Handmade Dolls International Artists and Artisans handmade art dolls

Jill Bennett has been drawing and painting all her life. As a child she wanted to be a children's book illustrator and indeed she worked as one for many years. Among the authors she has illustrated are Roald Dahl, Dorothy Edwards, Dick King-Smith and Helen Cresswell.

Her other great love is the theatre. She studied theatre design at Wimbledon School of Art and the Slade School of Fine Art. So began a lifetime study of historical clothes and the way of life of the people who wore them.

Jill started making dolls in the late 1970's and found they were an ideal vehicle for her three great interests story telling, the theatre and social history.

She tries to make each doll a person, with individual personality and clothes to match, whether they are aristocrat, servant or street urchin. Jill Bennett makes small dolls. Most of them are strictly 1 inch to the foot (1/12th scale is the international scale for dolls houses). But from time to time she makes slightly larger ones up to 9 inches high.

The miniature dolls have porcelain heads and pewter bodies strung through with twisted steel wire at the joints. This gives them considerable flexibility to stand or sit or adopt other poses. (They will stand without support.)

The larger dolls have porcelain heads, hands and feet. Their bodies are padded and wired to give some flexibility. They are usually mounted on wooden plinths for display purposes.

Jennifer Carson: Handmade Art Dolls

I had always loved fabric and textures and figuring out how things were put together, so I slowly moved into the world of art dolls. I began teaching myself how to design bodies, starting with a simple dragon with only two feet and constantly reaching for a more complex form. In the beginning I was painting the features onto the dolls with acrylic paint. Then my high-school art teacher showed me how to use a felting needle. That was it, the next piece of the puzzle I needed to move forward with my work. Now I am teaching others the magic of a felting needle and love to see the smiles that my creations bring to people�s faces. A driving force in my own work has always been the work of Jim Henson and the wonderful artists that were lucky enough to work with him. It is my sincere desire that one day I am lucky enough to work with his son Brian, who continues his vision.

Marcia Dundore Wolter: Original Doll Artist

Marcia Dundore Wolter, a graduate of the University of Illinois, is an original doll artist and was a member of the Academy of American Doll Artists. Dundore Dolls, created and produced by Marcia, are one-of-a-kind and limited edition artist dolls. Marcia creates porcelain dolls, polymer clay dolls and felt dolls. Dundore Dolls depict infants, young children, including Amish children, and ladies. Marcia also makes portrait dolls in polymer clay. She likes to think of her dolls as "low maintenance children".

Marcia Dundore Wolter is one of 25 American doll artists included in Kathryn Witt's book American Doll Artists and Their Dolls. Marcia and her dolls can be found on page eight and pages twenty through twenty-four in chapter one. Marcia, also, was commissioned to make a doll movie prop for the movie Driftwood by Michelle Steffes. The movie premier was held in Los Angeles on May 3, 2007.

In April, Marcia finished making souvenir dolls for a UFDC 2009 National Convention luncheon. She was the program speaker at the luncheon held on July 16th in Atlanta Georgia.

Check out Marcia's new reborn vinyl dolls added recently to the Dundore Doll family.