Dominican Cottage Industry - the Faceless Doll

Many folks here make beautiful things to sell.  When you go to the beach, there is always someone with lovely wood carvings that he tries to sell to you or an oil painting of a Dominican scene. 

Right after we came here, I saw this 
darling doll in a store –
 I love her because she is so dignified & lovely.

Probably the most famous “craft” from the Dominican Republic is the faceless doll.  These dolls, which are made by a number of manufacturers here, represent the people of the country who are of Taino Indian, African, Spanish, French and other ethnicities – they don’t have faces because they are everyone.

There is another style that we have fallen in love with, too. These other dolls that I love are made from a special ceramic material and are made with amazing details.  A few months ago, a number of us went to visit the home where these dolls are manufactured in a nearby town.  This “factory” is a real example of a successful cottage industry- at least ten women are working there.  And then next door, her husband does wood working and makes darling shoeshine kits, wood trays, business card holders, etc. The woman is named Mary and her husband is Joseph.

The women must make thousands of these sweet little dolls of different sizes and nativities.  The clay itself is some kind of resin that dries very hard, but I saw some large bags of cornstarch, so that must be part of it.  When the basic clay is made, they add a large squirt of oil paints until the get the right color.

Here's where Joseph and some other men work on wood projects.

Here's what the whole workroom looks like

There are the molds for the body
of the doll.

Can you see the pasta roller on the left?  That's how they roll
out the material for the skirt.

The skirt has designs for the lace and little flowers added
and then they pleat them to make the skirts.

Now they have a skirt on them.

These dolls will have several skirt layers.

These are the little collars for the dolls' dresses.

You can see the assembly line process that they use - all of the little parts that are made separately and then put together – the intricacy is just amazing.  All the "lace" and other edgings like on the ruffled skirts are done with a bag that looks like a frosting bag...

Here is a closeup of the collars - see the lace and little flowers.

These the little umbrellas that will be added.

These are little magnets - almost done. They are intricate, too, but not three-dimensional  

      And now they have their faces!

Here's a finished doll - all the ruffles on
her dress!

And here is one of the nativity scenes that I've ordered for the family.  Can you see that even baby Jesus has a laced edged blanket and Joseph has a rope sash?  They are just amazing...

Mary is sweet - Joseph even has stripes on his robe.  I love the fringe at the bottom of his shawl.
 They are just so sweet - even the grass is very detailed.