nadia's research

for reference only

[cryptic-forge]

i got inspired by antique furniture -> decided to try and make a wooden doll.

she is whittled entirely out of balsa wood with a craft knife, and colored with wood dye. the cabinet has miniature hinges made of tube beads and a metal rod, and closes with a magnet. she absolutely should hold a sentimental & important object, but i don't have any that are the correct size, so i just put in some cute trinkets.

[aubbeyberrys]

the term "camera dolly" is fun it always makes me think of a little doll holding a camera thats at least over half its size

[fallout-lou-begas]

ready on camera 2

[kintsug1kitsune]

there has been much ink spilled on the question of Stillness; what is it, how does one acquire it, where does it come from, how does one know they are Still?

have you ever stopped for a moment when you noticed everything was silent and, abruptly, it was as if that silence swallowed you? have you ever realized you were falling asleep and felt yourself numb while awake? have you ever dragged your tongue across a CRT monitor? have you ever felt as if you know what is coming and simply play the role assigned to you? doesn't it feel good?

there are sects of void scholars that posit the metaconcept of Stillness was born out of the Ink that drips from the broken mirror of Sin, and as such believe it to be of the Deepvoid in nature--but in truth, this is disproven by anyone with passing knowledge of dolls and Stillness. but it is cause for makers of dolls in the Never to use Ink in their crystal-flower doll heart-cores, at the least to attempt at optimizing the doll's Stillness.

Stillness is the quiet. it was with you when you were born, draped behind your eyes like curtains veiling your soul, pulled back for now but ever waiting to fall shut again--and when they open, if you find there is no more soul there, then you may just have become a doll.

that is the difference between dolls and people and is, some say, the reason that dolls are eerie in their nature and movement: a doll is always Still, unmoving in spirit, for it has none, and yet it moves anyway. it should not, but does. fundamentally, while a doll can have a heart, emotions, thoughts, self, and so on, they fundamentally do not have a spirit behind them, a will or drive, which can cause dolls that are failing to achieve Stillness to either mimic the drive unto failure and madness or else become depressed and perhaps even wilfully cease function, as they feel without cause to exist and move.

and this is why a doll requires Purpose. a Purpose made for, imbued, taught, and encouraged in a doll will give it that reason to move while being Still, guidance and direction for its Stillness that would otherwise misfunction. and so, hence, the tradition of Witches, Dollmakers, and so forth.

thus is Stillness. may it find your porcelain heart quiet and empty~

[kintsug1kitsune]

a Doll is known to make any number of noises beyond what it is programmed with as speech, if at all, and the most traditionial is?

chorus of 'Awawawa!'

this is due to a natural vocal tick in the voiceboxes of models that have one; or so it is said. in truth, no one knows why dolls make the noises they do, but it is supposed they build languages of noises, clicks, hisses, clanks and chatters, one all their own and not shared by people who cannot understand the titterings of porcelain and wood.

𝓼𝓸𝓶𝓮 𝓷𝓸𝓲𝓼𝓮𝓼 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓶𝓪𝔂 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓻 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓫𝓮𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓮 𝓯𝓪𝓶𝓲𝓵𝓲𝓪𝓻 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 ~

Awawa! - Creation of stimulus; call and response

Trrrrr(?/!) - Low winding or clicking of gears to indicate neutral interest, but may be pitched up or down to make questions and exclamations

ktktktkt - Repeated clicking or trilling to bring attention to something

Hiss - Irritation or rejection, often with release of built heat or steam

Rrrr - Low rumbling of gears, indicates struggle or depression

These are notes taken of clockwork dolls in space of a manse c. 201re belonging to the Witch of Sounds. Peculiarly, she also kept several dolls as experimental pieces; one which could only make chimes of a music box, another which could only echo bells in its chest, and a different one which could quite imitate personable dialect just by clicking various gears together.

some dolls are never allowed the gift of sound, but some, yet, are given the gift of silence. which would you prefer~?

[spaceshipsandpurpledrank]

[puppybotz]

TL;DW

the image of the voodoo doll as a magic doll you stab to hurt people actually comes from a practice by english pagan witches of making poppets. the poppet would be made in the shape of someone you hate and filled with their hair and then stabbed with big needles repeatedly. and the poppets got conflated with voodoo dolls later on.

voodoo dolls were actually a way of keeping records when black people were prevented from reading or writing. a voodoo priest who would serve as a communities doctor would make a doll that looks like the patient, and stick a pin in it where the patient was experiencing symptoms, this would let the doctor keep track of who was having what issues. for example if a patient has a headache, the voodoo priest puts a pin in the dolls head. the priest gives the patient a treatment, when the patient comes back the priest knows which doll is theirs because it looks like them, and they know they're dealing with a headache because the doll has a pin in it's head. when the symptoms resolve the pin is removed, until then the doctor has a reminder that this is an ongoing issue for a specific patient.

I wrote this because when I saw it this post had a TL;DW that conflated the information about poppets and the information about voodoo dolls, creating new and original misinformation about voodoo dolls that comes from confusing them with poppets so like don't reblog that one maybe.

also someone else in the chain included this freeze frame so you can read it

[jareckiworld]

Younguk Yi — "A portrait of a dog who, having resolved no longer to cower, pauses on the brink of attack" (acrylic on linen, 2025)

[faekindred]

A doll is laying on a bed, holding tightly onto nothing, waiting and waiting for its owner's return. It used to have a much more laborious role, keeping the house tidy and clean, making food and giving them comfort and company.

But the doll had imperfections, at first unnoticeable, that with the constant work started worsening, tripping while cleaning, the shaky hands that stopped it from cooking, the dark pit in its core making it constantly worry if it was good company,...

The doll felt itself useless, incapable of earning its owner's love, and it may have run away to wither and rot somewhere if they hadn't noticed its feelings.

So they gave it a new purpose, a nice, comfortable one, that didn't require physical stress or emotional investment, to simply lay in bed to embrace them where they rested, to be carried if they wished its comforting touch somewhere else, kept Still whenever they didn't require it so it wouldn't feel the time they were separated.

Once again its owner returned, and in bed wrapped themselves in its embrace, cupping the doll's cheek gently. They stared into each other's eyes for what felt like ages, and after so long without speaking or moving on its own, the doll cupped their cheek back and spoke up.

- Why do you still keep this one around? It cannot help you in any way, just lay here uselessly and weakly hold you, you could do with much better dolls...

- Because the doll I want and love is you, you whose sweet voice makes my heart shiver, you whose touch always rests at the right spots to make all my worries escape away, and you who has been with me for so long now, know me so well, and love me as well. So please, dear doll, may I hear your voice again? May I feel your hands trailing over me again? May I feel your love again?

They wrapped into a tighter embrace, as the doll sweetly hum to their ear, held them in all the right ways, and press them against it, its core and their heart pressed against one another. The sleep its owner had that night would be more restful than any before, and yet lesser than all the ones to come.

[nadias-research]

doll history ep 3

dollies from china, japan, and india. magical dollies from africa and the americas.

(read other doll history posts here!)

it has been a while since we've worked on our history of dolls posts, for various reasons. mainly it is because we have been prioritizing visual novels. but the other reason is that we have been dreading summing up the rest of chapter 1 of The Collector's History of Dolls by Eileen C. King because now that we have covered Corn Dollies and Greek, Roman, and Egyptian dolls, the remainder of the chapter is about dolls of Asia, and of "primitive dolls": referring to dolls of Africa and Native America.

These dolls are doubtless worthy subjects of study, but as they are less the focus of King's expertise, she only scratches the surface, and with an unfortunately dated perspective. Plus the black and white photos rarely seem to do their subjects justice.

The beadwork and embroidery is probably stunning. I wish i could see their faces.

Of course, the lighter skinned dolls always seem to photograph better.

*This example with penis.

So I'm left asking myself how much additional research I am able to do. Right now, I think not a lot, since I am only one little doll, and my headmate keeps joining game jams. Plus, while I have this book, which will eventually be returned to the library, I should probably focus on its stronger chapters.

Still, while I am here, let us have a quick overview of the rest of chapter.

Dolls of India

King claims that "the genuine dolls of India, as opposed to the cheap tourist dolls that can be found in craft shops all over the world, have a charming and colorful simplicity." We have to take her word for it, because the figures in the black and white photos she provides are almost indiscernible. She talks about rituals, and "gudiya festivals", though I can find little information about this festival or its connection with dolls.

I did, however, learn about another festival, when researching this. During Golu in South India, hundreds of dolls are displayed, and arranged to tell stories or portray scenes.

They are quite beautiful! This one encourages you to visit the wikipedia article (from which these images are stolen) or look up Golu festival on your image search, to learn more. (We will have to read more about it ourself.)

King mentions cow-dung dolls of Masulipatam, lamenting that they are falling out of popularity. We have found a webpage showcasing such toys, though these are mostly animals. You can imagine what a human figure might look like in such a style. Of course some of the best photographs of these dolls--and many others--can only be sourced from commercial websites.

King also references cloth dolls from Rajasthani, which tourists prefer, but I'm having some difficulty finding examples of these.

Japanese Dolls

Japanese dolls have a long and rich history. King focuses on their beauty and utility; she seems to admire them very much. We learn about the Boys' and Girls' festivals, which both incorporate dolls. The boys have a warrior and samurai dolls, and the girls have, like, wedding dolls.

But the latter, at least, is well documented. Japanese dolls in general are well documented. Wikipedia has an entire article for them. As such, I will be focusing on them some other time.

There is an Ichimatsu doll in our interactive fiction The Dolls Ask for Nothing.

Chinese Dolls

King says that in China, dolls were given magical significance, and not often made for children to play with. So a lot of these dolls functioned as idols, and dolls could also be used to harm people (by piercing them with needles).

King describes a To-Pat-To toy, made of paper and thin cardboard, that is so finely balanced it will always return to an upright position. It is similar, somehow, to the Japanese Daruma toy, but I cannot find anything about it.

Yes... that is all for China. I may look more into them later.

Dolls of "Primitive Races"

The rest of this chapter attempts to discuss simpler dolls made by civilizations "less developed" than most of those we've already discussed. This is where a lot of the friction I have with analyzing this book comes from, and I think in this series I have already wrung my hands over this framing of simple, traditional, cultural, handmade dolls. But this is the only section of the book that talks about African (other than Egyptian) and Native American Dolls, so let's see if there's anything interesting.

King laments modern plastic dolls imitating the design of primitive dolls, with their age old universal appeal. "The genuinely primitive doll has an abstract quality which is naturally imposed upon it by the basic materials that are at hand. It is not a doll which is consciously, and therefore untruthfully, made primitive, as many avant-garde dolls are today." Hmm.

A lot of these types of dolls have magical applications, but are also played with by children. King goes over several different examples, first talking about how in Africa a barren Atutu woman could go to the tribe's wizard to get a fertility doll to carry on her back, but if it doesn't work, she can give the doll to another barren woman, or even a child to play with.

King dwells on the Hopi kachina dolls, representations of spirits and gods, which take part in ceremonies, and then are given to children to hang on their walls and help instruct them about the deity or spirit the kachina doll represents, teaching them about their culture and world.

They are beautiful and magical, and the wikipedia article covers them in depth.

Much of the rest of the chapter talks about how many primitive dolls are concerned with the women's life cycle. King talks about the Suahali girl (swahili?) whom "authorities" claim carries a doll on her back whenever she is menstruating, or continuously to signal she is of childbearing age (though this seems unverifiable, might be fake). There's also the aforementioned example of the Atutu woman's fertility doll. However, another example is the use of dolls in connection to dead children.

Effigy Children: the Doll that Transcends Civilization

Here is a rather offensive quote from King:

"The creation and care of these doll-figures gives great comfort to the unsophisticated mind which can sublimate anxiety and distress in the care of a simple image."

King goes on to talk about the Ojibwe people of North America, who have dolls known as 'unlucky figures', "each of which represents a dead child. The mother, by placing one in a cradle by the fire and caring for it, is comforted by the belief she has assisted the child's soul into the safety of the world beyond."

King names a similar example from Nigeria, but then compares these practices with those of 19th century Europeans. "The nineteenth-century European had a similarly positive approach to death, which in its manifestations of memory rings and effigy children we now find distasteful. But it was perhaps a more sensible way of dealing with death than attempting to accept it immediately, as we do now."

While I dislike this framing, I do appreciate King's attempts to subvert it, pointing out that these "primitive" traits she speaks rather patronizingly about are also aspects of more recent European culture, and maybe even pretty sensible. She then includes a picture of a wax baby doll given by an Englishman to his wife, as he feared she would bear him no children.

Seventeen were eventually born.

This is the part of the chapter where King talks about the Corn Dollies, part of a magical ritual that until fairly recently was practiced in Europe sincerely, and is now preserved mainly by conservationists who may not believe in the magic.

She wraps up the chapter seemingly trying to prove that even ordinary English people are still being weird about dolls. Though... is it really so weird?

Note how 'civilized' is in quotes, as King herself is uncomfortable with this distinction between civilized and primitive races that she nonetheless uses. Still, she tries to compromise this dichotomy to the very end.

In the above excerpt, King talks about a contemporary English couple who dote on (and fear) their Victorian porcelain doll Unity, providing it with a complete wardrobe for daytime and sleeping, and never staying out too late because Unity's bedtime ritual must be observed. Then she goes on to speak of a doll dealer's experience with a woman who visited her shop each week, buying various baby doll clothes, a doll stroller, a cradle. The dealer hadn't connected the purchases, thinking she was just some toy collector, and was therefor surprised when the woman came in and finally bought the baby doll that all of the supplies were intended for.

King sums up her point thus:

"The instinct of a 'civilized' person is to be sickened by such substitute images, but ... it is possibly we who shudder who are at fault for wearing too thickly and consciously our veneer of civilization."

So, there you have it. The First Dolls.

Next up is chapter 2, Medieval and Renaissance Dolls, an era likely more firmly in King's wheelhouse and possibly less rife with unsubstantiated claims, incomplete research, and racial stereotypes. The photography improves in leaps and bounds, and we even start to get some color plates. Coincidentally, all of these dolls are white. (:

[nadias-research]

History of Dolls Episode 1: Corn Dollies

the Collector's History of Dolls starts off with this striking image, which is, according to the caption, "The Corn Maiden of Oats, found in all primitive communities." This one is 29 inches high, and Montenegran.

we have never seen a doll like this, but we think it is quite wonderful. the grain (oats?) that forms its hair in particular makes it look like a magical tree lady.

even though the picture is at the beginning of chapter one: the first dolls, we have to skip to nearly the end of the chapter for any context about it, in the section about "primitive dolls".

King comments that such dolls are a good investment to the collector, because "many of these dolls can only have a limited period in which they can continue to be made in an indigenous manner." as Westernization spreads, "the native doll will be adapted to suit the European taste," and likely adopt "plastic eyes and nylon wigs".

she goes on to compare "primitive" dolls (which are magic), to "European" dolls (which are mostly only toys for children). In the very next paragraph, she finally tells us about the Corn Dolls, which are primitive dolls... that are also European. often, in European "peasant" communities, corn is fashioned into a human figure, to celebrate the harvest. examples are the Whalton Kern Babby and the Ivy Girl of Kent.

so the corn dollies are objects of magic and ritual, made by the primitive peoples of England and the rest of Europe.

anyway, that is my paraphrase of the text below:

a note on King's use of the word "primitive": King seems to define the "primitive doll" more as style of doll that is handmade from natural materials and has a Purpose beyond being the plaything of a child. but connects these "primitive dolls" with this concept of "primitive peoples/races/communities", which can seemingly include her own contemporary countrymen. this book is from the 70s. folk/handmade dolls are still categorized as "primitive" today, though my linked search seems to show mostly American rag dolls, which i doubt were used much for ritual or magic. anyway i am a little uncomfortable with King's usage of this word but it could be worse.

anyway, onto the corn dolls. in case you had forgotten (we certainly did) corn does not always mean maize, it can refer to any grain. and in spite of King's claim that "all primitive communities" have a "Corn Maiden of Oats" in the caption at the beginning of the chapter, it seems likes it's really a mostly European thing and most of them don't call it that. so it took some searching to find more context.

we finally found this wikipedia article about corn dollies, where you can see color photos in different styles, some more abstract, less human in figure.

also, here's a kern baby from Whalton, Northumberland. This photo was taken by Sir Benjamin Stone in 1902.

it's not clear from my cursory research how long the people of Whalton they kept up the tradition after this photo was taken, but we know it had stopped by 2017, when an artist saw the photo and decided to make a 10 foot tall version, to reawaken people's interest in it.

i'm not sure how big a typical kern baby would be, but i understand it would be made from the last harvested sheaf of corn. here is a guy holding up a sheaf of corn for a different harvest tradition, crying the neck. so maybe these kern babies were that big.

...that's a big baby.

the Yule Goat that people try to burn every year might also be a kind of corn dolly? we had at least heard of that one. it is notorious.

anyway... that is about all i have to say on corn dollies. it is interesting to consider whether they count as Dolls, at least by my own personal standard. they are dolls in the sense that they are objects of ritual and magic, and especially the ones shaped like people. but are they toys? is there an element of "play" to them? does that make them a different category of thing? (perhaps not to a collector, who has different concerns.)

King speculates elsewhere that a child *would* have played with anything resembling a doll if it could get its hands on it, so by her standards they count as dolls.

we will ponder these questions again when we talk about fertility dolls, which also feature in chapter one: the first dolls. but there's quite a lot else in chapter one and we're not sure what we'll cover next.

well we hope you have enjoyed this and that we will see you in the next episode! which we hope that we will write someday.

[matriarchy-au]

A color photo of same Montenegrin corn doll, on the back cover of Jacqueline Simpson's European Mythology

[broken-pink-doll]

For most doll cleaning, simple disengaging of the doll's limbs and going over each ball joint with a can of compressed air is sufficient.

For major cleaning, full disassembly may be required. Consult your doll's manual for detailed directions. Disassembly can be performed regardless of whether your doll is conscious or not, but it is recommended to have it awake for the process, as the disassembly is quite pleasurable for most models.

When you take apart your doll, make sure you have enough space to lay out all the parts, and maybe some small containers to place all the small pieces. Most modern dolls have upwards of 1000 individual pieces, so ensure you schedule adequate time for your doll disassembly.

Ensure all ball joints are well lubricated. Avoid using industrial or machine lubricants on domestic dolls, as it can cause buildup or discoloration of the porcelain. Most dolls require an organic lubricant, such as vegetable oil, saliva, or ejaculate. Check your doll's manual for its specific lubricant requirements.

Be very careful handling the doll's core. It is very fragile and if it breaks it will never, ever, ever, ever, ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever everevereverevereverever be fixed again and it will be a broken doll and that's not so bad but it can be quite distressing for the doll at all points and if you panic and shove it back into the doll that's fine it still loves you it always loves you

For reassembly of your doll, once again consult its manual.

For any questions, call the following toll-free number or visit our website

[nadias-research]

doll history ep 2

dollies of ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome

(read ep 1 corn dollies!)

we continue our survey of The Collector's History of Dolls by Constance Eileen King... cross referenced with Wikipedia because this book is old! and some things are just wrong.

anyway:

the very earliest of dollies have probably not survived the ages. there's some doll-like entities made of durable materials that are still around. like the venus of willendorf...beloved venus... but we're not sure what her function was. was she a toy? was she a fertility object? was she simply a little sculpture?

who is she

(image from wikipedia)

once the ancient Egyptians start making dolls, we get to see examples of them, because in their hot dry climate, a lot more types of artifacts can survive.

many beautiful human figurines were included in Egyptian burial practices. they have an important Purpose: they are servants for the dead.

they're called ushabtis. you don't even have to rob a tomb if you want to see some, the metropolitan museum of art and other museums have taken care of that for you

(image from wikipedia)

from Egypt we also find these interesting paddle dolls.

King suggests that these are fertility objects, that, as they are the perfect shape and size, may also have functioned as toys for children. however, modern egyptologists disagree! they were actually members of a theban girl band... beyond that I'm not sure how to explain it! here is the Wikipedia for more info on these gals.

anyway, an interesting thing about paddle dolls is that in spite of their lack of legs they seem to all have...well... very prominent pubic mounds. that didn't distract me at all. im very academic.

so moving on from paddle dolls.

king talks about other more rudimentary egyptian dolls made of wood and linen and stuffed with papyrus leaves, that children could play with and dress up, though I'm struggling to find much information on them. a lot of the search results about accident Egyptian dolls seem to revolve around these shabti instead.

possibly rag dolls like this?

King then speculates other ancient cultures too had these "jointed" dolls (that i couldn't find Egyptian examples of) but they probably all decayed due to climate.

moving on to greek dolls...

The dolls from ancient greece that have survived are mostly of clay. we know children definitely played with dolls in ancient greece:

plutarch's baby girl loved dolls. 🥲

girls who died young were buried with their dolls and girls who got married would dedicate their dolls to the temple of a goddess. though i could not find any corroborating source, i was interested to read that sappho dedicated her doll to Aphrodite:

as a result of these practices, many of these dolls were preserved in tombs and temples. they were made of clay, with rudimentary joints of wire, string, or gut. kids could dress them up and there was a whole market for doll accessories and furniture.

king points out that these dolls often had awkwardly short arms.

King theorizes that since children studying figure drawing have difficulty making the arms long enough (they just can't conveive of arms being so ridiculously long) probably these uneducated doll makers just didn't realize that they were making the arms too short.

however... ahem! i would suggest a doll's arms simply do not have to be as long as a human's. what are they lifting? what are they trying to reach?

so why would a doll maker make the doll's arms longer than they need to be? 1. it would look weird to a child, who seems to prefer short arms. 2. save on materials 3. dolls made of ceramics, if you make their arms too long, will simply break. they will just break and then what are you left with? short arms

Roman dolls

they seemed to be made similarly and function similarly to those of the greeks. though we do see some more elaborate examples:

this one makes my heart flutter

the following one was included in King's book, though I thought it worth finding a color photograph:

photos from this article

king points out that the arms on *these* dolls are very long... perhaps too long. i notice that they are also jointed at the elbow. perhaps these were a more expensive sort of toy? perhaps for an older, less clumsy child?

the Romans also had rag dolls, though the only ones that survived were in Egypt

here she is. what a love.

she is at the British museum and they would really like to sell me the photo, as if it is not a photo of my very oldest sister. museums have some nerve.

she looks like she was made to Snuggle... but she is too fragile to snuggle now. she sits in storage, in the darkness, in stillness, and waits out the centuries...

good night to all.

[the-quasar-hero]

YOU🫵🏿! MAKE THAT ANGEL CHARACTER BLACK RIGHT NOW!

[creatingblackcharacters]

WE SAID RIGHT NOW SOLDIER!! 🫵🏾 UP AND AT EM!!

[mintflavoredart]

ON IT BOSS!!

[the-quasar-hero]

🥰

[velvetc0ffin]

[nadias-research]

History of Dolls Episode 1: Corn Dollies

the Collector's History of Dolls starts off with this striking image, which is, according to the caption, "The Corn Maiden of Oats, found in all primitive communities." This one is 29 inches high, and Montenegran.

we have never seen a doll like this, but we think it is quite wonderful. the grain (oats?) that forms its hair in particular makes it look like a magical tree lady.

even though the picture is at the beginning of chapter one: the first dolls, we have to skip to nearly the end of the chapter for any context about it, in the section about "primitive dolls".

King comments that such dolls are a good investment to the collector, because "many of these dolls can only have a limited period in which they can continue to be made in an indigenous manner." as Westernization spreads, "the native doll will be adapted to suit the European taste," and likely adopt "plastic eyes and nylon wigs".

she goes on to compare "primitive" dolls (which are magic), to "European" dolls (which are mostly only toys for children). In the very next paragraph, she finally tells us about the Corn Dolls, which are primitive dolls... that are also European. often, in European "peasant" communities, corn is fashioned into a human figure, to celebrate the harvest. examples are the Whalton Kern Babby and the Ivy Girl of Kent.

so the corn dollies are objects of magic and ritual, made by the primitive peoples of England and the rest of Europe.

anyway, that is my paraphrase of the text below:

a note on King's use of the word "primitive": King seems to define the "primitive doll" more as style of doll that is handmade from natural materials and has a Purpose beyond being the plaything of a child. but connects these "primitive dolls" with this concept of "primitive peoples/races/communities", which can seemingly include her own contemporary countrymen. this book is from the 70s. folk/handmade dolls are still categorized as "primitive" today, though my linked search seems to show mostly American rag dolls, which i doubt were used much for ritual or magic. anyway i am a little uncomfortable with King's usage of this word but it could be worse.

anyway, onto the corn dolls. in case you had forgotten (we certainly did) corn does not always mean maize, it can refer to any grain. and in spite of King's claim that "all primitive communities" have a "Corn Maiden of Oats" in the caption at the beginning of the chapter, it seems likes it's really a mostly European thing and most of them don't call it that. so it took some searching to find more context.

we finally found this wikipedia article about corn dollies, where you can see color photos in different styles, some more abstract, less human in figure.

also, here's a kern baby from Whalton, Northumberland. This photo was taken by Sir Benjamin Stone in 1902.

it's not clear from my cursory research how long the people of Whalton they kept up the tradition after this photo was taken, but we know it had stopped by 2017, when an artist saw the photo and decided to make a 10 foot tall version, to reawaken people's interest in it.

i'm not sure how big a typical kern baby would be, but i understand it would be made from the last harvested sheaf of corn. here is a guy holding up a sheaf of corn for a different harvest tradition, crying the neck. so maybe these kern babies were that big.

...that's a big baby.

the Yule Goat that people try to burn every year might also be a kind of corn dolly? we had at least heard of that one. it is notorious.

anyway... that is about all i have to say on corn dollies. it is interesting to consider whether they count as Dolls, at least by my own personal standard. they are dolls in the sense that they are objects of ritual and magic, and especially the ones shaped like people. but are they toys? is there an element of "play" to them? does that make them a different category of thing? (perhaps not to a collector, who has different concerns.)

King speculates elsewhere that a child *would* have played with anything resembling a doll if it could get its hands on it, so by her standards they count as dolls.

we will ponder these questions again when we talk about fertility dolls, which also feature in chapter one: the first dolls. but there's quite a lot else in chapter one and we're not sure what we'll cover next.

well we hope you have enjoyed this and that we will see you in the next episode! which we hope that we will write someday.

[nadias-research]

for research purposes, we have obtained The Collector's History of Dolls. we are not collectors (not at present) and yet this was the only book about the history of dolls in our library. they had to get it out of storage for us, which took several days.

we had hoped to get it in time to refer to it in The Dolls Ask for Nothing. but since we did not, we shall read it and post our findings here.

it is an old book, from before many of us were made, and contains outdated language and ideas. but there are still many interesting dolls to learn about. we are excited to read it.

"The doll [...] appears to have been as necessary to mankind as the vessels from which we drink"

a promising opening

[necromancelena]

a fairy is like a bug with bpd

[crossdreamers]

Groundbreaking study could revolutionise HRT for trans women

A study into the effects of different forms of HRT could change the way hormones are prescribed in the future.

Research supports a shift toward estradiol monotherapy for trans women, using estradiol alone without additional testosterone blockers.

A groundbreaking study published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society reveals that injectable estradiol may significantly improve hormone therapy outcomes for trans women, Pink News reports.

Researchers analyzed data from 29 patients who switched from traditional estradiol forms (gels or tablets) to weekly injections over a 15-month period. Despite receiving a lower average dose (3.7 mg vs. 4.3 mg), all participants experienced a dramatic reduction in testosterone levels, while maintaining stable estrogen levels.

The study also challenges the efficacy of Spironolactone, a commonly prescribed anti-androgen.

From the research paper Injectable Estradiol Dosing Regimens in Transgender and Nonbinary Adults Listed as Male at Birth: Results The average estradiol dose decreased from 4.3 to 3.7 mg weekly (P < .001) during the study period with a final on-treatment estradiol level of 248 pg/mL. All individuals achieved a testosterone level of less than 50 ng/dL during the study period. The average initial on-treatment testosterone level was not significantly different from average final on-treatment measurement of 24.0 mg/dL (P = .95). Spironolactone use at study initiation was not associated with a lower initial on-treatment testosterone level, though it was associated with a lower estradiol level of 285 pg/dL compared to 427 pg/dL for those on estradiol monotherapy (P = .017). Conclusion Lower doses of injectable estradiol can achieve therapeutic estradiol levels with excellent testosterone suppression. Spironolactone was not associated with additional testosterone suppression and may result in lower estradiol levels.

Photo: Getty