Russian Bell Dolls

Pedro returned recently from her semester abroad in Vladivostok, Russia and brought home not one, but two dolls for me! The first is a porcelain Anna Karenina doll that I’ve posted more about on the Toy Box. The second is a Pedro-made “bell doll.” The entire doll is tied together, no sewing on it at all. Bell dolls are apparently good luck charms of sorts, they’re given to children for birthdays and holidays. Pedro tells me the reason they have no face is because they have no soul, and therefore cannot be infiltrated by evil spirits like people can.

I’ll be using mine as a christmas ornament mostly because it was my christmas present. Pedro found a tutorial online for making these dolls that looks pretty straight forward, maybe by next christmas I’ll get around to making my own version! If you don’t read Russian (like me), you’ll probably need to use a translator to read anything on this site, but the photos are actually very good and easy enough to follow along with out understanding the language.

Though it is slightly creepy that she hangs by her hands like that…

~Molly