A teenager is having to manage a bulging order book after her crocheted figures created a buzz with celebrities in the US.
Ellen Siegert created the characters from her favourite TV series Ugly Betty and was stunned when one of the stars of the show ordered a full set.
The 16-year-old from Hopton suffers with chronic fatigue syndrome and took up crochet around a year ago, which she found therapeutic.
During lockdown - having rewatched the series - she decided to create the main characters posting the finished doppelgangers on Instagram and tagging in their real-life counterparts.
She immediately received applause for her talents from cast member Becki Newton, who plays Amanda, who said she was instantly struck by how Ellen had captured the spirit of the characters.
Since then two other actors in the series have said they want them too - and now she spends her evenings responding to requests from America.
The Amanda doll portrays the character in the famous “Amanda dress” - a super-tight rubber concoction designed to expose the catty receptionist’s slavish devotion to fashion.
The episode is a favourite among fans of the comedy drama which ran for four seasons from 2006 to 2010 and centres on a spoof fashion magazine called Mode.
Becki said in a post to her 46,000 followers that seeing Amanda in doll form was “a dream come true” .
She thanked Ellen for being “so talented and kind and creating things that will bring so much joy to people,” hailing her as “an incredible human.”
Her fans commenting said they were stunned to hear the artist was so young with many saying how impressed they were and hailing her “cool vision.”
Ellen’s parents Jane and Steve Siegert said the whole episode had been a real boost to the teenager, followers on her CrazyHippoCrochet Instagram account increasing tenfold.
The “joy and excitement” had been “surreal” Ellen said, the only problem now being fulfilling all the orders in her GCSE year while coping with the illness, diagnosed two and a half years ago.
So far she has commissions for Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Edgar Allan Poe and characters from American TV shows.
“It has just been a blur of excitement,” Ellen added.
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