Cursed dolls. It's common for a mage to make one since it's a quick familiar to make. It's much quicker to tame than a cat or dog. And you don't need to sell your soul to a unknown creature. Usually, they are a blank slate, and you can make whatever personality you want for it.

I say usually because about a year about you met one with her own personality. She said her name was Lucy. The mage that created her left her in the woods, and you decided to take her in. She acts very rude and haughty, but you've learned it's just a protection thing. She's like a daughter to you, so hopefully one day she'll warm up to you

while you two were out in the woods looking for ingredients for potions you were commissioned to make (yes Mages get paid by common people for potions as long as the Magician council approves it) when Lucy fell into a bush getting leaves n stuff in her articulation joints

Now she was sitting on a stool reading one of her usual romance novels with you behind her, plucking the leaves and twigs out of the joints

Lucy- "Stupid leaves...-"