A TALENTED and creative woman has received a prestigious award for her hand-crafted porcelain dolls. Christine Jones, of Newbolt, Royston, who is a member of the Global Doll Society, won a gold medal in the Modern Fantasy section at the society s annual a

A TALENTED and creative woman has received a prestigious award for her hand-crafted porcelain dolls.

Christine Jones, of Newbolt, Royston, who is a member of the Global Doll Society, won a gold medal in the Modern Fantasy section at the society's annual awards.

Christine uses a range of techniques to create the intricate dolls, such as embroidery, gold relief work, painting, and jewellery work.

But before she concentrates on aesthetics she has to use a kiln to fire them from scratch.

She said: "There are so many things that can go wrong. You can get a cold spot in the kiln or it might fire too high or too low.

"And you may have to paint the heads four or five times to get it right."

Christine has been making dolls for 10 years, and is working on another fantasy doll to add to her collection, which includes a fairy and an ice queen.

She said she would like to teach her skills to others, and added: "I would also love to make a Madonna doll for the Catholic Church. But I would have to get the right doll for that."

When asked where she gets her ideas from she said: "I work on inspiration.