North Carolina doll maker Sherri Colvin knew she was an artist even in grade school, but something magical happened the day she put her hands on some clay.

"I started out wanting to paint, but when I picked up the clay to make a figure for the first time I was hooked," she said.

A sculptor for the past two decades, Colvin began working in miniature five years ago when her niece's dollhouse needed some figures. She started with papier mache and then began working with polymer clay.

She has since put that clay to good use in her home studio, sculpting amazingly realistic one-inch scale character dolls in polymer clay sure to add life to any scene. She also makes resin doll kits from her own sculpts, which she sells at shows and through her CDHM Gallery and her websites, colvindolls.com and minidollkits.com. Doll kits start at $40 USD; her dolls begin at $250 USD.

All these things come from her home workshop.