The First Miniature Babies I Ever Sculpted

Looking at these old photos now always makes me smile. Long before Minibabydolls became what it is today, these were some of the first babies I ever made.

My first three babies were sculpted from paperclay. At the time I was experimenting with all sorts of things — acrylic paints, pastels, soft bodies and tiny crocheted clothes. I really had no idea where any of it was going. I just enjoyed making them and seeing what I could do.

There was Michelle, another little sleeping baby, and Little Flower. They look very different from the babies I make now, of course, but when I look at them I can still see some of the things that interested me from the beginning. I loved sleeping faces, curled-up baby poses and tiny clothes, and I was always trying to make each little face feel different from the last.

My fourth sculpt was the first baby I made from polymer clay. She was about 9 cm tall and I made her as a little pocket doll for my youngest daughter. I had bought some Sculpey and was very impatient to try it, but there was one problem: I didn't own an oven.

For some reason I decided that boiling the doll might work. So that is exactly what I did. 😂 The clay survived, but the surface came out with all sorts of strange little marks. It definitely wasn't what I had imagined, but I still loved working with polymer clay and wanted to try again properly.

Before I made the next one, I bought a small oven. That baby became Yana, a six-inch toddler named by my daughter. I think Yana was the doll that really changed things for me. Polymer clay gave me much more time to work on a face, change small details and keep adjusting an expression until it felt right.

After that I just wanted to make another baby, and then another. There was no big plan behind it. I wasn't thinking about becoming a miniature baby artist or imagining that one day I would have made thousands of dolls. I simply loved sculpting them and wanted to see what I could make next.

When I compare those early babies with the dolls I create now, the difference is enormous, but I don't feel embarrassed by them. I actually enjoy looking back at them because I remember how exciting everything felt at the time. I was learning as I went, trying different materials, making mistakes and figuring things out with each new doll.

Over time the babies became smaller and smaller, and I became much more interested in realism, newborn expressions and all the tiny details that are now such an important part of my work. There wasn't one moment when Minibabydolls suddenly began. It happened slowly, through all those little experiments and all the babies that came before.

I think sometimes people see an artist's work after many years and forget that everybody starts somewhere. In my case, it started with paperclay, a lot of experimenting and one little Sculpey baby being boiled because I didn't own an oven.

I'm very glad I kept going.

Tiny worlds, timeless emotions.