A dip in the ottoman, part 1

After a dip into the ottoman, during a recent trip back to South Lodge where Sarah spent her last few happy years, it occured to me that I have no idea how many dolls she made. 

My (detailed) photograph of her from the ottoman.

Original photograph from the archives.

Stored in this giant ottoman are a small selection of dolls, of which I already have photographs for dating back to the late 70's/early 80's. These dolls were either ones that didn't sell in the end, were too treasured to be let go of or even flawed in some way making them worthless. I have no idea which. 

My (detailed) photograph from the ottoman

Original photograph from the archives.

Did Sarah make a point of photographically cataloguing all her dolls, or were some left out? I have many letters of gratitude and love for a doll which has just arrived and now has pride of place; letters congratulating Sarah on the fine quality and detail of the doll, expressing what kind of personality they feel it has. Can I work out, by the letters of thanks, which ones sold to whom?
 
I need to set aside some time to study all the photographs, both old and new, and see which repeat and which I have very little evidence of. I haven't found any evidence of names given to each doll...so it will be descriptions and guess work.

A project for a quiet rainy day with no other pressing chores to do....

Girl in an armchair

Look what arrived in an email this morning!

I remember my mother making these....she gave them to her close friend Fran, who has emailed these photos to me. Fran says Sarah gave most of the prototypes to her, for either birthday or christmas presents - these two she treasures the most.

'Girl in an armchair' is in the same style as my 'Lady on a Sofa'. It is Sarah's early beginnings with painted calico; making a textile padded painting and playing with perspective. She painted seperate pieces of the fabric with acyrlic paint, then layered them together using wadding and stuffing between the layers, making them semi-3d. By this time, Sarah wasn't making her more traditional dolls.

Sarah made a lot of these harlequin dolls and sold them at a local shop in Helmsley. I helped her piece the bodies together. I have seen similar, but older, harlequin dolls like this appearing on Ebay, so perhaps those inspired Sarah to make her own version with all her left over scraps of fabric! Despite not making her traditional dolls at this time, she still painted her beautiful stylised signature faces.

I know for certain that Sarah made a few dolls for Liberty, using their fabrics. The only evidence I have found for this is a letter of enquiry from Liberty address to her, and nothing else. It has also been mentioned by a family member, but no-one seems to recall any details. A line of enquiry I should pick up.... 

The Archive Folder

It's been a while since I updated this journal, as I decided to wait until I had Sarah Jane Fisher's archive folder in my possession, before embarking on emails to organisations and such like.

It was worth waiting; her archive contains some stunning photographs of some of her dolls. They have been professionally photographed and printed so the quality is superb. 

I felt very emotional looking at these beautiful dolls that my mother created and hope, so hope, that they still exist in the world. What a tragedy it would be if they'd not been looked after then eventually thrown out as rubbish by a relative of the original owner.

Someone has recently reflected on how much soul these dolls express; so true.

Also, in the archive, there are many letters of thanks and enquiries and compliments, most are from either America or Australia.

I shall upload some more photographs soon, with extracts from some of the letters....

'Sarah Jane Fisher: The Dollmaker Who Hated Dolls' The Antiques Journal 1980

Soon to arrive...

...'The Dollmaker Who Hated Dolls'!

There is a copy on it's way - found in Sarah's archive by her husband David. He's going to post it down to me, so hopefully it will arrive within a few days.
I can scan the full article and put it up here for people to read at their leisure.

And back to the NIADA problem...

It has been suggested that I write a blanket email to all members of the NIADA, in the hope that someone might read it and see if they can help me out. 

What I am hoping for is an opportunity to post one or two images onto their website or Facebook page in the hope that someone, eventually, might recognise Sarah's style and say something along the lines of "Hey, I've seen a doll like that" or "my Great-Aunty has a doll which looks a bit like that". 
A photograph could be emailed to me to post up here; and there we have one of Sarah's dolls that has been kept in someone's private collection, or purely for their love of Sarah's doll, after all this time.

Who knows. It could happen?

NIADA - 12 days

 Well, it's been 12 days since I sent an email to the NIADA and have heard nothing back. In my email I asked for permission to post onto their Facebook page an image of one of Sarah's early dolls, to see if anyone recognised the style of it.  I didn't want to just go ahead and do it, in case I jeopordized the possibility of a positive reply from them.

Should I go ahead and do it now, or should I write to another member of the NIADA and hope for a reply from them? I'm not sure what would be best - maybe I need to be patient. The people who run the NIADA could be inundated with emails and work voluntarily.

I was so hopeful for some kind of reply from them by now.

Any suggestions?






http://www.niada.org/

Sarah Jane Fisher did, in fact, hate dolls...

Ok, I need to improve my research skills.

Another very kind member of the family, who is also interested in my blog about my late mother, Sarah Jane Fisher, has done a bit more research into the article I mentioned a few posts ago.

She has discovered that 'Sarah Jane Fisher - The Dollmaker Who Hated Dolls' is in fact written about my mother. Although the whole journal is not accessible online, a few extracts are viewable if the right keys words are used in the search (I have learnt).

     “As a child, Sarah Jane Fisher had no interest in dolls whatsoever. In fact she despised people even remotely interested in them. But childhood was very special in those days, and she spent hers in the market town of Malton in Yorkshire...”

Sarah was obsessed with hobby horses as a child, at her family home in Malton! I believe she was very much a tomboy - but I don't recall her saying she hated dolls...

      “Painting the faces is her favourite part of dollmaking. Herein lies the real heart and soul of a doll and signature and expertise of the real artist. Botch the face and the doll is worthless. For Sarah Jane painting... “

Sarah's dolls definitely show that painting faces was her favourite part...and interestingly the word 'signature' is used. I'd struggled to find the right word when I was trying to say a little about the dolls' faces, and signature was what seemed appropriate. And it's true - the heart and soul of a doll is in it's face.

I'd dismissed this interview due to it's title; it hadn't occured to me that it was referring to Sarah as a child - but it makes for a catchy headline!
Now I need to see if this article has been stored away somewhere in Sarah's archives, but if not, it is possible to purchase a copy of the journal. I'm looking foward to having a look through these archives in February...

Mum gave me 'Lady on a Sofa'. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it, about 20 years ago.

Thank you to Corinne for doing what I should have done, and followed this up more thoroughly!