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They have their own distinctive look, one of elegance and beauty, and if you stare at them long enough you can see their faces through the ridges in their walnut heads.

Ronnie Chameau's banana leaf Christmas angels, which come in different sizes, easily draw your attention as they are very detailed and made to perfection.

And making these angels is no easy task as all the leaves must be collected.

It takes a year to thoroughly dry out banana leaves and the grapefruit leaves which create the angels wings have to go through a natural drying out process to form the leaf's skeleton.

"There used to be a lady in St. George's that made palm dolls and banana dolls. She gave it up about 15 years ago and I decided to take up "dying art'' -- the use of dried foliage to create art,'' Mrs. Chameau said.

She added: "I wanted to revive it, no one else was doing it and the lady from St. George's had not passed on how to do it but I had a vague idea.'' "I started practising 10 years ago and then I took two dolls into Trimingham's to show and they wanted more, as the years went by I got better and better at it.

"One day I was talking with a lady and she asked me if I ever tried making banana leaf angels, I told her no but that I would try and she said she would buy it from me no matter what it looked like. That is how the angels were created.'' Mrs. Chameau said she used to pick up all sorts of foliage and leaves and dried grapefruit leaves but she never knew what to do with them until she started making the angels.

"I wanted the angels to be all natural so I used the dried grapefruit leaf skeleton for the wings and their gowns are all banana leaf, their head is a walnut and the hair is braided from a banana leaf. For the halo I use either a piece of Norfolk pine or ivy. I just make it up,'' she said.

"Every year I decided to give the angles a different instrument to play such as a trumpet, harp, violin and cello -- which is my favourite -- and people are starting to collect them from year to year.

"This year the angels are beating a drum, all the instruments are made from banana leaves or the Royal Palm leaves. I glitter them and make them festive.'' Mrs. Chameau added that making the angels is time consuming with the most time being spent collecting the many leaves. "I don't just pick up any old leaf.'' She also said the grapefruit leaves must turn into a skeleton naturally which means they have to fall off the tree on to the ground with the green bit carefully eaten away by worms.

"It takes about an hour to make one angel and I have to have a humid day to really work or the leaves get all crumbly. I also have to have Christmas music playing.'' Mrs. Chameau added that all the angels come in boxes with a write up on how they are made and they are flying all over the world with visitors buying them from Trimingham's.

This weekend, six of her instrument playing angels will be shown in a home in Pasadina, California where the Philharmonic Orchestra of Los Angeles will be playing.

"I have had a few responses from people who have purchased them to say how much they enjoy them.'' Asked when she will finish making the angels Mrs. Chameau said: "I will finish making them later this month and then I'll begin gathering leaves, and drilling holes in the walnuts for the next batch. "It's like an assembly line.

When asked what making angels means to her Mrs. Chameau said: "Angels are so beautiful and sacred. I look at them and see Christmas. I also make St.

Nicholas from natural foliage.

"When I was a little girl growing up in St. David's we didn't have many toys and I used to make my dolls with cane grass. I really got right into it. I built doll houses from cardboard boxes and old orange crates which I got from the grocery store.

"It is a unique art and I don't think I will ever get tired of making them because when you create something yourself you can never really get tired.''