My name is Karma Rowe.

I was born in Holland in 1943 and in 1954 my family and I emigrated to Australia. I now live in Sydney, Australia with my husband Tony and my two cats Lofty and Foxy.

I inherited my passion for creativity from a talented family in an environment that nurtured talent, starting with my grandfather Herman van Dijk a noted composer / pianist / actor.
My mother was possibly the best seamstress I have known. Never needing a pattern and with a couple of basic measurements she would simply look at a picture of a dress and look at the person, and at first fitting the design would need a minimum of tweaking.

Of my four sisters it�s hard to know who is the most talented;
First there is Nell Weber whose oil paintings are so sought after she can�t paint fast enough.
Then we have Silvia De Bruin now living in Canada, International ballroom dancer and Figure ice skating instructor.
Next comes Jane Russ, who amongst her many other talents is a published author and poet.
And last but not least we have Annette Dingwall whose name is easily recognized in the international world of porcelain doll making.

Through my life�s journey I went through many career changes. On the way I obtained a degree in fashion design, completed an apprenticeship in re-upholstery, and taught Acrylic fingernails but it wasn�t until I retailed sewing machines that I turned my attention to Arts and Crafts.

I tried my hand at many things such as Quilting, Appliqu�, Embroidery (both hand and machine) Folk art and Oil painting, and though I still dabble in these nothing inspired a lasting passion.

With the encouragement of my sister Annette I ventured in to the art of porcelain doll making but soon found this medium too confining for me but it did help me take the next step to cloth dolls.

My interest in mask making began when I traveled to Italy for my honeymoon with my first husband Ferruccio (now deceased). Yes you guessed it, he was Italian.

At last I had found my niche.