WITH their beautiful, lifelike faces and exquisite hand-made costumes, it is easy to see why the porcelain dolls created by the Helen Corelli Art Studio are so highly regarded.

The porcelain dolls were made by a group of local dollmakers under the expert eye of Helen Corelli and won nine prestigious rosette awards in a local competition.

The competition, held at the Masonic Hall in Caloundra, also helped raise funds for Compassionate Friends.

Approximately $2000 was raised for the group from items sold on the day and the entrance cost.

Helen said the money raised would help Compassionate Friends to run their newsletter for the year.

The dollmakers are an extremely talented group of people, with an eye for precision and perfection.

Dolls are made with tender care, and represent hours of hard work.

Everything from the dolls’ small leather shoes, intricate costume gowns and shining locks of hair are handmade by the dollmakers.

Helen said an enormous amount of time and effort had been put into making the winning competition dolls.

She said the group was extremely happy with the competition results.

"We were overjoyed with the response we had on the day," she said.

"It was a fantastic effort to bring home nine rosette winners, and we also had a number of first dolls. It really was a double-dose of success for us, and we were very happy to raise funds for the Compassionate Friends."

Successful doll makers, from left, Molly Rambert, Kym Sloman, Helen Corelli, Jan White and Joy Iles.