Jeanette from Oregon believes that "Humans naturally want someone or something to love, and to be loved back. Dolls can give a very pure love in our minds, like animals, because we believe that they care nothing for our faults and love us no matter what. Parenthood is also an instinct, and dolls allow humans from an early age to nurture that instinct."

Holly from Pennsylvania notes, "There are a lot of doll collectors in my family, though of the more traditional type compared to what I make and collect myself!"

Mizzy, a Texan, states, "My family holds family values [in high esteem], therefore they couldn't possibly throw away some little doll Great-Aunt-So-and-So had. We were [given the doll and] told of that person and it kept their memories alive...I took some bits and pieces of a relative's old clothes and made a small quilt for my daughter and her dolls. It means more because it contains scraps of [her essence]."

Carol from California approaches the subject from a different angle. "Peoples inherent instinct of wanting to see human form in all things has given them the ability to perceive a rock or a stick as resembling a human; its all a matter of perception."

Several doll makers were asked to describe their compulsion to create these representations of the human form.

Jeanette says, "In ninth grade, I had a friend who told me about a culture who makes their own dolls, so I tried it. The beginning result was not impressive, but I liked having a friend to carry around to class...I mostly make dolls because I enjoy creating something...I suppose I have a bit of a Frankenstein complex."

Carol agrees. "There is a little bit of a god complex associated with the creation of a little person." She explains how she started making dolls. "One day in the late 1980s, I was working on a series of paintings of clowns, and I really had the desire to make something 3-D. I had an old black and white sweater out of which I cut the shape of a clown and stitched it together. I thought it was the most amazing feeling to be able to hold in my hand some art that I had created that was not a piece of paper."

Mizzy has no simple answer for this question. "There has never been a time that I found myself NOT creating. Little bits of tin foil transformed by [my] small hands [became a] shiny bird or acrobat. One of the small sandstones that lay in the field beside my childhood home became a horse, with a bit of grass and a dab of paint. I love to create...bringing unloved bits of seeming trash to life...Maybe I need to make [dolls], to leave part of myself beyond my lifespan, to have something to remind MY grandchildren about me, just as I hold dear the small memoirs of my ancestors."

Holly explains, "I started [doll making] around July of 2000, when I went doll hunting for my own collection...[I] couldn't find anything that seemed to fit me, and then decided, why not make my own? I make dolls out of my fascination with them and my love for collecting. It feels good to know that others are collecting what I make, and to also know that I am creating something that can evoke many different reactions from people. Some are repelled, some attracted...which has always been my own [mixed] reaction to dolls."

Diane from New Jersey adds, "I have always loved dolls since I was a little girl. They always brought me such happiness and now that I am grown up I think it's great to make dolls that bring happiness to others! Until I was eight I was an only child so my dolls would entertain me for hours. I was in my own little world when playing with my dolls...I design and sew clothing and one day just decided to give doll making a try. I think I mostly gave it a try because I saw (and fell in love with) other dolls people had made, so other doll makers really inspired me to make my own unique creations. I also have a doll collection of my own and thought it would be fun to make some for other people to collect."

Karen from Massachusetts has always loved dolls also. She says, "Creating the dolls and working on them is just my way of playing with them. It is not much different than what I did with my dolls as a child. I think of my dolls as my offspring, and I consider doll making to be 'Play Therapy'. I also have a magpie-like desire to collect shiny, colorful things. Collecting materials to make mixed media dolls is as fun, to me, as making the dolls themselves."

"Play is very important to children and adults...most people just don't see it." adds Holly. "We're too busy worrying about everything else we have to deal with and we don't spend enough time cherishing the things we did as children. Take your dolls out, clean them up, dress them, pose them, or play any way you know how. But don't ever forget what's important in life and what really matters. Believe it or not, what matters most is not how much money was on your W2's last year or how perfect your car looks as your cruise down the road. If you don't know what's important, pick up an old doll and remember what it was like to sit under an oak tree on a sunny day, confessing your secrets to her silent lips, and feeling as if life could not be more sublime."

Diane states her feelings about play succinctly: "For me it's important. Life shouldn't be all about work, work, work!"

On the surface, dolls appear to be simple playthings or collectibles. However, there is a deeper aspect to doll making that leads to spiritual healing or even physical healing.

"It takes away the day to day stress of my family and the mistakes that haunt me," explains Mizzy. "I get depressed, but I can pick up a paintbrush or a sewing needle and I begin to lose myself in another place...It is as if I have too much 'me' inside my body and I feel too completely full of emotion; so I can go off on a wall with some paint and get it out and give it to the wall so it can live there instead of inside me."

Karen has a tendency to be troubled by obsessive thoughts. She has discovered, "A cure for repetitive negative thinking is to replace it with an appreciation of some of the more delightful things in life. It is sort of like playing pleasant music loudly to cover up a song that you don't like. Eventually the music you don't want to hear will fade away."

For Jeanette, making dolls has a definite healing aspect. She suffers from severe depression, and she feels that making dolls is the one thing in her life over which she has control. "But unlike drugs or alcohol", she explains, "the result [of doll making] is positive, I can create a new friend, and it fills me with pride and happiness. That happiness is doubled when someone else finds just as much happiness in [the dolls] as I do."

Holly states, "I am at peace while I sew and work on a doll, and I am feverishly happy when a new idea occurs to me out of nowhere!"

"In my life long battle for self esteem," explains Sunny, "I've found that creation in any form has been a safe way for me to declare my right to exist. When someone creates something they are also taking up some sort of space in the world with something that says 'Look at me. Acknowledge me'."

Carol says, "I can work out my problems and express my feelings through a doll. Some days if I am angry the dolls come out with facial features that convey that emotion. Dollmaking has made me calmer and not as angry. I also like to show my sense of humor in the dolls. Sometimes after I am done making a doll it will make me laugh. When you can laugh at your own work its the greatest feeling. Laughter truly is the best medicine. With art I have been able to drag myself out of the mire of self pity and depression. Also, on a physical level, after surgery on my hand I got right back in to making things and it helped immensely with strengthening my hands."

Diane claims, "It's made me more creative. While making one doll I usually get more ideas for other dolls. The ideas start flowing while I am creating a doll."

Jeanette says that since she has started making dolls, she is "more willing now to look at different kinds of expression and to embrace things that may be outside the boundaries of what society deems 'appropriate'...their rules are not necessarily mine."

For Holly, doll making has made her both more responsible and more patient. She explains,"I've learned to run my own business from home, dealing with shipping, record keeping, taxes, etc. But those are not always enjoyable things. Those are the things I wade through to get to the fun part...Making dolls has taught me to look behind the veil of the ordinary for inspiration, which [ability] has touched me in all aspects of my life. I've learned from it that patience has its own rewards, and that [acknowledging the joy in] small things is far more important than worrying about the big ones."

However limited or flexible your definition of what a doll is, however trivial or important you may believe dolls to be...Allow yourself some private time with these representations of the human race. Some unexpected queries may come to mind which you would like to ask them. And the dolls may surprise you with their responses to the ages-old questions that have been asked them from the beginning of time. Talented doll makers and ordinary doll collectors alike have been relying on dolls to solve problems and create joy. If you are fortunate to be able to converse with dolls, you may just find the solutions to all the problems of the universe.