The Maslenitsa doll is an important attribute of the spring holiday of the same name. It is burned on the last Sunday of Shrovetide to spend the winter and meet the spring, to cleanse the soul before fasting. Today there are several varieties of dolls that are made for this holiday.
Option for mass walks
For wide festivities, the doll is made in large sizes (more than a meter). The principle of creation is simple: you need to make a "skeleton" and build up the body. Prepare festive bright clothes for the doll in advance , straw, sticks, a white pillowcase and paints. Now let's start the creative process:
1. Take two long sticks (1.5 and 1.8 m), cross them perpendicular to each other, and then firmly fasten with nails or ropes. Sticks play the role of a skeleton on which arms, body and head will grow.
2. On a horizontal stick, straw is applied on both sides and wrapped with ropes. The thickness of the hands is determined by yourself. For example, in places where the sleeves should become a flashlight, lay more straw.
3. On a vertical stick, attach the straw and small rods to form the body. The Pancake week doll is not a fragile girl, and therefore the body must be burly. You make the chest separately from the balls: stuff the corner of the pillowcase with straw or rags, forming a ball, and attach it to the pole. Do the same with the second ball.
Dress up the doll for the holiday
As soon as the sticks grow straw and branches to the desired volume, dress up the doll. For a scarecrow, you can take any dress, sweatshirt, scarf. If the Pancake week doll participates in mass performances, rallies, then find bright folk dresses and sundresses.
After putting on the dress, work on your head. Fill a white pillowcase with straw or rags to form an oval. Do not allow the appearance of any hills and bumps on the face. The fabric should not shine through, so you can put the ball into the second pillowcase.
Fasten your head to the stick. Hide the ends of the rags under the dress. Tie a scarf on top. If there is a tow, then make braids out of it and attach to the head, and tie a scarf over it. Now you can draw eyes, eyebrows, nose, freckles and mouth. If you want, the nose can also be made into a ball and sewn to the face.
Work your hands while the paint is drying. You can wear mittens, stuffing them with straw. More often multi-colored ribbons are sewn to the head or dress.
How to make a Shrovetide doll for children?
For children in preschool institutions, in order to familiarize themselves with the holiday, bright unusual dolls are made. They go in groups with them, sing songs, participate in contests, introduce customs. To make a doll, take the following:
- two sticks or slats for the base;
- dress or bright fabric;
- straw or tow;
- multi-colored ribbons;
- white pillowcase;
- a little sintepon;
- cardboard;
- paints;
- scissors.
Fasten the sticks with a cross: the horizontal rail will be hands, it must be fastened close to the head. Now put on the dress. If you will sew an outfit, then proceed as follows:
- Sew long sleeves and put on a horizontal stick. They should hang 30 centimeters down. Decorate the ends of the sleeves with tassels or fringe.
- Next, attach the skirt. To create magnificent forms, take newspapers, roll them into a roll, bend in half and attach to a stick. The newspapers need to be fastened so that when bent, the roll protrudes and keeps its shape.
- Now sew the top of the dress. At the bottom, the joint is decorated with ruffles.
Making a doll's head
Now move on to making the head. We will have an unusual Shrovetide doll. The craft will be with a spring character, fun and provocative thanks to freckles and ponytails.
- On cardboard draw a circle with nine triangles (like rays from the sun). Do not forget to outline the neck below by drawing a rectangle.
- Now glue a large circle to the circle from the fabric, stuff it with a synthetic winterizer.
- Paint your face. Make the tone yellow (the color of golden fritters). Draw a big mouth, like a clown. Place the freckles under the eyes and nose. Draw a nose with potatoes or make a cloth.
- Attach bunches of straw or tow to the triangles on the back side and decorate the front side with ribbons.
- Now attach your head to the stick. From a cardboard or cloth, cut a circle, cover the inside of the head. By the way, below you can attach long earrings. Glue the neck (rectangle) with a cloth or sew a collar.
The doll is ready for the holiday!
Homemade doll Maslenitsa: master class
Dolls are made not only for festivities, but also for home. All-year Shrovetide not only decorates the home, but also protects the house from misfortunes. Such dolls were given to the newlyweds, childless couples, parents.
The amulet was made in two ways: with and without pancake. Consider the first option. We will need:
- branch in the form of a slingshot;
- glass bottle;
- bright fabric for attire;
- Red ribbon;
- yellow or red pancake material;
- white fabric for the face;
- synthetic winterizer;
- needle and thread.
Attach the branch to the bottle, which must be stable and support the weight of the doll. If you take a copy with jagged ends, then the doll will turn out to be playful. Put a synthetic winterizer in a white flap and form a ball. Tie up with threads, you get a head. In the same way, make two balls for the chest of colorful bright fabric.
Now go to the hands. You can stick sticks like a pencil or wrap them with a white flap to form your palms. Take a colored cloth, diagonally start wrapping the sticks, bandaging them at the base with threads. Now, with the help of threads, tie the head.
Doll assembly
Make a skirt. To do this, take a long flap, wrap around a stick and press it, creating frills. Tie the threads right under the armpits. Next, fasten the chest of two balls. Tie the ends of the fabric like frills on the dress.
Decorate irregularities with an apron and a belt. To do this, take a small flap for the apron, lean against the body, tie it under the chest with a wide belt (red ribbon) and tie it back with a red bow.
Next, go on to decorate the head. Tie a red ribbon, it will be a warrior. Tie a scarf over the top and decorate the neck area. Please note that Maslenitsa is a doll (a photo with a pancake is presented above) is created without scissors and needles. The fabric is torn by hands into flaps, and tied with thread.
Damn have to sew from two circles. Process its edges with a zigzag. The size of the pancake should match the size of the arms. On the wrong side, sew two loops in which you stick the doll’s hands. You don’t need to draw a face.
The second version of the home doll
The rag home doll Shrovetide can hang on the wall. It is done in the same way as the previous ones, but of a small size (no more than 25 cm). These dolls were not burned, but were created for gifts to relatives. For example, young families with such an offering went to mother-in-law for pancakes or received this thing as a talisman.
For this doll, the base is made of birch branches. First, form a head from a white flap and tie it with threads. Then attach it to the stick. Next, determine the intersection with another stick and connect them with ribbons or ropes.
Now dress up Maslenitsa in an elegant dress. The sleeves can be made of dark fabric, for the lower skirt, take a snow-white flap, and put on an elegant embroidered shirt on top. Decorate the head with a scythe and a scarf.
In this option, there must be a red color in the clothes, belt, apron (as a symbol of protection). A ribbon was pushed into the sleeves, for which the doll was fastened to the wall. But if it was heavy, then a chain was attached to the back and hung on a carnation.
Features of making dolls
Different types of dolls were made in Russia: some of them were burned, while others were kept at home. The amulets were never thrown away, they were inherited. Each doll had its own manufacturing secrets.
A large Shrovetide doll ( you can see pictures of festivities above) should contain three elements: a birch "skeleton", straw and sawdust in the head. This personified fertility and productivity. Before burning, people made wishes and tied red ribbons to the arms of the doll. Together with a scarecrow, they destroyed all old things.
At home amulets, the hands must be raised up, keep the pancake and have a red color in the outfit. A similar thing could be made from birch branches, straw or rags, but without needles, scissors, glue.
Another type of home Shrovetide was done with red ribbons. During family quarrels, the woman told the doll her insult and tied a bundle on a dress or ribbon. On Forgiveness Sunday, this doll, along with pain and resentment, was burned at the stake. Such amulets were stored in the red corner of the house and were exhibited on windows only on the occasion of Maslenitsa.