‘Each doll is unique’

Janine van der Linden works at ESSB’s Psychology and Educational Sciences teaching office. By day she is a regular ESSB staff member, but after hours she changes into a passionate doll maker. And not just any dolls, but so-called Waldorf dolls.

Waldorf school. “I attended a Waldorf school from age eight onwards. It had an annual autumn market, and there was a woman there who sold dolls. I was already a little too old for dolls at the time, but I did really like those dolls. Later, after I started working at EUR, I got to the point where my life consisted entirely of working. So I found myself a hobby. I ended up taking a doll-making course.”

Natural materials. “Making Waldorf dolls requires a certain technique. You’ll start with a bag of wool shaped like a tennis ball. This will be the head. After that, you’ll create the body. Waldorf dolls have specific characteristics. They must be made of natural materials – sheep’s wool, organic cotton. And they can’t have any sharp parts. In other words, they will have embroidered eyes rather than plastic ones.”

Piece of cloth with a small head. “There is a different type of doll for each age category. Small infants will get a piece of cloth with a small head attached to it, with a neutral facial expression, allowing the child to imagine for himself or herself how the doll is feeling. Slightly older children will get sturdy dolls which cannot easily be torn apart. The next level up is a doll with clothes that can be easily put on and taken off. Older children also want more details.”

“Each doll is unique. If you lower the thread forming the eyes by three millimetres, you’ll end up with a completely different face – much younger. If the eye line is placed a little higher, it will elongate the face. Sometimes you don’t even fully realise what is causing these things. They are all made by hand, so once a doll has been sold, people can’t order another one exactly like it.”

A lot of work. “I currently make about one doll per month. Each doll takes me about 32 hours to complete. I curate a shop on Etsy, called Kleine Juffies. I’d love to earn all my money creating dolls, but given the amount of work required, you will always have to do something else on the side. If I could be a full-time doll maker, I would.”