(Susan Gibbs)

Reborn  - A Doll & A Reinvention of Life

by Pam North

Susan Gibbs has led an interesting life. A 52 year-old Filipino-Canadian artist, she was born and raised in the Philippines as the youngest in a brood of nine children. Her father was a mechanic and a U.S. veteran of WWII, and her mother was a seamstress who taught Gibbs much of her sewing skills. “Both my mother and I loved dolls, but she never had one as a child, Gibbs reminisced. “She and I would play with the little plastic baby doll she got me when I was little, and later, when I was 11, with my very first Barbie. Purchased from a sale bin, Barbie had only a swimsuit, but soon became well-dressed. I had started sewing doll clothes as soon as my feet could touch the pedal of my Mama’s vintage Singer sewing machine. My mother was my mentor, and is still my inspiration. As soon as I learned how to paint dolls, I made my Mama a baby doll that looked like me when I was a baby. It was her very first doll, at age 84. I feel lucky that my mother saw my work before she passed away in 2015. Her legacy is in me, and every time I sew, I feel her presence. This is another reason why my fabric creations are very special to me, because each piece I make has a piece of not only my own heart, but my mother’s as well.”
Before she began her work in the doll industry, Gibbs had different career aspirations. She had a bachelor’s degree in science, with a major in psychology. She worked in the Philippines as a brand supervisor for shoes in her early 20s, and did product development, which included product design, pricing, and marketing - skills that remain very useful to her as a doll artist/entrepreneur. Life in marketing proved too intense for her, with late night office work, constant traveling, fashion shows, and never-ending meetings, so she sought an alternative, moving in 1998, at age 27, to Bangkok, Thailand. After a brief employment as a marketing manager, she ended up working as a kindergarten teacher at an international school for almost 10 years. “It was the happiest and most fulfilling stage in my life as a single adult,” she reflected. “I loved working with kids.” In her mid-30s, she moved to Vancouver,  British Columbia, and worked for 10 years as an educator with children with special needs for the Vancouver School Board.
In 2007, Gibbs had facilitated a workshop  with a Canadian teacher, Erin, with whom she fell in love and began a still-strong relationship, and that was the impetus behind her move to Vancouver. Leaving her family, friends, and career behind, and with just a suitcase and a guitar, she flew 7,000 miles from Bangkok to Vancouver, to start a new life in a new country. “It was the biggest decision I made as an adult,” she reflected, “and I’m glad I did it.” 

*The impetus behind her move to Vancouver was her relationship with a Canadian teacher, Erin, whom she had met at a workshop in 2007, and with whom she had fallen in love. Leaving her family, friends, and career behind, and with just a suitcase and a guitar, Gibbs flew 7,000 miles from Bangkok to Vancouver, to start a new life in a new country with Erin. “It was the biggest decision I made as an adult, she reflected, “and I’m glad I did it.” 

It was on a trip to Bangkok in 2009 that she discovered reborn dolls, and after doing some research about them, she bought one on eBay. One wasn’t enough, but because they were expensive she realized she wasn’t pracrical to purchase them in a finished state. Having always been interested in the painting process, she decided to try her hand at it at the end of 2010.  Initally, she did them only for family until her work got noticed in the doll industry, at which point her career began as a reborn doll artist. “I was amazed to discover what a huge market reborns were!” she exclaimed. “As a doll collector myself, I realized how these awesomely realistic creations can bring so much joy to people of all ages.”

Gibbs loved showing her newly-painted doll creations to friends, but disliked carrying the blanket-wrapped dolls in a shopping bag. Necessity being the mother of invention, that led to her making her first bassinet-bag, a bag that folds down into a bassinet. Fellow doll collectors and doll artists who saw it started ordering them; they became a big hit, and still are her most saleable items to both previous and new customers, Gibbs also was making clothes for reborn baby dolls. Her clothing items, all one-of-a-kind creations, she makes without using any patterns, designing in her head as she cuts and sews the fabric, and are sold to collectors and doll artists around the world. The success of the bassinet-bags and the clothes, combined with her dollmaking, led to the launch of  her business, Dizon Designs & Doll Works, in 2010. She named her clothing line Dizon Designs in honor of her mother.

As a child, Gibbs often had wished that she could have a realistic-looking and natural-feeling doll. That early yearning undoubtedly resonated with her when she discovered reborns years later, and realized that she could finally fulfill her long-ago wish. Creating reborns also meshed with other aspects and talents that were inately her. In 2014 she switched to painting silicone dolls, and with that change she had found her niche as an artist in the doll industry.

As a silicone doll painter, and also an aspiring sculptor, she also wants to cast her own silicone dolls foccasionally. So far, she has sculpted only one, which she has cast in a very limited edition.
In 2018, she retired from teaching children to focus on her doll business, but still was able to indulge her passion for teaching in the silicone painting classes she had begun offering in 2016 at doll shows. When the COVID pandemic hit,  she switched to online classes, and has taught over 300 artists from all over the world. “Now I’m sewing, painting dolls, and teaching silicone painting - all the things I love in one career!” She also is a prop-fabricator for a couple of film industries in Vancouver, and makes dolls as props or doubles for real babies.
Training in any of the aspects of her craft was informal. “My mother was my only sewing teacher. In doll painting, I had mentors, then eventually developed my own techniques.” Gibbs continues to evolve, always striving to be better. Feedback asked for from her customers is taken seriously. “I listen to them and then make product improvements, while also retaining my own style.”
Materials used in her crafting are high-quality, and her techniques various. For her bassinet-bags, she uses different kinds of fabric but mostly twill as outer material; water-resistant material for the bottom, and the bags are quilt-lined for stability. For silicone babies she uses platinum-based silicone paints, using the stippling technique for depth. For realism on newborn dolls, she hand-applies fine mohair for eyebrows, and flocking for facial hair. She also adds a detachable tongue that’s painted separately and a mock healing umbilical stump; both are signatures on her work. On most dolls she adds a drink-and-wet system, as well as full armatures, which enable her dolls to assume sitting and crawling poses for photos.

Because she always has various types of work at different stages, she has set up several stations in her workroom: a painting area where she also does her online classes; a silicone casting area; a sewing room; a packing/shipping station, which also serves as her office corner; and a doll room for her personal collection.

Gibbs sells her products via live box-openings on Facebook each time she receives a blank kit from sculptors. Soon after, people message her to reserve the doll, so her dolls usually sell before she starts painting them. For her bassinet-bags, she posts them on Facebook and Instagram.

Her view of the future of artist-made collectibles is optimistic. “From what I’ve observed in Canada, I think collectors  actually have become more numerous and are supporting artist-made collectibles, and I see more new budding artists. Unfortunately, there’s a rampant use of counterfeit kits in the reborn and silicone doll industries, which is greatly affecting the business of legitimate sculptors and painters. We’re losing sales because of those taken by knock-off supporters. Many new buyers can’t tell what’s legitimate and what’s not, so in support of our hard-working sculptors, we are promoting awareness of the counterfeiting.”

Looking ahead, Gibbs is hoping to finish sculpting her second doll this year for silicone production. “I’m hoping to learn more about sculpting, too,” she remarked.

*Last year Gibbs’ partner, Erin, retired as a school principal, and they sold their house in Vancouver to purchase their dream ocean-front home in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. In May 2023 they did the cross-Canada road trip, driving 4,000 miles coast-to-coast from Pacific to Atlantic, under blue skies and through rainstorms,, crossing eight provinces and five time zones. Accompanying them were their two furbabies, Mac and Diego. This time Gibbs wasn’t alone; she was with her family.

Contact Information:
Name: Susan Gibbs
Business Name: Dizon Designs & Dollworks
Address: 2840 Point Edward Hwy, - Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada B2A 4P6
Telephone: (778) 772-7269
Email: susanj.gibbs@gmail.com
Website: dizondesigns.com