Composition / Masse / Pasta
And Other Compound
& Composite Materials
All encompassing words for a myriad of concoctions, most of which have been lost to history, or at least their recipes/ingredient lists have been! A definition of composition material runs along the lines of;
Two or more compounds or materials with differing chemical or physical properties brought together to produce another workable material which is then pressed into a mould (sometimes over a wire armature) or smeared over a shaped former to fashion a product, sometimes with the aid/application of heat during or after forming to aid setting/drying.
Composites are a different animal, and consist of different materials used together 'side-by-side', or layred over one-another, rather than as a mixture, because of the cross-over nature of composites they will be looked at as we meander down the page.
Introduction
This started life as a quick look at Composition from the point of view of Toy Soldier collectors/collecting, however in researching the article it became obvious that no one seems to know the whole truth, and other toy fields came to composition before Toy Soldiers, so we'll be looking at the whole history...or those fragments of the history that still exist.
This is the second [umteenth] attempt at this, it was one of those back-burner things I half intended to make into a book, but I can't ever see anyone volunteering to edit my convoluted English and murdered punctuation, so I'm chucking it up here on the Wibbly Wobbly Way for those who might be interested.
The bulk of it was written last winter [about ten years ago], added-to in a haphazard manner through the year and then uploaded about 6 weeks ago [December 2016]. Three weeks of editing and it looked a bit like this (I even saved an early version of the edit!), so Blogger/Google kindly decided to delete it in its entirety! They then spent weeks not answering my eMails on the subject.
Therefore some sections will have been re-written from scratch, which I sometimes find results in a less clear version that the first attempt, as you can wax more-lyrical on things in your initial enthusiasm, which drops-off when you're trying to repeat it all, and end-up over-cooking things, trying to make a point which flowed more naturally the first time!
As you read down the page you will rapidly realise that this is not an easy subject to research, with both dates and details hard to pin down. One source will tell you some technique was adopted at the start of the 19th century, another that it was in the 1880's. You might find one person telling you composition (without detail of the type of composition) doll's heads date from 1850's Germany, while another tells you the heads came later, after the bodies. Some articles will contradict their own dates in different paragraphs while a lot of sources disagree with each other, or fail to agree to a certain extent on specific important points!
Unknown - probably Lineol or Elastolin
American Internet websites tend to give you dates 15/20 years behind the developments in Europe, this is understandable and not a problem if you have worked out it's an Ameri-centric website/webpage, if you haven't; it will lead to further confusion. One credits Lazarus Reichmann (New York) with perfecting composition in the 'States in the 1870's. Some give the specific '1916' as the date for the US use of 'wood-flour', others the 1850's?
This conflict of dates may be explained by the fact that the Europeans started adding heavier materials to bread-flours (sand or plaster) while the Americans came to composition later and went straight for a lighter, quicker-drying 'bulker'? With a hot-press production method, this made for increased production numbers a'la Henry Ford's - then - new philosophies for mass-production.
Seasonal chalkware
Some people talk of 'wax' others call wax 'composition', none of the sources I found clearly delineated between 'Wax' wax (beeswax or animal fat by-products) or 'Japan Wax' (vegetable fat), while the third wax technique; ' Reinforced ', or its difference from the 'wax-over' method is not fully explained by anyone!
So, this is only a guide, it could use input from visitors, and will be fully re-written in a year or two when I get my books out of storage because, as I've said before, the old books often have the edge on information, the new books usually have the edge on illustrations!
Throughout the article I use the term 'olin' or 'olins' to describe the later compositions, known to aficionados of European - predominantly German - toy soldiers, farm and zoo animals, I don't know if I've read this somewhere or invented it, but it does the job! I use it to refer to the yellow'ish, dark olive or dung-brown wood-flour based compositions, with a mixing-liquid component of linseed-oil or animal glue. The term does have a commercial/industrial use/meaning.
I also mention pumice and Timpolin a bit too frequently, but readers need to understand that this is a web-page written by a Brit, and the material is central to our bit of the composition story, with most British composition useing that material, or similar plasters as the base material!
This brings us neatly to the constituents . . .
Ingredients
There are several different generic groups of composition;
Clay-Based (unsealed/unfired or low-temperature fired-earths; high-temperature fired terracotta is really a ceramic; ceramics will get their own page)
Gypsum / Chalk Plaster-based ('Whiting')
Paper-based (papier-mâché or the finer paper-pulp)
Pumice-based
Wax-based
Wood-flour (powder) / Sawdust-based (sometimes boiled?)
To these bulk agents might be added;
Casein Powder (milk/dairy-based binder, not the formable Cassin which is classed as a polymer)
Animal Glue (from horn or hoof, or 'bookbinders' rabbit-skin glues)
Synthetic (modern 'pearl beads')
Any other
Gum Rosin - Elasticiser (powdered)
Synthetic (modern 'pearl beads')
Any other
- Heat melt'able
- Soluble
- Water based
Other Wet Mixers / Binders / Emulsifiers / Sofeners
Glycerol / Glycerin (polyol - sugar alcohol - compound)
Linseed Oil (as softener in some recipes, as main liquid/emulsifier in others)
Other Oils / 'Olins'
Resins (tree/plant-saps; gum's Arabic, Guar or Tragacanth, or synthetics)
Glycerol / Glycerin (polyol - sugar alcohol - compound)
Linseed Oil (as softener in some recipes, as main liquid/emulsifier in others)
Other Oils / 'Olins'
Resins (tree/plant-saps; gum's Arabic, Guar or Tragacanth, or synthetics)
Water
Blood (in bulk; from abattoirs)
Dry Bulking or 'Body'
Ash (including bone-ash - already in use in bone-china)
Chalk
Crushed Eggshell
Grain/Cereal/Bread Flour (including cornstarch in the US)*
Zinc Oxide Powder*/**
And other unknown 'pastes'
* both could equally be in the first list
** zinc oxide is also used in smaller amounts with some recipes as an anti-fungal/mould inhibitor
Intermediate Filler (or Papier mâché substitute)
Boiled Cloth Scraps or Old Rags
Gum Rosin - Elasticiser (powdered)
Hair - Binder (horse or human)
Salt - Fungicide
Talcum Powder - Handling (fine gypsum/chalk)
Venice Turpentine - Prevents substrate cracking
So, to what toys used composition materials? Basically there are three main fields; Marbles, larger dolls and smaller toy figures, the latter including toy soldiers, model railway figures (and their scenic accessories) and farm (domesticated) and zoo (wild or exotic) animals, although other toys have been made of materials considered composition.
Basically; before we look at things in greater detail, the order is something like this, wood, cloth (rag-dolls) and unfired earth/clay from the time before the Pharaohs until the late 1700's or early 1800's, then papier mâché comes in, either as delicate hollow 'eggs' or on a former which might be one of the existing materials; straw, horsehair, cloth rags or carved wood, or from about 1850; one of the newer compounds. At around the same time wax and wax compositions come into use either as a poured moulding material, as a workable surface over a former or as a pre- or post-decoration finishing surface.
With all these techniques two things should be borne in mind, firstly; they were (apart from poured-wax moulding), in the earlier period, entirely handmade craft activities, no two items would look the same, the solution to a production problem would change from day to day and decoration would differ from day to day from the same source and secondly; few were marked, or carried any brand identity.
Around the mid-1800's techniques for mass-production began to be developed, both poured moulding and press-moulds. These enabled a uniformity (both in product and decoration), faster production times and - sometimes - greater detail. At the same time experimenters were adding bulking agents to both dough and wax to create more recognisable - to toy figure collectors - compositions.
The use of the darker linseed/sawdust olin compositions for toys came toward the end of the 19th century, rising to full prominence in the 1920's, with Japanese, American and British pumice experiments being a 1940's to 1954'ish thing and the 1970's experiments in mostly limited edition large-scale plaster figures, being the full-stop to composition, as covered on this page.
Because the late plaster players often added metal or leather accessories there is a small bit on composites to round the subject off.
A third thing to bear in mind or rather a series of related points (which goes some-way to explaining the date irregularities); are that all the techniques led to or borrowed from each other, might be used together or developed together, and were then dropped at different times in different places and their periods of 'flourishing' all overlap.
A lot of doll's house accessories were made of clay or plaster, particularly foodstuffs, both individual fruits and vegetables in the larger scales and whole dishes of prepared foods or served/plated meals in the smaller scales.
As can be seen in the above images, clay, plaster, terracotta or other low-fired earths have been used for vehicles, figurines and other toys over the years, and the cheap nature of both the material and the process leaves such materials ideal for craft work and local or vernacular toy production.
Returning to the clay bank at the back of our house to illustrate the point, rabbits, marbles, dinosaurs and dice are items I recall making. They inevitably failed as soon as we tried to play with them due to lack of mixing, had we pushed it through a sieve to get the lumps and twigs out and kneaded it a bit to get the air out; they may have been a tad more successful? Once, our mother put an item (small dinosaur) in the oven for 20 minutes or so and it did hang-around for a year or two, slowly loosing limbs like a careless zombie - one suspects all zombies are careless!
Larger objects made of plaster and plaster compositions, particularly animals such as the stylised, Art Deco bears, illustrated above, are known within the wider antiques and art trades as chalkware, American doll collectors use the same term for dolls made by companies like Gilespie.
One of the last uses of plaster in the toy field was as a firming agent in the otherwise very lightweight and frangible, blow-moulded celluloid or polystyrene toys that came out of Japan after the war. Sometimes there is a very obvious fill-hole out of which crumbs of material come from time to time, the elephant above is one of those (he has his own crummy-bag!), while the larger cowboy has an open bottom to his base where the poured plaster has been smoothed off. The mounted figure (from the same set) however has absolutely no sign of where the plaster entered him?
As well as preventing the toys from suffering dents or crush-damage, the plaster also helps them to stand-up by weighing them.
My late father still had great-great Grandmother's wall plaque from Bavaria on the wall of the kitchen until quite recently (it may even be in a cupboard somewhere?), and while the strands of corn which were fixed to it after cooking (corn-dolly style) had mostly gone, or remained as tatty, grey 'hairs', the wreath-like rural scene was as fresh as the day it left the craft-shop that produced it (last time I saw it, about 11 [21] years ago); if indeed - it wasn't produced within the family?
Dolls - or representations of the human form for play - are as old as marbles and while wooden and cloth dolls were the norm, both fired and unfired clay figures - like marbles - go back to the pyramids.
Wax became a major manufacturing material for dolls in the late 18th Century (1700's) and to begin with was either poured into a mould or layered over papier mâché or composition 'formers', known as the Wax-over method. A third method was Reinforced wax, similar to the wax-over . . . apparently?
The benefit of using such an ephemeral material was that its softness meant it would take a lot more punishment than the porcelain or bisque that was the norm for doll's arms, legs and heads at that time, a slight knock could completely destroy a china doll's head, while the same knock would leave a wax head looking a little more 'lived in'.
Another benefit was the decoration; a china doll either needed firing, or would be left with decoration that would wear-off. With wax, the decoration on the face could be applied with artistry (and a fine brush!) and then glazed-over with an additional thin layer of wax. Equally the whole head could be subtlety tinted with oils, airbrushed (a mouth operated air-blower/pipe) to realistic, varying skin-tones. Modern artisan doll makers even use wax over porcelain specifically for is decorative properties.
Not that it was all benefits, the 'lived-in' rapidly became zombie-like levels of damage. Wax can be crushed or dented, scratched or nicked and will crack, flake, melt and discolour with dirt through handling or fade through the action of sunlight and the ultraviolet which is still such a problem with polymers. Pigments that weren't sealed with a thin layer of additional wax, or varnished; could wear-off as quickly as they could with bisque-china dolls.
As well as melting, both heat and cold will create problems and repeated temperature change will - over time - produce crazing on the surface of the wax which becomes more obvious as little sweaty or sticky fingers work dirt and dust into the fine cracks.
However, lots of wax dolls have survived, and - as with most toys - it's all down to how well loved and looked-after they were, how they were stored and how they were treated. Because wax is hard to mark, most manufacturers either didn't mark them or used paper labels which over the years (and century or more!) have often been lost.
Japan Wax, is not a true beeswax or animal fat derivative, it's actually a compound pressed under heat and purified from plant berries as a by-product of the lacquer industry, specifically; species of sumac trees, better known in the west by their ornamental garden-shrub name 'Rhus' trees, such as; Toxicodendron vernicifluum (the 'Lacquer' tree) and Toxicodendron 'Rhus' succedanea (the Japanese Wax tree) native to China and Japan. Modern extraction involves solvents.
The initial material is sold in flat discs or square plates; it apparently smells a bit rancid in the raw state and is best described as dirty, sources describing it as (and Internet images showing it to be) brown, pale-yellow, greenish, grey or 'waxy' (greyish-white?) and it is water-insoluble with a gum-like feel.
After further processing it becomes a hard wax, basically a purified vegetable fat and can be used as a substitute beeswax in most applications; adhesives (hot glue guns), buffing compounds, candles, cosmetics, crayons, floor and furniture polishes, food packaging, metal lubricants (that white liquid used with lathes), ointments, pastels, pharmaceuticals, plasters, soaps, thermoplastic resins (where we encounter it again in the next section), varnishes, and the waxed survival matches we had in our ration-packs!
Obviously under 'wax' dolls, Japan wax in quantity would have been used for the poured and wax-over processes and as a lacquer/varnish dip; over decoration. Also as a lacquer or a thickening resin it would have been used with the composite materials more thought of by toy soldier collectors as 'composition' which we look at after a brief visit to Papier Mâché. Recipes for Japan wax compositions were as guarded as they would be for the olins.
Japan wax composition (as opposed to Japan wax as a 'wax') was used from the 1870's for dolls bodies for sometime before heads or head/body combinations. Because it's the head that determines the type-name of dolls for collectors, an 'olin' composition-bodied doll with a bisque head or an all-wax head will be called a bisque or wax doll, only when the heads became 'true' composition too, did they get the name.
Some dolls were then dipped in a glue/varnish with a pinkish tinge; a ". . . glutinous wash" to hide the raw material colour, give a flesh-tone to decorate and to achieve consistency in production, An American composition of the time (turn of the 20th century) consisted of a mixture of glue, glycerin, Japanese wax, and zinc oxide making it quite a pale whitish-grey material; you can imagine how it would have benefited from a pink dip!
Although modern artisan doll makers occasionally use wax, most wax dolls are now antiques.
Papier mâché is not - when discussing toys (dolls and puppets in the main) - the bucket of gloop you form at primary school or kindergarten from strips of newspaper mixed with flour and water or wall-paper paste, rather; it is a commercial material made either from pulped paper (that fluffy stuff you get in padded mailing envelopes) or plain paper/card sheets, which are mixed (pulp) or layered (sheets) with other pastes, sizes, oils or resins to form strong ['ish] composites which can be moulded or pressed into shape and decorated on a resulting - hopefully - hard wearing surface.
Papier mâché was used from the late 1700's for dolls, as a handmade 'craft' alongside wooden and rag-dolls. It came into its own as a commercial process once pressure moulding had been developed in Germany in the early to mid-19th century; this made for mass production as it sped-up the drying time by squeezing most of the moisture out, and allowed for batch-painting as each item was similar to the others.
Before the advent of pressure moulding papier mâché would have had a former of wood to give it some shape, after pressure moulding had been developed papier mâché itself was used as the former for wax-head dolls before the widespread use of more complicated compositions. The material lost ground to china dolls and then true compositions.
Salt - Fungicide
Talcum Powder - Handling (fine gypsum/chalk)
Venice Turpentine - Prevents substrate cracking
Finishers
Glue Dips
Paint
Varnish
Wax Dips
Formers / Frameworks
Nails/Pins (for fine detail)
Thin Dowel/Twigs (for fine detail)
Wire (for armatures or fine detail)
Wood (for bulk shapes)
Packing (dolls and composite animals etc...)
Cloth Scraps
Horsehair
Kapok (a fluffy seed, like unprocessed cotton)
Wood Shavings
Wool
The basic formula of the later compositions would be to take one (or more) of the bulk ingredients from the first list, turn it to a paste with one (or more) of the liquids from the second list and add further - compatible - bulking agents [from either the first or third lists], if needed until you had a workable paste or clay-like compound, which could be pressed into a mould or formed over a framework. Then decorate and sometimes cover with a protective coating from the finishing list.
When I say 'compatible'; these materials might not like each other, but provided they could be mixed or emulsified together by kneading, stirring or shaking, you were on your way to a viable composition!
Techniques varied depending upon the period/properties of the recipe; earlier compositions were cold-cast and air dried, later 'olin versions used heat somewhere in the production process (hot-cast [hot-pressing], or cold-cast and then oven/heat-set), the latter two techniques known as 'thermo-setting' which - of course - links late compositions to early plastics. The application of heat also speeded-up production times.
Obviously cold-casting can be done by hand, which can lean to varied quality between operators, or firms, while hot-castsing usually required a mechanical phase or the ise of stand-off tools.
By the advent of Timpolene (at the end of composition's history) the process had become both quick and - relatively - reliable, leading to production levels able to meet the increasing demand of the affluent middle-class toy buyers. Only the advent of a new material could put an end to the alchemical recipe-makers art, and that invention was synthetic polymers...Plastics!
But by mentioning modern developments I'm getting well ahead of myself.
Timeline
So, to what toys used composition materials? Basically there are three main fields; Marbles, larger dolls and smaller toy figures, the latter including toy soldiers, model railway figures (and their scenic accessories) and farm (domesticated) and zoo (wild or exotic) animals, although other toys have been made of materials considered composition.
Small French soft-terracotta figurine;
similar to the marked output of Senton
Basically; before we look at things in greater detail, the order is something like this, wood, cloth (rag-dolls) and unfired earth/clay from the time before the Pharaohs until the late 1700's or early 1800's, then papier mâché comes in, either as delicate hollow 'eggs' or on a former which might be one of the existing materials; straw, horsehair, cloth rags or carved wood, or from about 1850; one of the newer compounds. At around the same time wax and wax compositions come into use either as a poured moulding material, as a workable surface over a former or as a pre- or post-decoration finishing surface.
With all these techniques two things should be borne in mind, firstly; they were (apart from poured-wax moulding), in the earlier period, entirely handmade craft activities, no two items would look the same, the solution to a production problem would change from day to day and decoration would differ from day to day from the same source and secondly; few were marked, or carried any brand identity.
Around the mid-1800's techniques for mass-production began to be developed, both poured moulding and press-moulds. These enabled a uniformity (both in product and decoration), faster production times and - sometimes - greater detail. At the same time experimenters were adding bulking agents to both dough and wax to create more recognisable - to toy figure collectors - compositions.
Cowboy and Indian, both Japanese, one marked,
both of a pumice or plaster based composition
both of a pumice or plaster based composition
The use of the darker linseed/sawdust olin compositions for toys came toward the end of the 19th century, rising to full prominence in the 1920's, with Japanese, American and British pumice experiments being a 1940's to 1954'ish thing and the 1970's experiments in mostly limited edition large-scale plaster figures, being the full-stop to composition, as covered on this page.
Because the late plaster players often added metal or leather accessories there is a small bit on composites to round the subject off.
A third thing to bear in mind or rather a series of related points (which goes some-way to explaining the date irregularities); are that all the techniques led to or borrowed from each other, might be used together or developed together, and were then dropped at different times in different places and their periods of 'flourishing' all overlap.
Unfired/Low Temperature Fired
Clay or Terracotta and
Chalkware/Plaster
Marbles
Clay or Terracotta and
Chalkware/Plaster
Marbles
Mix of clay and terracotta marbles
Marbles are a stand alone, and were the first toys to be made of materials that can be considered composition, if only air-dried or sun-baked clays. By not firing the clay, the consistency remains crumbly and biscuit-like, the marble a temporary, ephemeral thing, soon to return to the dust from whence it came, or broken and unable to roll; thrown in the midden for future archaeologists to find among the fish-heads and pigs trotters.
Manufactured for thousands of years in exactly the same way; rolling little balls of clay between the palms, with attempts at manufacture approaching 'mass production' being either rolling several identical-sized cubes together between boards of wood to get more consistently round balls or - later, using a 'bullet mould' (press-mould) to obtain a standard size, these still needed rolling to remove the mould's join-line, or 'flashing'.
[As an aside; marbles made from marble [stone] were also manufactured from cubes, rolled between heavy steel or iron plates with grooves in them like old mill-stones; sort of 'heavy-metal' mill-stones!]
Clay Marbles - A set of 12 from Salco and a larger, probably German one
They were still to be bought in little boxes of ten or twelve when I was a child, dyed or painted with powder/poster paint, the paint would wear-off through the factory and transport systems and by the time you got them they looked either quite chalky, in pastel greens, pinks, browns and oranges, or, if the paint had been spirit based; stained clay, some were just stained with inks at the start, though!
Not that one needed to buy them, we had a steep bank at the back of our house made of thick yellow clay streaked with orange bands and, as kids, my brother and I would dig out the clay and make little things such as marbles which we would leave in the sun to dry.
Another reason that clay marbles are considered composition is that sometimes a binder would be added to the kneaded mix for strength, hair being a favourite. I'm sure you can still get marbles of this type somewhere in the world, so they are the real bookends to composition as materials for toys
Other 'Real Earth' Toys
A selection of large-scale puddings, cakes and desserts, made of plaster
and placed on turned-wooden stands with paper doilies.
(probably Edwardian)
A lot of doll's house accessories were made of clay or plaster, particularly foodstuffs, both individual fruits and vegetables in the larger scales and whole dishes of prepared foods or served/plated meals in the smaller scales.
Terracotta or low-temperature fired clay models.
The Japanese figures are plaster (or pumice?) on
a terracotta base with wire armature and
accessories
As can be seen in the above images, clay, plaster, terracotta or other low-fired earths have been used for vehicles, figurines and other toys over the years, and the cheap nature of both the material and the process leaves such materials ideal for craft work and local or vernacular toy production.
Factory-painted plaster-of-paris 'flat' tree,
and a fish-tankornament in a hardened plaster,
painted and weathered by the author
Returning to the clay bank at the back of our house to illustrate the point, rabbits, marbles, dinosaurs and dice are items I recall making. They inevitably failed as soon as we tried to play with them due to lack of mixing, had we pushed it through a sieve to get the lumps and twigs out and kneaded it a bit to get the air out; they may have been a tad more successful? Once, our mother put an item (small dinosaur) in the oven for 20 minutes or so and it did hang-around for a year or two, slowly loosing limbs like a careless zombie - one suspects all zombies are careless!
Chalkware polar bears, discoloured by the wax-finish
having reacted with dirt and the environment
having reacted with dirt and the environment
Larger objects made of plaster and plaster compositions, particularly animals such as the stylised, Art Deco bears, illustrated above, are known within the wider antiques and art trades as chalkware, American doll collectors use the same term for dolls made by companies like Gilespie.
As well as preventing the toys from suffering dents or crush-damage, the plaster also helps them to stand-up by weighing them.
Dough / Flour & Water Pastes
A - probably quite recent - group of Easter Bunnies
and a similar chick/duckling, in a dough-based composition
Another timeless material which is technically a composition, also it can be regarded as a thermo-set, due to the fact that you can cook it, although it can also be air-dried. And like the low-temperature fired-earths and plaster, is ideal for vernacular or 'craft' toy production.
Economic as a material and easily available, everywhere. Dough and bread wreaths and wall-hangings, keepsakes and fetishistic items are still made for festivals and community activities in various countries, and a flour-water paste is still used for hanging wall-paper is some parts of the world, mostly hotter, drier climes, as it will encourage.feed mould, in damp c;imates/conditions.
Baked as thick unleavened bread or to a biscuit-like constituency, and varnished, it can be as durable as any other composition, and if hung on the wall (as a lot of the larger items are designed to be) even air-dried dough creations can last decades or even centuries (if they're not found by weevils!).
It may even be correct to suggest that the existence of dough-craft, led to the later olin compositions, as it was a simple step-change to add materials to increase the durability of the objects. Toy-makers in Sonneburg, Germany using Brotteig, a rye-dough based material, to make dolls ('Motschmann body' or Sonneburg täuflinge dolls) as early as the 1800's, the subsequent additions of animal glues, plaster, sand and then saw-dust being added (in the same region) from the mid-century to arrive at the later olin compositions. Stephan Schilling being a well known Sonneburg doll-maker.
In Swabia Brotteig was made from a mixture of meal-flour, gum-tragacanth and sugar to produce a hard material once cooked (in moulds), which could then be painted, a few figures in this material are still to be seen in the collections at Kulmbach, between 4-6cm high they are from Peter III's collection and Garratt reports them having the sheen of porcelain.
My late father still had great-great Grandmother's wall plaque from Bavaria on the wall of the kitchen until quite recently (it may even be in a cupboard somewhere?), and while the strands of corn which were fixed to it after cooking (corn-dolly style) had mostly gone, or remained as tatty, grey 'hairs', the wreath-like rural scene was as fresh as the day it left the craft-shop that produced it (last time I saw it, about 11 [21] years ago); if indeed - it wasn't produced within the family?
Wax Dolls
Dolls - or representations of the human form for play - are as old as marbles and while wooden and cloth dolls were the norm, both fired and unfired clay figures - like marbles - go back to the pyramids.
Wax became a major manufacturing material for dolls in the late 18th Century (1700's) and to begin with was either poured into a mould or layered over papier mâché or composition 'formers', known as the Wax-over method. A third method was Reinforced wax, similar to the wax-over . . . apparently?
The benefit of using such an ephemeral material was that its softness meant it would take a lot more punishment than the porcelain or bisque that was the norm for doll's arms, legs and heads at that time, a slight knock could completely destroy a china doll's head, while the same knock would leave a wax head looking a little more 'lived in'.
Another benefit was the decoration; a china doll either needed firing, or would be left with decoration that would wear-off. With wax, the decoration on the face could be applied with artistry (and a fine brush!) and then glazed-over with an additional thin layer of wax. Equally the whole head could be subtlety tinted with oils, airbrushed (a mouth operated air-blower/pipe) to realistic, varying skin-tones. Modern artisan doll makers even use wax over porcelain specifically for is decorative properties.
Not that it was all benefits, the 'lived-in' rapidly became zombie-like levels of damage. Wax can be crushed or dented, scratched or nicked and will crack, flake, melt and discolour with dirt through handling or fade through the action of sunlight and the ultraviolet which is still such a problem with polymers. Pigments that weren't sealed with a thin layer of additional wax, or varnished; could wear-off as quickly as they could with bisque-china dolls.
As well as melting, both heat and cold will create problems and repeated temperature change will - over time - produce crazing on the surface of the wax which becomes more obvious as little sweaty or sticky fingers work dirt and dust into the fine cracks.
However, lots of wax dolls have survived, and - as with most toys - it's all down to how well loved and looked-after they were, how they were stored and how they were treated. Because wax is hard to mark, most manufacturers either didn't mark them or used paper labels which over the years (and century or more!) have often been lost.
Japan Wax
Japan Wax, is not a true beeswax or animal fat derivative, it's actually a compound pressed under heat and purified from plant berries as a by-product of the lacquer industry, specifically; species of sumac trees, better known in the west by their ornamental garden-shrub name 'Rhus' trees, such as; Toxicodendron vernicifluum (the 'Lacquer' tree) and Toxicodendron 'Rhus' succedanea (the Japanese Wax tree) native to China and Japan. Modern extraction involves solvents.
The initial material is sold in flat discs or square plates; it apparently smells a bit rancid in the raw state and is best described as dirty, sources describing it as (and Internet images showing it to be) brown, pale-yellow, greenish, grey or 'waxy' (greyish-white?) and it is water-insoluble with a gum-like feel.
After further processing it becomes a hard wax, basically a purified vegetable fat and can be used as a substitute beeswax in most applications; adhesives (hot glue guns), buffing compounds, candles, cosmetics, crayons, floor and furniture polishes, food packaging, metal lubricants (that white liquid used with lathes), ointments, pastels, pharmaceuticals, plasters, soaps, thermoplastic resins (where we encounter it again in the next section), varnishes, and the waxed survival matches we had in our ration-packs!
Obviously under 'wax' dolls, Japan wax in quantity would have been used for the poured and wax-over processes and as a lacquer/varnish dip; over decoration. Also as a lacquer or a thickening resin it would have been used with the composite materials more thought of by toy soldier collectors as 'composition' which we look at after a brief visit to Papier Mâché. Recipes for Japan wax compositions were as guarded as they would be for the olins.
Japan wax composition (as opposed to Japan wax as a 'wax') was used from the 1870's for dolls bodies for sometime before heads or head/body combinations. Because it's the head that determines the type-name of dolls for collectors, an 'olin' composition-bodied doll with a bisque head or an all-wax head will be called a bisque or wax doll, only when the heads became 'true' composition too, did they get the name.
Some dolls were then dipped in a glue/varnish with a pinkish tinge; a ". . . glutinous wash" to hide the raw material colour, give a flesh-tone to decorate and to achieve consistency in production, An American composition of the time (turn of the 20th century) consisted of a mixture of glue, glycerin, Japanese wax, and zinc oxide making it quite a pale whitish-grey material; you can imagine how it would have benefited from a pink dip!
Although modern artisan doll makers occasionally use wax, most wax dolls are now antiques.
Papier Mâché
Papier mâché rocks (or icebergs?) and cloth flag
on stick as supplied with an Elastolin play-set
Papier mâché is not - when discussing toys (dolls and puppets in the main) - the bucket of gloop you form at primary school or kindergarten from strips of newspaper mixed with flour and water or wall-paper paste, rather; it is a commercial material made either from pulped paper (that fluffy stuff you get in padded mailing envelopes) or plain paper/card sheets, which are mixed (pulp) or layered (sheets) with other pastes, sizes, oils or resins to form strong ['ish] composites which can be moulded or pressed into shape and decorated on a resulting - hopefully - hard wearing surface.
Papier mâché was used from the late 1700's for dolls, as a handmade 'craft' alongside wooden and rag-dolls. It came into its own as a commercial process once pressure moulding had been developed in Germany in the early to mid-19th century; this made for mass production as it sped-up the drying time by squeezing most of the moisture out, and allowed for batch-painting as each item was similar to the others.
Before the advent of pressure moulding papier mâché would have had a former of wood to give it some shape, after pressure moulding had been developed papier mâché itself was used as the former for wax-head dolls before the widespread use of more complicated compositions. The material lost ground to china dolls and then true compositions.
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Although the waffle above might give you the impression wax dolls had become a major force or replaced bisque, it in fact only took a minority portion of the doll market due to its inherent frangibility, and it wasn't until the advent of what I call 'true composition' that the bisque dolls took a back seat (although like wax; artisan or 'collectors' fashion dolls are still made in fine porcelains).
True or Olin Composition (my term)
In part I’ve used ‘Olin’ because so many of the makers use it or similar sounding syllables as suffixes to their brands, and partly as a nod to oleoresin, a purified pine-sap/resin used, as a form of wax, for aromatic candles in China and the Far East, and as one of the elasticisers in compositions.
Elastolin/Layla Easter set of rabbits at lessons or
Sunday school, with a Hansel & Gretel and
the wicked witch from Lineol.
With olin compositions slowly developing from the dough and Japan Wax based compositions, it's hard to put dates to the developments, and while 'composition' dolls had been manufactured in Europe from the 1850's, these would have been the former recipes; the thermo-set/hot-press wood-linseed types, coming at the end of the century.
However, the firm credited with 'inventing' composition elsewhere (away from toys) is a British company; George Jackson Ltd., who produced a fine, smooth, putty-like composition ('Compo') from the 1780's to make delicate but tough mouldings to enhance plaster detailing, picture frames and wooden architectural features, they are still going to this day. And it can be assumed some toy-makers' would have used this material outside the more accepted dates.
Where fine 'compo' differs greatly from the compositions used in toy manufacture is that the toy men added bulkers like saw-dust to reduce the cost of the raw material. A Georgian gent won't perhaps quibble too much about a few guineas of extra's if the architect tells him they're 'essential' given the fashions of the day, but a Victorian child only has a penny or two, and will be very discerning where he spends it, or what on!
Marketed as unbreakable in the US they were actually late to the party (and the materials were just as prone to damage as any other!) with hot-press moulding taking hold in around 1920. However dolls were following toy soldiers on this one, with the first 'olin composition figures being made in Austria at the end of the 19th Century while the doll production is dated to approximately 1910. Cold-press production is claimed to have been invented by a Solomon D. Horsman in the 1890's in the 'States, however it was older in Europe.
To be fair both fields (dolls and soldiers) moved ahead at the same speed, learning off each other (Hausser having both a toy soldier arm - Elastolin - and a doll department) and the heyday of both composition toy soldiers and dolls on both side of the Atlantic was the 1920's to the 1940's.
Elastolin and Lineol badgers;
the Lineol is the smaller
the Lineol is the smaller
The Americans began using sawdust or wood-flour compositions in around 1915, the First World War helping break the back of the German domination of the toy industry everywhere. While the Germans would get back a lot of their market-share between the wars, particularly in tin-plate, the Americans would become the 'main men' for dolls - a lead they would hold on to, through the change to plastics. Composition in all forms had had its day by the early 1950's. The exception being the odd reproduction or 'art' doll aimed at adult collectors with deep pockets.
As far as dolls went these new compositions were heavier than both bisque and papier mâché so would take more punishment, but the toy soldiers were lighter than the solids of Hyde and co. so would take less, although their heads didn't fall-off with the monotonous regularity of Britains hollow-casts which - my mother reported - "All had a matchstick down their necks" (to hold the separated head on) before the Christmas following the one at which they were presented!
Elastolin bears from the 1930's
While the toy soldiers, farm and zoo animals were all-composition, albeit with inset wire armatures, or metal gun-barrels, early dolls has composition heads, hands and feet with stuffed arms and legs, sometimes the torso too would be stuffed. The hands and feet being open to greater levels of realism than the porcelain or bisque dolls that pre-dated them, which had stuffed extremities. Eventually some doll makers too, moved to an all-composition format.
Dolls were made by American, English, French, German and Japanese doll makers, while the toy soldiers remained more a European phenomena with Belgian, French German, Italian and Spanish makers; Britain wouldn't have notable domestic production until the 1940's, while South American branches of Spanish toy makers sent a few marching up to the States. Once the new toys had taken off though; the main brands (Elasolin and Lineol) would be shipped to both Britain and the US in large quantities, until the next war came along!
The standard mix at this time (1910-1940's) was the dung-brown mix of wood-flour or saw-dust, Linseed oil and - probably animal - glue. This was thermo-set in a heated low-pressure mould, in the case of toy animals and figures and some dolls arms and legs; over a wire armature.
Comparison between Lineol WWI'ish
field officer and Elastolin WWII paratrooper
One of the problems with the earlier forms of these mixes was their propensity to shrink and deform as they dried, due to the fact that a lot of the earlier compositions were water based, or water-heavy. This was cured at the turn of the 20th century by adding powders of a more stable nature to bulk-out the composite mixture such as kaolin clay, and by using liquid resins and oils that chemically 'dried', such as the linseed oil, rather than the evaporation drying of water-based mixes.
Linseed oil is a vegetable oil processed from the flax plant (Linum usitatissimum), flax oil can be used in the food industry, linseed oil can't; the processing making it unfit for consumption.
The real beauty of linseed oil as far as toy manufacturers were concerned is that one of its properties is in being a 'drying oil'. That is; as it dries it polymerises to become a solid with strength and elasticity, and was/is therefore used in artists tube oil paints, window-putty (a chalk-based composition itself), varnish etc...It was also used to manufacture Linoleum ('lino') flooring (another composition; with wood-dust and cork granules) and therefore, eventually, as we've seen, for toys.
Also the process was helped by replacing the old hard plaster moulds (Hydrocal in the 'States) with bronze moulds which could take higher pressures in the moulding stage and higher temperatures in the curing/drying stages.
Not that the problem was ever wholly solved, the uneven bases of both European 'olins and British pumice figures is testament to the contraction inherent in removing fluids from pastes to create dry-solids.
The toy firm of O&M (Otto and Max) Hausser in Ludwigsberg, Germany would become the most well-known of the European composition figure makers, beginning with large size (100-140mm) figures and animals in around 1904, they had by 1912 established the brand-name Elastolin [Darbyshire states; 1926? Other sources; 'from the beginning'] for their figures and introduced the 70mm range they would become best known for between the wars.
In 1925 [Garratt via-Polaine states; 1904?] they bought the rival Austrian firm of Pfeiffer (Emil), who had been using this type of composition since 1889 (when they are credited - by some in the toy soldier collecting community - of having invented it, which they hadn't) under the Tipple-Topple brand. The purchase included the Czechoslovakian subsidiary Durolin [Garratt and others give 1936 for this act] which gave Elastolin a major share of the market. Production was moved to Neustadt in Germany.
Plug-in heads helped with moulding (allowing for more dynamic poses and detail) and while they were usually of the same material, there was a latter higher-priced range of mostly Axis leaders and commanders produced with porcelain heads which are now very sought-after. The range of available sizes expanded with 40mm figures made of the commoner poses from the 70mm range, and 30mm civilians produced for model railway layouts
Figure production was halted for the war effort in 1943, and wasn't restarted until after de-Nazification in '47. The composition range from that date being mostly animals, civilian subjects or a range of Swiss troops. Composition was finally dropped completely from the 1967 catalogue, polystyrene having been phased-in as a replacement material from the Wild West figures first advertised in 1955.
Their great rivals were Lineol, founded by Oskar Wiederholz in 1905, in Brandenburg, Prussia, they produced a similar range of figures in similar sizes and the same dung-brown olin composition until the mid 1960's.
Production was halted by the war in 1942 and seems to have restarted in 1949 when falling under the shadow of the East German VEB system, they were nationalised and moved to Dresden. By the end they only produced heavy rubber figures as VEB-Lineol-Plastik, the trademark was recently purchased by Gert Duscha Modellspielwaren, who have produced a small number of the old animal sculpts in poured-resin.
Farm and zoo animal collectors rate Lineol's production in four ages of fifteen, ten, ten and fifteen years respectively, drawing a line after 1965. Considered the better maker; Lineol tend to oblong or square bases as opposed to Elastolin's round/ovoid ones, and while most later examples from both companies are marked on the undersides, early figures, larger scale figures and some export stuff is unmarked, or - in the UK/US - marked 'Foreign'.
Pumice used to be believed (by some in the UK - including me!) to be almost 'confined' to the UK, but research for this page has shown me (what others must have known) that both the 'States and Japan were using pumice-type (gritty or bisque-like) composition, along with some French and minor European makes long before the UK's little flurry of activity with it, although - in the case of the French (and US) and others: it's probably a gypsum plaster, or kaolin-heavy mixture, that looks/feels like pumice?
This belief promulgated despite that fact that it was probably the most successful version, a suggestion backed up by the fact that pumice is still being explored by industry with a view to making water-proof insulating materials, porcelain replacements/additives, and/or other commercial/industrial applications.
It's not too clear how the history of this material panned-out in the UK and it seems to depend who you're talking to or which book/webpage you're reading. What is clear is that at some point in the 1940's a few UK companies experimented with the fine, pale-grey composition based on powdered pumice as the main/bulk ingredient.
Although - having said that; the Japanese compositions look as if they might be using pumice as well (they've got plenty of it!), and as the products of Trico (and others?) pre-date the UK scene, it may well be where we got the idea from, if not the recipe?
A company called Brent - who used the trade name Elastolene clearly to generate confusion with the German Elastolin, in the hope of some customer poaching - produced farm figures and 'combat infantry' types, I suspect during the Second World War. The khaki figures use picture-frame nails as weapon barrels and MG-stands, and depict the type of uniform used in the 1930's and by the BEF and early Home Guard.
Some sources state that Timpo then bought the remains of the Brent concern and renamed the material Timpolin, yet most people agree that Zang made the figures supplied to Timpo? So did Timpo hand the work to Zang, or did Zang offer their services while the wartime restrictions were in place?
Other sources state this was all happening after the war (Brent), during the war (Timpo) or 1946/7 (Zang for Timpo and Rob Toys). It seems to me that wartime production by all was most likely, due to the metal privations, and the fact that by the mid 50's they were all either making hollow-casts (Timpo), experimenting with plastic (Timpo and Zang), or had gone-bust (Brent).
Also the process was helped by replacing the old hard plaster moulds (Hydrocal in the 'States) with bronze moulds which could take higher pressures in the moulding stage and higher temperatures in the curing/drying stages.
Not that the problem was ever wholly solved, the uneven bases of both European 'olins and British pumice figures is testament to the contraction inherent in removing fluids from pastes to create dry-solids.
Hausser-Elastolin and Lineol
Mixed group of Elastolin and Lineol figures in various sizes from
40 to 90 millimetres
The toy firm of O&M (Otto and Max) Hausser in Ludwigsberg, Germany would become the most well-known of the European composition figure makers, beginning with large size (100-140mm) figures and animals in around 1904, they had by 1912 established the brand-name Elastolin [Darbyshire states; 1926? Other sources; 'from the beginning'] for their figures and introduced the 70mm range they would become best known for between the wars.
In 1925 [Garratt via-Polaine states; 1904?] they bought the rival Austrian firm of Pfeiffer (Emil), who had been using this type of composition since 1889 (when they are credited - by some in the toy soldier collecting community - of having invented it, which they hadn't) under the Tipple-Topple brand. The purchase included the Czechoslovakian subsidiary Durolin [Garratt and others give 1936 for this act] which gave Elastolin a major share of the market. Production was moved to Neustadt in Germany.
Later, marked, Elastolin polar-bear
Plug-in heads helped with moulding (allowing for more dynamic poses and detail) and while they were usually of the same material, there was a latter higher-priced range of mostly Axis leaders and commanders produced with porcelain heads which are now very sought-after. The range of available sizes expanded with 40mm figures made of the commoner poses from the 70mm range, and 30mm civilians produced for model railway layouts
Large-scale Elastolin Arctic Expedition set
Figure production was halted for the war effort in 1943, and wasn't restarted until after de-Nazification in '47. The composition range from that date being mostly animals, civilian subjects or a range of Swiss troops. Composition was finally dropped completely from the 1967 catalogue, polystyrene having been phased-in as a replacement material from the Wild West figures first advertised in 1955.
Traversing (with fixed elevation) Lineol
'Model No 7140 - Liechte FlaK 20mm' Light Flak Gun
circa 1938, with integral operator
'Model No 7140 - Liechte FlaK 20mm' Light Flak Gun
circa 1938, with integral operator
Their great rivals were Lineol, founded by Oskar Wiederholz in 1905, in Brandenburg, Prussia, they produced a similar range of figures in similar sizes and the same dung-brown olin composition until the mid 1960's.
Production was halted by the war in 1942 and seems to have restarted in 1949 when falling under the shadow of the East German VEB system, they were nationalised and moved to Dresden. By the end they only produced heavy rubber figures as VEB-Lineol-Plastik, the trademark was recently purchased by Gert Duscha Modellspielwaren, who have produced a small number of the old animal sculpts in poured-resin.
Farm and zoo animal collectors rate Lineol's production in four ages of fifteen, ten, ten and fifteen years respectively, drawing a line after 1965. Considered the better maker; Lineol tend to oblong or square bases as opposed to Elastolin's round/ovoid ones, and while most later examples from both companies are marked on the undersides, early figures, larger scale figures and some export stuff is unmarked, or - in the UK/US - marked 'Foreign'.
Pumice in the UK
Pumice used to be believed (by some in the UK - including me!) to be almost 'confined' to the UK, but research for this page has shown me (what others must have known) that both the 'States and Japan were using pumice-type (gritty or bisque-like) composition, along with some French and minor European makes long before the UK's little flurry of activity with it, although - in the case of the French (and US) and others: it's probably a gypsum plaster, or kaolin-heavy mixture, that looks/feels like pumice?
This belief promulgated despite that fact that it was probably the most successful version, a suggestion backed up by the fact that pumice is still being explored by industry with a view to making water-proof insulating materials, porcelain replacements/additives, and/or other commercial/industrial applications.
British (and other) composition, a Brent farmer with 3 of the
smaller-sized 'combat infantry'; top-left. Below them
are Bell and TAG soldiers and an English Civil War
type which is probably Herbert Hahn from Germany.
Top-right are Zang for Timpo and the netzuke-like
monkey is of unknown origin.
It's not too clear how the history of this material panned-out in the UK and it seems to depend who you're talking to or which book/webpage you're reading. What is clear is that at some point in the 1940's a few UK companies experimented with the fine, pale-grey composition based on powdered pumice as the main/bulk ingredient.
Although - having said that; the Japanese compositions look as if they might be using pumice as well (they've got plenty of it!), and as the products of Trico (and others?) pre-date the UK scene, it may well be where we got the idea from, if not the recipe?
A company called Brent - who used the trade name Elastolene clearly to generate confusion with the German Elastolin, in the hope of some customer poaching - produced farm figures and 'combat infantry' types, I suspect during the Second World War. The khaki figures use picture-frame nails as weapon barrels and MG-stands, and depict the type of uniform used in the 1930's and by the BEF and early Home Guard.
Some sources state that Timpo then bought the remains of the Brent concern and renamed the material Timpolin, yet most people agree that Zang made the figures supplied to Timpo? So did Timpo hand the work to Zang, or did Zang offer their services while the wartime restrictions were in place?
Zang for Timpo mechanics, note the metal
Timpo replacement figure; bottom-left
Other sources state this was all happening after the war (Brent), during the war (Timpo) or 1946/7 (Zang for Timpo and Rob Toys). It seems to me that wartime production by all was most likely, due to the metal privations, and the fact that by the mid 50's they were all either making hollow-casts (Timpo), experimenting with plastic (Timpo and Zang), or had gone-bust (Brent).
The modern-collector's 'accepted dates' will be based on catalogues or Industrial/Toy Exhibitions which naturally came after the war, leaving a loaded trail of 'empirical evidence' for figures which must have been aimed at providing [affordable] gifts during the privations of war time restrictions and rationing?
I would further suggest that Timpo probably produced the larger figures of servicemen during the war, and handed production to the fledgling Zang as the war ended, when they (Timpo) switched to hot-lead production, and gave Zang a further leg-up by commissioning the smaller composition figures for their slush-cast vehicle and solid lead aeroplane sets.
In his book 'Toy Soldiers' Joplin mentions a forth company, Toydell (as his third of three!) making in plaster/composition in the UK, while Bell, also experimented with the pumice material, producing a set of figures similar to the standing helmeted infantryman of Zang/Timpo.
A selection of Timpo, Zang and Zang-for-Timpo figures
(Bottom-left corner image courtesy;
the late Dave Scrivener)
At this year's [umpteen years ago now!] Plastic Warrior show someone mentioned a sixth company in conversation but I didn't note it down at the time and have forgotten the name! [Was it you? Drop me an eMail please!] I have a generic Renault FT (FT-17) type tank in a slush-cast form (hollow) with bead-wheels in glass or a hard Bakelite type material on wire axles which is in a pinkish pumice, around 1:60th scale and airbrushed, it would seem to point to an seventh company, I think might be Biscaloid?
I also know of a eighth British firm; Plastoline (manufacturing with Plastacine) making little Nazi vignettes and single figures, which were sold (or prepared for sale) in hand-written boxes (but they are someone else's 'exclusive'!), and have an advancing British-made (T.A.G.) soldier with a heavy Elastolin-like oval base also made of pumice.
James Opie's new book (Collecting Toy Soldiers in the 21st Century) seems to have an ninth maker's figure on page 177 (picture 212), being a dime-store style with something of the Bell figures about it yet with a more toy-like decoration.
So it would seem that for a while, sometime between say 1938 as an 'earliest' and 1954 as the 'latest' there was a little explosion in British companies (and I'll say here; a minimum of 10 [see listing now added below] reletively prolific companies, not a total) using these Elastolene/Timpolin materials, the majority of the producers probably flourishing within a 'long decade' of around 1939-1952? Joplin reports Toydell as selling in the early 1950's and Timpo transport sets may have carried the 40mm Zang figurines until a similar date?
With JG Garratt listing eight makers in his encyclopaedia's appendix (The World Encyclopaedia of Model Solders, Pub; Fredrick Muller, 1981, pp203) and mentioning a couple more in the text, only some of which are referred to above, there were actually more than 14 known or unknown British composition producers/experimenters, using either pumice or chalk/plaster (the plaster users tend to be later 'artisan' outfits - 1960's and '70's) to manufacture toy figures, mostly military, with commercial intent, all in the 20th Century.
Although Garratt is not the best source of research in this area as he refers to everything as 'plaster' or 'plaster composition', and doesn't differentiate between the 'olins and either pumice or true gypsum plasters...or chalk for that matter! AND...he sometimes talks of polystyrene as 'plastic composition'...a complete no-no!
There were - as seen above - large ranges of domestic and wild animals in several scales made of the linseed/wood flour type compositions by Elastolin, Lineol, Marolin and others. Plaster animals have also been made, including quite recently, while home casting sets are still part of the 'craft' range of several toy companies. Doll's house pets were sometimes manufactured in composition, simpler shapes would be plaster; cats and dogs curled-up asleep by the fireside and so on.
Other areas where composition was used was in doll's house accessories and the accessories for toy soldiers (which are an obvious part of the figure range), aside from the pets mentioned above, these tend to include the more 'solid' items (without hollows or undercuts), such as plates of food, cakes (on wooden stands), lidded pots and pans, radio-sets and such-like. Zang (for Timpo) for instance, made the above oil cabinet for their petrol station forecourt set which was sold with cast-lead petrol-pumps.
Dough and Brotteig have been covered above, but other composition materials tend to edibleness, and while we have looked at Jellies on the home-blog occasionally, a recent trend in Christmas cake decorations has been in solid 'sugar-craft' (basically 'Royal icing') figures, which resemble the old chalkware figures, but are 100% edible, although I wouldn't recommend eating them - they are as solid as rock!
This is not however a whollory new thing, Garratt reports an article on the Great Exhibition of 1851 telling of "nothing but marvels, including an assortment of toys made of sugar by [a] Froeglen". While I'm sure we have all seen figural sugar-candy lollipops, or other moulded 'sweets' during our lifetimes.
Another edible composition (and thermo-set!) is gingerbread and while we all know the little flat, biscuit people, other more formal figurines have been made from it in a more dough-craft fashion, particularly on the continent.
Nicollieri (via Garratt) also mentions a Luci Delarue-Mardrus making civilian (and occasional military) figurines from candlegrease which Garratt finds strange, but which must be similar to other waxes, as far as working-with goes?
A large model probbaly with a chunk of roughly shaped wood at its core, it's then build up with something unknown (composition, compacted horsehair, terracotta?) which is then covered in steam-stretched kid leather or fine suede, detailed with paint, given a string-tail, and it originally had separate ears, finely stiched in which have been 'played-off'. It looks a bit like a hippopotamus but I think it's meant to be a bear?
As compositions became thermo-setting, so understanding of long-chain polymers lead to the thermosets, a group of phenolic plastics of the Bakelite variety, these led to modern thermo-form plastics - lightweight and durable products which could be pushed out of a machine in tens of thousands of units per week, if not; per day.
The Germans were using polystyrene for winter-relief and war-bond tokens by 1941, the Americans would phase composition out of doll production by the end of the '40's and after the war (which accelerated the use of synthetics through necessity), synthetic plastics quickly replaced composition as a material of choice for mass-production; the last products in linseed compositions - as mentioned above - being removed from Elastolin's catalogue in 1967, while in the UK Zang's production of Timpolene had probably been wound-up by around 1955/60?
By 1960 most figures (not made of white metals) and all dolls were being made of Polyethylene, Polystyrene or PVC (vinyl).
Bell figure on the left, Tag on the right with
a close-up of the base
So it would seem that for a while, sometime between say 1938 as an 'earliest' and 1954 as the 'latest' there was a little explosion in British companies (and I'll say here; a minimum of 10 [see listing now added below] reletively prolific companies, not a total) using these Elastolene/Timpolin materials, the majority of the producers probably flourishing within a 'long decade' of around 1939-1952? Joplin reports Toydell as selling in the early 1950's and Timpo transport sets may have carried the 40mm Zang figurines until a similar date?
With JG Garratt listing eight makers in his encyclopaedia's appendix (The World Encyclopaedia of Model Solders, Pub; Fredrick Muller, 1981, pp203) and mentioning a couple more in the text, only some of which are referred to above, there were actually more than 14 known or unknown British composition producers/experimenters, using either pumice or chalk/plaster (the plaster users tend to be later 'artisan' outfits - 1960's and '70's) to manufacture toy figures, mostly military, with commercial intent, all in the 20th Century.
Although Garratt is not the best source of research in this area as he refers to everything as 'plaster' or 'plaster composition', and doesn't differentiate between the 'olins and either pumice or true gypsum plasters...or chalk for that matter! AND...he sometimes talks of polystyrene as 'plastic composition'...a complete no-no!
Other Toys
Unknown - possibly British made 'Biscaloid' - Renault FT17 tank
of the WWI/inter-war era in a pinky-mauve
pumice with hidden bead wheels
of the WWI/inter-war era in a pinky-mauve
pumice with hidden bead wheels
Other areas where composition was used was in doll's house accessories and the accessories for toy soldiers (which are an obvious part of the figure range), aside from the pets mentioned above, these tend to include the more 'solid' items (without hollows or undercuts), such as plates of food, cakes (on wooden stands), lidded pots and pans, radio-sets and such-like. Zang (for Timpo) for instance, made the above oil cabinet for their petrol station forecourt set which was sold with cast-lead petrol-pumps.
Other Materials
Figural soap by Cussons of Davy Crockett licensed
from a Disney movie. Note how the illustrated
musket becomes a hand-gun due to the
limitations of the material
(I suspect this is a home-paint)
(I suspect this is a home-paint)
The properties of soap (and possibly some of the ingredients?) are very similar to wax, and therefore the limitations are too, so soap figurals (and most of the stuff in this section) tends to a chunkiness or solidity bestowed upon it/them by the need to remain in one piece until the consumer has got it home and used it at least once!
Soap has a long tradition of appearing as figural novelties, I well remember as kids we had a long string of bears, rabbits, the above-illustrated Magic Roundabout characters, Sooty, Thunderbirds, just about anything issued in breakfast cereal as a premium figure would eventually also turn-up as a soap, soap-on-a-rope, or, for than mater, eraser/pencil rubber, pencil top, cake decoration, shaped bubble-bath bottle or plastic toothbrush finial, or any other novelty you can think of!
This is not however a whollory new thing, Garratt reports an article on the Great Exhibition of 1851 telling of "nothing but marvels, including an assortment of toys made of sugar by [a] Froeglen". While I'm sure we have all seen figural sugar-candy lollipops, or other moulded 'sweets' during our lifetimes.
Another edible composition (and thermo-set!) is gingerbread and while we all know the little flat, biscuit people, other more formal figurines have been made from it in a more dough-craft fashion, particularly on the continent.
Nicollieri (via Garratt) also mentions a Luci Delarue-Mardrus making civilian (and occasional military) figurines from candlegrease which Garratt finds strange, but which must be similar to other waxes, as far as working-with goes?
'Composite'
Composites
are pretty-much exclusively a 'craft' activity, the effort going into them,
against the quality of the finish meaning a profitable living is hard to obtain
at scale. However some composites (some of the animals below) can achieve both
a high quality of finish and fetched a high price when sold as high-end
accessories for the dolls houses of the rich, say?
Possibly vaguely contemporary, these Indian (or Asian - at least) animal figurines are wooden with a thick application of some kind of gesso or size, to smooth-out the contours/hide joins/joints, and are then further enhanced with wire beaks and tails, and tin webbed-feet or tails, as such they are nice - if diminutive - examples of composite toys.
Homemade (?) figurine, probably - originally - manning an oar and made from twisted (par-boiled) cloth, stiffened with an impregnation of a plaster/glue compound of some kind. When I say 'homemade' it could have a craft-commerciality as a tourist trinket (North Africa?) or be from a marine model, possibly a Napoleonic French POW thing, or equally, quite recent?
Basically a composition leopard, he has a more complicated armature, with pin-and-socket moving limbs and his twisted-cord tail earned him a place in this section!
Little Bo Peep had a real-wool sheep! Probably Edwardian toy with a composition body, wood-splint legs and a little red ribbon, the wool is flocking, but flocking with long-filament, curly, wool material!
This one is interesting as it appears to be hollow, or part-hollow, the mark on the belly (where the hollowness is revealed) being the equivalent of a glass pontil-mark or plastic gate-mark, created where the stretched suede was gathered and twisted, to pull the material tight on the body to dry before the excess 'bunching' was cut-off and heat-ironed back. Legs are flexible mild steel wire and real fur has been used on the mane.
The bear-potamus and his friends, they are quite large (around 1:24th scale) and obviously from a Victorian or Edwardian zoo set. All beautifully decorated and with cord tails and wooden legs (zebra) the composition bodies and real skin coverings, make them 'composites'.
From the
turn of the last century we have a pretty extreme form of composite toy here
from William Britains' novelty-toy
department, with lead, brass, wood and tin all brought together in one
plaything, but by that measure, a lot of toys including most modern toys of any
ingenuity or complication are to be considered 'composite'!
The End
As compositions became thermo-setting, so understanding of long-chain polymers lead to the thermosets, a group of phenolic plastics of the Bakelite variety, these led to modern thermo-form plastics - lightweight and durable products which could be pushed out of a machine in tens of thousands of units per week, if not; per day.
The Germans were using polystyrene for winter-relief and war-bond tokens by 1941, the Americans would phase composition out of doll production by the end of the '40's and after the war (which accelerated the use of synthetics through necessity), synthetic plastics quickly replaced composition as a material of choice for mass-production; the last products in linseed compositions - as mentioned above - being removed from Elastolin's catalogue in 1967, while in the UK Zang's production of Timpolene had probably been wound-up by around 1955/60?
By 1960 most figures (not made of white metals) and all dolls were being made of Polyethylene, Polystyrene or PVC (vinyl).
Celluloid being the exception as its use for cheap toys, mostly from Japan ran parallel with true compositions for most of the earlier half of the 20th century, but continued into the 1970's for some toys, accessories (drivers, pilots, astronauts) for tin-plate toys and touristy items. And - mentally returning to the top of the page - some of the larger figures in the thin celluloid were rendered more durable by being filled with a chalk or pumice 'cement' paste.
However, composition didn't entirely die, as both kaolin clay and zinc oxide are used to this day in both ceramics and the rubber industry, while terracotta is still used for touristy items such as the Spanish Gendarme/Militiaman (with card hat, above) and French Santons.
And as there are no straight lines of demarcation in materials science, no 'black and white', just as I've included plaster and clay here under compositions instead of on the ceramics page, so I will put cold-cast bronze (a powdered-bronze and resin 'composition') on the metals page. Cold-cast bronze is also still with us today. In the same vein; thermoset plastics are close to late compositions, and are still with us - mostly as domestic electrical fittings - but will be on a future polymers page.
The real problem with all forms of composite materials is moisture. Humidity (dampness) or actual water will penetrate most compositions and do irreversible damage. Clays, Papier Mâché, and most of the bulking agents will soak-up moisture and expand, break down, crumble or mould. Wire armatures rust and expand; cracking and pushing the covering material off in chunks. Water-based glues and paints will soften, run, fade or - again - mould.
We've already looked at the damage temperature change can do to wax, and it will do similar damage to all sorts of compositions, the constant expanding and contracting will lead to cracking and crumbling of the denser materials, and crazing of the surfaces of the more flexible materials, leading to the fine lines in varnish, waxes or paints as they expand or contract at different rates, which then exposes the materials below and accelerates the decline.
Light crazing will be acceptable to doll collectors, as, due to their size they nearly all have it, but with toy soldiers the collector is looking for perfect examples. Once crazing has become flaking, lifting or peeling it's probably too far gone.
Extreme damage due to direct sunlight and heat (such as leaving it on a window-sill) can include blisters, blotchiness or even stains caused by oil or resin residues leaching out. Sunlight will also lead to bleaching of dyes, paints and pigments.
Adtocolite - Smooth, lightweight hot-pressed composition (US, 1916 patent to Aetna)
Alabaster - A compact and fine-grained variety of gypsum
'Alabaster' - Nickname for dolls heads in plaster of Paris
Animal Glue - Hide, hoof, horn and milk (casein) by-products
Bakelite [see polymer page]
Biscaloid (also Biscoloid and Bisculoid) - Composition (probably pumice-based) which mimicked Bisque
Bisque [see ceramic page . . . when it's published!]
Bisque Finish - American marketing jargon for composition (see also; Newbisc)
Bisquette - Durable composition material
Brotteig - Collective term for a number of German bread-flour based composition (Brott = Bread)
However, composition didn't entirely die, as both kaolin clay and zinc oxide are used to this day in both ceramics and the rubber industry, while terracotta is still used for touristy items such as the Spanish Gendarme/Militiaman (with card hat, above) and French Santons.
And as there are no straight lines of demarcation in materials science, no 'black and white', just as I've included plaster and clay here under compositions instead of on the ceramics page, so I will put cold-cast bronze (a powdered-bronze and resin 'composition') on the metals page. Cold-cast bronze is also still with us today. In the same vein; thermoset plastics are close to late compositions, and are still with us - mostly as domestic electrical fittings - but will be on a future polymers page.
Problems
Unknown composition Tiger, showing how the rusty
armature has started to push 'scabs' of
material off both the left-hand shins.
The real problem with all forms of composite materials is moisture. Humidity (dampness) or actual water will penetrate most compositions and do irreversible damage. Clays, Papier Mâché, and most of the bulking agents will soak-up moisture and expand, break down, crumble or mould. Wire armatures rust and expand; cracking and pushing the covering material off in chunks. Water-based glues and paints will soften, run, fade or - again - mould.
We've already looked at the damage temperature change can do to wax, and it will do similar damage to all sorts of compositions, the constant expanding and contracting will lead to cracking and crumbling of the denser materials, and crazing of the surfaces of the more flexible materials, leading to the fine lines in varnish, waxes or paints as they expand or contract at different rates, which then exposes the materials below and accelerates the decline.
Light crazing will be acceptable to doll collectors, as, due to their size they nearly all have it, but with toy soldiers the collector is looking for perfect examples. Once crazing has become flaking, lifting or peeling it's probably too far gone.
Extreme damage due to direct sunlight and heat (such as leaving it on a window-sill) can include blisters, blotchiness or even stains caused by oil or resin residues leaching out. Sunlight will also lead to bleaching of dyes, paints and pigments.
Glossery
(Trademarks/names in italics)
Adtocolite - Smooth, lightweight hot-pressed composition (US, 1916 patent to Aetna)
Alabaster - A compact and fine-grained variety of gypsum
'Alabaster' - Nickname for dolls heads in plaster of Paris
Animal Glue - Hide, hoof, horn and milk (casein) by-products
Bakelite [see polymer page]
Biscaloid (also Biscoloid and Bisculoid) - Composition (probably pumice-based) which mimicked Bisque
Bisque [see ceramic page . . . when it's published!]
Bisque Finish - American marketing jargon for composition (see also; Newbisc)
Bisquette - Durable composition material
Brotteig - Collective term for a number of German bread-flour based composition (Brott = Bread)
Cataloy Paste - A modern composition paste made from powdered polyester (PE) resin, talcum powder and powdered slate.
Cartapesta - Italian for papier mâché
Carton Comprimé - Alternative French phrase for papier mâché
Casein - Animal glue and/or binder derived from milk (as a composition ingredient - not to be confused with the separate polymerised casein-based polymer also called 'casein')
Ceiba - Alternate name for Kapok
Chalk - Apart from the material itself; a nickname for kaolin clay
Chalkies / Chalkys - Marbles made of a fine unglazed white material
Chalkware - Antiques-trade term for plaster animals, larger figurines and objects' d'art
China Clay - Another name for kaolin, the rock/strata rich in kaolinite
China Green Tallow - Another name for Japanese Wax
Composite - Made of different materials either side-by-side or as a mixture (composition)
Composition - Any paste/pulp and oil/glue toy or household furnishing material
Comp. / Compo. - General - Short-forms for composition
Carton Comprimé - Alternative French phrase for papier mâché
Casein - Animal glue and/or binder derived from milk (as a composition ingredient - not to be confused with the separate polymerised casein-based polymer also called 'casein')
Ceiba - Alternate name for Kapok
Chalk - Apart from the material itself; a nickname for kaolin clay
Chalkies / Chalkys - Marbles made of a fine unglazed white material
Chalkware - Antiques-trade term for plaster animals, larger figurines and objects' d'art
China Clay - Another name for kaolin, the rock/strata rich in kaolinite
China Green Tallow - Another name for Japanese Wax
Composite - Made of different materials either side-by-side or as a mixture (composition)
Composition - Any paste/pulp and oil/glue toy or household furnishing material
Comp. / Compo. - General - Short-forms for composition
Compo - Specicfic - Fine modelling material invented by George Jackson Ltd., in the 1780's
Crazing - Small cracks in the surface of old, stressed compositionDoughies / Doughys - marbles made of dough-coloured clay or earthenware
Durolin - Sawdust and linseed oil (subsidiary of Pfeiffer, bought by Hausser)
Dursolite - Olin composition (trade-mark of Durso)
Elastolene
- Pumice and unknown glue (Britain, trademark of Brent), not to be confused with Storey Brothers trademarked Plastolene; a Terylene-based polymer.
Elastolin - Sawdust and linseed oil (Germany, trade-mark of Hausser)GESSO / Gesso - A fine-grade plaster used as a finishing surface for painting
Glazing/Glazer's Putty - A fine composition made from chalk powder and linseed oil
Glycerin / Glycerine / Glycerol - Synthetic or natural viscous sugar-alcohol (polyol) compound, a non-toxic, viscous liquid, soluble in water, used as a binder in compositions, it is still used widely in pharmaceuticals and recently found a new niche in vape juice. Glycerin 'tempers' the other glues in the paste, so it can be worked wet, yet set hard
Hairline Crack - The faint trace of a crack which has yet to separate fully
Holzmaché - General - Another German term for olin type composition, literally; 'Wood Paste'
Holzmaché - Specific - Modern craft composition, ready mixed (Nerchau product)
Horn [see polymer page]
Hydrocal - Lightweight, very dense plaster (trademark of Gypsum Corporation)
Ivorite - Painted clay like material (patented to Rite Speciality Company)
Ivorene [see polymer page]
Japan Tallow - Another name for Japanese Wax
Japan Wax / Japanese Wax - Compound made from the sap of various species of Rhus tree
Java cotton / Java kapok - Alternate terms for kapok
JCB - Abbreviation for; Jointed Composition Body (doll type)
Kaolin - Rock/Strata rich in Kaolinite, as a purified powder it is still the main ingredient in porcelain, it is also found in toothpaste, incandescent light-bulbs, cosmetics, to reinforce natural and synthetic rubbers, modifying adhesives and in paints. It was a major ingredient in some compositions
Kaolinite - Layered-silicate clay mineral
Kapok - Seed-fluff of the Ceiba Pentandra tree of the Americas, used for stuffing and padding
Lignite - Decayed vegetation, sometimes used as a binder in composition
Lineol - Sawdust and linseed oil
Linseed Oil - Processed oil extracted from the Flax plant (flax oil is edible, linseed oil isn't)
Lyxhayr - Chemically treated non-flammable vegetable fiber (UK)
Marilin - Papier mâché predecessor of Marolin by the same firm
Marolin - Sawdust and linseed oil (previously; Marilin)
Masse - German for composition
Milliner's Model - Type of US papier mâché doll from the 1840-60's
Milvex - Modern composition developed for restoration and reproduction dolls.
Newbisc - American marketing jargon for composition (see also; Bisque Finish)
Ozocertie / Ozokertie - Wax made from petroleum in the 1880's
Porcelainette - Non-breakable doll's head material (patented to Beck Manufacturing)
Papier Mâché - Paper pulp and water-based glue (sizing, clay or flour added for strength)
Papierstoff - Papier mâché (German, literally; 'paper stuff')
Parian [see porcelain page (once it's up!)]
Pasta - Italian for composition
Paste - General - Another name for composition
Paste - Definition - A malleable mixture for moulding or sculpting
Paste - Specific - Antique term for soft moulding clay
Paste Head - Alternative term for 'composition head' on doll
Pate - Cardboard, cork and/or plaster mix (filling/covering for the open crown of a doll's head)
Pâte à bois - Literally; 'Wood Paste', a French term for olin type composition
Pâte / Pâte Incassable - Alternative French term for composition
Plaster-of-Paris - A quick setting, white gypsum powder with chalky properties when set
Glycerin / Glycerine / Glycerol - Synthetic or natural viscous sugar-alcohol (polyol) compound, a non-toxic, viscous liquid, soluble in water, used as a binder in compositions, it is still used widely in pharmaceuticals and recently found a new niche in vape juice. Glycerin 'tempers' the other glues in the paste, so it can be worked wet, yet set hard
Hairline Crack - The faint trace of a crack which has yet to separate fully
Holzmaché - General - Another German term for olin type composition, literally; 'Wood Paste'
Holzmaché - Specific - Modern craft composition, ready mixed (Nerchau product)
Horn [see polymer page]
Hydrocal - Lightweight, very dense plaster (trademark of Gypsum Corporation)
Ivorite - Painted clay like material (patented to Rite Speciality Company)
Ivorene [see polymer page]
Japan Tallow - Another name for Japanese Wax
Japan Wax / Japanese Wax - Compound made from the sap of various species of Rhus tree
Java cotton / Java kapok - Alternate terms for kapok
JCB - Abbreviation for; Jointed Composition Body (doll type)
Kaolin - Rock/Strata rich in Kaolinite, as a purified powder it is still the main ingredient in porcelain, it is also found in toothpaste, incandescent light-bulbs, cosmetics, to reinforce natural and synthetic rubbers, modifying adhesives and in paints. It was a major ingredient in some compositions
Kaolinite - Layered-silicate clay mineral
Kapok - Seed-fluff of the Ceiba Pentandra tree of the Americas, used for stuffing and padding
Lignite - Decayed vegetation, sometimes used as a binder in composition
Lineol - Sawdust and linseed oil
Linseed Oil - Processed oil extracted from the Flax plant (flax oil is edible, linseed oil isn't)
Lyxhayr - Chemically treated non-flammable vegetable fiber (UK)
Marilin - Papier mâché predecessor of Marolin by the same firm
Marolin - Sawdust and linseed oil (previously; Marilin)
Masse - German for composition
Milliner's Model - Type of US papier mâché doll from the 1840-60's
Milvex - Modern composition developed for restoration and reproduction dolls.
Newbisc - American marketing jargon for composition (see also; Bisque Finish)
Ozocertie / Ozokertie - Wax made from petroleum in the 1880's
Porcelainette - Non-breakable doll's head material (patented to Beck Manufacturing)
Papier Mâché - Paper pulp and water-based glue (sizing, clay or flour added for strength)
Papierstoff - Papier mâché (German, literally; 'paper stuff')
Parian [see porcelain page (once it's up!)]
Pasta - Italian for composition
Paste - General - Another name for composition
Paste - Definition - A malleable mixture for moulding or sculpting
Paste - Specific - Antique term for soft moulding clay
Paste Head - Alternative term for 'composition head' on doll
Pate - Cardboard, cork and/or plaster mix (filling/covering for the open crown of a doll's head)
Pâte à bois - Literally; 'Wood Paste', a French term for olin type composition
Pâte / Pâte Incassable - Alternative French term for composition
Plaster-of-Paris - A quick setting, white gypsum powder with chalky properties when set
Plastoline - A composition-like material which is probably just a hardened form of the commercially available Plastacine - itself a composition and also not to be confused with Storey Brothers Plastolene; a Terylene-based polymer.
Prialytine - Celluloid/composition mix used for dolls (L'oncle Hansi [Uncle Hans])
Propanetriol - Another name for synthetic glycerine
Pumice Powder - Ground, lightweight volcanic material
Pumpkin Head - Waxed-composition doll with 'flattened' head produced from two-part mould
Putty - See; Glazier's Putty (above)
Rosin (colophony) - A natural resin, used to provide elasticity to compositions to make them easier to work
Sand - Used in early dough-based compositions and to weight dolls heads ('sand-babies')
Propanetriol - Another name for synthetic glycerine
Pumice Powder - Ground, lightweight volcanic material
Pumpkin Head - Waxed-composition doll with 'flattened' head produced from two-part mould
Putty - See; Glazier's Putty (above)
Rosin (colophony) - A natural resin, used to provide elasticity to compositions to make them easier to work
Sand - Used in early dough-based compositions and to weight dolls heads ('sand-babies')
Santonnier - Maker of Santons
Santons - French nativity (Creche) and rural subjects commonly made of terracotta but also composition, plastic, rubber or even carved wood, specific to the Provence region
Sawdust - Particulate wood
Shell / Tortoise-shell [see polymer page (once it's up!)]
Silk-cotton - Alternate term for Kapok
Squash-head - Alternate name for Pumpkin Head composition doll
Sumac/Sumach Wax - Another name for Japanese Wax
Terracotta / Terra Cotta - usually red clay, can be high-temperature fired for a more durable ceramic, or low-temperature fired as a more frangible composition
Timpolin - Pumice and unknown glue (used by Brent, Timpo and Zang among others)
Trihydroxypropane - Another name for synthetic glycerin (1,2,3-trihydroxypropane)
Santons - French nativity (Creche) and rural subjects commonly made of terracotta but also composition, plastic, rubber or even carved wood, specific to the Provence region
Sawdust - Particulate wood
Shell / Tortoise-shell [see polymer page (once it's up!)]
Silk-cotton - Alternate term for Kapok
Squash-head - Alternate name for Pumpkin Head composition doll
Sumac/Sumach Wax - Another name for Japanese Wax
Terracotta / Terra Cotta - usually red clay, can be high-temperature fired for a more durable ceramic, or low-temperature fired as a more frangible composition
Timpolin - Pumice and unknown glue (used by Brent, Timpo and Zang among others)
Trihydroxypropane - Another name for synthetic glycerin (1,2,3-trihydroxypropane)
Venice Turpentine - Added to compositions as a preventative to post-set cracking
Waxed - Dolls head in composition, wood or plaster coated in a wax finishWax Over - Wax applied over ceramic, composition or papier-mâché dolls-head
White clay / White dirt - Nicknames for kaolin clay
Whiting - Finely ground chalk (pronounced; 'white'ing'), used to provide body; as a bulking agent for compositions
Wood Flour - Fine wood powder, ground-up sawdust, saw-dust sievings
Wood Pulp - Sawdust and water/glue mix
Vegetable Wax - Another term for Japanese Wax
Yellow Kid - early (1907) composition doll from Ideal
Zink Oxide (ZnO) - A powdered additive with numerous properties, used to prevent mould formation in compositions, also used in vulcanization of rubber (with stearic acid), medicines and ceramic glazes.
Urban myths
Elastolin - has become a generic like 'Hoover', there's nothing to be done about it, but it makes for tiresome auction searches, as you have to check all 'Elastolin' hits if you are looking for something else! Try also Elasterlin and Elastolene &etc...
Nomenclature - there is no such thing as 'plastic composition' or 'composition of plastic', using either term in on-line auctions will mark you down. This (among other things) leads to some confusion when reading Garratt.
Apparently - in the Appalachian Mountains
they don't have terracotta!
(eBay lot a few [many] years ago)
Timpolin - I've seen Timpolin described as "...sawdust, glue, porcelain clay plus X", it has in fact - as mentioned above - a powdered volcanic-pumice base, probably with only a single resin or glue binder, having a fine texture with a pale base colour, commonly; 'concrete', light 'Mediterranean' grey or a pinkish-mauve grey.
Wood shavings - are sometimes described as a composition ingredient; while sawdust and wood flour/powdered-wood were used in composition, as far as I know wood shavings (large flat curls produced while planeing) and wood wool (long thin strands of wooden 'threads', or shreds, ripped off by a toothed machine) are only used as a parcel-packing, or stuffing material both in dolls and soft toys, along with the wheeled ride-on animals of my childhood and the softer rocking-horses.
Sawdust - 1 - One source credits the 'making of other toys' with the production of sawdust in a wooden toy factory; having worked with wood and in carpentry-shops, I suspect the quantities required put against the amount produced by tinkering elsewhere in the toy factory, coupled with the fact that it would need to be a clean'ish sample (i.e. not floor sweepings and not full of filings/planeings) would mean either the bulk purchase of saw- or milling/routing-machine dust from large timber merchants, furniture factories or the building-trade, or sourcing of commercially manufactured saw-dust or wood-flour; not from other toy makers, nor from the other end of the same factory?
Sawdust - 2 - Many sources talk of sawdust as an ingredient, especially in the European olins, but this is not the large-particle material you get sawing wood in the back-yard, or find in chipboard/particle-board but rather either fine wood powder as found in MDF (medium density fibreboard) or the interim, fluffier material known from compressed hardboard (old shop fitting peg-boards, or IKEA bookcase-backs), or the expanded-polystyrene-like soft board (old map/notice/pin-boards).
Sawdust - 2 - Many sources talk of sawdust as an ingredient, especially in the European olins, but this is not the large-particle material you get sawing wood in the back-yard, or find in chipboard/particle-board but rather either fine wood powder as found in MDF (medium density fibreboard) or the interim, fluffier material known from compressed hardboard (old shop fitting peg-boards, or IKEA bookcase-backs), or the expanded-polystyrene-like soft board (old map/notice/pin-boards).
Known Makers
Britain / UK
[reference/source in square brackets]
Barnes, J. Lovell - Proprietor of, and see below; The Sentry Box
Beal, J.E. - See; JE Beal below
Bell - Large (60mm+) standing figure of helmeted British infantry, pre/early-war uniform, single colour, "One Dozen British Soldiers" shop stock boxes [Examples]
My small Brent sample again
Brent - 'Elastolene' 60mm farm workers, 45/50 and 60/65 British combat infantry, pre/early-war uniforms, James Opie puts them around 1945, I think earlier? [Examples]
British National Dolls / BND - Composition dolls
'Empire Forces' - 'V' [for Victory] - Sets of larger chalkware or pumice figures in a high-gloss finish with sub-scale tanks of the Renualt-FT17 type have been seen, these may be Toydell or similar, the Empire Forces (superimposed over a large red 'V' for victory) being the set-title/brand-mark, figures are in the style of US 'pod-foot' dime store figures or the Brent soldier [examples]
Hunt, Simon - See Rivier and The Sentry Box belowFaber - Trade name for 'plaster composition' civilian figures running alongside Matchlock military models marketed by Rivier [Garratt]
Fowler, R - 10-18cm 'plaster composition' models of theatrical and literary characters (Shakespeare and Dickens - Pickwick Papers) and HM Queen Elizabeth II on horseback. Strangely; Cavendish would later carry equally large size Dickensian characters (not Pickwick P's) in resin and large standing figures of HM the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh in polystyrene - touristy I guess? [Garratt]
George Jackson Ltd. (Thomas Jackson Ltd.) - Invented modern composition in the 1780's, as still used in the building and furniture trades, they haven't made toys or figures, but set the whole thing in motion, their modern product is a very fine material, like a fine, thick biscuit-mix.
JE Beal / 'Beals' - West-country (Yeovil) department store carrying mixed Skybird / Timpolin composition boxed/gift sets [examples]
Marsh - Wax dolls
Matchlock {I} - Trade name for Willet's figures
Matchlock {II} - Trade name for range of military figures running alongside Faber civilian models marketed by Rivier [Garratt]
Montanari - Wax dolls
MW (Albert Shelly and Harry White) - These chaps made (Shelly) and painted (White) limited edition 12-inch clay figures in the early 1970's [Garratt]
Naturecraft - A set of 12 Christmas crackers were sold under this brand each of which had a different model of an animal in factory-painted plaster (described as 'stoneware'), the animals were 'cracker-scale' i.e. all roughly the same size [Examples]
Patmore, Clive - Another later (1960's) producer of the larger size; 12-inch 'plaster composition' figures in ceremonial or Highland dress. [Garratt]
Plastoline - An unknown maker or co-operative of figure enthusiasts seem to have contemplated going into business with figures made from Plasticine (and presumably hardened with 'Banana oil' if old articles in the modelling press are to be believed), subjects include a Nazi office vignette 'Gestapo HQ', a WWI German Maxim gunner, Chinese types of Chan Kai-Chek, and gas-troops in 'bird-face' respirators [examples]
Puck Toys - Maker of home-casting plaster kits of licensed characters from childrens literature or early television [catalogue]
Quinnell, C. R., MM - A Chelsea Pensioner who made painted plaster figures of...Chelsea Pensioners! 9-inches, the venture started in 1978 and the figures - built-up on wire armatures were sold in the Great Hall of the Royal Hospital Chelsea [Garratt]
Rivier, R. Briton - Man behind the instigation of the plaster Matchlock {II} military range, expansion of its twin Faber range and with co-conspirator Simon Hunt; 18-33cm plaster figures for The Sentry Box [Garratt - the various entries in his encyclopaedia aren't clear on whether both ranges were plaster or just the civil Faber models?]
Rob Toys (Rindingberry & Co.) - Produced at least one set of composition Indians; The Ridingberry Redskins in pumice, after Elastolin poses, along with 'soldiers' displayed at the 1947 British Industries Fair, the company tracing its roots back to the latter-19th Century (1871), the figures may have been available during the war, the '47 fair being their first 'official' outing [examples]
Roddy - UK - Mark on composition-head dollsSentry Box, the - Owner; J. Lovell Barnes went into partnership with a Nancy Wynne-Jones to produce plaster figures in 12cm (4-inch) size, these were later metallised, R. Briton Rivier brought some ex-Matchlock {II} and/or Faber figures and with Simon Hunt contributed new masters to the range [Garratt]
Tag - Range of 54mm British combat infantry toy soldiers in the German style (with deep heavy Elastolin style bases) and wire armatures.
Zang and/or Timpo 'Timpolin' Zoo Series
Timpo / Timpolin / Model Toys - See also; Zang below
Toydell / JWD (base mark) - 'Plaster composition' models of Household Cavalry, Cowboys and Indians, Foot Guards and Highlanders and Chelsea Pensioners in 60mm [Joplin]
Unknown - 40mm 'English Civil War' musketeers (probably actually the German make Herbert Hahn) [Examples]
Unknown - Hollow 'slush-cast' style Renault FT (FT-17) tank, possibly Biscaloid [Example]
Willets, Howard Francis - Composite 'Statuette-size' (whatever that might be - height wise?) models of high quality in plaster. Designed and sculpted by Mr Willetts, with mould making by T. Allen and J. Grassi. Armatures were set into the figures. [Garratt]
Wynne-Jones, Nancy - See; The Sentry Box above
My growing team of - [believed] Zang
for [definitely] Timpo - mechanics
for [definitely] Timpo - mechanics
Zang - A range of pumice-based composition figures are credited to either Zang or Timpo, which may or may not be have been made or marketed by Timpo, Zang-for-Timpo or Zang and may or may not have originated in the acquisition or inheritance of Brent's remains by Timpo. Sizes vary from an 18mm pilot to 60mm+ early-war uniformed figures (in a more Bell style). On the way there is an intermediate range of 35/40mm civilians which were definitely supplied/included in Timpo slush-cast motor-vehicle boxed sets. Most figures are simple poses that don't require an armature, Garratt states 1949, I believe they must have been earlier, but the earlier figures may be Brent? [Examples]
Known Makers
Rest of the World
Selection of mostly European composition in
various sizes from 60mm to 120+
Akron Toy Company (The Akron Insulator & Marble Company)
- USA - Clay marbles, they also made glass and ceramic marbles. Other companies
started by the same chap (Samuel C. Dyke); The
Akron Marble & Novelty Company and The Akron Stone Marble Company both concentrated on stone marbles only
Albright Co., J.E. - USA - Clay
Marbles, rounder or more spherical than most US clay marbles [might be the same
Albright as Albright Furniture, a known (clay, composition?) doll maker?]
Alma - Belgium - Durso figures with oblong/square bases
as supplied to grocery chain
Alph Giroux - France - Reported to have produced composition figures
ARA / Ara - Mexico - 54mm
figures, unknown composition [Garrett], polyethylene figures by this make
appear from time to time, although they have heavy bases and came originally
from composition moulds [there was also an ARA
in Spain making metal 54mm solids available through Historex agents?]
Armée - Belgium (Garratt)
Germany (Carrick) - Pre-to-post-war producer of 70mm composition figures after Elastolin (Garratt) or Lineol (Carrick) of poor quality - fl.1930s-1950's.
Arnold, K (now Rapido) - Germany - Olin 54-70mm figures
for tin-plate vehicles, most notably the jeep already seen on the Home Blog,
possibly bought-in from Elastolin, Layla or Lineol - 1906-near present
Baston Corp., P. W. - USA -
3-inch painted plaster model of Paul Revere [might be the same as Prescott
Baston; maker for Hudson Pewter and Sebastian Miniatures?]
Bayer, Emil - Germany -
Cowboys and Indians, size unknown probably 70mm or larger figures;
Mengersgereuth-Hämmern (Bayer's
home-town) was a municipality in the Sonneberg district of Thuringia (it's now
moved districts), Sonneburg as we have seen was an early centre for composition
doll production. Bayer ended up as a VEB in East Germany
Beck - Germany - Founded
1930, unknown composition, disappeared early 1970's (after Jean takeover - now Big Spielwarenfabrik? There are several Beck's
and I don't know which one did composition; Franz and Martin were both in
flats, Andreas & Hans Bradstetter (brothers) became Big, but their dates are wrong? There's also a Beckh with a plough
logo?)
Belous - Argentina - various
scales, various materials, including composition figures, see Diego M. Lascano's link below
Berger - Germany -
Plaster/clay 30mm and 45mm railway figures of original design
Bergan Toys / Beton - USA? Known for their polystyrene plastic range.
Berliner - Germany? - I think
this is Garratt (Berliner Plastichen
Composition) calling Merten's polystyrene 'plastic composition'? Though,
again; there are several Berliner's,
to wit: Berliner Miniature Plastiken,
(Minipalst) and Berliner
Plastichen Composition (Merten), both; later users of styrene, and Berliner Zinnfiguren & Preussisches
Bücherkabinett - an still extant toy soldier and antiquarian bookshop
Big Chief - USA - Clay marbles
Bing Brothers - Germany - Produced
a few 60mm military types to accompany their tin-plate vehicle ranges, Garratt
also reports a Grenadier Guardsman with wooden sentry box
Bon Dufour - France - Boxed
dioramas, circus, farm, nativity and zoo with larger toys, buildings and forts
in a plaster-looking composition from Paris, Carrick reports doll-like but
nice, with wooden forts - fl.1900-1930
Candy
- Germany?
Carbonel - France - 65mm
plaster figures; Garratt reports 'delightful' - 1970's, actually 'Santons' in low-temperature fired earth/terracotta, provided Fina with premiums, see below
CC Milano - Italy?
Celloplasto (see; S.A.L.P.A., below)
Cellose - France - Slightly
toy-like Napoleonic troops, 54mm, nicely finished with shallow, flat bases,
wire and silk flags, apparently 70mm's also made, circa 1930
Chialu (Luigi Chiappa) -
Italy - Composition figures of various subjects in the 120mm range re-issued
from old Confalonieri (below) moulds,
, later run in plastic, warts n' all, a superb set of dinosaurs/prehistoric
animals are much sought-after - 1960-1970's?
Chilin - Mexico - 70mm
thin-legged, heavy-based copies of other companies work in a plaster/pumice
composition - 1940's
Clairon - Belgium - no other
details known
Comisa Miniaturas - Spain - Report of report of 150mm 'composition'
figures alongside metal solids? Also known to produce plastics
Confalonieri - Italy - Produced
55mm and 120mm composition figures in Milan, some derivative of German figures, sunsequently copied by others, they were
re-issued by/became Chialu (above) -
Fl.1930
Danolin - Denmark - 70mm olin
composition figures, the animals being mostly copies of other makes, notably Elastolin and Lineol - 1940's
Dior - Germany - Plaster
composition figures, size probably 70mm, 'like pre-1939 Elastolin' - 1930's
Domage et Cie / DC /
D et C - France - Lightweight plaster mouldings, hollow with glossy glazed
finish 54/60mm, became Aludo
(aluminium figures) / Acedo (acetate,
then polystyrene figures) - 1920-1937
Drevopodnik - Czechoslovakia -
70mm olin Warsaw Pact era and ceremonial subjects from state-run furniture
factory / craft cooperative, 10 to a vacuum-packed sheet, there were at least
two sets, one of soviet-era combat types, the other of ceremonial/officers
mess-dress/historical types - fl.1960/70's
Duro - Germany - Garratt
reports 'poor quality' composition figures - c.1925-1946 [probably confusion
with Durolin?]
Durolin - Czechoslovakia - Subsidiary
of Pfeiffer (below), 50mm railway
figures, 60mm+ military figures, animals, taken-over by Elastolin most of the production is licensed production from the
latter parent with a few Lineol
designs - fl.1925-1930
Durso post-war types, after British weapons/equipment
Durso (Dur et Solide or Duratum et Solidum (?), Klimov, M) -
Belgium - Olin (Dursolite) soldiers
(60-70mm?) and 50mm railway figures from Liège, Carrick shows a stunning
Atilla, mounted, they also produced jousting knights, medievals, Belgian combat
types and zoo animals. Shared work with and see also: Incamim, below; also supplied Alma (above) brand - 1937-72
Dyke, Samuel C. - US -
Clay marbles
Effelder (see; PGH-Effelder, below)
EJM (see; Juguetes México, below)
Elastolin composition rhino
Elastolin (Hausser, O. M.) - Germany -
Railway figures in 30, 50, 75 and 110mm, large (100-140mm) animals were their
first products, and their military range covered all sizes, with the bulk of
the range being 70mm. Farm and Zoo animals were also popular
Empire Forces - USA - Apparently produced
composition soldiers, scale unknown
Fabrication Belge - Belgium - Durso figures, some (round base)
supplied to grocery chain (1938), the others pre-Durso mark (1934-37)
Faller - Germany -
Composition trees and shrubs produced as part of the early railway accessory
range
FF - Belgium - Garrett
reports US GI's in the Elastolin style with this mark, probably thinking of the
Fabrication Belge figures?
Figur Brevett - Italy - 60mm
plaster figures of the Vatican guard, probably for the tourist trade
Figir (Antonini, Francesco
& Luciano) - Italy - 70mm olin solids, Rome, 1910's
Figurila - See; Lahl
Fina Petroleum - France - Carried a terracotta nativity set as premiums, these 'santons' were provided by Carbonel, the customer getting one figure per ₣30-worth of fuel - Date unknown, sometime in the 1970's?
Fischer (Freidhold)
- Germany (then East German VEB, where he re-issued some Hopf mouldings)
Five and Twenty / ¢25 - USA? - Imported
German clay marbles
Fontanini - Italy - Olin toy
figures, from 40mm to 250mm, statuettes and nativity figures from 1908 until the change to polymers
in 1960
Freeman Toy Co. - Canada - Dolls
Friedel (Anton) - Germany - Swallowed by Hausser-Elastolin in WWII, this company began making larger (100-120mm) olin figures in 1910
Fröha - Germany?
Frömer - 35mm railway
figures
Fulgarex - Italy?
Gilespie - USA - Chalkware dolls or dolls with chalkware heads
GJ - Belgium - Maker of Elastoline-derivative figures
Gloria - Germany - Pre-war maker of standard (70mm) olin figures carried by Georges Spenkuch of Nuremberg
GMP - Belgian producer of original sculpts on heavy plinth-bases
Gottschalk - 95mm railway
figures with undecorated softwood bases
Grundig, Richard (Kienel) - Founded 1907, lost in East
Germany, post-war
Guerrico (Rómulo) - Argentina - 100mm olin types, seems to have been a sculptor rather than a firm as such, and some production is found under Jugeuetes Mayorano (below)
Gunzel, Hildegard - Maker of modern wax-over porcelain head dolls
Question-mark over this - possibly Herbert Hahn - figure
which may be from a British manufacturer?
which may be from a British manufacturer?
Hahn, Herbert - Austria -
40/50mm 'composition' figures from various periods
Hausser, O. M. - See; Elastolin
Haustein - Germany - 60mm
railway figures with painted wooden bases
Hela - See; Lahl
Historical Miniatures - USA - 80mm /
3" figures
Hopf, Richard - Germany - Plaster
cowboys and Indians, size unknown, some re-issued by Fisher in East Germany
Hutschgau - Germany - Crude
olin figures in 40, 50 and 80mm, possibly for small dolls houses
Ideal Toy Co. - America - Best
known in composition for the famous Shirley Temple doll
INCA - France - Connection with Incamin? Plaster or olin?
INCA - France - Connection with Incamin? Plaster or olin?
Incamim (MIM, Emanuel
Steinback) - Belgium - Known for a tiger hunt, they shared work with and see
also: Durso, above
ISAS (Ennio Marchi) -
Italy - composition nativity figures in the larger sizes and similar, in the larger sizes, late '30's until the early 1970's, moved to plastics
Italia - Italy - Garrett
reports Opie on 'Elastolin style Swiss and Scottish troops'
JRD (Msr. Rabier) -
France - Before the war
JSB (Jouet Standard Belge ) - Belgium - Post-war 55mm solids
Jugueteria Ara - See; ARA, above
Juguetes Mayorano - Argentina - stylised but beautifully made
figures in a palster composition, 70, 100 & 120mm, some supplied/designed
by Rómulo Abel Guerrico - Fl.1955-'65
Juguetes México (Mexican Toys) / EJM
(Roberto Pro) - Mexico - 80mm figures of high quality, depicting both local
ceremonial uniforms and the uniforms of the powers in the great war - 1940's
[one source states they licence produce from an EJM in the 'States; this seems to
be false]
Kannaksen Lelu - Finland - Inherited Siro moulds - 1927-1940's
Kibri (Kindler & Briel)
- West Germany - 55, 70, 80-90, 100 and 120mm railway figures
Kienel - Germany - See; Grundig, above
Kresge - Germany?
Kresge / SS Kresge - USA - Other brands, as in-store branding, became K-Mart
Kunstlerschutz - Germany?
Lafittte-Desirat - France - Wax
fashion dolls
Lahl - Germany - 40, 50,
60 and 85mm papier mâché railway and dolls house figures sold under Hela and
Figurila brands, large animals in a pale plaster-based composition
Landi, Valentino / Celloâston / Cromoplasto / Landior Xiloplaston / VL / Xiloplast / Xiloplasto - Italy - Various sizes of
olin composition figures, then vulcanised rubber and finally plastics
Layla - Germany - Olin 45
and 75mm railway figures and toy soldiers, followed by plastics
Lineol (Oskar
Wiederholz) / VEB Lineol -
Germany/East Germany - 50/55, 65/70 and 80mm railway and military figures, farm
and zoo animals in an olin composition
Lisanlo - Spain - Elastolin
types, plaster?
Lisanto / VEB Lisanto - East
Germany - Pumice type composition
Madame Alexander - USA - Dolls
Magnifico - Argentina -
Various scales, rather chunky looking, many derivative of other
makes
including Britains (trojan horse), US
'Dime Store' makers and European (German) composition, some connection with Plombel (?), replaced with plastics
toward the end - Mid-1950's
Manz / Manzsoldarten - Germany - Composition troops of an olin type, flourished around the time of the First World War
Märklin/Maerklin - 30, 45/50 and 60mm
railway figures from Hausser-Elastolin, 50/55mm composition railway figures,
supplied by Pfeiffer and papier mâché 45 and 70mm figures, probably also
bought-in
Marolin - Germany/East
Germany - 70mm olin railway, military, Wild West and animal subjects
Mars Hidenberg - Germany -
Composition solids
Mayorano (see; Juguetes Mayorano, above)
Merrill & Company, the E.H - USA -
Pottery works which may have made clay marbles
Mexico (see; Juguetes México, above)
Miller, J.H. (or JM?) - USA - 5-inch plaster models of Wild West and
GI subjects along with character figures of WWII Generals etc…
Mini Forma - Germany? - May be
resin, but look composition in style?
Miniplast / Miniature Plastiken - Germany - 60mm
plaster Knights, Cowboys and Indians [see Berliner note above]
Mishler & Sons - USA - Clay marble
manufacturer
Molded Products - USA - Pre-war
dime-store types (hugging over-large AA guns etc…) in a plaster (?)
composition, Brodie-helmets, 60mm
Nardi - Italy - 70-75mm
composition figures of the olin type
Nazaire Beeusaert / NB - Belgium - Largish, chunky chalkware figures of prewar types, on wire formers, or with wire weapons at leas
Neoform - Denmark
Otex - Holland
Palx - France
Parker Games - USA - Several board games were given composition 'austerity' playing pieces during WWII, including Monopoly
Pfeiffer, Emil / EP / Tipple-Topple - Austria - 45, 60 and 100mm plaster/terracotta and
olin railway figures, nativity sets and animals, cross-fertilisation with
Elastolin following war-time co-operation - 1920's-1970's?
PGH-Effelder - East germany - Probbaly only large rubber/PVC figures?
Plastinol - ?
Playwood Plastics (bought by Transogram) - USA - Dime-store style
figures in olin composition figures of pre-war (Brodie helmet) types, around
60mm
Plombel - Argentina - Olin
soldiers, with metal and plastic in many sizes, a major player and best to
follow the link below - 1943-1965
Porro Rovello - See; Rovello, below
Preiser - Germany - Rumoured
(Garratt?) to have produced composition in the early period?
RCP (Richard & Companie Produits) - France - Post-war general toy-maker/seller who [probably] bought-in figures for their vehicles (like Arnold or Tippco); drivers, firemen etc...
Reinhold Röder - ?
Reliable - Canada - Dolls,
licensed patterns from Ideal across the border
Roder - Germany
Rovello / Porro
Rovello / AP - Italy - Post-war
piracies of Confalonieri and Elastolin
Rupp - Germany
'Russia' - Russia / Soviet Union - I've
seen lovely Peter the Great cavalry in composition, stated as being of Russian
manufacture, 60mm - 1960's?
S.A.L.P.A. (Societa Anonima Lavorazion Plastiche ed
Affini) / Celloplasto - Italy -
75mm figures in unknown composition
'Santon' - France - Region of Provence responsible for the terracotta figureines of rural, rustic, historical and nativity subjects known as Santons - to date
Senton - France - manufacturer of low-temperature fired terracotta 'santons', rural/pastoral subjects, nativity figures - Still extant?
SFJB - France
Schoenhut - USA - 12 125mm
figures ascribed to them, but retail and/or wholesale arms of this company
would have handled composition figures, particularly during the war, probably
re-branded/re-packed from other makers. Also composition/composite circus sets,
clowns etc...
Schuco - Germany
Schusso (Schuster, Geoges ) - Germany/East Germany
Simmy - Germany
Siro - Finland - Full
range of Elastolin-like figures,
animals &etc. - 1919-27
Slik-Toy - ? - Chunky
combat types, composition unknown
SMC - Czechoslovakia
Solido - Belgium -
Apparently produced some composition figures
SS Kresge (see; Kresge, above)
Starlux - France - Credited with composition, this author has yet to see any; there are both phenolic and styrene types and a few which have the manner of poured resin. Pierre Beffara of Tarroux inventing an Injection moulder before Starlux was formed
Straubolin - Switzerland - High-quality copies of Elastolin, post war?
Straubolin - Switzerland - High-quality copies of Elastolin, post war?
Strola - Italy
Sunnyvale - USA - Clay marbles
Tarroux (Elie) - France - General figures and novelties, 1900-1930's? A connection with Starlux is fleshed out in the Thomas/Guillot books
TBS - Italy - 1960's
Tim-Mee - Germany - At least
one source credits the European arm (Heimo?) of this US firm with firm/factory with composition; I've seen no evidence to
date?
Tippco / Tipp and Co. / TCO (Philip Ullmann) - Germany - Prolific tin-plate maker between
the wars, bought-in or commissioned olin figures (usually seated), 50-70mm, for
vehicle drivers, crew &etc. - 1912-1933 - founded Mettoy after fleeing Nazi persecution
Tipple-Topple - Brand of and see; Pfeiffer, Emil, above
Unknown Japanese Navy; tied to the tray
from a boxed-set, probably Trico
Trico - Japan - Various composition
and low-fired ceramics, including toys, toy soldiers and railway figures in the
larger sizes - 1930's-1950's
Tunison - USA
Unknown - South America - Diego M.
Lascano (link below) lists the following producers of composition figures from
the southern continent:
·
Buenos Aries, Argentina, c.1945, 80 & 90mm, parade/ceremonials
·
Buenos Aries, Argentina, c.1950, 120mm Napoleonic/colonial/ceremonial
·
Mexico, c.1954, 80mm, modern/khaki troop types
·
Santiago de Chile, c.1940, 120mm, mid-C20th types
Utexiqual - USA - Robinson via Garret
reports 54mm doll-like cavalry figures in a plaster composition,
late-West/early-US Army and colonial subjects on domed bases - 1970's
Vacor de Mexico - Mexico - Originally made clay
marbles, now one of the largest producers of glass marbles in the world
Vodery - USA - Kaolin or pipe-clay
marbles
Well Made Doll Company - USA - Dolls and rather crude
stumpy single-colour figures of GI and Naval types, material unknown, possibly
plaster based?
Wolavka - Germany
Xiloplast / Xiloplasto - Italy - (see; Landi, above)
Another look at the - probably - Trico set. A very pale grey
material, which I suspect may be pumice with wire-rod
masts and button-thread rigging
Composition Today
There are a few 'craft' makers using compositions to make dolls for the adult collectors market, these are not cheap! There are no composition toy soldiers I know of, but the low-temperature fired terracotta figures from India may still be being made somewhere in that vast region.
Also we have seen various novelty 'dig-for-it' or 'buried-treasure' type toys on the 'home' Blog, while there are many more in the toy-stores and supermarkets, all consist of a usually polymer or poured-resin toy, embedded in a soft gypsum or pumice plaster (sometimes still with a few twigs in!), to be dug-out with the basic tools provided.
Instructions for making composition can be found on-line and in craft books and consists of mixing fine sawdust or wood-flour with a clear lacquer until you have a material that lumps together without being either like porridge or soap! Other recipes suggest mixing plaster and glue, a flour/salt/water or a cornstarch/salt/water mix, in both the later instances, the salt is to minimise the growth of future mould.
Two-part dolls-head moulds are available for those who'd like to give it a try, whether you could use rubber toy-soldier moulds or not I don't know, but you could try with old metal moulds (which do appear on evilBay occasionally).
The material should be worked with latex-gloves lubricated with the correct thinners for the lacquer you're using - providing it's not also a latex solvent! Push the paste into the detail on both sides of the mould - having previously coated them both with mould-release agent - to a (shell) depth of a few millimetres, and wait for it to dry thoroughly.
Once the two halves are dry, pop them lose, replace them, fettle any overspill at the mould-half boundaries, and replace the two shells. Clamp both halves together and stuff the rest of the cavity with a second mix. After 12-24 hours, you can remove and finish the 'casting'. With smaller items like toy soldiers it might be worth experimenting with an oven to both speed-up the process and harden the finished product for durability.
Internet Stuff
Wikipedia (Compo)
Wikipedia (Composite)
Composition Doll Marks
Also we have seen various novelty 'dig-for-it' or 'buried-treasure' type toys on the 'home' Blog, while there are many more in the toy-stores and supermarkets, all consist of a usually polymer or poured-resin toy, embedded in a soft gypsum or pumice plaster (sometimes still with a few twigs in!), to be dug-out with the basic tools provided.
Instructions for making composition can be found on-line and in craft books and consists of mixing fine sawdust or wood-flour with a clear lacquer until you have a material that lumps together without being either like porridge or soap! Other recipes suggest mixing plaster and glue, a flour/salt/water or a cornstarch/salt/water mix, in both the later instances, the salt is to minimise the growth of future mould.
Two-part dolls-head moulds are available for those who'd like to give it a try, whether you could use rubber toy-soldier moulds or not I don't know, but you could try with old metal moulds (which do appear on evilBay occasionally).
The material should be worked with latex-gloves lubricated with the correct thinners for the lacquer you're using - providing it's not also a latex solvent! Push the paste into the detail on both sides of the mould - having previously coated them both with mould-release agent - to a (shell) depth of a few millimetres, and wait for it to dry thoroughly.
Once the two halves are dry, pop them lose, replace them, fettle any overspill at the mould-half boundaries, and replace the two shells. Clamp both halves together and stuff the rest of the cavity with a second mix. After 12-24 hours, you can remove and finish the 'casting'. With smaller items like toy soldiers it might be worth experimenting with an oven to both speed-up the process and harden the finished product for durability.
Links
Mixed composition animals in a twin-pen zoo enclosure, the
leopard is a plastic mould-shot of a composition moulding,
probably from East Germany
leopard is a plastic mould-shot of a composition moulding,
probably from East Germany
Internet Stuff
Wikipedia (Compo)
Wikipedia (Composite)
Composition Doll Marks
Wax Dolls
Brain Carrick's composition page
Figuren Journal
Figurenmuseum Composition Animals Pages
South American Composition Toy Soldiers
Companies
Ara Mexico
George Jackson Ltd.
Lineol - Duscha Modellspielwaren
Lineol on STS Forum
Brain Carrick's composition page
Figuren Journal
Figurenmuseum Composition Animals Pages
South American Composition Toy Soldiers
Companies
Ara Mexico
George Jackson Ltd.
Lineol - Duscha Modellspielwaren
Lineol on STS Forum
Elastolin on STS Forum
Playwood Plastics (Richard O'Brian) Part One and Part Two
Composition on the main homepage of the Blog
All Composition Posts
Arnold
Berger
Drevopodnik
Elastolin (several pages now, so remember to click 'older posts' at the bottom)
Timpo/Zang (ditto)
Unknown/Japanese
Thanks must go to Adrian Little, formarly of Mercator Trading for letting me take a lot of the images on this page, as well as various snippets of info through conversations held over the years, thanks also to the late David Scrivener for The Timpo images (he was expecting me to use on the Khaki Infantry page!), and Paul Morehead for reading an early draft.
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Playwood Plastics (Richard O'Brian) Part One and Part Two
Composition on the main homepage of the Blog
All Composition Posts
Arnold
Berger
Drevopodnik
Elastolin (several pages now, so remember to click 'older posts' at the bottom)
Timpo/Zang (ditto)
Unknown/Japanese
Elastolin British river-crossing party
Acknowledgements
Thanks must go to Adrian Little, formarly of Mercator Trading for letting me take a lot of the images on this page, as well as various snippets of info through conversations held over the years, thanks also to the late David Scrivener for The Timpo images (he was expecting me to use on the Khaki Infantry page!), and Paul Morehead for reading an early draft.
Unknown probably Elastolin and/or Lineol
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