Restored Vintage Dolls from India - BOBBLE HEADS

£18.00

Description

Sitting alongside the on the Ganges one fine summer day, I caught sight of a man with piles of colour laden upon his head. On closer inspection I discovered he carried a burden of delightful wooden toys. Faded, battered and with chipping paint, he was taking them to the burning ghats to sell for scrap. Despite their ill repair, I was enamoured of their whimsy and, between my broken Hindi and his broken English, convinced him to save them from the ghats and sell them to me.

I searched through the assortment of odd and ends to find this lovely couple, man and woman - both about 6 inches high. Their heads are attached by wires, so they bobble and bumble about - such fun for the dashboard of your car, or to amuse a wayward kitty...!

After researching the traditional Benares style of toy making and apprenticing under a master toymaker, I felt confident in my ability to properly breathe new life into my beloved toys.

Using powdered pigments mixed with gloss medium, I tried to reincarnate them as closely as possible to how they might have looked in their former lives. Two layers of paint and new wires to attach head-to-body, and they were good as new while still preserving some of their shabby chic. Usually I like to give my wooden friends a full spruce-up, but I went easy with my brush on these two to preserve their tattered charm.

Fully recovered and ready to make new friends, this happy couple would love to brighten up any room of the house! I'd hate to separate the pair, but convo me if you're interested in only one.