Group shows passion for dolls in North Branford
Left to right, Connecticut Sand Dollars members Sydney Patchen of Milford, Nancy Wilcox of North Branford and Marcia Grant of Old Saybrook are photographed at Wilcox’s home in North Branford on 7/3/2014.(Arnold Gold-New Haven Register)
By Kristin Stoller, The New Haven Register
POSTED: 07/13/14, 6:43 PM EDT | UPDATED: 4 SECS AGO
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Connecticut Sand Dollars member Sydney Patchen adjusts the spring-loaded arms of an early 20th century Schoenhut doll at the home of Nancy Wilcox home in North Branford on 7/3/2014. (Arnold Gold-New Haven Register)
NORTH BRANFORD >> Sydney Patchen’s passion for dolls began when she was browsing at a flea market.
“I ran into a lady at the flea market who said, ‘You are never too old to give yourself a happy childhood,’” Patchen, of Milford, said. That was 15 years ago. Now, Patchen said she has more than 1,000 dolls that she keeps in a doll room in her house, which rotate in and out of storage.
Patchen is one of 10 members of the CT Sand-Dollers Doll Club, which meets in North Branford monthly (except for the summer months). And when they get together to talk about their different doll collections, they “forget about the world,” Patchen said.
But it’s not just a “frivolous old ladies club,” she said. The club is an educational and charitable organization, and is United Federation of Doll Clubs affiliated. Many times, club members have donated dolls and toys to children in need or in Third World countries. Their meetings also feature educational speakers to speak to members about different types and materials of dolls and different types of crafts, club member Nancy Wilcox, of North Branford, said.
When she first joined the doll club, Wilcox said they used to give “Think it over” baby dolls to teenagers that were programmed to cry at different times.
The club appreciates every type of doll, from 18th century antiques to the latest Play-line or ball-jointed dolls, which are popular among doll collectors today, Patchen said.
“No two dolls are ever the same,” Patchen said. “It could be the same mold, but they have two different faces.”
For Wilcox, she said she fell in love with dolls the day she was born.
“My mom gave me a soft doll in my crib when I first got home from the hospital,” said Wilcox, a founder and past president of the Sand-Dollers club. “I kissed it to death. It disintegrated from the amount of love.”
In the late 1930s, Wilcox’s neighbor gifted her an antique French doll, made around the 1870s. The white porcelain doll now sits on Wilcox’s coffee table, sporting outfits that Wilcox makes herself.
Though Wilcox collects many dolls, her speciality is witch dolls, in which she had more than 200 at one point.
The club also features doll artist Marcia Grant, who became fascinated with doll making after meeting a woman at a doll club in Massachusetts who made her own porcelain dolls. Grant said she took lessons in doll making and bought her own kiln to make “reproduction” porcelain dolls. She now has about 400 dolls at her house in Old Saybrook.
“I like the ones that are unusual,” Grant said of her collection. “I put a binder together for each doll so I have their story.”
Though the dolls she makes are only for her own use, Grant said she has a website where she sells supplies.
Currently, the club is preparing for a doll show they are hosting in the spring in Orange, where they will offer doll lectures and appraisals, with donations going to the Orange Historical Society, Patchen said.
In the meantime, Grant said the club is always looking for new members. Though the median age of members is 60, the ladies are “young at heart,” Grant said.
By Kristin Stoller, The New Haven Register
POSTED: 07/13/14, 6:43 PM EDT | UPDATED: 4 SECS AGO
0 COMMENTS
Connecticut Sand Dollars member Sydney Patchen adjusts the spring-loaded arms of an early 20th century Schoenhut doll at the home of Nancy Wilcox home in North Branford on 7/3/2014. (Arnold Gold-New Haven Register)
NORTH BRANFORD >> Sydney Patchen’s passion for dolls began when she was browsing at a flea market.
“I ran into a lady at the flea market who said, ‘You are never too old to give yourself a happy childhood,’” Patchen, of Milford, said. That was 15 years ago. Now, Patchen said she has more than 1,000 dolls that she keeps in a doll room in her house, which rotate in and out of storage.
Patchen is one of 10 members of the CT Sand-Dollers Doll Club, which meets in North Branford monthly (except for the summer months). And when they get together to talk about their different doll collections, they “forget about the world,” Patchen said.
But it’s not just a “frivolous old ladies club,” she said. The club is an educational and charitable organization, and is United Federation of Doll Clubs affiliated. Many times, club members have donated dolls and toys to children in need or in Third World countries. Their meetings also feature educational speakers to speak to members about different types and materials of dolls and different types of crafts, club member Nancy Wilcox, of North Branford, said.
When she first joined the doll club, Wilcox said they used to give “Think it over” baby dolls to teenagers that were programmed to cry at different times.
The club appreciates every type of doll, from 18th century antiques to the latest Play-line or ball-jointed dolls, which are popular among doll collectors today, Patchen said.
“No two dolls are ever the same,” Patchen said. “It could be the same mold, but they have two different faces.”
For Wilcox, she said she fell in love with dolls the day she was born.
“My mom gave me a soft doll in my crib when I first got home from the hospital,” said Wilcox, a founder and past president of the Sand-Dollers club. “I kissed it to death. It disintegrated from the amount of love.”
In the late 1930s, Wilcox’s neighbor gifted her an antique French doll, made around the 1870s. The white porcelain doll now sits on Wilcox’s coffee table, sporting outfits that Wilcox makes herself.
Though Wilcox collects many dolls, her speciality is witch dolls, in which she had more than 200 at one point.
The club also features doll artist Marcia Grant, who became fascinated with doll making after meeting a woman at a doll club in Massachusetts who made her own porcelain dolls. Grant said she took lessons in doll making and bought her own kiln to make “reproduction” porcelain dolls. She now has about 400 dolls at her house in Old Saybrook.
“I like the ones that are unusual,” Grant said of her collection. “I put a binder together for each doll so I have their story.”
Though the dolls she makes are only for her own use, Grant said she has a website where she sells supplies.
Currently, the club is preparing for a doll show they are hosting in the spring in Orange, where they will offer doll lectures and appraisals, with donations going to the Orange Historical Society, Patchen said.
In the meantime, Grant said the club is always looking for new members. Though the median age of members is 60, the ladies are “young at heart,” Grant said.