This is my first post on Nerday so I hope it fits your parameters. I usually post on Photography lovers but these images are about the subject not the images themselves.I searched around and found this site so hopefully it resonates with some of you! Even if dolls aren't your thing I think you'll agree these dolls take crafts and creativity to another level we have mostly lost today.
We are in another week long covid lockdown in New Zealand like so many others, and I was sorting out some old boxes of my mother's for something to do when I came across these beautifully crafted dolls. She had got them when my grandmother passed away many years ago. My mother is 91 and remembers them being put up at Xmas from her childhood so they must be at least 100 years old.They had been in the box for years so were a bit the worse for wear. I spent quite some time cleaning them, gluing back some of the clothes ans stones, and carefully polishing the tin.
Today so many things are mass produced and cheaply made from plastic.Toys and dolls used to be painstakingly created by hand with quality materials by craftspeople to last and be things of beauty to be passed from generation to generation. For some reason these small creations took my breath away once they had been cleaned up. This post is to celebrate not my restoration but the amazing craftsperson or persons who did this painstaking work so many years ago. I don't know where they were made, nor does my mother-maybe someone out there knows or has some similar dolls they can post.
These dolls are a set and I made up a small stage and lighting to try and capture their amazing details-hopefully they will take your breath away too. They stand around 10 cm high so working on so small an object to make everything look so real and detailed is a real art.
I love the detail and the materials used-gold thread,tin,stones.Plus the hand painting is exquisite.This character, one of the three wise men,is a personal favourite.
Well thanks for getting this far it means you have found this post interesting and I am glad to share these dolls with a wider audience in their newly restored glory.