THE WORLD OF DOLLS

Dolls have been a part of every child’s fantasy world for thousands of years. It is not known when dolls were first made, but people living many centuries ago used dolls as religious symbols before using them as toys.

Although the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans knew the art of making wax dolls, the Germans produced wax dolls in large quantities in the 17^th century.

Every suitable material has been used for making dolls. Wood has been very extensively used for carving dolls since earliest times. The first wooden dolls were made in Germany. During the long cold winter months, people who lived in the forests occupied themselves by carving wooden dolls.

In the beginning of the 19^th century, dolls were made to look like adult men and women, rather than children. The heads of these dolls were made of papier-mâché, a mixture of paper pulp and glue.

In the 19^th century, the most popular material that was used for doll-making was bisque.

Families of farmers all over the world used what was naturally available in plenty—hemp, straw and flax—to make imaginative dolls.

In many countries, cloth dolls were also very popular. Rag dolls were also quite popular, and were stuffed with cotton, old rags and other soft material. The eyes, nose and lips were embroidered, while the hair was made from thread.

Mechanical dolls became very popular in the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries. Some unusual dolls were manufactured—those that nodded, smiled, or even fanned themselves gracefully.

Some more Facts-

Set up by the renowned political cartoonist, K. Shankar Pillai (1902-1989), Shankar’s International Dolls Museum located in New Delhi has one of the largest collections of custom dolls anywhere in the world.