Image Courtesy of Ebay by abclovell
Before doing my research for faceless dolls I would never have thought about making a doll from a turkey or chicken wishbone. However, knowing the history of the colonial period and the pioneers and using materials on hand I shouldn't be surprised as to wishbones being used to make playthings.
Some of these dolls were faceless, but most had faces. Even though they didn't fit the criteria for my "faceless" dolls research I was intriqued and had to know more. Here's what I found:
They were also known as pen wiper dolls that were used about 150 years ago. In Colonial times people kept them on their desks to wipe away extra ink from their pens.
The wishbone doll shown in the picture above is for sale on Ebay by abclovell and can be found here.
Page 205 of The Doll Book written in 1908 by Laura B. Starr under the Homemade Dolls chapter talks about the merry-thought doll which is made out of wishbones from turkeys, chickens, ducks, and birds - with all the different sizes being perfect for different family members.
According to the chapter, "The merry-thought doll affords no end of pleasure and amusement. The wishbones from turkeys, chickens, ducks and birds offer various sizes for a large family of these dolls. The head may be molded of ceiling wax, black, white or colored; here is a chance to show skill and artistic ability. Again a head may be penciled on the flat surface of a cork and each end of the wishbone thrust into or glued on to the other pieces to give the manikin necessary stability, and make it flat-footed enough to let it stand alone unaided."
"Doll pen wipers are made from a wishbone and dressed like a ballet dancer. They usually wear a card around the neck upon which is printed the following epitaph:
One I was a wishbone and grew upon a hen,
Now I am a little slave and made to wipe your pen."
From my research I discovered that most wishbone dolls had cork heads, walnut heads, cloth heads, or wax heads. Most had faces, but there were some that didn't so I gave some thought to including them in my The History of Faceless Dolls but decided not to.
So I decided to write this blog post about them - mainly because I find the wishbone dolls so charming.
