How to Make Apple Head Dolls

Learn how to make apple head dolls for a down-home craft that’s fun and rich in history.

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by Robert Downses
Assembled, coiffured, and dressed, these apple heads — crafted at home with 50 cents worth of supplies — rival any $20 dolls sold at gift shops.

Learn how to make apple head dolls for a down-home craft that’s fun, rich in history, potentially profitable, and made with dried apple heads.

Way back when — before the “petroleum age,” large-scale technology, and mass production — life 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 commodity, parents 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 doll-making.

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

Apple Head Doll History

Apple-headed dolls are part of a long, fascinating history, one that extends back to prehistoric times, when primitive puppets appeared in ceremonial magic displays. Some healers in Africa and Asia 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.”

  • Updated on Aug 30, 2022
  • Originally Published on Jul 1, 1980
Tagged with: apples, crafting, Fall craft
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