Marie Osmond doesn't have the time to sculpt and design breathtaking, lovable porcelain dolls.
She takes the time."You do what you love. It's kind of my therapy," Osmond said in a telephone interview. "It's interesting; when do men find time to golf?"
The Ogden-born entertainer has been involved in doll design since 1990 and has personally overseen the creation of 300 different dolls, each unique in character and personality. She started sculpting her own in 1993, during the time she began rehearsing and playing Maria in "The Sound of Music."
"I had my afternoons free, so I starting flying in experts to teach me and help me. I worked with some of the best (doll sculptors) in the world."
Today, Marie Osmond Fine Porcelain Collector Dolls make up the cable network QVC's top-selling doll line. Three of her dolls were nominated this year for the Dolls Award for Excellence during the International Toy Fair in February.
Osmond is proud of her work and delighted that collectors are clamoring for them. But mostly she's pleased, in her own way, to be bringing the world together, and families in particular.
"I really encourage mothers to come to signings and bring not only their little girls but their teenagers. It's a wonderful way to bring generations together, to see the dolls, to pick out a doll. It's an innocence that our kids need again."
Osmond prizes her dolls but makes certain they don't become "untouchable."
Porcelain, when done correctly, is more sturdy than china and can survive a child giving its cheek a kiss or a hug, Osmond said.
"My children do," she said. "They sleep with them, carry them around, put them in their backpacks. The only real danger is in the feet and legs, so ours are of a composition material."
Osmond is particularly proud of Adora Belle, and thinks her Olive May dolls - fashioned after her mother - have the "prettiest little lips." She's also excited about the 5-inch dolls now being sold with greeting cards or as ornaments for Christmas trees.
The entertainer/designer likes knowing that she's made people happy with her dolls. Grandma Kit was designed after a very dear friend of hers who'd never had a store-bought doll. "She made all of hers by hand and they needed a grandma doll," said Osmond. "We gave her a grandma."
She recently finished designing Mickey and Minnie Mouse versions of her "Mops and Rags" series. These will be available in the Disney theme parks next summer.
In the fall Osmond will be in France, Germany and the United Kingdom promoting her dolls.
The whole time, she'll really be focusing on her family and her career, for creating dolls is really more a serious hobby, she said.
"I don't do this for a living. The whole reason I do this is strictly for fun."