An Early Wooden Doll at Lucy's Doll House

I am reposting this for a group of people who are studying Queen Anne dolls. Lucy's Doll House is closed now, sadly.

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Even though I originally visited Lucy's Doll House in 2007 because they had an Izannah Walker doll, I try to get there every year to see what they treasures they have in store.  And I am never disappointed.  Here is a little wooden Queen Anne style doll.  She was hand sized.  I wish I had gotten a whole body shot!  She has what appears to be human hair.  This doll is SOLD and not available any more, but I was glad to be able to cross paths with her.  

For my doll making friends, I usually try to take pictures from odd angles.  

The following video is quite imperfect.  but it gives a sense of the size of the doll as well as the legs.  Enjoy!

Wonderful Kathe Kruse Dolls

Signature Dolls shared images of these marvelous Kathe Kruse dolls in a group we are both in, and has graciously allowed me to share them here with Maida readers.  The dolls shared here are only 14" tall.

I love the story behind Kathe Kruse dolls - that the first doll Kathe made was an answer to her child Maria's wish to have a baby to cuddle.  Maria's father looked for a doll like the child wanted but only found cold porcelain dolls.   So mama Kathe improvised, as mothers do:

"....the doll should be warm, soft and also a little bit heavy to carry. She took a soft towel, filled it with sand and finally took a potato as a head. The first doll was born! Mimerle instantly fell in love with it, played with it and carried it around all day long. But after a few days the knots got loose, the sand came out and the potato developed a very unpleasing smell..."

via the Kathe Kruse website

This makes me grin.   Some of my early dolls have that improvised feel, minus the potato head. You can read the story here.  Enjoy the images. 

A far cry from a sand filled towel with a potato head.

What marvelous but simple construction!

I like to end with images of the dolls fully clothed.  

Such beautiful honest creations!  

Thank you to Signature Dolls for sharing them!  

MAIDA Dolls Group Shares on Instagram

MAIDA Dolls Group is sharing on Instagram for Fifteen Days of Dollmaking.  If you’d like to join in or follow along, here are the sharing prompts, and you can hashtags #maidadolls and #fifteendaysofdollmaking.