About The Artist
Jody Slater is a reborn doll artist, located in Texas (USA), who specializes not only in caucasian reborn doll artistry, but reborn dolls of color as well. She achieves beautiful realistic painting to reflect African, Indian, or multi-racial skin tones. She has perfected her style of realism in rooting human or mohair on her works Jody Slater has been in this artistry for seven years and began offering her works in 2011. [Source] Jody’s personality has always been courteous and pleasant. In her communications she aims to please and meet the customers needs.
One of the largest deciding factors in choosing a doll artist is affordability. In terms of a full custom reborn doll, prices range from $550 to $1100, depending on sculpt size, hair options, open/closed eyes and more. For a full price list and details please see Heavenly Butterflies Nursery‘s custom order page. In my case, painted doll sculpts are as follows:
$300 USD for sculpts up to 21″
$350 USD for sculpts 23-24″
$400 for toddler sizes
Sculpt must be provided by customer and shipping paid by customer ($14-25 depending on your location). Painted kit service includes: painting, painted eyebrows, rooted lashes, magnet placement. Does NOT include assembly and eyes for awake sculpts will not be provided. [Source]
Communication
In initial communication with this artist in terms of inquiring about placing an order, Jody’s overall personality is upbeat and kind; however her response time with communication later on in the process after payment is lacking. Most of my messages were answered at late hours between 9pm and 12am of that day or the following day (24 hours later). Ultimately, I feel as if this is the area Ms. Slater needs the most work in.
Quality Of Work
Hands down, out of all the artists I have worked with Jody Slater’s painting style is my absolute favorite in my reborn doll collections. The depth of skin tone and brow details is impeccable. The overall matte varnish technique used insures that I have never had a problem with my doll’s longevity, no matter how many outfit changings I do. Her work is beautiful and very photogenic, even for the novice photographer like myself. I am fond of her work prior to hair rooting, so all of my dolls produced by the Heavenly Butterflies Nursery, is bald so I cannot give an accurate review on her hair rooting technique, other than what I have seen in photos (which looks amazing!)
Time Management & Customer Service
I was clear and concise with my doll order’s specifications and provided photo examples of her own work for reference when giving descriptive details. Overall, I feel as if Ms. Slater could improve in this area, drastically. Many times I had to repeat my same requests, which resulted in her going back and changing things frequently. I also did not receive a final photoshoot representation of my doll prior to shipping, which is a big concern when several changes have been made. Taking the time to show customers your work is very important. I do not like unpleasant surprises once the mailed package has arrived! I placed my order January 7th (deposit 1 of 2) and completed payments January 14th (payment 2 of 2) with the promise that my doll would take only “a couple of weeks” to complete. I did not receive my painted doll kit until February 27th. Jody Slater’s time management is very poor and she does not meet the time lines she sets. Furthermore, when inquiring about the time, I felt that my order was not a priority as she did make several excuses of not having enough time to paint, take photos, etc.
Rating : 3.5/ 5
Although the works from the Heavenly Butterflies Nursery is my absolute favorite, the lack of communication and poor time management really make this artist (for me) hard to work with. I have worked with this artist for painted sculpts on two occasions; with the most recent time being the worst. I cannot fully recommend this artist for a full custom reborn doll, as I feel to believe the wait time and communication will be a huge issue to overcome. A full custom reborn doll (painting, rooting, assembly, and box packing) seem to be a large order for this artist, yet she offers this service. I only recommend painted sculpt options to get your doll in a relatively timely manner (shorter than 3 months; but definitely not in her specified two weeks!)
