It's not that great, I have to rely on my Mum to pay the house mortgage, the majority of the bills and I can't leave because I wouldn't be able to afford it. (I love Mum a lot and we get on well but I'm 24 with a long-term boyfriend, it's time to get our own place.) I got grants and help from a local business start up charity, I'm still getting help now, and it's really touch-and-go sometimes. Like I said, I don't go out, I wake up at 6am and work until 9pm most days, and don't get days off or holidays. If I don't work, I don't get money. Think hard before you assume thats the lifestyle you want.

It's an extremely niche market, like cosplaying, I wouldn't recommend spending your time at college solely devoting it to art dolls. It would be a little bit like going to study textiles but only wanting to make fursuits. Definitely pick something more broad, don't burn your bridges. I was given a lot of freedom at university studying Illustration which is where I developed my interest in art dolls, but I really wish I had done a General Foundation Art and Design course at college before I went to University. A few of my friends had before they started and they had a much bigger range of techniques to choose from to convey the right feeling for the piece they were working on or the brief we had been given. That basic knowledge would have helped me pick and choose techniques a lot better.

My business was created by and runs on demand, which is the best way to start and I'm extremely lucky. Make sure there is a market for your work before you decide to invest in a long and expensive degree in something you might not like in the end! I only started making dolls in my second year at university and I have only just got comfortable now, almost six years later. I started that degree because I wanted to be a digital artist and draw dragons for fantasy novels! That was my dream and I did what you're doing now, I asked a lot of artists on DeviantArt who drew dragons if they made a living from it, but when I got to uni I ended up completely changing my mind.

I don't want to bring you down, you can achieve anything if you put your mind to it, but try to be realistic and business-headed about it. Read up about what business plans are, and if you really want to make a living selling art dolls, try and write your own business plan to see what you need to do to get there. It will help you immensely.