TLC Doll Shop
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 The
Old Pretenders
The Pacific Coast of Canada conjures up visions of misty seascapes, rocky outcrops, rainforests and rugged mountain peaks. The strait between the mainland and Vancouver Island is dotted with tiny islands, providing a remote and peaceful environment for the artists who live there. It is there, on Gabriola Island, that the Old Pretenders create their one-of-a-kind wooden dolls.
Canadian born Paul Robins is a fashion design
Their love of early English wooden dolls combined with their artist income
led them to attempt a few wooden dolls for their own collection. Friends and
fellow artists greeted the dolls enthusiastically. Collector friends were all
anxious to have Old Pretender dolls. Unlike porcelain or resin
reproduction dolls, these dolls are not made from a mould and do not duplicate
any antique doll. Each has its own characteristics and all have a certain look
endowed by the doll makers. Thus far, every doll has been made to order for a
certain individual, so each is given some special attribute for the new owner.
The dolls range in size from 3 ½" to 21" tall. The large dolls made by The Old Pretenders are solid carved
wood with the head and torso in one piece, jointed at the hips and the knees.
The upper arms are cloth and the lower arms carved wood. The eyes are either
made of silicone to simulate pupiless glass eyes or sculpted and glazed to
achieve the effect. The smaller dolls are first carved in wood, then enhanced
with paper clay. The faces are painted with the characteristics of the era they
are meant to portray - dotted or single-stroke eyebrows and lashes, rosy cheeks
and red lips. The feet may be carved bare feet, simple stumps or elaborately
carved shoes. The process of painting and aging the dolls is a multi-step
process requiring patience to achieve the look of patina and age. The wigs are
made of natural fibres and the dolls are costumed in antique fabrics,
embellished with antique lace and trims. In the hands of the wood carver, each doll takes on a unique personality.
David and Paul are never really sure how it will look until the doll is
complete. Every step in the process adds character to the tiny persona. One
thing they have never been able to suppress is the tiny secret smile on each of
their dolls that says, "I am an Old Pretender." <img
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Carved
of yellow cedar, alder, arbutus or maple, the remarkable dolls of Paul Robins
and David Chapman successfully simulate the look and appeal of the antique
without being a reproduction. Because each doll is hand carved, they are truly
one of a kind. Their inspiration comes from the early English wooden dolls of
the 18th and 19th centuries. Thus the name, The Old
Pretenders.
graduate who worked in theatre and dance costume design in Toronto. He did
volunteer work at the Royal Ontario Museum in the textile department and
cataloguing their doll collection. It was at this time that he began making
reproduction dolls, then one-of-a-kind dolls as a spin-off on his costume
designs. When he migrated across the country to beautiful British Columbia 14
years ago, he took up doll making full time. 
A
local antique doll shop owner encouraged David Chapman’s interest in antique
dolls and his artistic experimentation with doll making. He began sculpting
dolls and fantasy figures in the 1980s and met Paul Robins via telephone when he
asked him to critique his work. Through four years of long distance telephone
discussions they discovered they were kindred spirits. They joined their lives
and artistic pursuits when David moved to Gabriola Island in 1997. 
