Last Updated: 8/24/02

Modern Wood Dolls (Artists and Manufacturers) I - N by Jean D. Lotz A Non-Commercial, Educational Resource     Copyright © 1996+ Jean D. Lotz All images are included with the permission of the copyright owners

I

Rimantas Idzelis - Leonardo NJ (USA)
web site = http://www.dreamantas.com/index.htm
 

Rimantas Idzelis has a very unique approach and distinctive style in his doll making. He carves anotomically correct jointed figures. His dolls have a lot of personality and strange personas. They are a jointed, dressed extension of his other wood sculpture. He likes to be referred to just as "Rimantas" and signs his dolls with a "R" and the date.

* Janci Dolls - Muskegon, MI (USA) - The Janci Web Page
Jill Sanders & Nancy Elliott
 

Photo from Jill Sanders

Janci produces open editions of charming cloth body, wigged, wood dolls using misc. types of wood. Jill told me they enjoy searching for vintage linens to incorporate into their costumes. By looking at a broad selection of their dolls, it is obvious that they also enjoy bright colored, cotton, calico prints. They make an effort to dress each differently.  * Jill Sanders holds the honor of being the FIRST wood doll artist to contribute photos and information to this document. Thanks Jill!

Joseph Kallus (deceased)- (USA)
Joseph Kallus designed for the doll industry. Many different manufacturers; Cameo Doll Co., Ideal Novelty and Toy Co., and Effanbee Doll Corp., and etc.; made his elastic strung, wood segmented, dolls which were often used as advertising dolls. Some of his famous dolls were: King Little, Pinocchio, Betty Boop, RCA Radiation, and Bandy. See Doll Reader 8/96 page 62 for a good article on this artist. Although these sometimes have composition heads, they are designed to emulate classic wood toys.

Krahmer Dolls
 

photo from a private collection Krahmer Doll "Kuck in die Welt" Doll ("Have a Look at the World")  dressed in a regional costume photo thanks to the the more-than-dolls-shop

"Kuck in die Welt" ("Have A Look At The World") by Krahmer Dolls Judy Glaeser states, "Krahmer-Dolls are the result of teamwork now for two generations.  Design, dressmaking and carving is the work of 3 persons. Our wood-carver is a 52 year old man. He has been working for us since more than 30 years. I'm the designer and now I am also responsible for the more-than-dolls-shop." Hildegard Krahmer made her first dolls for her own children in 1947.  Her slogan and the brand name for the Krahmer doll became "Kuck in die Welt" ("Have A Look at the World") which has become well known even outside Germany. In the middle of the sixties, Hildegard Krahmer's daughter-in-law, Marion Krahmer, joined the company and soon added her own ideas and designs to the collection. In 1975, she got a master certificate as a dollmaker and became the head of the company after her mother-in-law died. The clothes are designed by Marion Krahmer and produced in her own company.  These dolls are stamped in the neck, each doll is carry a dated hang tag and the sign "Kuck in die Welt" is protected [copyrighted]. Many of the "Kuck in die Welt" dolls have been dressed in regional costumes. There are never more than 100 dolls of one model world wide. There are at least 3 basic styles of "Kuck in die Welt" dolls currently being made: "classic style" - carved wooden heads on cloth body. The arms are disk jointed at the shoulders with thin fingers defined with stitching. Hefty legs are disk jointed at the hips. This is the style that is most reminiscent of the oldest dolls. babies with a carved head and a simplified cloth body. carved wooden heads, hands and feet on a cloth body. Hildegard may have been inspired by earlier "MYSTERY GERMAN DOLLS" with stylized carved head with carving gouge marks for hair. The size and cloth body is so similar in both sets of dolls that this cannot be just a coincidence.

Aleksei Vladislavovich Kraouze - St. Petersburg (RUSSIA)
Aleksei was featured in an article which primarily showcased his fabulous needle sculpted leather dolls (Contemp. Doll Collector Dec/Jan 1995), Aleksei claims his first love is wood dolls and one wood doll was illustrated. I need more information on his wood dolls.

Kersa - ?(Germany)
web site = http://www.innerchildtoys.com/KERSA.htm
Kersa manufactures many types of toys, marionettes, hand and finger puppet, scepters and dolls. Many of these toys have carved wooden heads.

Timothy Kruger - city? state? (USA?)
need more information and photos

A collector reported that she has just found a one-of-a-kind wooden lady carved by Timothy Kruger, husband of Good-Kruger, in 1984. This doll represented an older lady with little shape. The head, forearms, and legs were carved from black walnut, with a cloth body, and signed. Her hair is wool, gray, and sort of molded on. Her dress is 80's, and drab. A photo may be coming soon!

Angelika La Haise - Lanark County, Ontario (CANADA)
need more information and photos from the artist
12" and 19" dolls in wood -- see Doll Reader April 1992 on a page showing the highlights of IDEX (page 189) for a photo of her displaying her dolls with no further info on the artist. In the book "DOLLS OF CANADA" written in 1986 I found out that she was born in the Black Forest area of W. Germany, and lives (lived) in Lanark County, Ontario, Canada. In this 1986 book she is listed as a cloth doll artist. She started making cotton tricot covered plastic mask type dolls in 1983.

I can easily understand her shifting to wood dolls with her Black Forest roots. I need to get more info on her to find out if she is currently making any more wood dolls.

Michael Langton (NIADA) - Alton, NH (USA)
need photos from the artist
Michael produces limited editions and sculpts one-of-a-kind wood artist dolls - realistically carved to the point you can see each vein in the hands. To add to his wonderfully carved visible parts, Langton doll bodies are unique engineering marvels. Butt naked, the bodies are robotic-looking, but they are meant to be clothed - it is the range of movement that Langton is after. His dolls can realistically assume almost any human pose. I hope I can get a photo of his work -- fabulous.

"The Alchemy of Doll Making" by Kathleen Ryan, a 2 part article in the magazine, 'Wood Carving Illustrated' discusses Langton's work. His work methods are illustrated in part 2 (Fall 1999 issue). To summarize the method detailed in this article: Langton sculpts in clay, refines the sculpt in wax, duplicates his wax copy into wood, cleans the carving up, and then re-carves any lost details.

He had the honor to sculpt "Elmer", the wooden sailor who starred with Katherine Hepburn in the 1980 movie "On Golden Pond". He has since created a resin copy of his "Elmer".

Fred T. Laughon - Richmond, VA (USA)
 

click for larger photo photos by Jean Lotz I discovered these two Laughon Dolls in a Williamsburg, VA shop display (The dolls were not for sale)

Fred was a well known, antique reproduction, wood doll maker. He carved the dolls and his daughter painted and usually dressed them, but many were sold nude.  Fred was well liked because of his kind, sharing personality.  Fred designed the wood doll souvenir and companion doll for the 1995 UFDC national convention in Philadelphia. "Charity" was produced by the United States Historical Society for UFDC. He also enjoyed making doll accessories. UFDC National Souvenir "Charity" #1396 photo by Jean Lotz

Lee Laws - Austin, TX (USA)
I am looking forward to seeing dolls by Lee. She has been carving for about 5 years but recently started carving wood dolls. I am told she has made some 10" jointed carved hair dolls and angels with moveable wings.

Avis Lee - Chicago, IL (USA)
need more photos
 

9-3/4" caroler photo thanks to Don Hamilton

Don Hamilton described the illustrated doll as: Avis Lee doll with its original tag! The doll is about 9 3/4" tall. The head is made of wood and is carved. The body is made of cloth. The front part of the tag is printed and reads: "An original Avis Lee Doll"  on one side. The reverse side is hand written and reads: Polly: A Christmas Caroler, signed Avis Lee, Chicago". The doll is not signed in any other way but the reverse side of the tag. This is a charming doll with a lot of personality. Her looped yarn hair is neatly laid out and her face is framed by some cotton lace under a black felt hat. I would love to see more examples of Avis' dolls. I need more information about Avis Lee. Can you help? Contact Us

George & Cathy Lehmer - Maryland (USA)
 

photo by artist

George and Cathy have been making wood dolls as a husband/wife team since their recent retirement. They enjoy producing antique peg wooden and penny wooden style dolls. They have just started to experiment with more original creations of unique characters. They have also created a Hitty doll.

Peggy Lenape- see Margaret Finch

Tita Ling Dolls or Philippine Dolls - Paranaque, Rizal (Philippines)
 

solid wood figure of boy likely by Tita Ling (jointed only at the shoulders, with carved hair, and inset glass eyes with real hair eye lashes) photo from a June Beckett wood doll lecture handout

These dolls are referred to by these two names: "Tita Ling's Dolls" and “Philippine Dolls". Both names appear on the doll hang tag. From the1960's through the 1980's (I don’t know the dates for sure yet) Tita Ling was primarily known for creating fabulous carved wooden crèche sets in many sizes, but I have seen some extraordinarily fine non-religious, well dressed dolls by Tita Ling. Tita Ling dolls and figures were made in several sizes, and the details were as fine on the smallest as on the largest. A crèche set could be purchased with all of the important humans, angels and assorted well carved animals. The details are astounding when you consider the small scale of some of these crèche sets. For example a small 14 piece crèche set ranged from 3-1/2" to 11-1/2" tall. The details on even the smallest Christ child were amazing. Tita Ling dolls and crèche figures were typically carved as solid wood figures from the head down to the toes or carved shoes and sandals. The tops of the arms had a neat fitting flange/butt joint connected with elastic through the shoulders. Some of the arms have a "preferred pose" so they aren't really jointed in the true sense of this word. The arms are applied separately possibly for ease of costuming.

Tita Ling dolls and crèche figures are very reminiscent of fine Italian religious carvings with angelic yet realistic faces, delicate features, and fine details.

Tita Ling figures are extremely natural looking with muscles that look like real flesh. The delicate carving of muscles, correct physical proportions, and stance shows a great understanding of human anatomy. The figures are self-supporting and their poses are graceful and realistic.

I don't know if these figures were "hand-carved" as some people claim, or machine duplicated. It doesn’t matter how they were carved because they received expert care in the finish carving stage, eye setting, and painting. These are top quality wooden figures. These figures were painted a flesh color and then the details and blushes were expertly painted with oil paints.

The hair was carved on male figures but some figures were wigged with human hair when long hair was needed. Another characteristic is the use of inset glass eyes with upper and lower real hair eyelashes.

15" Lady from Crete (style 1600 BC) c. 1965 by Tita Ling signed “Y. Magna for Tita Ling’s” photo by Jean Lotz

Note the angelic expression of this lovely face and the delicate painting. The size of the jewels are all in good scale. The real hair has the correct volume and hangs in a pony tail entangled with a pearl strand. A collector recently described her Tita Ling doll as follows: 15" Lady of Crete (style 1600 BC), made of all wood, hand carved by Tita Ling of Philippine's and dressed by Julia M. Casas. The original Tita Ling tag is with the doll. She was made in 1965. Her wig is made of human hair. She has green, glass eyes. Her eyelashes are hair. She is jointed at the shoulders only. Her feet are wood with sandals carved on. She has on a gold and jewel crown and pearl necklaces, bracelets and rings all to scale. Open front bolero with embroidered trim. The skirt is pleated with flounces trimmed with braid.  The hang tag states the following: Tita Ling's Dolls, Philippine Dolls, Mrs. Julia Nakpil Casas, c/o Mrs. Mercedes N. Zialcita, Philippines. (This last section of info. is stamped on the back of the tag.) The “Lady from Crete” doll is signed “Y. Magna for Tita Ling’s” in ink on her back. Who is Y. Magna?

Many Tita Ling figures (even the whole creche set) were offered dressed or nude. A fine dress-maker would LOVE to collect a nude Tita Ling doll! What a wonderful showcase for any fine seamstress’ talents! Many of these dolls were sold already dressed in modern clothes or they were dressed to represent regal looking woman of ancient times. The costuming detail is in perfect scale to the size of the figure. I have seen some wearing typical Mexican / Philippine shirts which were perfectly in scale even in the tiny tucks and embroidery down the front of the shirts. They may have been dressed by assorted seamstresses who may have signed the back of the doll.

Who was Tita Ling?
The actual identity of 'Tita Ling" is a mystery. Was he/she an individual doll artist or was this the name of a manufacturer?

Here’s another mystery - Was Tita Ling any relation to Tita L. Varner? What did the “L” stand for? Tita L. Varner was an ODACA artist (awarded membership in 1980) working in porcelain whose work bears remarkable similarities in musculature, subject matter, grace, costuming, and styling? But one of her ODACA friends said that Tita Varner was of Nordic decent so she couldn't imagine her working in the Philippines.

One well known US doll dealer told me that she thought that "Tita Ling" was the name of a small manufacturer making wooden figures and NOT an individual artist. She stated that someone else dressed the dolls and that they were exported to the US either dressed or nude. Was Julia M. Casas the wholesale dealer / exporter? It seems as if Mrs. Casas may have been at least a significant business contact because she was listed as the primary contact for these dolls on the hang tag (see the description of the Tita Ling doll tag below). While some may not be signed and others were signed “Tita Ling Dolls” on their backs, who are the assorted people who sometimes signed the backs of these figures? Were they the artists, or seamstresses? For example: the “Lady from Crete” doll is signed “Y. Magna for Tita Ling’s” in ink on her back.
 

Virginia Little - Locust Lane Dolls -(deceased)(ODACA) - Beech Creek, PA (USA)
need more photos

Locust Lane Dolls advertising photo see the ODACA history pages for more information about Virginia Little

Virginia produced well carved dolls with authentic costuming. An advertisement from the 80's showed her 19" "Lt. Henry Timberlake" LE of 25. She called her business "LOCUST LANE DOLLS" and her address was given as: "Locust Lane Farm". Virginia was an avid history buff, so most of Virginia's dolls represent historical characters. Virginia first modeled a study head in plastelina as her guide in carving her wooden doll head. Although she preferred making wooden dolls and still considered wood to be her primary medium, she found wooden dolls very time consuming. So, in 1983, she started making more of her dolls from polyclay. All her dolls are capable of standing alone. Most ranged in size from 14" to 19", but her "Peter Stuyvesant" was 23-1/4".  She left the wood bare to show the texture of the wood, and eyes and eyebrows were done in acrylic paints. The hair was carved. For white hair she used a chemical to bleach the wood. She considered careful sanding to be a very important step in her doll making process. She carefully applied a sealer to protect the wood doll parts from moisture. The stuffed muslin bodies were supported by wire armatures screwed on to the head and soldered into place for strength.  She had some art and carving training: When she was young, she took a sculpture course at Tyler School of Fine Arts near Philadelphia. Virginia belonged to the Buckeye Woodcarvers Guild and the National Woodcarvers Association where she learned a lot from fellow wood carvers. She also took seminars at the John C. Campbell Folk School.  She was also actively involved in many doll related clubs always eager to learn more about dolls and promote artist dolls: ODACA (past president - 1982), UFDC and IDMA. Her husband insisted that Virginia Little should create dolls based on the themes of the national and regional UFDC doll conventions she planned to attend.

** Jean D. Lotz (LOTZ STUDIO DOLLS) -  (ODACA) - Lacombe, LA (USA)
web site = http://www.lotzstudiodolls.com/
 

Jointed dolls, LL Babies, Hitty Dolls and a "Holly Nut Baby" Photos by Jean Lotz

This is me! . . . Jean Lotz Please jump to the Lotz Studio web page to see a gallery of my dolls. LOTZ STUDIO dolls are hand carved, one-of-a-kind wood, artist dolls. Jean Lotz has carved all of her life. Although most of her dolls are carved out of basswood, she will carve anything she can get her hands on, especially exotic woods and nuts. "LOTZ OF LOVE" babies  All wood ball jointed theme dolls  "HOLLY NUTS" Hitty Tagua nut miniature dolls  Exotic Wood dolls

William Jesse Loughrige (past ODACA artist) - Prescott, AZ (USA)
need more information and photos

Jesse Loughrige specialized in peg-wooden style dolls which are jointed and articulated. All stand alone and can be posed in various positions. Jesse's dolls do not resemble the antique stylized peg-wooden dolls. Jesse's dolls had carved faces and were his original designs.

Jesse carved several dolls for the Bicentennial, but gave most of them to relatives; however, one was exhibited for a year in the Arizona Historical Museum. They met the Becketts in 1980 and were recommended and accepted into ODACA that year.

Jesse's peg-wooden dolls ranged in size:  6", 12", and 16" sizes. His cowboys are 16" (Anglo or Indian) and are of
natural-finish basswood. The black cowboys are made of natural-finish black walnut. These dolls were dressed by his wife, Inez.

Jesse also made 1:12 dollhouse scale miniatures but these did NOT come dressed. They represented men, women, and teenagers 41/2" to 6". His miniatures also all stand alone and are poseable.

Victor and Margaret Mallia - Lafayette, NY (USA)
need more information and photos
The Mallia's were featured in the Nov/Dec 1988 issue of Doll Castle News. They started making wood dolls around 1986. They make dolls that are dressed in appropriate historical costumes. The dolls were made in 3 sizes: 16", 8" and 5".

Victor carves the hands and roughs out the heads. Margaret carves the features.

John Maresca - Milford, Pa (USA)
web page = http://www.pikeonline.com/webs/beargrins/index.htm

Poplar Baby Photo thanks to artist

John Maresca is a professional carver who primarily creates whimsical folk art servers. John started carving dolls around 1993 "as something fun to do". He has only created 4 dolls but his carving ability and experience shows in these examples.  John's hand carved poplar dolls are fully jointed and strung. They are painted in acrylic paints with acrylic wigs. Maresca dolls are typically available nude.

Hirano Masamichi - Iwatsuki, Japan
 

Ichimatsu dolls by Hirano Masamichi

Hirano Masamichi is a Modern Japanese Artist Sculpting Traditional Japanese Dolls in wood Hirano, his brother, Satoji, and father, Kinzo, make traditional style dolls in either hand carved or molded wood/compo (made from paulownia sawdust). He makes a large number of molded heads for festival dolls but also makes carved Ichimatsu (Japanese "play" dolls). Hirano's Ichimatsu are "mitsu-ore" (3-fold) style dolls hinged at the hip, knees, and ankles. Hirano was featured in an April '91 Doll Reader article.

Janet Masteller  (ODACA artist - retired or deceased?) - Powel, OH (USA)
Best known for her porcelain dolls, Janet also worked in wood. Janet became an ODACA artist in 1978. The following note is from the 1983 ODACA Compedium of Artists: "Her love of wood as a medium is seen in several dolls she has created. Her intricately carved wooden figures catch the eye. Esther, with carved wooden head and headdress, jointed arms and legs, delicately carved feet and sandals, and carved flowers in her hair - along with the human appearance of her face - is an awe-inspiring doll. Eli and Samuel, also in wood, have interesting biblical expressions."

John Matheny  (VentWorks) - (USA)
web site = http://ventworks.com/
 

Granny, a wooden ventriloquist dummy by VentWorks photo thanks to John Matheny

John Matheny works out of VentWorks, a sculpture studio specializing in creating one-of-a-kind ventriloquist dummies. Each original figure is hand-carved from kiln-dried basswood. John wants his puppets to be sturdy yet lightweight and easy to use with smooth operating, brass levers and mechanics. Of course the eyes and mouth are animated. John's sits his carved wooden puppet head on a 'ball and socket' neck for smooth, 360° movement. It is mounted on a sturdy wood frame body with polyfill stuffed arms and legs. John prefers to paint his dummies with carefully stippled artist acrylics avoiding obvious brush strokes. John encourages his customers to customize their own dummies to suit their individual puppet performance needs.

Jacob Mathey (deceased) - upstate New York (USA)
need more information and photos
Jacob Mathey was from a remote area in upstate New York born about the turn of the century. An on-line auction stated that he produced 50 wooden folk art dolls from 1973 to 1984 after a doll lover saw his work and offered to sell his work for him.

Vic McIntyre  - city? (USA)
need photos from the artist
Vic McIntyre states that he carves original wooden dolls and has offered to submit photos.

Emily McKnight - St. Louis, MO (USA)
need photos from the artist
Emily is primarily known for her miniature scale porcelain dolls, but she has recently taken a keen interest in carving mini wood dolls out of basswood.

Mary Michaud - Westport, MA (USA)
 

from the collection of UFDC Member - Northshore Doll Club Photo by Jean Lotz

The collector told me that Mary sold her "Silhouette Spindle Collection" at Plimoth Plantation gift shop. They are designed with early simple folk art in mind and dressed in felt clothing to represent a specific time in history.  The collector showed me her doll, and allowed me to photograph it. The wood on this doll is painted with acrylics. I need more info - Mary please contact me.

* Joanne Miglore - Arlington Heights, IL (USA)
 

"Sophie" one of a kind jelutong wood doll photo from Miglore

Joanne created her carved artist dolls of jelutong wood. Joanne created 5 limited editions of 25 each (which were sold via sold through Truly Many Joys, Inc.) before devoting all of her efforts producing only one of a kind dolls. Unfortunately Joanne only was able to carve for 5 years before tendonitis in her hand brought her work to a screeching halt. Hopefully she will learn ways to hold her carving tools in such a way not to hurt her hands, or work in other materials that are not so very hard on her hands to enable her to continue her dollmaking in the future. The facial details on Joanne Miglore's were painted with artist oil colors over an opaque flesh tone wash. The wooden parts were then protected with a fine furniture-grade wood finish.  Her dolls are all wood. The later dolls were made of jelutong wood with a ball jointed body that was similar to the old antique ball jointed dolls. She continued to refine her jointing to work more naturally and fluidly. Joanne states, "Although I am proud of the faces I carved, I am to this day very pleased with the way the body works. That of coarse is probably the world's best kept secret." * Joanne and her husband have been enthusiastic supporters of my wood doll gallery idea since they accidentally bumped into Joanne's sparse listing here. I had been trying to find a way to contact them, so it was a real pleasant surprise when Frank Miglore's introductory email arrived.

Ariel Mims - Norfolk (England)
need more information and photos

A.K. Morton - city? (USA)
need more information: did he make more than one doll?
An on-line auction displayed a doll made by A.K. Morton. It was a jointed wooden folk doll that didn't look like it was finished: raw wood and pencil details for eyes dressed in leather. This doll was signed and dated: 1989.

* Harald Naber - (USA)
 

photo from Harald Naber

Naber Kids are WOOD/RESIN editions cast from silicone molds made off of Harald's carved wood originals. Naber Kids have a very distinct Naber style, and a lot of character.. Harald regularly states that he proudly makes UGLY DOLLS. They are like a cat I had in my youth, SO UGLY -- THEY ARE CUTE! Recently Harald had started advertising that he will sell some of his real wood dolls -- ask to make sure you know if you are buying a wood/resin (edition) or a real wood doll. Harald has stated that each of the original, hand-carved, wood, proto-type, dolls for his wood/resin editions are safe in a private collection.

Sylvia Natterer (NIADA) - (Germany)
 

photo from GOTZ

Sylvia's primary medium is porcelain but she designs some dolls to be manufactured in other materials like vinyl and wood. Some of Sylvia Natterer's dolls were being manufactured by GOTZ in wood, but GOTZ manufactures all types of dolls. Always ask what the doll is made of. Manufactured wood dolls are "carved" on multispindle duplicating machines. Perhaps the advertising term "hand crafted" means that these dolls have been cleaned up, finished and assembled by hand.

Robert Neuenschwander - Stella, MO (USA)
web site = http://www.greatwoodcarvings.com/
 

Neuenschwander photo

Robert sculpts realistic hand-carved one-of-a-kinds and small editions of wood dolls. He also produced an edition of stylistically carved dolls, and wooden teddy bears. His wife makes the costumes.