Clay toys.
Clay toy - special kind folk art: the direct function did not always play a significant role in it. With the exception of some whistles and rattles intended for certain play actions, many molded and painted figurines were made for entertainment, viewing, and in the 19th-20th centuries even as decorations in everyday life, like porcelain figurines. A prominent researcher of Russian folk art V.S. Voronov called the toy a “small household sculpture” and rightly noted its “internal impracticality,” which, in his opinion, only unfettered the creative imagination of the masters. He believed that the creators of the toys themselves “often felt there was much more content in them than the momentary joy of childhood.” Folk artists expressed their ideas about the world, nature, and people in them. With minimal expenditure of material and technical effort, they created expressive images that are still impressive today with their unique combination of plastic art and painting. One of the researchers correctly noted that “toy pottery was not a simple craft, but the creativity of a peasant, where he, as an artist, solved problems of form and content.”
In St. Petersburg, you can enjoy a clay toy in the Russian Museum, where a large and varied collection is presented. There is the most famous Dymkovo toy, and Kargopol, and Filimonov, and Tula, and others. They are all similar, but still differ from each other: in the nature of the painting, the plot, and the sculpting technique. Each has its own character, its own energy, which the author put into it.
The earliest works exhibited in the museum date back to the 19th and early 20th centuries. Some of them were in the museum even before the formation of the folk art department - in the historical and everyday life department. The main part, which included very rare specimens, arrived in 1938 from the Handicraft Museum. In subsequent years, the collection was replenished mainly with items from Soviet craftsmen. The toys were purchased from the authors during expeditions.
History of Russian clay toys.
The history of Russian clay toys begins centuries ago. But the pages that have reached us are very fragmentary. The oldest toys in our country were found by archaeologists among objects from the 2nd millennium BC. These are clay hatchets, dishes, rattles. In Slavic burials of the 6th-8th centuries AD. figurines of skates and rattles were discovered. Whistles (horses, birds, rams), rattles, fragments of human figurines found on the territory of ancient Russian cities - Kiev, Novgorod, Ryazan, Moscow, Kolomna, Radonezh, Dmitrov, Zaraysk, etc., date back to the 10th-12th centuries. All of these are fragmentary, often broken copies of toys, allowing one to judge not so much about their artistic merits, but about the age of origin and method of manufacture. The toys were hand-made from lumps of clay and fired; some show traces of coloring and painting.
Archaeological work in the 1940s and 1950s in Moscow - in Zaryadye and on the territory of the former Goncharnaya Sloboda - provided a lot of new information for the study of clay toys of the Middle Ages. Several hundred toys from the 14th to 17th centuries were discovered here, which for the first time made it possible to get a detailed look at their mass production. Among the numerous debris and fragments of figurines, intact specimens have been preserved, testifying to the high skill of Moscow toy potters.
The subjects of these toys are quite diverse: traditional horses, whistle birds, rams, rattle balls, bear figures. They already fully demonstrate perhaps the main feature of a clay toy - a generalized and expressive image-type created by the simplest techniques of sculpting the main parts of a figure with two or three characteristic details. At the same time, the features of reality, life authenticity are either exaggerated and sharpened to the point of grotesqueness, or poeticized, which in both cases deprives the images of everyday life. These features - primordial and main in folk art - received special breadth and freedom of embodiment in the toy. The very purpose of the toy allowed the master’s imagination to be distracted from everyday life, to enhance and modify real features.
The toys of old Moscow are made from the same red clay as the dishes. Most toys are made in parts, from individual lumps of clay, which are joined together, and the seams are carefully smoothed. Many toys are solid, but there are also hollow ones, with holes for whistling or with pebbles placed inside, like in rattles. The molded toys were dried, and then some were hardened to a dark brown color, like figurines of bears, while others were covered with a layer of white clay mixed with lime (the so-called engobe) and fired. The engobe was decorated with figures of people, horses, birds, and rattles. It was applied in spots and circles or completely over the entire surface, and then, as if on primer, they were painted or made with simple ornaments in the form of stripes, circles, crosses and ovals. Finds by archaeologists in Moscow indicate that already in the 16th-17th centuries, clay toys were works of developed folk art.
Clay is a fragile and short-lived material. Despite the large scale of production of clay toys, which was obvious even in Moscow in the 16th and 17th centuries, few of them have reached us, since they easily broke, were broken and disappeared with generations of people. Therefore, in the collection of the Russian Museum, clay toys are represented mainly by works of the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Oryol clay toys.
In the collection of the Russian Museum there are several toys from the village of Pleshkovo, Livensky district, Oryol region (see Appendix 1, Fig. 1.). They were performed in the 1960s by craftswoman Alexandra Mikhailovna Ivanilova, who adopted this art from her mother. Ivanilova’s favorite characters are ladies, horsemen, cows, roosters, and they are all whistles. The toys are rough and primitive in their modeling and painting, but they have a special expressiveness that allows you to recognize the hand of this craftswoman. Ivanilova’s cow has squat proportions, on thick short legs, with an elastic, smooth body, emphasized by her chest. Tossed head with raised and closed horns; the eyes and nose - holes pierced with a stick - give the image a comical expression of proud stubbornness.
The figurine of the lady is small in size. Its shape is close to cylindrical, slightly narrowed in the middle to indicate the waist. The left hand, pressed to the body, is applied separately. The right one, as if raised in an indefinite gesture, is at the same time a whistle hidden in the body of the figure. Three holes on the flat face represent the eyes and mouth. The small head is surrounded by a row of teeth, which means a braid arranged in a ring. On the lady's dress white background clay is rhythmically placed with spots of dark red, lilac-brown and blue-blue. Scattered among the spots are oblique crosses with circles at the ends. Both in design and color they are close to the typical ornaments of peasant vat heels. The painting is done with plucked goose feathers, aniline paints or homemade ones - from plant leaves, grated bricks, and diluted ink. The paints lay easily on the surface of the toy and were partially absorbed into the pores of the lightly fired clay.
Skopino clay toys
Vyrkov clay toys
Abashevo clay toys
Kursk clay toys
Kargopol clay toys
Filimonovsky clay toys
Tula clay toys
Dymkovo clay toys
Thus, the Russian Museum presents a diverse and large collection of Russian clay toys, which allows you to learn about the variety of forms and representations of this craft in different regions of the country, trace the history of the development of clay toys and simply enjoy this wonderful type of folk art.
Many works by individual masters are presented in the museum; from them one can characterize the author’s style and his influence on the toys of the region in which he worked. The collection of Dymkovo toys from various masters is especially widely represented. There were many famous craftswomen in this region: Anna Afanasyevna Mezrina, Elizaveta Aleksandrovna Koshkina, Elizaveta Ivanovna Penkina and others. The museum displays their works from different periods and subjects. There are also toys created in a creative union. One of these is the famous “Wrangler”. This clay toy is the largest in the museum's collection.
The museum’s special pride is its collection of toys from Tula. The Russian Museum has the largest collection of this toy. Here you can see not only the typical Tula ladies with umbrellas, but also a horsewoman, nuns and other clay toys.
The collection of Abashev toys is interesting. The museum displays the early works of the masters - these are whistle toys covered with glaze, simple in shape. The works done later are represented mainly by the work of master T.N. Zotkin, who provided strong influence for a clay toy in Abashevo. These are completely different toys - fantastic animals, painted in dark, rich colors.
Thus, the collection of the Russian Museum shows us a clay toy - as a special type of art, which has its own directions, plots, forms, and has a special charm. The museum exposition reveals to us amazing world Russian clay toy. This wonderful world of kindness and warmth that the masters of this craft put into their creations.
Russian clay toy museum.
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Presentation on the topic: Folk clay toy
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Clay toy - a special type folk art. It is intended not only for play, but also serves to decorate everyday life. The images of the toys are quite simple, original and expressive. A clay toy is a special type of folk art. It is intended not only for play, but also serves to decorate everyday life. The images of the toys are quite simple, original and expressive.
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The most famous of the clay crafts in Russia. It is distinguished by its extremely simple and clear plastic form, generalized silhouette, and bright ornamental painting on a white background. The most famous of the clay crafts in Russia. It is distinguished by its extremely simple and clear plastic form, generalized silhouette, and bright ornamental painting on a white background. This fishery originated in the settlement of Dymkovo, near the city of Vyatka (now Kirov). There are excellent clays and river sand suitable for ceramics.
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The whitewashed toy is painted. The pattern is strictly geometric, consisting of combinations of stripes, cells, circles, and round spots. The whitewashed toy is painted. The pattern is strictly geometric, consisting of combinations of stripes, cells, circles, and round spots. Usually the painting is built according to the following scheme: a person with a slightly convex nose has round red cheeks and mouth, black eyebrow arches above the eye points, black or brown hair. The nature of the clothing is yellow, blue, green, red, crimson, black. In addition to the bright and original painting, the Dymkovo toy is trimmed with gold leaf.
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Filimonovskaya toy - Russian artistic craft, formed in the Odoevsky district of the Tula region. According to local legends, the village was named after the potter Philemon, who discovered deposits of high-grade clay. The Filimonovskaya toy is a Russian artistic craft that was formed in the Odoevsky district of the Tula region. According to local legends, the village was named after the potter Philemon, who discovered deposits of high-grade clay. To this day, Filimonov toys are characterized by elongated shapes and a major, unusually bright painting of a solid color, with alternating colored stripes of scarlet, crimson, yellow and green. The toy craft arose on the basis of local pottery in the mid-19th century. At the beginning of the 20th century. faded away and was restored in the 1960s.
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The main type of products are whistles of traditional shapes (various birds, lady, rider, horse, bear, etc.). They are characterized by elongated proportions associated with the plastic properties of the local “sinika” clay. When fired, the clay gives a white surface, onto which color painting with characteristic rhythmic stripes is applied. The main type of products are whistles of traditional shapes (various birds, lady, rider, horse, bear, etc.). They are characterized by elongated proportions associated with the plastic properties of the local “sinika” clay. When fired, the clay gives a white surface, onto which color painting with characteristic rhythmic stripes is applied.
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Unusual bright toys, decorated with geometric patterns of crimson, yellow, blue and green, were very different from the already widely known Dymkovo ladies, water-carriers and horsemen. They became a revelation not only for many lovers of Russian art, but also for most specialists. A thousand-year tradition can be traced in their silhouettes, shapes, and ornaments. They are very similar to clay figures of the 10th - 11th centuries, found by archaeologists during excavations in Kyiv. But, perhaps, most of all, Filimonov’s toys resemble an ancient Greek terracotta sculpture in both sculpting and painting. Unusual bright toys, decorated with geometric patterns of crimson, yellow, blue and green, were very different from the already widely known Dymkovo ladies, water-carriers and horsemen. They became a revelation not only for many lovers of Russian art, but also for most specialists. A thousand-year tradition can be traced in their silhouettes, shapes, and ornaments. They are very similar to clay figures of the 10th - 11th centuries, found by archaeologists during excavations in Kyiv. But, perhaps, most of all, Filimonov’s toys resemble an ancient Greek terracotta sculpture in both sculpting and painting. A few examples of old Filimonov products (mid-19th century - early 1930s), which are now in the collections of only a few museums, allow us to judge that the period from the mid-19th century to the end of the 20s of the 20th century was the heyday of the Filimonov craft . Modern Filimonov toys in museums and private collections are mostly represented quite widely by works from the late 1950s to the 1970s.
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Kargopol toy - Kargopol, Arkhangelsk region. Kargopol toy - Kargopol, Arkhangelsk region. The production of toys accompanied the ancient pottery industry in the Panfilov volost of the Kargopol district. Unlike pottery, making toys in the 20th century. not interrupted. The craft preserves the most traditional types of Russian toys - female figures, images of animals. In recent decades, genre scenes have become widespread. The Kargopol toy is characterized by colorful painting on the previously whitened surface of the figures. Currently, attempts are being made to restore the Kargopol pottery craft.
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The production of toys developed within the ancient pottery industry in the Volga villages. The decline of pottery led to the separation of toys into an independent craft, which gained fame in the 1930s. Abashevo toys are characterized by painting with bright oil paints, which developed in the 1930s, and special sculptural techniques in the depiction of animals, often having a fairy-tale appearance. The production of toys developed within the ancient pottery industry in the Volga villages. The decline of pottery led to the separation of toys into an independent craft, which gained fame in the 1930s. Abashevo toys are characterized by painting with bright oil paints, which developed in the 1930s, and special sculptural techniques in the depiction of animals, often having a fairy-tale appearance. In Abashev, the toy blank is covered with solid bright paint, which is then complemented with silver or gold. This technique (“revival”) gives the toys an individual, very souvenir-like character. Therefore, Abashev’s blanks, from the point of view of their toy value, are certainly more interesting.
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Techniques for decorating Gorodets whistles have also been preserved to this day: molded toys are placed in close rows on boards and dried in the shade for several days. Then they fire, and after firing each figure is painted with ringing enamel paints - red, orange, yellow, green, blue. The entire body of the toy is covered entirely in one color. Horns, ears, hooves, the end of the tail - whistle, birds have combs, are silvered with aluminum paint. After this, several spots are applied with a poke with the same enamel paint, but of a different color (red spots on a yellow background, milky white on red, etc.). They continue to paint toys “like Khokhloma.” The methods of decorating Gorodets whistles have also been preserved to this day: fashioned toys are placed in close rows on boards and dried in the shade for several days. Then they fire, and after firing each figure is painted with ringing enamel paints - red, orange, yellow, green, blue. The entire body of the toy is covered entirely in one color. Horns, ears, hooves, the end of the tail - whistle, birds have combs, are silvered with aluminum paint. After this, several spots are applied with a poke with the same enamel paint, but of a different color (red spots on a yellow background, milky white on red, etc.). They continue to paint toys “like Khokhloma”.
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The main characters, including domestic animals and birds, a bear, horsemen and ladies, are typical of any folk toy. But in Skopin, as elsewhere, purely local techniques for arranging figures, sculpting them, and decorating them developed. Skopinskaya toy is unique and original, it is not inferior to others. The main characters, including domestic animals and birds, a bear, horsemen and ladies, are typical of any folk toy. But in Skopin, as elsewhere, purely local techniques for arranging figures, sculpting them, and decorating them developed. Skopinskaya toy is unique and original, it is not inferior to others.
For many centuries, children in different parts of the world played with clay dolls, horses, animals, toy dishes, and whistles.
There are toys that are interesting to both children and adults. They have artistic value. That is, they are valued, like, for example, paintings painted by artists. Such toys are not born in factories, where machines day after day churn out exactly the same ones, like a million twin Barbies. No, to create them, you need the hands and soul of a person. Therefore, each one has a parent - a master or craftswoman and a homeland - the only place on earth where a toy was invented and made.
Archaeologists found a clay toy during excavations along with pottery. Making toys from clay was not the main trade, but a secondary one. The author gets tired of the main work, takes a piece of clay, and fashions something like that, some trifle for fun. Only later did clay toys become an object of sale. They began to make them for spring fairs, whiling away the long winter evenings making whistles, horns, horses, ladies, horsemen and other toy armies.
DYMKOVO TOYS.
Russian artistic craft that arose on the basis of local pottery traditions. The name of the toy comes from the settlement of Dymkovo, a region of the city of Vyatka (now the city of Kirov), where toys were produced at the beginning of the 19th century. has acquired its own meaning. The craft had a family organization - women and girls sculpted the toy, timing its production to coincide with the spring fair. The emergence of fishing in Vyatka apparently arose in ancient times. Many researchers associate the making of clay whistles with the Vyatka spring holiday >. A holiday with pagan roots and dedicated to the sun. Participants in the celebration whistled into clay toys and threw painted clay balls. The cult significance of the holiday was lost long ago, but the ritual itself was preserved.
In the middle of the 19th century. Under the influence of urban life and porcelain sculpture, the Dymkovo craft develops its own style. If zoomorphic whistles associated with pagan ritual retained archaic features for a long time, then other products turned into something like porcelain figurines: young ladies in dresses with crinolines, ladies in capes with umbrellas, gentlemen, soldiers.
By the end of the 19th century. the production of clay toys was completely replaced by cheaper and more technologically advanced plaster castings that imitated porcelain products. The revival of the craft is associated with the names of A. A. Mezrina, a hereditary craftswoman who preserved the techniques of modeling and painting toys, and the artist A. I. Denshin, the author of the first monographs on the Dymkovo craft. In one of his books, he described in detail the complex technology of creating toys.
For production Dymkovo toys Local red clay is used, thoroughly mixed with fine river sand. The figures are sculpted in parts, rolling the desired shape from clay lumps rolled into a pancake. The individual parts are assembled and completed using liquid clay as a binding material. Sculpting marks are smoothed out with a damp cloth to give the product a smooth surface. After complete drying and firing, the toys are coated with tempera white (previously whitewashing was done with chalk diluted in milk). Previously, toys were painted with aniline dyes mixed with eggs and kvass, using sticks and feathers instead of brushes. The painted toy was again covered with beaten egg, which gave the faded aniline paints shine and brightness. Today, tempera paints and soft core brushes are used for painting. The use of a wide range - up to ten colors - gives the Dymkovo toy a special brightness and elegance. A strictly geometric ornament is built according to a variety of compositional schemes: cells, stripes, circles, dots are applied in various combinations. The decoration of the toy is completed with diamonds made of gold leaf or gold leaf, glued on top of the pattern.
Clay painted figurines of people, birds, animals - real and fabulous - created by irrepressible imagination and the kind, skillful hands of toy craftsmen from the former Dymkovo settlement, cannot be compared with any other toys - they are colorful, elegant, festive.
Every spring, Vyatichi holidays were held. And no one could do without a motley colorful product - clay toys - the decoration of the fair. And just like today - nimble and playful, boys and girls vied with each other to grab loud-voiced whistles, roll clay balls down slides, spin on the carousel, gnaw nuts, lollipops, and gingerbread cookies. In the cheerful crowd of the holiday - both ordinary people, and important ladies, and brave soldiers, and balalaika musicians and accordion players! And the Dymkovo master magicians peer vigilantly into each one, so that they can then embody everything they see into a clay toy, amazing in its invention, coloring and subtle folk humor. This amazing toy is known far beyond the borders of our homeland. Along with the famous matryoshka doll, foreign guests also take home the Dymkovo toy.
FILIMONOVO TOYS.
A famous folk craft is the village of Filimonovo, Odoevsky district, Tula region, where they make an amazing clay toy. The village is located near deposits of good clay. As recorded in the ancient monastery books, even under Tsar Ivan the Terrible, a potter, Philemon, settled there and made toys. From him came pottery making in those places.
The toys are funny, whimsical and at the same time simple in execution and very expressive. Filimonov toys cannot be confused with any other. Firstly, because of the color. The painting is bright, and the dominant colors are yellow, red, orange, green, blue and white. Painting is done with aniline dyes ground on egg yolk or white. Traditional painting is a bright stripe, to which an ornament in the form of a Christmas tree, sun, berry, or flower is added. The painting of toys is traditional: horses, cows and rams are painted with stripes, and human figures are painted using all the elements in a wide variety of combinations. The faces of the figures always remain white, and only small strokes and dots outline the eyes, mouth, and nose. Painting is done not with a brush, but with a pen - for each color there is a different feather.
When you look at Filimonov’s toys collected together, a joyful mood involuntarily appears. The toys blaze with fire and shimmer with all the colors of the rainbow. Small child, first of all, sees Filimonov’s toy as fun, a fantastic image of an object that awakens his creativity. And where an adult thinks about determining the content of a toy, everything is clear to a child.
The subjects of the Filimonov toy are traditional - these are ladies, peasant women, soldiers with epaulettes, dancing couples, riders on horses; among animals - cows, rams, with tightly curled horns, a fox with a rooster, and mysterious creatures, the prototype of which is difficult to determine. All toys have elastic bodies, long or short legs, elongated necks with small heads. Funny toys depict long-legged and elongated soldiers in characteristic costumes.
Local peasants began to briskly trade at fairs with tableware and especially whistle toys in the form of funny striped animals and elegant dolls. Children were taught the “clay” craft from an early age. At the age of six to eight, girls in all the huts were already making cockerel whistles. They were right in the palm of his hand.
The Filimonov toy can also be distinguished by its shape: in the lower part, each figurine is stable, we can say that it stands firmly on the ground. But then the elongated, graceful shape begins, with a flexible, refined neck and a small head.
Since then, generations of toy craftsmen have changed many times in Filimonovo. But the outlandish appearance of the animals they sculpted remained unchanged. And cows, and horses, and dogs, and lambs, and deer had strangely elongated necks. And they were also painted unusually - with bright multi-colored stripes. And also, note that these toys were always made “with a whistle.” Everything except the bear. The bear was always left without a whistle.
Why did craftsmen make long necks for animals? There is a secret here. But there is also a key to it. Just like in a fairy tale, it is buried in the ground. But not far away, but in a quarry near the village of Filimonova, where they took a special clay called “sinika” for toys. After firing, it became light pink and was excellent for painting with cheerful colors. The composition of the blueberry was very fatty. This means that it was soft, pliable, it stretched easily and seemed to be asking for it. The titanium figurines themselves turned out to be elongated, refined, and graceful. Artists say it this way: the form is hidden in the material. Sinica is a capricious clay; when it hardens, it >. The toy may tilt to one side, its shape becoming distorted. Therefore, while the toy is drying, the craftswoman has to return to it several times and correct it. And with each such > the toy stretches out, lengthens, grace appears - a Filimonov style that cannot be confused with another.
Researchers studying how our ancestors lived have made the following assumption. The pedigree of the Filimonovo toy begins long before the time when the potter Filimon lived and the village of Filimonovo was built. Many centuries earlier, the Vyatichi tribe lived in these places. They also made toys and whistles from clay. But not for children's fun, but for performing magical rituals in honor of their gods. If you know that the horse was considered a servant of the sun among the Vyatichi, it will become clear why our clay horses always have a lot of red and yellow stripes. After all, these are the colors of fire and light!
But where did the stripes themselves come from? They also appeared for a reason. You see: having encircled the toy, the stripes become rings and circles. The circle served our ancestors as protection from evil spirits. In a moment of danger, it was necessary to quickly draw a line around oneself with a spell. The result was a magic circle that evil spirits could neither cross nor open. A toy with a circle sign was an amulet that protected a person from evil. The more circles there are on it, the more reliable the amulet. The magical sign has survived to this day, only it has become incomprehensible to us.
The Vyatichi also used loud whistles against evil forces. If a person died, relatives whistled over him until the first rooster, so that evil spirits would not steal the soul of the deceased. The belief that by whistling you can scare and drive away evil spirits persisted for a very long time. Here in Filimonov the rule has been preserved to make all toys with whistles.
And why wasn’t the bear entrusted with such an important task? The Vyatichi especially respected him, believed that they descended from the bear, and endowed him with divine power. They were afraid to offend him by equating him with other animals.
KARGOPOL TOYS.
Kargopol is an ancient Russian city surrounded by forest. Since ancient times, the inhabitants of this city and its environs have been engaged in pottery, made a clay toy. These toys were invented by Ulyana Babkina, who lived in the village of Grinevo, near the city of Kargopol. Next to the bright, sonorous colors of the Dymkovo and Filimonov toys, the plasticity of the figurines from this northern region may seem harsh. However, this first impression is created due to the fact that the color scheme of the painting includes black, dark green and brown colors.
As for the plots, there are many funny images among them, fashioned simply, but with great warmth and folk humor. Images of people are given with psychological characteristics, so the viewer can imagine the life and way of life of local residents: >, >, >, etc. The Kargopol toy is also characterized by multi-figure compositions - cheerful threesomes with riders in a sleigh, dancing figures, boat rides and many other scenes accurately noted by the masters. Kargopol masters also love to depict animals; there are stories on themes folk tales. The Kargopol toy is characterized by a convention in the interpretation of the image in form, proportions and coloring. All the figures are somewhat squat, with short arms and legs, an elongated body, a thick and short neck, and a relatively large head. Kargopol masters depict animals as thick-legged and sometimes dynamic.
Now craftsmen bring yellow, blue and orange colors to bring toys to life. The main elements of the ornament are combinations of intersecting lines, circles, branches without leaves, Christmas trees, dots and stripes. They sculpt toys in parts. The basis of the figure is the torso, which, together with the head, is attached to a pre-fashioned skirt. To depict male figures, legs and arms are attached to the body in the form of rollers. The molded products are dried for one to two weeks and fired in a kiln. Paint toys with tempera paints.
Besides traditional way for making clay toys, Kargopol craftsmen have their own, invented by them. It's called > a toy: a figurine, fresh from firing, is dipped by the master in a decoction of oatmeal. And the toy looks as if it were made not from clay, but from warm bread. And you don't need to color it.
Kargopol is an ancient city in the Arkhangelsk region. Previously, it was a widely known large commercial and cultural center of the Russian North. Now these are protected places where original Russian culture, art and crafts are still preserved. These people love and carefully preserve the legends of antiquity, adore fairy tales and funny jokes, and idolize nature and its inhabitants, depicting them in clay.
The most common and favorite of children in Kargopolye were whistles - ducks. They were molded to noisy fairs. Loud-voiced ducks beckoned buyers to Cathedral Square to the bell tower, where Kargopol potters usually laid out their simple wares. Like all northern peasants, they raised grain and kept livestock. In their free time from agricultural work, they sat down at the potter's wheel. Making pottery provided additional means of livelihood, and only along the way they sculpted small funny figures.
All clay figurines stored in museum collections and created today can be divided into two groups: archaic (symbolic) works and plot toys of new times, increasingly gravitating towards the repetition of nature. Kargopol residents willingly sculpt animals and birds. The bear is especially revered: sometimes it is made with a mirror, sometimes with a fish. Kargopol horses - with a playfully rounded neck, hares - with an accordion, sedate bearded men - with a pipe, accordion, bast shoes. There is a mysterious toy half-horse - half-man Polkan. This is a centaur - an image that came to us from the myths of Ancient Greece. He traces his origins to the deity of the ancient Slavs, whose name was Plikhan or Polekhan. The deity was related to the sun, and his name came from the word >, to burn brightly. A sun sign is painted on Polkan's chest.
The figurine of a Kargopol peasant woman resembles in shape a stone woman - an idol that archaeologists find on scientific expeditions. A female figurine with a flat, calm and calm face is the personification of the Mother of the damp earth, the main goddess - Nature. The cult meaning was lost over time, and the figures became more real, acquired everyday details and became objects of the game.
The best modern masters try to preserve and develop ancient traditions. However, now the craft is far from going through its best days, because the simplicity of the works of folk craftsmen is only apparent at first glance. It cannot be invented. Not everyone and not immediately discovers the fairy-tale world of folk toys in its entirety. Behind this simplicity lies the experience of many generations of artists, their sensitivity to material, form, and color.
COMPARATIVE CHARACTERISTICS
Dymkovo toy
Filimonovskaya toy
Kargopol toy
Place of birth - Small Motherland
Sloboda Dymkovo, city of Vyatka,
(now Kirov)
Village Filimonovo, Odoevsky district, Tula region
Village of Grinevo, Kargopol, Arkhangelsk region
Modeling material
Red clay, thoroughly mixed with fine river sand
Special blue clay (blue-black color), viscous, viscous
White clay
Making toys
The figures are sculpted in parts, rolling the desired shape from clay lumps rolled into a pancake. Individual parts are assembled, decorated, etc. using liquid clay as a binding material.
They sculpted it entirely. The toy dries, it is adjusted, > and with each such > the toy stretches and lengthens.
They sculpt toys in parts. The basis of the figure is the torso, which, together with the head, is attached to a pre-fashioned skirt, and the arms are attached in the form of rollers.
Nannies with children, water carriers with buckets on rockers, ladies, hussars.
Figures of people, birds, animals - real and fabulous.
Ladies, peasant women, soldiers, dancing couples, horse riders.
Animals - cows, rams, goats, with curled horns, mysterious creatures, the prototype of which is difficult to determine.
Multi-figure compositions: - cheerful threesomes with sleigh riders, dancing figures, boat rides, animals, on themes from folk tales.
Half man - half horse Polkan.
Availability of whistles
Ducks and lambs used to whistle, but now they don’t whistle.
Everyone whistles except the bear
They don't whistle
Preparation for painting
After completely drying and firing the toys, they were covered with a mixture of chalk and milk with tempera white (previously whitewashing was carried out with chalk diluted in milk).
During firing, the clay changes its natural color to white, with soft shades of gray, pink, and yellow.
The master figurine, fresh from firing, is dipped in a decoction of oatmeal. And the toy looks as if it were made not from clay, but from warm bread.
Use of a wide range - up to ten colors.
Bright, and mainly dominated by yellow, red, orange, green, blue and white.
The northern color is restrained and muted.
The color scheme of the painting includes black, dark green and brown. The color was diluted with white.
Previously, toys were painted with aniline dyes mixed with eggs and kvass, using sticks and feathers instead of brushes. The painted toy was again covered with beaten egg, which gave the faded aniline paints shine and brightness.
Today, tempera paints and soft core brushes are used for painting.
Painting is done with aniline dyes ground on egg yolk or white.
Painting is done not with a brush, but with a pen, each color has its own feather.
The painting was done with tempera dyes.
Ornament
A strictly geometric ornament is built according to a variety of compositional schemes: cells, stripes, circles, dots are applied in various combinations. The decoration of the toy is completed with diamonds made of gold leaf or gold leaf, glued on top of the pattern.
A bright stripe, to which an ornament in the form of a Christmas tree, sun, berry, or flower is added.
Combinations of intersecting lines, circles, branches without leaves, Christmas trees, dots and stripes.
Clay toys
Performed by Gileva O.L.
Novokuznetsk
Tver toy……………………………………………………………...8
Filimonovskaya toy…………………………………………...9
Kargopol toy………………………………………………………10
Significant meanings of toys………………………………………………………..13
Appendix 1. Symbolism of toys: color and shapes
Appendix 2. Symbols in the Kargopol toy
Appendix 3. Symbols in painting toys
Appendix 4. Poems about clay toys
Appendix 5. Riddles
Appendix 6. Didactic games
Appendix 7. Making a clay toy (methodological recommendations)
Dymkovo heat - bird
Dymkovo animals
Modeling of Filimonov toys
How to make a clay whistle
Making a Kargopol toy
Appendix 8. Photos of clay toys
A toy is one of the brightest manifestations of mass culture, deeply vital and folk. The traditions of the craft and art of toys are passed on from generation to generation, and ideas about life, work, and beauty are passed on to the people. The toy is close to folklore and creates a feeling of uniqueness of Russian national folk art.
The oldest clay toys found by archaeologists in our country date back to the Bronze Age, to the 2nd millennium BC. These are small clay hatchets, dishes, rattles. These are probably cult objects. A clay toy was found in excavations of the 10th-17th centuries (Moscow, Ryazan) - whistles (horses, birds, human figures). They are sculpted from clay, fired, and sometimes decorated with painting and glaze.
It is known that the royal court under Alexei Mikhailovich purchased toys at the Moscow Market. Toy production reached great heights in the 17th and 18th centuries. Rich families ordered expensive toys, and the royal family also bought them. The book of expenses of Empress Catherine I for 1721 states: “Bought in Moscow at a trade of various toys for Empress Princess Natalya Petrovna and the Grand Duke and Princess - 3 cows, 2 horses, 2 deer, 4 rams, 2 pairs of swans, 2 roosters, one duck , with her three children, a city with soldiers. For everything we paid 4 rubles 9 altyns two money.”
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the production of clay toys reached an unprecedented peak; the main buyers were ordinary people.
The toys were made mainly by women and girls, starting from 7-8 years old. They did this in their free time from rural work - mostly in winter and spring before mowing.
Bright, cheerful, designed with utmost clarity in plastic and color terms, naive (in the highest sense of the word) - a clay toy has the magical ability to decorate our life, to bring warmth and joy into the decoration of our home.
Archaeologists found a clay toy during excavations along with pottery. Of course, making toys from clay was not the main craft, but a secondary one. The master will get tired of his main work, take a piece of clay, and mold something like that, some trifle for his children or for himself for fun. Toys made by masters were called "funny", that is, made for fun, for fun. Only later did clay toys become an object of sale. They began to make them especially for spring fairs, while away the long winter evenings making whistles, horns, horses, ladies, horsemen and other toy armies. Entire families began to make toys, passing on the secrets of making, preparing and firing clay from generation to generation. Each master developed his own style, his own manner of sculpting and designing products. Toys differ in the manner of sculpting and in the type of clay used for the product. The best toys and whistles are made from oily clay. This clay is used for Filimonov toys. She was nicknamed for her blue-black color titmouse. In general, toys are made from the clay that is available in the area.
Paganism did not go into oblivion, but indirectly it was preserved in folk crafts, including toys. The toy was a kind of model of the world, which contained the peasant’s basic ideas about nature and man. Children who helped their parents sculpt and paint toys accepted the value system from their ancestors.
The toy has always been an element of folk life. A house without toys was considered unspiritual. There is such a sign: when children play a lot and diligently, there will be profit in the family, if they handle toys carelessly, there will be trouble in the house. They believed that toys protected children's sleep (according to ancient custom, children are still put to bed with their favorite toy). Playing with dolls among girls was especially encouraged among the people, since the doll was also considered a symbol of procreation. They believed that toys brought a good harvest, especially if adult girls played with them. Toys create an atmosphere of kindness and love in the house, provide skills for life and form the ability to communicate with people and the outside world. It is very important to make toys with your own hands, putting diligence and soul into them.
Since time immemorial, every nation has had its own toys, which reflect their social structure, way of life, morals and customs, technical and artistic achievements.
Dymkovo toy (smoke)
In the 12th century, the lands of present-day Karelia and the Arkhangelsk region belonged to Veliky Novgorod. In 1174, the Novgorodians reached the Vyatka River along the rivers and founded the city of Khlynov at the mouth of the Khlynovets River. Later, at the behest of Catherine the Great, it was renamed and began to be called Vyatka. The Novgorodians who founded the city cherished their customs and rituals, continued to sculpt clay gods, celebrate the holiday of the Sun God Yarilo, and honor the goddess of the house, the Mother of God.
In Vyatka the festival of Svistoplyaska was celebrated. On this day, city residents commemorated their ancestors in the morning, and in the afternoon they walked through the streets and whistled into small whistles made of clay and brightly painted. Whistling dolls were sold right here on the street.
There was another ancient custom in Vyatka. On Sunday, after mass, young girls, dressed in their best clothes, went to the pond to fetch water. Grooms lined up along the road. This custom was also reflected in the work of Vyatka craftsmen; clay figurines appeared water carriers: women in a wide skirt in a large check, in a small apron with lace frills, a yellow jacket with flounces, a bright crimson cap and beads in several rows, on the shoulder there is a bright green rocker with orange buckets.
The Vyatichi revered the sun god Yarilo and depicted him in the form of a two- or three-headed horse. On the horse's chest there was a circle with rays - a symbol of the sun. The goddess of the house, the Mother in Birth, was depicted as a strong and healthy woman. Next to the figurines of both gods, people depicted what they would like to have: figurines of domestic animals or babies. Figurines of domestic animals were sculpted in a great variety: white horses, goats, rams, cows, pigs, painted with red, yellow, black, green stripes and circles. Gradually, the goddess Rozhenitsa transformed into the “Lady”.
Over time, families of toy makers settled in their settlement of Dymkovo across the river. This is where the name “Dymkovo Toy” came from.
The technology for making toys was as follows. In the warm season, red clay and fine river sand were brought to the farmstead. The clay was soaked, sand was added and mixed thoroughly. When work in the fields and gardens was over, closer to winter, the whole family began making toys. It is interesting that only women took part in this work. Perhaps this is why male figures were most often depicted humorously. For example, a young man in a green cap and a red shirt, with a balalaika in his hand, rides a yellow pig; another fellow sits astride a goat and plays the accordion.
They worked, as they said then, in “factories”: one craftswoman makes a skirt, another makes a head, a third sculpts buckets, and then it all comes together into one toy. Then, depending on the size, the toy was dried for 2 to 14 days in the air, in the shade. The dried figurines were placed in the oven and fired for three hours. Experience and skill were very important here. If you take the figurine out of the oven too early, it may crumble, but if you leave it too long, the primer will not stick. After firing, the figures were lowered into a bucket of chalk diluted with milk. As a result, the figures were covered with an even white layer, onto which the paints adhered well. The toys, painted with bright colors, coated with egg white for beauty and durability, and covered with gold leaf, sold well at fairs and markets.
The Dymkovo toy is characterized by a simple geometric pattern consisting of bright spots, circles, zigzags, stripes, ovals, and rings. Characteristic of painting is a combination of large elements and small ones. Small elements decorate large ones - rings, circles, stripes - or are scattered between them (dots, dashes, thin lines). Often contrasting combinations of bright colors are used - red, crimson, yellow, blue, green, applied on a white background.
A distinctive feature of the Dymkovo toy is its generality (individual elements of the toys are far from the real image: for example, the antlers of the Dymkovo deer resemble a bush, the beard of a turkey looks like a bunch of grapes), decorativeness and sharp expressiveness. In traditional animal figurines, almost pagan symbols of distant times are preserved; in the clothes of dandies and fashionistas, the tastes of the 19th century are preserved.
General principles Each craftswoman has her own interpretation of the art of Dymkovo toys. It is manifested in the choice of theme and plot, characterization of characters, plastic features, and favorite color combinations.
Tver toy
The city of Torzhok, Tver region, is the birthplace of the Tver toy, or, as it is also called, Kalinin (after the former name of the region), Torzhok.
Galina Aleksandrovna Klimovskaya revived the craft in the city of Torzhok; her works are in the museum of the city of Tver. Based on the toys found, modern toys were created - birds (geese-swans, ducks preening their feathers, proud roosters and modest hens), animals (dogs, foxes), as well as female figurines, one of which was called “Novotorka”.
The toys are static, but sometimes the head is turned, the posture is different. Birds are proud, beautiful, decorative.
The birds are decorated with moldings and then painted.
The toy is molded from brown clay, which is the background of the painting. The white color stands out especially: droplet dots - pearls, strokes of different sizes and shapes, which are superimposed in two or three layers. A large stroke is decorated with smaller strokes of a different color and a dot. The painting decorates the bird's chest, tail, wings, the comb and crest stand out.
The combination of colors is different - blue, blue, yellow, orange, red, dark red, brown, green, a little black and main color white, pearls - white dots. When decorating a toy, one color should be repeated three times. The combination of dark and light colors is taken into account when composing the pattern: if the stripe is dark, then the decoration is light.
Filimonovskaya toy
This is a bright, cheerful whistle toy, which was made as fun by women and children in the village of Filimonovo, Tula region. According to local legends, the village was named after the potter Philemon, who discovered deposits of high-grade clay here. The characters of the toys are diverse: they are elegant ladies and soldiers, horsemen, animals - deer, rams, cows, horses, birds. Unlike other clay toys, Filimonovskaya has elongated proportions of figures with a small head.
The toys are mostly large, but there are also very miniature ones. Mysterious ladies in long skirts, graceful, slender, walking with an umbrella, with a child or with a whistle bird, dancing with a gentleman. The images are generalized: a wide skirt, a thin waist, narrow shoulders, rounded arms, a small cone-shaped head that merges with a campy little hat. The earrings are carefully molded. Subject compositions are often created: “A soldier feeds a chicken”, “Milkmaid with a cow”, “Bride and Groom”, “The Bear looks in the mirror”, etc.
Whistling animals have prominent ears, a ram has round curls curled up in horns, a cow has large horns curved upward like a large moon, and a deer has horns like a tree. This distinguishes one animal from another. Otherwise, the figures of horses, goats, and dogs are the same: a body intercepted at the waist, turning into a long neck with a small head - either these are animals, or people in disguise.
The clay is plastic, oily, dries quickly and becomes covered with cracks, which are smoothed out with a damp hand, gradually stretching the body of the figure.
Painting is similar to cursive writing: quick, uneven lines, strokes of varying thickness and color intensity, preserving the movement of the hand. The faces of the ladies and gentlemen are depicted with dots and strokes. Geometric elements are used to decorate the figures: strokes, crosses, dots, spots, circles, triangles, as well as twigs and star-shaped rosettes. The details of the painting can be deciphered: the circle is the sun, the triangle is the earth, fir trees and sprouts are a symbol of vegetation and life. All these patterns remind us of the connections between man and nature.
The painting is bright, sonorous, aniline paints. The pattern is written as if as a joke. The white color of the clay after firing is used as a background. The solid coloring of the lady's, soldier's, and bird's jackets alternates with colored stripes. Animal horns are highlighted with bright strokes. White is combined with crimson, green, yellow, less often with blue and purple. For strength and shine, painted areas are coated with protein. The toys are kind and funny.
Kargopol toy
Previously, this toy was sculpted in the village of Grinevo, and now in the city of Kargopol, Arkhangelsk region, there is an enterprise of folk art crafts “White Sea Patterns”.
Each potter made a toy for his children. The toy is expressive, interesting, peasant, and conveys the folk life of the Russian North. Something of ancient idols has been preserved in it.
These are peasant-style stocky figurines of people, as well as figurines depicting animals and birds. Female figurines with a child in their arms, a basket, a bird, busy with household chores. They wear wide skirts, sweaters with large buttons, various headdresses - kokoshniks or hats, and beads around their necks. This is a lady, a peasant woman, a nurse in an old dress.
Men with thick beards are depicted in long caftans, decorated with large buttons, and a cap or cap on their heads. Each is depicted in action: busy with work (weaving bast shoes), walking with a basket, playing the harmonica, sitting in a chair.
The image of animals is typical for folk toys - a horse, a cow, a deer, a ram, a goat, a dog with a bone in its teeth, a hare with a carrot, a bear - the owner of the forest.
The most mysterious image is Polkan, a mighty hero with the body of a horse (centaur).
The plot compositions depict scenes from village life: gatherings, boat rides, dancing couples, square dance, rural holiday, etc.
They sculpt toys from red clay: first they make the upper part of the body and a large head on a thick neck, then the torso is connected to the legs in a male figure or with a skirt in a female figure, then they stick on hands, headdresses and various objects. The joints are smoothed out, and the figures acquire solidity.
After firing in the kiln and whitewashing, the figures are painted. The color scheme is muted, northern. The painting is characterized by soft colors - gray, pink, green, lilac-blue, turquoise, brown, yellow, orange, red, the range is restrained.
The geometric pattern consists of straight and oblique crosses, transverse stripes, strokes, concentrated ovals, spots, teeth, which are rhythmically applied to the surface of the toy. This is not just a pattern, but symbolic signs, ancient traces of the cult of the sun and earth. The figures - cargo regiments - seem to be posing in silent importance.
Iconic meanings of toys
Lady with a child (with a whistle)
Guardian of the hearth, associated with the cult of fertility.
He holds the child with one hand. The mystery of childbirth
which a woman is endowed with is a powerful force,
identified with the power of the fruitful earth. How
The earth multiplies the grain, so the woman multiplies the race
human. Painting: vertical stripes – sign
falling rain, wavy lines - the earth, watered
rain; spots are grain signs, double crosses are solar signs (sun). “Mother - Raw Earth” is an earth capable of giving life to all living things.
Horseman
Horseman is a sign of the sun and sky, one of the main 
meanings of a rider on a horse - the sun making its way
across the sky in a chariot.
Goat, cow
A sign of fertility, it contains the grain spirit of the field.
Hence the belief - at the sight of those swaying from the wind
goat (cow) on a wheat field, “rye” - on rye, etc.
Bear
“He who knows where the honey is” is not the name of the beast, but a sign of mystery, 
accessible only to the initiated. Our bear
ancestor, ancestor, symbol of power and fertility.
Deer
Deer is a sign of the sky, a successful marriage and abundant 
life. In addition, the deer is a sign of the Slavic goddesses
Women in labor - mothers and daughters giving birth to all living things.
Ram
Ram is a sign of wealth, nobility and vitality 
Bird, rooster
The bird is the personification of spring, warmth, sun. 
The main meaning is a talisman.
The rooster is a sign of the resurrection of nature, awakening
earth, dawn, a sign that has acquired its own
life of the soul. The main meaning is a talisman. In old times
asked for help in conspiracies: “Far distant
lands, distant seas, a cockerel has flown from across the blue sea, pecking at that servant of God all sorts of prudence, slander, all sorts of demonic, maternal thoughts. Until forever and ever. Amen."
Mermaid
The mermaid is a mysterious bird with a woman's face. 
Among the South Russian Slavs, a mermaid is not a woman -
a fish, and a woman a bird. Spirit of vegetation
flew over the fields, guarded the harvest, lived on
trees. Let us remember A.S. Pushkin: “There are miracles there,
there is a goblin wandering around, a mermaid sitting on the branches.” It is also connected with water - it is responsible for dew and rain.
Duck (duck)
Duck is a sign of a good harvest. “Where the duck went - there 
rye is thick,” people said. The main meaning is
amulet In Russian folklore, good heroes protected
out of trouble, mastering the bird's language and turning around
bird. With the help of whistling and a magical clay bird, magicians, wise men and wizards drove away evil spirits.
Russian trinity with knights “Rook”
A variation of the “Russian Trinity”. According to Slavic 
legend, the daughter of the sun god Surya - the wife of the brothers -
twins Ashwins (literally - horsemen).
The main purpose is to help people.
Russian Trinity with birds (chickens)
On the right, on the left are birds - the rising and setting sun 
dawn of morning and evening. On the right is spring-red, on the left -
Russian clay toys have been a part of the life of the people for many centuries. The art of making such things and the traditions of the craft have been passed down from generation to generation. These seemingly trinkets are the embodiment of the beauty, work and lifestyle of the Russian people.
clay toys
On the territory of our country, archaeologists have found the most ancient clay toys dating back to the second millennium BC. They were rattles, various utensils and small clay versions of tools. During excavations, toys of later origin were also found. They had a cult meaning and were made in the form of figures of people, birds, and horses. These toys were created through subsequent firing in a kiln. Sometimes they were decorated with paintings and covered with glaze.
The history of clay toys has developed rapidly. Its production in the 17th-18th centuries. grew rapidly. The figurines began to be made specifically for sale at spring fairs. Clay is a plastic and soft material. It was suitable not only for shaping dishes. All kinds of whistle toys, images of people, birds, animals, rattles (rattles) and much more were made from it. Each master had his own style and manner of sculpting, and under Alexei Mikhailovich, the royal court willingly began to purchase such items as souvenirs and gifts.
At that time, clay toys were made by everyone, from young to old. They did this mostly in the autumn-winter season, when there was plenty of time free from rural worries. To this day, the folk toy made of clay does not lose its relevance. Created in all possible variations of shape and color, it has the magical ability to bring comfort, warmth and good mood to your home.
Folk clay toy: differences in origin and manufacturing method
Toys can differ in the composition of the clay used for the craft, and in the manner of modeling characteristic of a particular type of product. Images are best sculpted from oily clay. It is mainly used for making Filimonov toys. Each product is characterized by certain shapes and colors, which depend on the type of clay found in a particular area and its plastic properties.
Clay toys made earlier represent a special branch of pottery that has survived to this day. Expressiveness and simplicity are the main criteria for sculpting these products by folk craftsmen.
Russian ceramics from Kargopol, Dymov, Filimonov and others are very famous. They have spread throughout many countries of the world.
Clay toy Kargopol: history of revival
These crafts owe their name to their place of origin, the city of Kargopol in the Arkhangelsk region, or rather the villages around it. It was there that at first peasants created toys from the most accessible material in these places - clay.
The history of the revival of this craft is quite interesting. In relation to other types of craftsmanship, the revival of which was organized in Soviet times, the art of Kargopol toys in Russia at some point was practically lost. However, some samples of products were preserved and brought to this day thanks to Ulyana Babkina. She was able to give a second life to a once extinct craft. Clay toys, photos of which are presented below, reflect all the individuality and characteristics of their places of origin.
Features of the appearance of the Kargopol toy
Kargopol crafts, in comparison with their other relatives, are distinguished by their rather archaic appearance. Nevertheless, they are quite recognizable by their type, style and painting.
Plots are divided into 2 categories:
- Thematic toys demonstrating the rural lifestyle, as well as recreating fairy-tale scenes. The theme can be completely different - “Girl doing laundry”, “Fishermen”, “Three horses” and the like.
- Ancient types - all kinds of animals, polkan (a man with the body of a horse), bereginya (a woman with doves in her hands).
The most important ritual theme of these toys is the “woman-mother”, the prototypes of which are the life-giving forces of the “mother - the damp earth” and the sun. A favorite image among Kargopol craftsmen is the female figurine “Bobka”.
Modern masters can come up with new stories while preserving the characteristics of the Kargopol toy. This only multiplies the already rich abundance of images of such crafts.
If you follow all the traditions, a painted toy is a whitewashed figurine, decorated with different colors, but without any gloss or unnecessary details. Despite the variety of colors, the shades, including bright ones, look rather muted. Face painting is quite simple.
Inherent patterns
Painting clay toys is quite simple, but it originates from ancient times. Here you can see rectangles, ovals, diamonds, strokes, stripes, specks, oblique crosses. The set of paints mainly consists of brown, ocher, black, green, brick red and blue shades. Silver and gold paints are added less frequently.
Clay whistles: their meaning and beliefs
Clay whistle toys began to be perceived as children's fun relatively recently. Previously, during the time of the pagan gods, these figurines were worn magical meaning. They were used to scare away evil spirits.
The Pinega conspiracy says that the toy is capable of luring diseases to itself. Various whistles had the same purpose. They were often sculpted in the form of various animals and birds, which, in general, were the traditional theme of Russian folk toys.
In the Tula region there were beliefs that whistles could remove damage from a person and return it to the one who sent it. Certain types of figurines could relieve various ailments. As a rule, they were placed opposite the window to protect the child from evil and disease.
In the 19th century, an ancient ritual was held in Vyatka using a toy whistle, designed to drive out evil forces and attract good ones. This holiday was called “Whistling” or “Whistling”. On these days, adults and children whistled into clay whistles, indulged in dancing and having fun.
What makes clay crafts unique?
Looking at all the works of early and modern masters, including foreign ones, one can see a rich variety of whistle crafts. This depends on many factors, including the birdie - a tool for piercing a hole in a toy. All instruments are almost the same in length - from 80 mm to 100 mm. However, the cross-section can be very diverse - round, oval or rectangular.
Each master’s birdie is his personal instrument, made by himself, so everyone’s technique is different, and the result, accordingly, differs from others. Nevertheless, there are known methods for making whistles absolutely without any devices, where only hands are used.
The importance of crafts in the modern world
Making clay toys is an individual process for each person. Such activities in school clubs are very useful. With their help, you can arouse in children interest and love for world culture, develop hand motor skills, artistic taste, and train perseverance, perseverance and patience.
Properties of clay suitable for making toys
It’s easy to guess that clay toys, including whistles, are made from clay. In its natural form it can be found in various colors, but usually after firing it changes its color to white or red. Therefore, they began to call it “white-burning” or “red-burning”.
Clay deposits
Red-burning clay is the most widespread. It is usually found on the banks of lakes and rivers, ravines and slopes. It can also be found at construction sites when digging pits.
But you should know that natural or living clay is not always suitable for making crafts, since it often contains all sorts of impurities - small stones, sand, and the like. Clay with a sand content of up to 5% is called “fat”, and one in which the proportion of sand reaches 30% is called “lean”.
To make a high-quality whistle, you should take material with medium fat content (10-15%).
Preparing material for work
Clay dough, or ceramic mass, is a mixture that has undergone a certain technological process, after which it is ready for making pottery. On an industrial scale, special machines are used for this - presses, screens, ball mills, etc. But for producing it in small quantities, the whole process can be simplified.
Technology stages:
- Collect clay from the quarry. A small lump of material should be pre-fired in a kiln to ensure its suitability for use.
- Place lumps on a clean surface and dry.
- Next, crush them and remove any existing impurities of chips, stones, blades of grass, etc.
- Add water to the crushed mass at the rate of three parts liquid and one part clay. Stir the solution thoroughly.
- Let the mixture sit until the heaviest part (stones and sand) settles to the bottom. The remaining clarified water should be carefully drained.
- Scoop out the middle layer of clay and immerse it in a plaster bath or bucket.
- Allow the mixture to dry until it becomes a thick dough, then it will not stick to your hands while working.
- Knead the clay to remove excess air bubbles.
- The quality of the material can be checked as follows: roll up a rope with a diameter of 15-20 mm, slowly bend it in half. If the bend remains smooth, without cracks or practically without them, then this mass is suitable for making whistles.
- To ensure reliable preservation, place the resulting mass in a plastic bag and seal it tightly. In this form, clay can be stored for several months. You can add a small amount of water to the dried lump and knead it thoroughly.
If your plans are to make just a couple of whistles, try to use the material available to you without the pre-processing described above. Clay from some deposits is already ready for use. If it is not possible to prepare the material using the methods listed above, then it can be purchased at enterprises engaged in the production of ceramic products, in art shops or online stores.
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