The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-12-06

Nv trains and the tin horses and steam
boats that run when wound up with q key
M made id great quantities in Brooklyn
IN machinery; and the oast-iron toys OF the
asme description are made principally u
New York. When he desires an expensive
mechanical toy, however, he goes to France
for IL: 10 Saxony for his Noah'a arks and
nllftho other carved wooden toys: to Nurem-
burg for his tops, tin trnmpets and magic
lantcrns; and to Thuringia for his toy
China tea sets.
Far mora important than other toys are
the dolls, and nine dolls out of ten are little
German girls. In whole districts in Ger
many the country people spend the winter
III making dolls, FILLING their fields in sum-
mer. The cheap wax doll, commercially
known az ..composition wax" such as may
BE- bought al retail in this country for
tWenty-fve cents, furnishes perhaps the
best idsa OF how dolls are made. A mod
eler," who has nothing further to do with
the making Of dolls. makes plaster OF Paris
models Of the styles Of heads and limbs
most in demand, and sells them, singly or
ia sets, to the peasants who make the dolls.
There ali sorts of faces among the models
pretty girls. smiling boys, old women. ne
Rroes and crying babies. Throughout the
winter father, mother and all the larger
children unite in making papier mache
casts from these models, each cast being,
81 course, an exact counterpart Of the
models, but thin and light, and gray in
color.
The legs and arms are dipped in flesh
oolorad paint, and the p ainted shoes are
put on with brushes. Ihese various parts,
together with the head. are fastened to a
cloth bady stuffed with sawdust. and dolly
goes off to the factory. where the moro ar
tistie work ia done Her Limbs have the
proper tint, her body is AZ true to nature as
necessary, but her head is still bare, her
checks are gray, and her colorless eyes
express no intelligence.
An expert workman in the factory, hold |
ing dolly by the feet, dips her head and
shoulders fora moment in melted wax, and
she energies from the bath the composition
wax doll of When she ia aufd-
GENTLY dry she passes into the hands of a
girl operator, who quickly paints the pink
tinge upon her cheeks. Another girl adds
the blue eyes, still another the eyebrows
and eyelaGhes, and 30 she goes through the
hands Of q row OF girls, one girl for each
tint, the whole process taking about six
houEs, for there are delays while the paints
are drying. In six hours six girls are ex-
pected to paint ten gross, or nearly 1000
dolls, complete. This requires rapid work,
and the girls receive about S1.75 a week
each. Flowing locks of mohair are fastened
TO the head. and dolly ID ready to emigrate
to America.
For the real wax doll, a more expensive
article. thu molds for the head are made
in three parts-one back and two fronts.
The mold 10 filed with melted wax, which
IL allowed to remain for a minute or two,
and then all that has not hardened is
poured out. This leaves a hollow wax head
about a quarter Of an inch thick, which
is afterward strengthened by "backing''
with q quarter of an inch of papier maehe.
Some patent washable dolls are made of
hardened papier mache; and when these
have cloth feet, which will not break, they
arc q valuable addition to the nursery.
The most desirable doll in the market.
however, according to Nh. Herman BANTER,
an expert German toy manufacturer. who
il now in this country, is the "kid body
doll" The kid bodies are stuffed with