A dollmaker's studio is a fascinating place. The materials and tools of painters, sculptors, and carpenters are there but in miniature sizes and minute quantities: tiny needles and awls, drills no thicker than slivers, paintbrushes an eyelash thick, thimble-sized pots of glue and paints, inches of exquisite fabrics.
Author and photographer focus on the artistry of a master dollmaker, Carole Bowling of Boston to illustrate the entire process by which she makes a sculpted-head portrait doll: the mold, the casting, gluing the skin, painting the face, wigging, body-making, costuming.
Kathryn Lasky's vivid text and Christopher Knight's intriguingly detailed photographs of an artist at work capture the magic of a world that has been a source of delight for centuries.