Tally of the dolls is part of fantasy land

Carrie Attwood's neighbours are not surprised if they spot an elf or pixie at the bottom of her garden.

This is because Carrie makes miniature fantasy dolls that are sold to collectors throughout the world for around £200.

These are no toys - they are serious artwork usually commissioned and made for adults.

Carrie, aged 46, who lives in Halesowen, first started making dolls when her daughter Rosie was born 17 years ago. She wanted to make a doll for her like her mother Sandra Bloomer used to.

She says: "I have always loved dolls and had a small one called Pippa when I was just nine-years-old and my mum used to help me make clothes for her."

After a friend asked her to go to the Miniatura - the international dolls house show at the NEC in 1993, Carrie says she has been hooked on the popular hobby.

Carrie says as a teenager she had always dreamed of being an artist but ended up working in a factory.

"After dropping out of art college I went to work in a factory making chairs and settees," says Carrie, who lives on Witley Avenue.

"I had done life drawing at college so it wasn't a surprise that I liked sculpting the human figure.

"When I first started out I bought all the wrong materials and then found a book, which showed me what to do."

Carrie took some of her first dolls along to a shop in Kidderminster called Chrisaliz to get the owner's opinion.

"She asked me to take my dolls to a show in Stourport and so I worked with my mum to make as many items as possible," she says.

"We started off making the traditional Edwardian and Tudor-themed dolls.

"At that time there were not many dolls that looked like people, but ours were more realistic and then we branched off into fantasy.

"We were happy with that because we could use our imagination."

Organisers of the Miniatura show were so impressed with Carrie's work they gave her a stand at the show and she has been exhibiting there for 15 years - the next show is on this weekend at the NEC.

"A few years ago we caught the attention of the Puppenhaus Museum in Switzerland, which has the largest collection of vintage and modern miniatures," says Carrie.

"When they saw us at Miniatura they bought everything we had and they now have copies of almost every doll we have produced.

"We used to sculpt the dolls out of Fimo, which is like plasticine that sets in the oven.

"But a chemical was taken out of it, which made it difficult to use and so we had to find an alternative.

"I wanted to work with resin but it is difficult and can be dangerous."

At a show Carrie met some people that work with resin in China and she now sends her designs out to them.

"It was difficult to go from working with my mum to shipping everything out to China," she says.

"Handing it all over to a complete stranger did make me nervous at the beginning but they've been wonderful. "It was then things really started to take off - there is nothing like what I do out there."

It cost around £3,500 for Carrie to set up production of her elves in China but now the dolls sell for between £165 and £265.

She emails her drawings to China and they make the moulds, pour in the resin and let it set before smoothing it off.

They also paint the faces and put in the glass eyes while Carrie makes the clothes and wigs in a workshop at the bottom of her garden.

"The dolls are all based on characters that I've come up with in my head and I call them the Witley Wood Elves because I'm inspired a lot by my garden," she says.

"I've sold around 300 in the last 18 months and most of them are ordered by people in America, China or Russia.

"The week before a show it is chaos and my mum didn't want the mess any more so she retired and let me do the business by myself."

Carrie who is married to husband Pete and has two children - Alex, 22, and Rosie, 17, also makes teddy bears and teaches at Leasowes College.

She won Miniature Bear of the Year in 2000 and has won the British Bear Artist award for three years.

"Moona is among my favourite doll because I made her first and Bracken because he was my first boy doll," she says.

"Collectors often spend more on their dolls than they do on anything else and in America they can treat them like children and have naming ceremonies.

People have asked me if I would ever expand my business but I just love working at the bottom of my garden - they say that is where all the elves live.