We have been making miniatures since 2003, when I finally persuaded Aidy to buy me a dolls house! It was the best christmas present ever as it opened up the world of miniatures! I have ulcerative colitis which is a very painful and tiring condition so it was nice to have a hobby that was not too physically demanding. I also work nights as a home carer so it's nice to make minis while I work!
I have been making full size porcelain dolls since 1993 but I am no good at sculpting! I wanted to make small dolls so I bought some moulds from America and started to make porcelain dolls but I love Character dolls so I had to rethink!
We started making 1/12th scale Character dolls by accident really, Aidy is art trained and he has a degree in photography. I knew he was very talented so I asked him to make me a character doll. Well, we beamed at each other when our first doll was born (although looking back it looked like it had been mauled by a dog)! I was hopeless at dressing them and although I have done embroidery since I was eight years old, I thought it impossible to sew such small clothes so I used glue!
Determination made us both get better and better at our chosen task.........Aidy sculpts and I dress! In order to make each character doll, Aidy studies people and does lots of research using reference books. He always starts any doll with lots of drawings until he is happy with the face and pose of each little person. He then spends many days sculpting every detail, no moulds are ever used and no moulds are ever taken. each character is truly one of a kind.
I take inspiration for the outfits when I get the finished sculpt as they seem to talk to me! I decided to sell haberdashery and fabric as it enables me to source a wide range of different materials for our dolls, just the excuse I need to buy beautiful fabric and trims!! I always hand sew every outfit and I feel I'm getting better with each doll. I tease the outfits into shape to give the dolls movement and sometimes a bit of staining is required depending on the doll.
The porcelain dolls are entirely made by me as Aidy has no interest in their creation, he gets joy from creating his own characters! We are always happy to make commissioned pieces and you can see two of our most unusual commissions on this site. They all went to the same wonderful lady who had such imagination. Needless to say many an hour was spent researching the art of milking sheep, thank god for the internet!