Clay Pipe Dolls - Definitely A Conversation Piece

Clay Pipe Doll - Image Courtesy National Gallery of Art,Washington.

I know that dolls over the ages have been made out of all sorts of things.  Wishbones, nuts, corks, paper, apples, other fruits, etc. So, when I saw the illustration of the Clay Pipe Doll shown in the picture above from the National Gallery of Art   I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Was that a pipe covered with fabric to form the doll's head or what?

Credits: Iverson, Jane, American, 1910 - 1997, Clay Pipe Doll, c. 1936,watercolor and graphite on paper, overall: 40 x 29.2 cm (15 3/4 x 11 1/2 in.) Original IAD Object: 7 1/2" high, Index of American Design, 1943.8.15616.

I thought...Hmmm.... A doll out of a pipe.  Now that's an unusual doll.

I was picturing my grandfather's pipe which was a typical bowled pipe. So, I went to get it.

In looking at it I wondered how I would make a doll out of it? I'd love to make an heirloom doll - but, how?

So, I decided to do a little research. Here's what I found out.

Frozen Charlotte Dolls - How Adorable But Tragic

Image Courtesy of Theriaults.com

How can you not fall in love with a bunch of "GERMAN 'FROZEN CHARLOTTE' DOLLS"as shown in the picture above from the Theriaults.com website. You can't especially when you find out they have a tragic story attached to them.

According to their description: 7" H. tub. Seven dolls, representing little children with chubby stomachs, are of one-piece porcelain or bisque, standing with their arms outstretched with curled fingers. Each doll has painted hair and facial features, two with painted shoes. Included is a German tin tub and shower with unusual copper hot water tank and receptacle hidden at back allowing the "shower" to actually work. Excellent condition except some paint flakes on tub platform. The dolls are notable for complete variation of hairstyles and facial painting. Circa 1880.

Online Collections (The Strong) / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Frozen Charlotte 1850-1920 

I saw this adorable "Frozen Charlotte" doll, as shown in the picture above, on The Strong National Museum of  Play  and instantly fell in love with her, too. How could you not? Just look at how cute she is

Doll - 1850-1920, Material porcelain | cloth, Origin Germany, Style Frozen Charlotte, Object ID 78.9067

According the museum description:  An unjointed china doll molded in one piece, a Frozen Charlotte became a popular doll type in the 1850s. Initially sold as bathing dolls or naked babies, these floatable figures supposedly entertained youngsters of the Victorian era as they took their baths. The dolls sold in sizes ranging from one inch to 18 inches. Labeling these figures "Frozen Charlotte" recalls a 19th-century ballad about a vain girl who refused to cover up her pretty party dress while riding to a ball on a frigid winter's night. Of course, the girl of the story dies from the cold: "Fair Charlotte was a stiffened corpse/ And her lips spake no more"; and her demise reminds us to forsake vanity and use a little common sense. The smaller Frozen Charlottes were called penny dolls and popular with children with small coins to spend. Some English families hid small Frozen Charlottes in their Christmas puddings, along with or in place of the traditional hidden coins.

How can any adorable little dolls have a tragic story attached to them?  I had to know more. Here's what I found out: