baby, but the paint work was not that good at all. So I thought, I can do better than this,” Charlotte said. “I started watching the videos with Gracie and became more interested with each one I watched. So I decided to order a kit and a beginners paint set. After watching a video on painting your first reborn about 50 times, I painted and completed my first baby. I was so amazed and proud of what I did I took my little baby around and showed my family. Everyone was very supportive and loved her. I was hooked after that. I made another then another and have never stopped,” Charlotte said.

Once she got the hang of doll making, Charlotte decided to try and sell her dolls on line and created a website and Facebook page to promote her business.

“At first it was just selling online and later at The Kid Connection, located at 6660 U.S. 60 W Morehead, a local kids clothing store that also offers layaway. To offer a layaway plan was very important to me because I wanted everyone no matter their financial situation, the opportunity to purchase one of CAMS Reborns, if they wanted. Being a doll maker has honestly been the first job I’ve ever had that I looked forward to. After all this time I still get excited to see what little cute creation I’m going to have when I’ve completed a baby. I have made hundreds at this point have sold them all over the world.

My mother-in-law, Twana Becraft has started to help me some now. She started helping me when I started to get overwhelmed with people wanting these babies,” Charlotte said.

You can view some of Charlotte’s past creations on CAMS Reborns Facebook page, and to see what she has available.

To order online visit camsreborns.webstoreplace.com.