muses by mia (mary hanley)

I was born and raised in Northern New Jersey. My career was in social services and I am currently retired. I moved to Maine in 2005, which was a significant change for a "Jersey Girl." In the past I've done various needlework, mostly embroidery, crewel, and needlepoint. While in Maine, a new friend introduced me to felting and making dolls with pipe cleaners. In 2015 I started making the dolls to give as ornaments in the likeness of family and friends. People seemed delighted and asked me to make dolls for their friends.

I enjoyed making them so I decided to continue and be more inventive. I get inspired by different fabrics for the outfits and creativity comes with various threads and yarn for hair. The finishing touch is the embellishments on the outfits and the hair.

My process begins with painting the doll heads in various tones, and painting their faces. Then I chose a fabric and pattern and made the outfit. The last step, and the most fun and creative, is choosing what material to use to make their hair and adding embellishments.

Since my family nickname is Mia, awhile ago I started calling my little dolls “Muses by Mia”.