Roswitha Rochelt's Gutenbach Dolls

Roswith Rochelt lives in the Black Forest town of Gutenbach, Germany. She holds one of her dolls and says in German: "Dolls are closely related beings," and shows me a doll which is the splitting image of her daughter Alice, who is now an adult with wonderful long legs that come from years of ballet lessons.

" Dolls aren´t only children´s toys but also nostalgic objects of reminiscences for adults or as religious symbols in world civilisations."

It was interesting to note that the china dolls were entirely manufactured at Roswitha´s studio. She not only makes sketches of her living objects, but also creates replicas, does mould building, casting and baking. Even the clothes and accessoires are exceptional. And she only uses high-quality materials such as original French biscuit clay, precious silk and brocade fabrics. You can tell Roswitha´s dolls right away from other collections because she leaves her quality signature in her products.

Roswitha says, ´Every single doll is made under guarantee in a limited edition of only ten to twenty.´ She creates cats, fairy-tale dolls or south-sea beauties and a host of other lovely things and also holds seminars in doll-making, which we Germans are wont to call ´Puppenherstellung.´ The dolls are certainly authentic creations of dreams from distant lands and are eye-catchers, perfect in their facial expression, style, choice of material, attire and accessoires. Her special mould-making technique allows unlimited possibilities for experimenting.

´All my dolls are provided with mouth-blown crystal glass eyes and a wig of real hair,´ says Roswitha. ´The exclusiveness of my hand-made porcelain design dolls are guaranteed by certificate,´ says Roswitha proudly.

She´s surrounded with her dolls in different stages of development as she thoroughly mixes her ´flesh colour´, which is French biscuit porcelain. She lets it stay for twenty-four hours and stirs the mixture again till all the air-bubbles have disappeared. This porcelain mass is poured into the one-hole form. Depending on the size of the form, you have to wait for three to ten minutes and pour the content back. After that you wait for two hours. When you open the form you will get the rough doll´s head with its facial features. As long as the head is soft, you have to work on the throat.

She took a scalpel and carved the eyes out.

It reminded me of my medical studies when I had to dissect a sturdy old German grandfather´s corpse the entire winter with the nascent, biting smell of formalin. Roswitha was creating a doll in her own way, giving expression to t, till it almost had a life of its own. It was almost like watching Mary Shelly´s protagonist being created.

The head had to be dried in a dry room. She had a table full of white heads, which needed to be extremely dried. She worked like a surgeon cum artist with her scalpel and brush, as she cleaned the prospective doll´s eyes. After that the heads were put in an oven and heated to a temperature of 1220 degrees Centigrade. The doll´s head shrinks 15 per cent at this temperature. Now the doll gets its biscuit colour. Roswitha coloured the eyebrows and lips, then put them back in the oven. Then she applied the cheek-rouge and the eye-lashes, and put the head in the oven again.

´To get the dark complexions of South Sea beauties you have to burn at least five times,´ said Roswitha with a smile and a twinkle in her eyes.

In the end you have to choose the right eyes to give the doll a certain character.

´I use special wax from inside and fix it with Plaster of Paris, which we call ´gips´ with the head. Next comes the lead of the head, like a scalp and a genuine French hair wig. The doll´s head is ready.´

Roswith is a dedicated and busy Grandma, and a delight to talk with, and drives all the way from Gutenback to Freiburg to attend to her lovely grandchildren and bring them to a roll-skating club where they stage musicals on wheels, like the Starlight Express.