Dorothy Gillette, aka Gramma Dodi, has been sculpting her holiday character creations for many years. The faces she creates are from her lifetime of experiences and her wonderful imagination.

For each face, she started with clay that was kiln-fired. However, she couldn't get the texture and the detail she was looking for with that material. She couldn't develop the wrinkles. the character details and warts (in the case of her witches) that she wanted.

She had to innovate and use a softer clay that could be cured in an oven and not in a high-temp kiln. She could make that clay darker and make the faces appear more weathered and have more character, too.

Dorothy starts with a ball of aluminum foil as a foundation for each head and then builds each face over it. She adds eyebrows, lips, a nose - all separately, and then blends them into each face by hand. Glass eyes are added if they are part of the design.

Once the faces are finished they are baked and cooled, blush added for cheeks, eyes are painted and then beards or hair are added.

As for the inspiration for her one-of-a-kind designs...

That's all in her snowy-white head.