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Making of Chinese Dough Dolls ( 面粉公子制作 )

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Danielle
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Sculpting Beautiful Dolls from Dough
To the uninitiated, it's unbelievable that such beautiful and elaborate figurines are made from dough. Believe it or not, Chinese dough sculpting has had a proud history with numerous skilled practitioners all around the world, able to make simple dolls in seconds as well as incredibly complicated sculptures with dough alone.
It's much less common nowadays, but dough dolls are one of the most popular forms of Chinese folk art. Having originated from the 1st or 2nd century, it is one of the oldest as well as one of the most fascinating creative expressions that exist till today, being passed on through generations of craftsmen.
In the early days of the practice, dough dolls are originally meant to be a sacrifice—when worshippers did not have any animals to sacrifice to appease their gods, they created dough dolls as a substitute. Legend has it that the practice of dough dolls began around the 1st or 2nd century when a general was advised to sacrifice some soldiers to calm a raging river. Not wanting to see a loss of life, the general instead ordered dough dolls to be made as a sacrifice instead.
Although traditionally crafted from dough made from rice flour and colouring, modern dough dolls are more commonly made from other inedible materials instead. With their trusty tools, craftsmen knead, rub, carve, mold and cut dough of different colours into various fascinating shapes and sizes—perhaps a proud dragon, or a figurine of a deity, or sometimes a mighty warrior. The possibilities are endless, limited only by one's imagination. Although traditionally it's more common for dough dolls to be based of animals or mythical figures, modern dough dolls have a much bigger variety and it's not uncommon to see dough dolls of popular pop culture icons such as Doraemon and Mickey Mouse!
Simple dough dolls used to be found on the street wherever there is a significant Chinese population, Malaysia included. These small dolls are mounted on a stick and sold affordably at a few ringgit each, which easily catches the attention of little children looking for an exciting toy to play with. This makes it ideal to invite these dough doll makers to private functions to entertain your guests. A dough doll maker at children's birthday parties, for instance, naturally gets the kids all excited and happy.
There are also other larger and more detailed dough dolls reserved for other purposes such as festivities and rituals. The craft is however practiced much less nowadays and it's difficult to find skilled dough doll makers selling their wares in the nation. However, if one looks hard enough, there are still the occasional craftsmen that would appear demonstrating this 2,000-year-old art form and selling their bright, colourful works to whoever is interested.
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