A CERTAIN KIND OF BEAUTY

[FUJI]

I have been returning to old files now that my monitor is Calibrated.

 

This is an eighteenth Century Wooden Doll on display at the Victoria and Albert museum, museum lighting can be very tricky, but I seem to have conqured it here?

 

I have made quite a number of exact replica dolls very much like this one for Stately Homes and Museums including Wordsworth House in Cockermouth Cumbria, originals can be worth an absolute fortune:

 

Best viewed LARGE....Click on Pic:

 

 

FUJI

[Graham]

My but that is scary........ I have a weird fear of dolls.

[JHFoto]

It certainly is scary...

[FUJI]

Scary?

I don't think so......you have to put her in to the context of the Eighteenth Century.....no photography, no plastics, mainly wood and fabric for toys.

A little girl would have been delighted with this doll ......it was at this time also, that large figures known as....Fashion Dolls....were sent between Paris and England wearing the latest fashions and make up......with complete disregard for the Napoleonic War ....the Victoria Beckham's and WAGS of the day needed their latest fashion fix.

The make up may appear harsh to our eyes but it was required in dim candle-lit surroundings......during my intensive research, I learned also, that the painted dots and dashes for eyebrows and eyelashes, were thought to be copied naively from rag dolls of the period.

As I said above.....find an original and she will worth an absolute fortune........I make very close replica's.

FUJI

[FUJI]

No I don't find that scary, very well done though FUJI.

 

Any chance of seeing some of the ones you have made.

 

Ron

I will see what I can do Ron......but I don't want to scare anybody ;-)

What makes these dolls very special are those beautiful dark brown glass eyes, and the.....Human-Hair.....wigs ...that are nailed on, usually under a hat.

It took me ages to persuade a local hairdresser, why I wanted her to save me all the long hair she cut off.....one if two others asked me not to bother them......it is weird handling human hair, some folks won't even touch it.

FUJI

[kev7d]

Looks good to my eyes FUJI. I love stuff like this. It's a geat reminder of how life has changed in our hitec era. For better or worse?

[annie]

I think she is lovely. I doubt many of the dolls today will make it to her age...

[FUJI]

Right....here goes, a photograph of one of my replica 18th Century Dolls amongst other replicas. plus, wooden toys from my huge collection ( all now in a local Museum)

 

You might as wel have my potted recent history......

 

The photgraph and text above,  were in a local newspaper ten years ago (Tempus Fugit ;-) ........I became a Joiner after leaving school at 15 until 1973 when I was a Social Worker/Instructo/Tutor to 170 adults with mental disabilities, I gained both Teaching the Social work qualifications and became Deputy Manager loved every minute of it until things changed in 1998; when I reluctantly left to become a Toymaker/Researcher.

 

From then until full retirement, I researched, recreated Wooden Toys from all around the world....and gave presentations and demonstrations at all kinds of venues, museums, stately homes, schools and to a whole range of organisations.

 

Four years ago, I was recognised by Disney as the ...English Geppetto...I was invited to Hollywood to help relaunch the 1938 animated Film ..Pinocchio.....My good lady and I were red carpeted to the Best hotel in Hollywood, then after two days to get over Jet Lag, I gave presentations and demonstrations to Disney Staff and world Journalists at the Disney Studios in Burbank. We met Dicke Jones the man (as a boy) who was the voice Pinocchio, plus many other Hollywood film folk....a truly magical week.  I feature on the Second DVD and Blu-Ray  of the Platinum Edition of Pinocchio.....a couple of my Hollywood interviws can be found on YouTube.

 

I came into photography very very late after acquiring a very cheap Chinese Bridge camera.....it was by  joining TIPF many years ago that helped develop me into the photographer I am today.

 

Thanks for listening 

 

 

FUJI

 

[cuilin]

Scary?

I don't think so......

 

 

nope, definitely scary.  esp. after watching doctor who.  this was one of those freaky dolls chasing amy and rory through the doll house.  great photo, but creepy.

[ChrisLumix]

nope, definitely scary.  esp. after watching doctor who.  this was one of those freaky dolls chasing amy and rory through the doll house.  great photo, but creepy.

 

I'm with you Beth - I think that particular doll is sinister to say the least. I think it's a combination of the high domed hairless forehead, the clown rouge, the red slash of a mouth, and the Fu Manchu-like eyes which seem to be pondering something evil...

[FUJI]

A mate of mine said it might be the inspiration for the make up of.....Grayson Perry 

 

To love this doll, you need to give yourself an eighteenth Century mind set......think firelight and candles and Jane Austen 

 

FUJI