If you’re going to spend hours gently painting layer after layer of paint, hours on details, and days on micro-eyed hair, it’s worth the effort to open your reborn’s nostrils to complete the newborn look. This is fairly easy to do, although with most revivals the techniques vary depending on what suits the artist best. There are two more popular ways to open the nostrils, firstly, after baking for the first time, while the head is still hot, gently push a toothpick through the nose, moving in a circular motion to open the nostrils up to the desired size. This process can be repeated after any of the thermosets, and it is advisable to do it at least a couple of times during the rebirth process to ensure that they do not close again. Another option is to pierce the nose with a file, these can be attached to a power drill or just hand held and pushed.
Once you break the vinyl in the nostril, keep filing back and forth until you are satisfied that you have a smooth finish with no sharp edges or rough patches. This method is more effective as it opens a larger hole and actually removes a certain amount of vinyl rather than just pushing it to the side. If you decide to use the toothpick method, it is important that, when you finish the final layer, you take two bamboo skewers, or something similar, of the intended width of the nostril and cut them into pieces that are 4 cm long. While your head is still warm, insert them into your nose and leave them in place while it cools. Once your doll is ready, these can be removed and will leave a more desirable and permanent nostril at rebirth, consistent with that of a real newborn. After putting the hair in place, it is recommended to cut a small piece of felt, using a darker neutral color, and glue it inside the head behind the nose when gluing the hair in place. This does two things, it will prevent the filling from coming out, or if the stocking that contains the glass beads breaks, it will keep it contained inside the head. It will also give the nostrils a look of depth, which only adds to the realism. How you open your reborn’s nose will be up to you to decide for yourself as to what best suits your technique and will evolve over time until you find what works best for you as an artist.
