ANGELIQUE
MINIATURES CELEBRATES
21 YEARS IN BUSINESS.
www.angeliqueminiatures.co.uk
It
is hard for me to believe that my doll making business, Angelique
Miniatures, has been in existence for twenty-one years on 7th
March 2009. It certainly doesn’t seem that long and they do say that
‘time flies when you are having fun’! And it is indeed fun to be able
to earn a crust doing something that one loves to do.
That’s
not to say that the work isn’t sometimes difficult. Many have tried
dressing miniature dolls and have found that it is indeed quite a
challenge sometimes, but for me, that challenge has always been an
enjoyable one. I have never once dreaded starting work each morning. I can
honestly say with my hand on my heart that I am now doing a dream job. I
am able to work in my own home with nobody looking over my shoulder or
shouting orders at me. I am my own boss……..with all the perks and of
course the responsibility that comes with the wonderfully old-fashioned
title ‘Proprietress’.
I
had always loved dolls from a very early age but they were not my first
love:
When
I was a little girl of just two and a half years old, I decided I wanted
to learn to dance. Fortunately my mother ran a dancing school so I was
able to learn ballet, tap and modern theatre dance. I loved my dancing so
much (and still do!) and also learned to sing and act. At the age of
thirteen I successfully auditioned for the Italia Conti Stage school in
London and spent five blissfully happy years there training in dance,
drama and singing in order to become professional. I was very lucky
(although I did not realise it then) in that I was a good dancer, had a
very nice singing voice and had been trained to act in anything from
Shakespeare to Pinter and in my spare time……….yes, you’ve guessed
it……I made and dressed dolls!
Sadly
when I left stage school with all those wonderful dreams of becoming a
professional dancer, I soon found out that it was not a case of how
beautifully I could dance but more a case of ‘it’s not what you know
but WHO you know’! Coupled with the fact that I was only five feet tall
and most shows at that time wanted dancers of at least five feet six, it
wasn’t long before the truth started to dawn on me……this was not a
very easy profession. Jobs were very limited for girls of my height and,
to cut a very long story very short, I went from one dead-end job to
another with a succession of awful people in dreadful places. I took many
hard knocks and learnt all sorts of lessons the hard way before finally
making one very important, large and life-changing decision.
With
a severely broken heart that, despite all the hard work throughout my
childhood and teenage years, my dreams lay shattered around me, I gathered
all my strength and courage and made the hardest decision I have ever had
to make. I left the entertainment profession. Whilst I have never
regretted that decision to leave, it has always been a subject of immense
sadness for me and it is only in recent years that I have been able to
talk openly about this very difficult period in my life.
Since
I had no qualifications in any other type of profession, I decided that
self-employment was probably the best way forward. Both my parents were
self-employed, Mum with her dancing school and Dad as a letterpress
printer, so self-employment was not alien to me at all.
So,
in March 1988, with help from the Government
Enterprise Allowance Scheme, I turned my doll hobby into a business
and Angelique Miniatures was born.
I
well remember the ‘Awareness Day’ I had to attend in order to qualify
for this financial help. It was held at a local college and was attended
by about ten of us. Most people were setting up their business in IT but
there was also a chocolate maker and me, the doll maker. Part of this
one-day course involved standing up and telling everyone what we were each
intending to do and I remember that both the chocolate maker and myself
were rather sniggered at by all the IT people.
Both
the chocolate maker and I are still in business 21 years later…………are
the IT people?
I
originally started by dressing larger dolls and by making dressed cats and
pigs. I made a set of samples and would contact local gift shops by phone
(there was no Internet back then) and ask if they would be interested in
seeing my work. I would then visit them and more often than not, they
would place a small initial order which often led to more orders when my
work sold well.
After
concentrating on dressing the larger porcelain dolls etc for about a year,
a local dolls house shop asked me if I would dress a miniature doll for them. The rest is history.
More
orders for miniatures came and it wasn’t long before the miniature side
overtook the larger dolls! Originally I would buy little doll kits, put
them together and dress them and buy the wigs from another doll maker.
Eventually though, I started to make my own porcelain parts and all my own
wigs too!
With
a life long interest in the theatre, it was just a matter of time before I
started to create fantasy figures
and of course fairies as well
as the historical figures for
peoples model houses. Amongst my current range are numerous fairy
characters, mermaids and pond dwellers, witches, wizards and enchantresses. All my dolls are made
to order so each doll can be a creation of both the customer’s and my
own imagination.
Each
miniature doll takes many, many hours of work from the making of all the
individual porcelain parts, painting the features, bodying, dressing and
wigging. Sometimes people don’t realise how very time consuming and
delicate the process is and that it requires
much patience and skill that has been practised and perfected over the
years.
In
the case of historical costume, the correct style will be thoroughly
researched and made for each doll. I have studied historical costume for over
30 years and have a wide knowledge of clothes from ancient
times right up to present day
although I specialise in the
Mediaeval and Tudor periods. Mainly natural fabrics are used such as pure cotton and silk as
appropriate. For my ever-popular fairies,
I use numerous silks and chiffons,
decorated with fine glitter and
tiny rhinestones. Often the fairies will have the smallest of dried flowers and greenery in their hair. Some have
small accessories such as a tiny sea
shell or a crystal sphere.
In
the 1990’s I became a regular costume designer for the British doll
company ‘Alberon’ and, amongst many others, I designed the costumes
for their first Cicely Mary Barker ‘Flower Fairy’ dolls.
Then
came the new 15”to 16” Fashion
Dolls such as Gene, Tyler Wentworth
etc. They became very popular and it wasn’t long before I was asked
by my customers to start providing clothing items for these dolls and,
having started to collect the same dolls as my customers, it was easy to
fit all the clothes properly. This
saw the very successful launch of the new ANGELIQUE
CLOTHING RANGE that
provided couture day and evening wear plus historical costumes for these
fashion dolls, including men’s wear.
Then
in 2003, and to celebrate Angelique’s
Crystal Anniversary (fifteen years), I introduced a range of ballet
and other dance costumes for the new 16” ballerina doll Clea
Bella. These include costumes from many of the famous
classical ballets as
well as my own designs. I
am now one of the official guest costume designers of The Clea Bella Company in the USA.
2004
saw the introduction to the Fairy Folk range of the new MYSTIC
WATERS and HEAVENLY BODIES
COLLECTIONS of Angels and Mermaids. Also, a collection of clothing to
fit the 16” Kish dolls and tiny Riley Kish.
Introduced
to the Fairy Folk range in 2005
were: THE GUARDIAN ANGEL and THE
FAIRY OF THE NIGHT SKY. 
In
2006 the ‘MOMENT IN TIME’ collection
was launched. This is a range of miniature historical costume dolls,
highly detailed and depicting particular fashions from different eras. I
also began to supply regular ‘How To’ doll-dressing features for
‘Dolls House and Miniature Scene’ magazine. This was a very important
step for me as it allowed me to share and pass on my skills to others.
At
the end of 2007 and start of 2008, I introduced a range of miniature fairy
tale dolls with ‘props’ known as the ‘ONCE
UPON A TIME’ collection. These
dolls are based on well-known Fairy Tale and Nursery Rhyme characters such
as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Little Bo Peep etc. etc.
More of these lovely characters were added to the range through
2008 and more are planned for 2009. Also planned is a
limited edition range of heirloom-style clothing for the popular
reborn baby dolls.
All
of my Angelique items are made
with much love and the intention of giving their new owners maximum
pleasure. For me, the art of designing, making and dressing dolls
satisfies the creative side of my character and brings me much joy,
especially when I hear that my work is giving pleasure to others. I hope
that Angelique Miniatures will continue to grow and evolve over the next
21 years and continue giving pleasure to those who choose me to create
their dolls and costumes for them.
