Lollipop, sang Shirley Temple in the film Bright Eyes. This created vast numbers of baby girls being christened Shirley, lots of Shirley Temple merchandise and, of course dolls.
I am working on additions to the display of doll’s dolls through history. The oldest at present are the ancient Greek dolls
The originals are 2,500 years old.
There are various other dolls including the more modern French Fashion dolls
in all their frillery and the kits to make Tudor dolls
There has been a tendency throughout history for dolls to enjoy much better dress than their owners and frequently to be absolutely the latest thing in fashion, including being copies of people who were in fashion.
The doll’s dolls I have been dressing this week are from the 1930s. Top child star Shirley Temple was just about as cute and frilly as a child could be.
As you can see my version is not much bigger than a small reel of silk. For my doll’s doll inspired by this 30s icon I have made a proper dress, beads and a hairstyle with the obligatory giant bow.
These are the four that exist, each has taken a day and a half to dress, and they are, as always, my original porcelain dolls from my own moulds made with my own sculptures.
Although there are only four of them, and I will not make more from these moulds, that will not be the last of the thirties dolls because I kept a set of parts for shrinking.
Shrinking porcelain dolls can be done by taking moulds from the fired components. As the shapes removed from the moulds shrink by about 12% you can fire those dolls, make moulds from them and so on.
It is worth remembering that a shape is copyrighted by being made. If you took moulds from existing dolls, say for example you thought you’d like to copy Barbie, you could and would be sued.
Copyright in miniatures has always been a hot topic because the whole point of the miniature world is to copy the big one. There have been shows in the past where visitors were not allowed to make purchases because disreputable dealers were buying all sorts of items in every type of material and taking them straight to the Far East to be copied and then brought back to miniaturist countries to be sold at prices that undercut the originals.
This is awful. It kills the goose that lays the golden eggs and devalues the art, the thought and the work that goes into producing the originals. I remember how upset Terry Curran was when someone bought one of his apothecary jars and took it to be copied. Instead of Terry’s brilliant original miniature version of a long ago artefact, turned on a potter’s wheel by Terry, glazed, and decorated in three separate firings, and the same for the lid of the jar, the copy had been made with the lid on the jar, so that it was not removable and not a true miniature.
From my beginning as an exhibitor, which was over thirty five years ago, I have made my own moulds from my own sculptures. Everything that I put on my table has started as an idea in my head that has travelled down my arm to my fingers. So I can shrink my own dolls to be smaller dolls. Well, that’s the theory at least.
Sometimes a shape will not demould in mini mini. Sometimes it loses definition. Sometimes the jointing just doesn’t work in a smaller size or a different scale. The only way to find out if it will play, is to do it.
So, though I have moulds drying, waiting to be poured next week, that doesn’t guarantee anything.
As always we shall see.
If you fancy one of these 1930s dolls, they will be on the sofa waiting and there may only ever be these four. Even if they go smaller, I doubt that I could make a proper dress with turned seams, inset sleeves, sewn braid and all the rest of it.
Stay tuned for news of more new things. News of the new, who knew?
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All about the show, the dates, times, how to get there and so on are at
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