She was captivated by the perfect miniature replicas of old buildings and palaces, antique pieces of furniture… and saw miniature dolls as a wonderful way to combine her passion for art, historical fashion and ballet. She began the creation of dolls in 1997 after attending a class in antique dolls reproduction, where she learned the classical techniques of pouring, polishing and baking of porcelain and painting with china paints. After several months of self-taught training in sculpture, miniature painting, modeling of moulds and confection of costumes and accessories, her first doll was born.
In 1998 she participated in the exhibition 'Casas de Muñecas y Miniaturas', the first miniature exhibition in her region, where she presented a scene, 1/12 scale, of the ballet The Sleeping Beauty. In this exhibition she had the opportunity of meeting Caroline Hamilton, the organizer of London Dollshouse Festival, who selected her to enter for it in 1999. This show was the definitive step in her career, and she felt encouraged to participate in other European and American miniature fairs: Chicago International, Philadelphia Miniaturia, New York Guild Show, Paris Creation (France), Eins zu Zwölf (Germany) and Feria Internacional de Miniaturas de Madrid (Spain).
In May 2001 she achieved the status of "Artisan" in the International Guild of Miniature Artisans, in both categories of "Human figures" and "Costuming". From 2003 to 2006 Maria Jose was an instructor in the International Guild of Miniature Artisans School (Maine, USA), where she taught summer classes in miniature costume design and history of fashion, besides organizing intensive workshops in her country.
Carabosse Dolls can be seen in the permanent collections of museums such as the Art Institute of Chicago (Illinois - Christmas Thorne Rooms), the Toy & Miniature Museum of Kansas City (Missouri), the Kathleen Browning Miniatures Collection in the Kentucky Gateway Museum Center (Kentucky), Puppenhausmuseum of Basel (Switzerland) or El Mundo de las Muñecas in Tenerife (Spain). Her dolls also were displayed in temporary exhibitions in Naples Museum of Art (Florida, USA) and Tee Ridder's Miniature Museum (New York), among others.
