 The
toy structure includes basically a bell-shaped skirt and a torso
with attached small spherical head, bent arms, and diminutive
children figures. The Dymkovo toys
are painted in as many as a dozen colors, rather than two
or three, typical for other Russian earthenware toys. They
are adorned with distinctive ornaments of squares, stripes,
circles, loops, or dots. In conclusion a toy is decorated
with diamonds of gold leaf which make it look extremely festive.
Another special type of Russian earthenware
toys known as the Filimonovo toy evolved in the 19th century
as a separate article at the pottery trade center in the villages
of Filimonovo and Ta-tevo of the Arkhangelsk region. High-quality
clay deposits found near these villages were used by potters
as early as the 16th century. According to the local legend
the village was named after the first potter Filimon who manufactured
pots and pans and toys, too.
The local clay is very thick and sticky, its
color is deep blue-black. It is impossible to shape a figurine
from this clay in several parts, it has to be "drawn"
as a whole. This manner of shaping makes all the toys look
elegantly elongated (incidentally, all Filimonovo toys are
whistles). When the clay dries out the article is shrinking
or "settling" down and the women potters have to
"pull down" their toys several times and that is
how the figurines of animals get their excessively elongated
necks. After firing the blue-black clay acquires a beautiful
white color in delicately varying tints. The articles must
be fired at temperatures around 700-800 degrees Centigrade.
Potters fired their products for 8-9 hours in kilns sunk as
wells into the ground at the village edge. The Filimonovo
toys are typically decorated with a painted ornament in bright
yellow, red, and green colors, sometimes with the addition
of purple and dark blue colors. Painting is usually done with
aniline dyes. The favorite ornaments on the brightly painted
festive-looking toys are known as the "fir-tree",
"berry", "starry", and "sunny"
patterns. The animal figurines are decorated with vertical
stripes of alternating colors and the horns are emphasized
with bright brush strokes. The blouses on human figurines
are painted in a single color.
Typical Filimonovo figurines depict ladies,
soldiers, horsemen, and sometimes country women. The lady
figurines have bell-shaped skirts and comparatively small
upper bodies, occasionally balanced out with a baby held in
arms or a bird held under arm. The bell-shaped skirts of the
country women are more straight than those of the ladies and
they wear the headgear of married country women instead of
a hat. The toy groups have the following traditional subjects:
"Bear looking into a mirror", "Soldier feeding
a chicken", and "Bridegroom and bride".
The earliest Abashevo toys date back to the
early 20th century. The village of Abashevo is in the Narovchatov
district of the Penza region of Central Russia. The green-gray
glazed early toys depict horsemen, ladies, and birds. In the
1930s the toy maker Larion Zotkin initiated a new style of
the Abashevo toys. He coated toys with red-brown enamels and
emphasized some details with bronze and aluminum paints. The
early Abashevo toys were similar to the earthenware toys produced
at other traditional toy-making centers, for instance, in
Skopino but the Abashevo toys of the later period are distinguished
by a highly original style of their own.
The figurines of ladies and horsemen made by
L Zotkin did not deviate significantly from the traditional
motifs. However, his whistle figurines of animals are quite
distinctive in that he anthropomorphizes the animals, that
is, attaches some human features to them. For instance, in
a group of a dog and a puppy he managed to depict the dog
as a motherhood symbol bringing forth sympathy from the viewer.
The Abashevo figurines are shaped as integral pieces so that
in the horseman figurines the legs of the riders are not seen
as the bodies of the horse and the rider are fused together.
The potter shapes the faces of the rider and the horse by
pinching clay with two fingers so that eyes come out as deep
round holes while the mouth is typically open.
In the recent period A.A. Londarev has revived
the tradition of the Khludnevo toys in the city of Kaluga.
New original toys have been modeled on a single extant whistle
toy; they clearly exhibit the ancient roots of the toys traditional
for the Russian countryside. Many ceramic workshops are now
manufacturing whistles which have a considerable artistic
value. For instance, the whistles manufactured at the village
of Borisovo (Belgo-rodskaya region) have gradually developed
as a unique set of figurines.
The contemporary craftsmen and artists are
actively studying and mastering the traditions, skills and
manufacturing processes typical for the folk arts and crafts
of their regions. A sustained effort in this direction has
been made by the "Maiolika" company in the city
of Yaroslavl. The team of craftsmen headed by the director
E.V. Shepelev and the head designer N.M. Pavlova developed
a range of unique majolica articles. They started with making
the common earthenware whistles made of red clay. Later they
coated the whistles with opaque white glazing and painted
them in many colors. The motifs of the Yaroslavl majolica
whistles and rocking toys are rooted in the ancient carnival
culture of Russia.
The range of pottery toys includes the toy
household vessels in the country style, such as pots, pans,
jugs, jars, etc. manufactured at the ancient Volga town of
Uglich. Other popular products of contemporary potters are
the hand bells of all descriptions - painted, glazed, and
so on.
The birch bark is a traditional handicraft
material in Russia, in particular, for making toys. The company
"Stil" in the city of Novgorod manufactures a wide
variety of birch bark items, including such souvenirs as plaited
shoes, rattles, plaited baskets and boxes, and so on.
The centers of the Russian toy-making
trade strive to retain the traditional styles and motifs but
simultaneously they are seeking for a niche in the new market
economy and respond efficiently to the market demand.
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