MAKE APPLEHEAD DOLLS

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Here's an old down-home craft that's both fun and profitable!

Way back when-before the "petroleum age", large-scale technology, and mass productionlife was simple and most homesteaders lived miles from their nearest neighbors . . . so family entertainment was (by necessity) more often homespun than manufactured. Children had to invent their own games, and since cash was a scarce commodityparents made toys for their young' uns from a variety of natural materials. Well, now you can revive the spirit of those simpler days (and even make a nice profit for your efforts) by carrying on the fine old tradition of dollmaking.

Creating applehead people is an easy athome craft that requires a minimum of (lowcost) supplies . . . and-best of all -the wizened faces of the tiny dolls will entrance any child. No two of the figures turn out exactly alike, so applehead toys make unique conversation pieces and gifts, which can also be sold . . . at gift shops, craft fairs, and country produce stands.

THE LEGACY OF DOLLMAKING

Apple-headed dolls are part of along, fascinating history . . . one that extends back to prehistoric times, when primitive puppets appeared in ceremonial magic displays. Tribal healers in Africa and Asia often used dolls in their medicinal rituals . . . and, even today, the ancient superstition of causing sympathetic harm is preserved whenever a mob burns the stuffed figure of an unpopular person "in effigy".

Dollmaking has a rich-and innocentheritage in America, too, where the Indians taught early settlers the art of constructing such playthings from native raw materials. Corn husks and cobs were most often employed . . . as well as wood, lobster shells, nuts, twigs, and gourds. Just about any object that could be bent (or carved) into a human shape, clothed, and hugged was fair game!

The Seneca Indians were reportedly the first people to make dolls out of apples . . . but the craft was later adopted by mountaineers in Appalachia, where such handmade toys are still produced as part of the area's cottage industry. The miniature figures command a surprisingly high price, too! We've seen applehead dolls on sale in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains for as much as $20 each . . . which amounts to quite a tidy profit from a toy that requires an initial investment of perhaps 50¢ !

APPLE WHITTLIN'

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