Carving Apple Dolls

SusieQ

These are so so cool ,what an artist she is, …I have seen the panty hose dolls…. but these made out of apples I haven’t….. amazing craft, love the look of the faces..

Sallie, the apple doll lady

I’ve read that apple dolls were thought to have been made by Native Americans by simply putting and apple or other fruit on a stick and pinching the features. Hasn’t everybody made a toy from a stick or whatever was available? Kids have to use their imagination sometimes. Over the years apple dolls have come and gone, people have told me they made them in Girl Scouts or art class in school. But many have never seen them. I made a couple of corn shuck dolls as a child after watching a demonstrator at Gatlinburg Craftsman’s Fair and still have them. But later tries were not very good. It has taken several years to get the apple dolls to look satisfactory and even now because they are apples they don’t always turn out as expected. But it’s easy to replace a head if need be. If kept dry they will naturally turn dark over time but can last for years. And if I don’t like the way it looks after I carve it I can always eat it! Give it a try! Just carve a face, soak a little while in lemon juice and salt water or rub some on. Then hang to dry in a warm place or stand on a toothpick to allow air to touch all surfaces and watch. As it finishes drying shape the features. I don’t add anything like beads for eyes or teeth, just at the end of carving I poke a hole in the eyes, add some slits for wrinkles, etc so that it’s easier to shape when dry. They aren’t meant to look like anybody in particular but it’s fun when someone says, “Honey, that looks like your mother!” I think there is beauty in those old wrinkles faces. Thanks for sharing, Tipper.

Ron Stephens

I wonder if apple people was a tradition brought over or began here. Maybe the way apples shrivel gave people the idea, plus knowing how apples could be dried and kept. Or maybe a carver ran out of something to carve on in a snowy time. Anyway, while some might find them creepy it is because they probably have never seen an elderly person who has spent much of their life outdoors. We get quite a road map as a result. I think about Aunt Arie in the Foxfire books and my Grandma, although she wore homemade sun bonnets much of the time.

I’m guessing one has to start with a big apple because of the shrinkage. Otherwise a Yates apple would work. I saw some of them at the farm market yesterday.

Fran Dixon

I made a apple head doll once. I guess I didn’t dry it out long enough before I finished it off and the head rotted. I was pretty disappointed about that. Never tried another one. But I love the looks of them.

Miss Cindy

Those are beautiful and that is quite a talent you have, Sallie! I can’t imagine how you manage to get those tiny hands done without them falling apart.
“Waste not want not” I always heard and I guess you are the queen of that!