Yes, but not for the purposes of talking to them! The original sculptures are all named so that it's easier to identify them and for collectors to know which they have in their collection and which they don't. It's easier for me to work with names as a reference as opposed to numbers!
The names are:
Niamh
Simon Children
Louise
Michael
Emma
Vicky
Katherine
Ruth
Margaret
Caroline
Nell
Dora
Edward
Bill
John
Craig
Charles
Image courtesy of Anglia Dolls Houses
As a maker, the orginal dolls are completely unique to me. i.e. if you purchase an original doll, it has not been created from a commercially available mould, taken from another arttists' sculpture. From a collector's point of view, original dolls are less abundant and therefore more rare.
I own the master sculptures and copyright to eighteen different characters. From these master sculptures, master silicoln moulds are made in order to create porcelain production moulds from plaster of paris. It is from these plaster of Paris moulds that I create my original dolls from porcelain.
I think so. In so much as they aren't all "pretty faced ladies." I am working on project for a large Victorian house at the moment. It is quite a challenge creating 30 figures with a range of ages and professions for the one house but I have more or less managed to fill it using my original characters with a few minor adaptions at the casting and paint firing stage.
I pay a lot of attention to the conventions of portraiture when creating my figures as I like to think of a miniature setting as a still life painting in three dimensions. So, in this sense I try to create figures that look like "real people." Original Doll Charles is modelled on the artist Charles Rennie Mackintosh and inspired by the Mackintosh dolls' houses.
Image courtesy of Anglia Dolls Houses
Image courtesy of Anglia Dolls Houses
Image courtesy of Anglia Dolls Houses
Image courtesy of Anglia Dolls Houses
Image courtesy of Anglia Dolls Houses
Original Doll Emma
Original Doll Katherine
Original Doll Vicky
Original Doll Dora