"Business card" of Russia - Dymkovo toy

The Dymkovo toy has a history of about a century and a half. This kind of folk craft changed along with the change of several generations of craftsmen. The Dymkovo toy originates from the deep antiquity, but it is impossible to establish the exact date of the very first figure's making.

Toy in its composition is heterogeneous and belongs to different periods of development of Russia. According to specialists, the Dymkovo toy was assigned its purpose in connection with the Old Russian spring-summer holiday of Svistoplyaski. Gradually, in rustic life, ritual whistles and tiaras were replaced by sculptural compositions decorated with shelves with dishes and window sills. The ancient ritual content was taken to the background, the Dymkovo toy acquired the characteristics of a small folk sculpture. Over time, the enrichment of not only decorative elements, but also the growth of plots from the life and everyday life of various social groups: these are separate figures, compositions from different figures, and carousel, and turkeys, bears and horsemen are all a Dymkovo toy.

The lady with the umbrella and two newborns in each hand has not undergone significant changes since the pre-revolutionary times, when the toy was only a way to earn a little, common among the peasants of Vyatka province.

Manufacture of toys

Each step is important in the manufacturing process. It is necessary to prepare clay, which is suitable for work only from several small quarries of the village of Dymkovo. Next, modeling and giving the toy a characteristic lush forms that depend directly on the type of clay. The next stage is drying and firing in muffle furnaces, whitewashing with lead white and, finally, painting. In the painting of toys, gold and aniline paints were not used - these are the achievements of our time.

With the passage of time, different currents were distinguished in the production of the Dymkovo toy. Every generation of craftsmen, especially masters of the Soviet period, contributed something to their modeling and decoration. But the common canon has never changed. On a white background, figures that never completely covered the color, leaving the part always white, draw lines and circles. Masters always use pure colors for painting, never mix colors. Stucco flowers and ruches - the main signs of the Dymkovo toy - have remained so to this day. Like "every grotesque and decorative fantasy", reflected in "her life-affirming feelings", it is, according to the historian of material culture A. Saltykov, a Dymkovo toy. The lady in a magnificent dress evokes a smile of emotion on her face and in our time.

"Business Card" of Russia

Gradually there were a number of signs that distinguish a toy from a number of other folk crafts. The canon of modeling figurines is a school of skill, teaching a conditional language that distinguishes a Dymkovo toy from other folk stucco items.

The ability to convey the movement, laconism and generalization of modeling - these signs are characterized by the figures of the village Dymkovo. With a sense of joy, the accuracy of the expression of characters, the wit of a joke, the Dymkovo toy continues to respond in our souls. Its history does not end even today. Now this once-childhood entertainment has become one of the "calling cards" of modern Russia, known far beyond its borders.