Recently I was getting something out of the top of my closet,when I spotted this:
This container, from some 'Chantilly' by Houbigant powder my mom had in the 60's,is full of small toys I've been keeping in there ever since Mom used up all the powder and gave it to me.
Today's doll is a group of small dolls that were inside.
These dolls are made using pipe cleaner,wooden and plastic beads,with 'spun cotton' heads. (Somewhere I still have a spun cotton Jack O'Lantern on a toothpick that was in a Halloween cupcake I got in elementary school.) They're all somewhere about 4" tall,or slightly shorter. I found this one in another box of my old toys. He's from the same set as these.
They're from a kit my sister and I got for Christmas one year.
Seems unlikely we got a joint present, or that my sister would have let me make part of the dolls in her set. Maybe we both got one. I only remember one set, but I could be wrong. I was pretty small. I know we got it in the 60's though.
We used up the entire kit that day!
Spun cotton was used for a lot of vintage figures, like Christmas decorations.Some of those vintage decorations are quite valuable. They're such popular items that reproductions have been made,and are still being sold.
The art of making spun cotton items began in Germany in the 1800's. Cotton batting was hand molded around wire forms, and later on a lathe,using molds. During the Victorian era cotton fruits were popular Christmas decorations. Today,what is called 'spun cotton' is actually made of paper. Blank 'spun cotton' shapes can be obtained from craft suppliers,if you get the urge to make some decorations yourself. I found a site called Spunny's that has all sorts of spun cotton shapes for sale.
That all for today. See you again tomorrow.
