Roly Polys, found speaker, Model Magic, acrylic paint, and enamel. Inspired by the Illustrations of Schoenhut's Marvelous Toys. The Humpty Dumpty Circus. Philadelphia: The A. Schoenhut Co., 1918.

This was the first sculpture I completed during my summer internship. The Schoenhut Company first patented roly poly dolls, which resemble oversized modern wobbly toys, in 1900. The sculpture I created is a nice intermediary between the first ones made and those that are manufactured today.

 

This sculpture gave me some issues at first because I did not realize it needed to be weighted to be able to wobble properly. However, while exploring my work station at the library, I discovered a pair of broken computer speakers, which turned out to be the perfect weight. And once that was figured out it was smooth sailing. I am told that these toys look very much like the Totoro character from the Miyazaki movie My Neighbor Totoro, which I now realize is true. The similarity was not intentional. Of the two roly polys, I prefer the tan cat, but I believe both are visually appealing and elicit positive feelings.