How It All Started

This is “Miss Spirit”
She is the first doll I ever made.

Occasionally, I get asked about how I got started making dolls. 

In 1981, I had made one rag doll for each of my two daughters who were two and three at the time. They were very simple...not much more than pillowed stick figures really. But they loved them because they were from Mom. Life went on, and on, and on until I had almost completely forgotten about it.

Then, about eight years ago, I was going through a mild depression due to chronic depression and two things happened; the desire to control my own destiny and remembering “the zone”.

I was experiencing a lot of rejection within my journey to employment. I realized that the impact that has would only be equal to my dependency being hired. So, I wanted to carve out my own way of at least creating a stream of revenue until I find something of a “real job”. But could I do? What are my talents? What materials do I have/need? How much would it cost me to get started?

Then I remembered the little rag dolls that I made for my daughters. So I did research on the desire out there for simple rag dolls and I was surprised to see that it was pretty good. The doll examples that I was running across actually seemed like something I could do! So I started to make a doll to see if I could even make something passable after all these years.

So, armed with a zillion YouTube tutorials (none of which I obeyed completely), I made my first doll and was hooked. I worked into the wee hours until Miss Spirit was done. I couldn’t believe that out of fabric and wool and yarn this doll had been ‘born’. Something was ignited that evening. I had discovered “the zone”. I felt as though I was on a high – in a bubble where time and space didn’t matter – in the ‘flow’. It was pure magic. It still is.

Then something really unique occurred to me! What if I made dolls that looked like my friends and family members?

YAY!! WHAT A GREAT IDEA!!

I then made one of Marc and myself then for one friend, then another and another and another. 

Each time trying out different ways; learning something new each time. Eventually, I started to make celebrities to reach more people.

It’s been a long road with lots of trial and error, many cups of coffee and even more tantrums, swearing and giving up. But at the end of the day... many days, I found a path. I found my way of forging out some small but important bit of independence.

I’m not making dolls to become rich. I’m making them because I am compelled to do so. It is in my spirit to create. I make dolls to bring a smile to your face or a friend into your home. I can’t explain it any better than that. I make dolls because I can.