Sunday, June 17, 2007

Toys



Old straw stuffed horse.



Small horse among a box of old vintage toys.
Auction of vintage toys.



Cute, early 1900s dog. “A vintage, straw stuffed, flannel cloth dog, with shoe button eyes & irregular brown spots that seem to have been painted on- 8 1/2" from tail to nose; 6 1/2" high- firmly stuffed & sturdy-”
Auction Old Stuffed Dog



Straw-stuffed leather and cloth toy from about 1870s, late 1800s.
"A Prairie Child's Toy! This 10" long antique straw stuffed toy was probably played with by a prairie child. This handmade toy looks-like a horse. Fair condition on this handstitched cloth and leather toy."
One ugly horse... Looks more like a dog - a zombie dog from resident evil.
More pictures



Tightly packed straw-filled teddy bear with jointed limbs. ~1920s
Vintage Dolls



Another straw-stuffed bear with jointed limbs. 1900-1920s.



Finnish wooden horse. More a design referernce.


More info:
Toy Industry in Finland
History of Cloth Dolls
Someone's collection of old Finnish toys

1 comment:

Chrystene said...

Gosh, that IS one ugly horse!

This is pretty cool research! The prairie connection is probably the right direction, as Timo's mother, Katja, who was of Finnish descent but American by birth, is the one who made the horse. However, the shape of the Finnish wooden horse is kind of cool. Do you want to do some drawings of possible ideas for this prop now that you've been looking at this stuff?

As for fabrication, we can fake the straw stuffing, and I am wondering if we want it to look "firmly stuffed & sturdy" or more soft and stuffed more loosely to show how well-loved it is.