Ricky Is Crafty!

[jeshyr]

Status report for your general amusement ... this may be a lot funnier to those familiar with Steiner/Waldorf education.

Number of Steiner-type flannel dolls finished to give to friends with newborns: 2

Evidence:


For the record, this has been my main "carry around when I go out and sew while waiting" project for the last little while. This is relevant to the following statistics.

Number of people who have spotted me sewing these and asked if I was a Steiner kid: 1

Number of people who have not recognised the nearly finished dolls as dolls and asked what my "cushion" was for: 1

Number of people who have asked when I was adding the "face" or exclaimed sadly over the lack of defined features: 7


Fun had while explaining why my cushion was a doll, or why my doll had no facial features: PRICELESS!

I am tempted to start making felt gnomes now, just for my own amusement as people react to them...

Comments

[acelightning]

okay, why do they look like cushions?

[tyggerjai]

So they don't look like barbie, I imagine. If a doll has a "human" body type, or racial characteristics, or facility expression, etc, it imposes that idea of "this is a human" . By removing specific, identifiable traits, you provide the child with a broad template both for acceptance of humanity and for use of its own imagination to personify the doll.

Though amusingly I initially misread that as Statler/Waldorf doll....

[sporky_rat]

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who was wondering why Statler and Waldorf didn't have features!


Then I re-read. Carefully.

[jeshyr]

Who's Statler? I sense a deficiency in pop culture knowledge...

[freyakitten]

Statler and Waldorf are the two Muppets who sit up in the box to the right side of the stage and make snarky comments about everything.

These guys: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSDj7bjAv2s

[jeshyr]

Oh! Them!

I don't think I knew their names...

[acelightning]

Statler and Waldorf were also the names of two very posh hotels in New York City in the early to mid 1900s. since "posh" eventually ends up "stodgy", that's why the two old codgers got named after the hotels.

[sporky_rat]

Statler is from The Muppet Show - he and Waldorf are very cranky old (Muppet) men who sit in the balcony and make pithy comments. They're really quite entertaining sometimes. They like to heckle Fozzie Bear because they're friends with his mama, Emily Bear.

There's more info here if you'd like.

(yes, I know too much about the Muppets....I blame being from the state that gave us Jim Henson)

[(Anonymous)]

where can i learn to make that type of doll?
-bug

[jeshyr]

The sort that I made in these pictures, or the other Steiner doll types?? I can teach you, it's easy!

[jeshyr]

Partly what Jai said in that things you don't specify the child will imagine while playing and although kids do sometimes in imagination play imagine toys into situations that are contradicted by the way the toys are formed (eg: firefighter Barbie) it's less common.

In these particular dolls they're designed for small babies too, so they're unlikely to be used much for imaginative play and more likely to be hugged and chewed on and such - hence they're made to be tactile and snuggly rather than visual (and without anything that could be chewed off, etc.)

[acelightning]

it's been demonstrated that even the youngest newborn infants will smile at anything that vaguely resembles a face - a circle with two dots for "eyes" is enough to elicit this response. so i'd expect even the most non-representational dolls to have at least the suggestion of eyes (embroidered on with thread, so there are no pieces to come loose), to evoke that social response. (note that, as with "Hello Kitty", a mouth is not required.)

[jeshyr]

Expectations sometimes meet reality, I guess! :)

[acelightning]

apparently some basic social responses, such as smiling at "faces", are hard-wired in the human brain. i wish this didn't explain the popularity of "Hello Kitty" :-(

[jeshyr]

I know some basic social responses are hard-wired, but I don't think that's relevant to imaginative play with toys that's all!

[acelightning]

i think it's just that i, personally, find the "faceless vaguely humanoid" design more than a bit creepy :-(

[jeshyr]

Ahh. .. that's a different issue. I don't find them creepy at all ... I wonder what's more common?

Cheers,
r

[acelightning]

that particular design falls into my personal uncanny valley. (i wonder why it's so important to me?)

*hugs*

[cedar51.livejournal.com]

I seem to recall - no faces is also an Amish tradition

[jeshyr]

I believe the Amish do it for religious reasons though.

The Steiner dolls have the reasoning Jai said - if you put a facial expression (or specific features) on a doll then the kid generally doesn't imagine the doll into different facial expressions (or different features) too much when playing. If you just give them a broad template, they exercise their imagination more and generally will 'imagine' the doll into more situations and emotions.

[jesse_the_k]

Also, congratulations! Nice work while sitting up!

[jeshyr]

Thank you! Nice to be able to sit up and DO IT :)

(You still have the best icons ever!)

[mikz.livejournal.com]

I'm really loving reading about you going places and doing crafts to pass the time!

Really sorry I didn't make it to Melbourne over the New Year—I definitely will come visit later this year. ::hugz::

[jeshyr]

*hugs* You had enough on your plate, no problems. Definitely looking forwardb to seeing you though!

[sheramil]

i was afraid of this. you were capable while bed-ridden. you'll be running the planet by the end of March.

[acelightning]

that sounds like a pretty good idea to me... ;-)

[jeshyr]

Well, I'll obviously need an advisory council... I assume you're volunteering?

;)

PS
I have such cool commenty friends! Thank you!!

[acelightning]

well, somebody's got to report back to you about the Northern Hemisphere :-D

*hugs*

[jeshyr]

... and the subgenii. Troll can do that.

[acelightning]

he'll be much better at that than i am. SubGenii seem to keep eluding me... some of my son's friends are SubGenii, and i hung out with one of them for a while - a guy who is a personal friend of Stang's - but they always seem to wander off...