When Dottie was a wee lass she would spend endless happy hours, playing with her dolls.. dolls of every size, shape, material, character...any doll basically as Dottie was besotted with dolls..full stop.
Several years on.. and we won't say how many.. far too scary.. she still has a passion for dolls, but alas, not so much time to play with them these days.
Dottie's first love affair began with her first doll which was a Russian Doll otherwise known as Matryoshka Dolls bought by her mother, from the Ideal Home Exhibition in 1960. Not just one doll but a whole family of them to play with ...
The mother doll has lost most of her vibrancy... but then so has Dottie!
Milly remembers, shamefacedly, cutting the hair of her dolls and daubing them in felt tip pens, giving them one of her own special makeovers. How many dolls have suffered the same fate we wonder?
Dolls come in all guises and are a constant fascination..
These charming little bisque dolls are known by several names such as Frozen Charlottes, Penny Dolls and Dime Store Dolls. They were made in between the years of 1800 and the 1930's and were made from one single piece of bisque china to be sold cheaply.
Small but perfectly formed ..
There were many different characters made at that time before an alternative material such as celluloid was used to create inexpensive toys and dolls like this motley selection .. Not sure about the poor lass who looks like she has been under the sun bed for too long!
This lovely little nurse is made from composition, widely used in the manufacture of dolls heads and limbs.. she is reputed to have a good bedside manner.
Milly & Dottie's share many amusing and happy memories of playing with their dolls.. the washing of clothes in a Chad Valley washing machine, Barbie's first and last boyfriend aka Ken, Sindy's extensive collection of matching accessories and her annoying little sister Patch. Tressy and her amazing flowing locks of real nylon hair, Tiny Tears and her incontinence problems and then there were those disturbing Cabbage Patch Dolls.
I wonder where they are now and how many stories they could tell about having biro tattoos and skinhead hairstyles!
Cor my mum must have been in the same queue with your mum when the Matryoshka dolls were bought. Alas I only had a set of three. My mother doll has lost her vibrancy too, which is ashame because they are so beautiful. I had a Sindy doll, and two Palitoy dolls, and blonde haired one and a dark haired one (think these dollys were meant to be about five), but was never aloud a baby doll, oh and I had dolly with long hair, I always wanted a dolly with long hair! I never cut it, it got a lot of brushing though. I'm a granny now, guess who is getting a baby doll for Christmas..........
ReplyDeleteJulie xxxxxx
I had Patch too - I knitted her a complete wardrobe of clothes. I liked her more than Sindy/Barbie because of the feet - somehow the 'older' dolls look very uncomfortable having to stand permanently on tippy toes and I always wear flats myself too! Don't have a knitted wardrobe though - but I'm working on it ...
ReplyDeleteThanks for comment on my blog - really appreciate it.
Your comment about Milly cutting the hair of her dolls and painting them in felt tip pens made me smile, as this was the fate of my favourite doll Celine. Ill-advisedly someone bought me a Barbie's whose hair you could cut and it would 'grow' back (in face there was a long piece of hair which you attach to Barbie's head using velcro - so if you cut the hair on Barbie's head, you could attach this velcro piece and it would like like the hair had grown back again). I quickly dicovered that Celine was not a doll whose hair would grow back, so she now has some rather unappealing bald patches (and one cheek of orange felt tip)!
ReplyDeleteGosh I'm pleased you left that comment, I was beginning to think I was the only one who had a penchant for cutting off their dolls' hair!
ReplyDeleteMilly
I've a near exact match of your Russian Dolls, given to me by a friend of the family who was Latvian, back in the 1970s. My mother doll has faded too! I have two Cabbage Patch babies, and wouldn't part with them for the world! x
ReplyDeleteYes I too have the same Russian dolls... my late aunt's present to me.. my grandaughter loves them.. the large one has unfortuately split though. :)
ReplyDelete