From an early age, dolls were central to Nellie’s creative world. Taught by her mother, she began making dolls before the age of ten, often slipping away from fieldwork to hide and devote time to her creations. Using worn clothing, stockings, and found objects for eyes, she created dolls that resembled people she knew and made others for her younger sister Willie. In later years, she conceived some as self-portraits of herself as a young girl, while others she affectionately referred to as her children. These handmade dolls occupied many of the chairs in the yard of her Playhouse, becoming part of the living landscape of her world and contributing to the vibrant legacy she built around herself.