- Dolls have been a part of humankind
since prehistoric times. Used to depict religious figures or used as
playthings, early dolls were probably made from primitive materials
such as clay, fur, or wood. No dolls have survived from prehistoric
times, although a fragment of an alabaster doll with movable arms from
the Babylonian period was recovered.
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- Dolls constructed of flat pieces of
wood, painted with various designs and with "hair" made of
strings of clay or wooden beads, have often been found in Egyptian
graves dating back to 2000 BC. Egyptian tombs of wealthy families have
included pottery dolls. Dolls placed in these graves leads some to
believe that they were cherished possessions.
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- Dolls were also buried in Greek and
Roman children's graves. Girls from Greece and Rome dedicated their
wooden dolls to goddesses after they were too "grown-up" to
play with dolls.
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- Most ancient dolls that were found in
children's tombs were very simple creations, often made from such
materials as clay, rags, wood, or bone. Some of the more unique dolls
were made with ivory or wax. The main goal was to make the doll as
"lifelike" as possible. That ideal lead to the creation of
dolls with movable limbs and removable garments, dating back to 600
B.C.
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- Following the era of the ancient dolls,
Europe became a major hub for doll production. These dolls were
primarily made of wood. Primitive wooden stump dolls from 16th and
17th century England number less than 30 today. The Grodnertal area of
Germany produced many peg wooden dolls, a type of doll that has very
simple peg joints and resembles a clothespin.
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- An alternative to wood was developed in
the 1800s. Composition is a collective term for mixtures of pulped
wood or paper that were used to make doll heads and bodies. These
mixtures were molded under pressure, creating a durable doll that
could be mass produced. Manufacturers closely guarded the recipes for
their mixtures, sometimes using strange ingredients like ash or
eggshells. Papier-mâché, a type of composition, was one of the most
popular mixtures.
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- In addition to wooden dolls, wax dolls
were popular in the 17th and 18th centuries. Munich was a major
manufacturing center for wax dolls, but some of the most distinctive
wax dolls were created in England between 1850 and 1930. Wax modelers
would model a doll head in wax or clay, and then use plaster to create
a mold from the head. Then they would pour melted wax into the cast.
The wax for the head would be very thin, no more than 3 mm. One of the
first dolls that portrayed a baby was made in England from wax at the
beginning of the 19th century.
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- Porcelain became popular at the
beginning of the 19th century. Porcelain is made by firing special
clays in a kiln at more than 2372 degrees Fahrenheit. Only a few clays
can withstand firing at such high temperatures. Porcelain is used
generically to refer to both china and bisque dolls. China is
glazed, whereas bisque is unglazed. Germany, France, and Denmark
started creating china heads for dolls in the 1840s. China heads were
replaced by heads made of bisque in the 1860s. Bisque, which is fired
twice with color added to it after the first firing, looked more like
skin than china did.
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- The French "bebe" was popular
in the 1880s, and it has become a highly sought after doll today. The
bebe, first made in the 1850s, was unique from its predecessors
because it depicted a younger girl. Until then, most dolls were
representations of adults. Although the French dolls were unrivaled in
their artistry, German bisque dolls became quite popular because they
were not as expensive. Kammer & Reinhardt introduced a bisque
character doll in the 1900s, starting a trend of creating realistic
dolls.
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- For centuries, rag dolls were made by
mothers for their children. Rag dolls refer generically to dolls made
of any fabric. Cloth dolls refer to a subset of rag dolls made of
linen or cotton. Commercially produced rag dolls were first introduced
in the 1850s by English and American manufacturers. Although not as
sophisticated as dolls made from other materials, rag dolls were
well-loved, often as a child's first toy.
- Doll making did not become an industry
in the United States until after the Civil War in the 1860s. Doll
production was concentrated in New England, with dolls made from a
variety of materials such as leather, rubber, papier-mâché, and cloth.
Celluloid was developed in New Jersey in the late 1860s and was used
to manufacture dolls until the mid-1950s. German, French, American,
and Japanese factories churned out cheaply produced celluloid dolls in
mass quantities. However, celluloid fell out of favor because of its
extreme flammability and propensity to fade in bright light.
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- After World War II, doll makers
experimented with plastics. Hard plastic dolls were manufactured in
the 1940s. They resembled composition dolls, but they were much more
durable. Other materials used in doll manufacturing included rubber,
foam rubber, and vinyl in the 1950s and 1960s. Vinyl changed doll
making, allowing doll makers to root hair into the head, rather than
using wigs or painting the hair. Although most dolls are now
mass-manufactured using these modern materials, many modern doll
makers are using the traditional materials of the past to make
collectible dolls.
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