While I am a doll maker I am not a doll collector, in fact I own very few dolls. Although I have to confess I have a small collection of Sheena MacLeod dolls which I think are rather wonderful. The faces really speak as well as all the details that went into the clothes, and the research she did to make her dolls accurate and sourcing her materials mainly from Scotland and within the UK.
My favourite has to be the older women, sitting by their spinning wheel (see the image above - last row, middle photo). Her spinning wheel has long gone and one day I’ll get her a miniature one and add some wool I picked up on an Hebridean island - just to make her feel at home.
Sheena MacLeod was Scottish and an award winning doll maker, who sadly died in a car crash - but her dolls live on, becoming rarer as the years go on and now definitely collector items. But more than anything these little dolls are so full of character and continue on telling the stories of their traditions.
Below are my few remaining dolls which are for sale in my Etsy shop (of course I’ve kept a couple for myself).
Newhaven Fishwife Doll
Newhaven Fishwife - Perhaps the most famous of all Scottish fishwives, she carried fish from Newhaven into the city of Edinburgh and her cries of ‘caller herring; have been immortalized in song.(Taken from the Sheena MacLeod doll leaflet). Click on the photo to view her in my shop
Mrs. Macleod has increased her range until now there are 12 figures available. To the four types of fishwives she has added fishermen, island women, and crofters. The ''Hebridean Woman'' carries dried peats, for fuel, in her creel (the miniature peats are made of cork). The ''Skye Woman'' carries seaweed for spreading as fertilizer on the potato fields. (The seaweed is the genuine article, a miniature species specially collected, except when export regulations abroad dictate an artificial substitute.) - Interview with Sheena MacLeod, link at the bottom of the page
Crofter carrying a Peat basket on Island Of Harris , Outer Hebrides, Scotland .
Outer Isles (Lewis and Harris) Island Woman Doll
Island Woman - Women in the Outer Isles of Harris and Lewis, where weaving is still the major industry, collected various lichen from the shore and moor and used them to dye the yarn for their now world famous tweeds. (Taken from the leaflet on Sheena MacLeod dolls). Click on the photo to view her in my shop
Fisherman - Birsay, Orkney Islands, Scotland
Crofter man Making Creel Doll
Crofter man Making Creel Doll - Tenant of an area of land to which he had absolute tenure, the crofter was highly independent, tending his sheep and cattle on the hill, digging his peat; often weaving his cloth and fishing the shore waters; his potato patch and hen run in-lye land; he represented a God-fearing and cultured breed'. Taken from the Sheena MacLeod doll leaflet. Click on the photo to view him in my shop.