About

Hello there!

My name is Amy. I am the artist behind all of the dolls that you see. I thought it might be nice to introduce myself and share a little bit about how I got started in the world of doll design, restoration, and customization.  

I hold a Bachelors of Fine Art and have worked for several doll companies in various roles over the years from doll cleaning and repair, to painting, to design and product development (in addition to a lot of administrative work) and even wrote articles for publications like Barbie Bazaar, Miller's Fashion Doll, Dolls, and Teddy Bears and Friends. I've also taught a variety of art based classes. I have taken all of that experience to build my own business as Tiny Ribbons Studio and this is what I do full-time now. 

But, long before all of this, I was a collector.

I've been a lover of dolls all of my life starting at a very early age. Then of course the "teen years" happen and playing with dolls wasn't really a thing anymore, but I still always loved them. I just looked at them more as mini statues and models as opposed to play things and would dress them in their fashions and shoes. I can still remember being absolutely fascinated with the Jem & the Holograms line (and still very much am) and the way their shoes would fit perfectly on their feet. Then, I started "collecting" dolls in 1991. I was 19. My first purchase was Mattel's Disney Cinderella Barbie from that year. Eventually, I would purchase Pocahontas, Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine, and Esmerelda. A few years later, I received an Oct 1997 issue of Barbie Bazaar magazine from my late sister and my world was forever changed. Barbie Bazaar opened up a whole new world for me that I never knew about! It had a classified section and I could not believe that I was able to contact people who had dolls for sale, never removed from the box, that I played with as a kid! I might have called all of the listings in that classified section and racked up a hefty long distance bill (this was pre cell phones). Shortly thereafter, I discovered doll shows and then eBay which took my collecting to a whole new level. I remember this time in my life so very vividly! It was such an exciting time to be into dolls! It was like having an entirely new frontier open up. Such great memories!

Barbie Bazaar had a wonderful doll restoration column and I soaked up any and all information I could about doll restoration. There wasn't a lot out there then about doll restoration, so a lot of my skills were learned via trial and error. While attending dolls shows, toy auctions, garage/estate sales I'd find TLC dolls, but would always pass them over because, let's face it, repainting is overwhelmingly intimidating. But, eventually, I decided to start buying them and taught myself how to repaint/reroot dolls. That was around 2004. Then about 2010, after doing some freelance work for another doll artist's line of ball jointed dolls for a while, I felt confident enough to start selling my custom creations and offering some restoration commission work. I've come a very long way since then and my skills have continued to improve with every project I work on. I am constantly inspired by the artistry of so many other doll artists and their styles of painting and doll making.

I love being a part of this on-line community and appreciate all of your comments and interest in what I do. Thanks for being a part of my world!

Here's to many more years of creating!