The charm of old toys.

The thing I love the most about working at the Prop House is that I never stop thinking and looking, there is so much to feast your eyes on!. Today I was rearranging the toys section, as always there is something from nearly every era as far back as the 1930's - late 1990's.  I came across some beautiful things today such as hand held wooden acrobat man on a string, an old skipping rope, miniature piano, Pierrot doll and a jigsaw from the 1940's.  Looking at them, they are full of charm and play, they are either handmade or hand painted and are just beautiful. 

It's hard to believe that toys were once made this way compared to today where they are mass produced and normally plastic.  It got me thinking how the sense of imagination has been lost in childhood and make believe, more so with the growing use of I-pads and tablets which are great in some ways, but I think the sense of wonder and texture and feeling of having a hand made toy has disappeared which I think is quite saddening.

I guess I am naturally drawn to them as I love anything from past eras that is wooden and handmade, there is just something about it.  I realised that these are also areas I like to include in the things that I make and also the type of materials I like to work with i.e wood and paint.  I hope to explore some of these ideas in my future work.

Below are a few images of my favourites: