I cannot believe we're about to leap into April already! I hope you all had a lovely Easter.
Now I've been wondering how many of you, if any, have one of these little cutie pies? They are called Wichtels, which is German for gnomes.
They were designed by the German artist Rosemarie Müller, who describes her gnomes as "balm for the soul". These adorable little ones have the most enchanting faces which are hand painted, full hard vinyl bodies, hand-knotted real hair wigs, and stunning hand blown solid glass eyes from Lauscha.
In this photo we have Heidi (formally Lea) and Gretel (formally Rosi). They are delightful little dolls and so much fun to photograph even though they have only five points of articulation. Both dolls are wearing their original costuming, which is extremely well made and far too cute to replace.
Gretel has a passion for teddy bears (I made this one especially for her) she says they are nice to cuddle and likes to carry one around with her all the time.
Are you a fan of names inspired by fairytales and story books? If so, you may recognise Gretel, from the fairytale Hansel & Gretel made popular by the Brothers Grimm. The name ultimately stems from Margaret meaning “pearl.”
Heidi, with its sweet meaning of “noble and kind,” is a pet form of the German name Adelheid. Heidi is also the name of a classic children’s novel about a spirited little girl living in the Swiss alps with her grandfather.
For a long time I only had the two Wichtels, however, as I prefer to have uneven numbers of dolls I pre-ordered Fiona some time back and she arrived recently.
As I wanted these dolls to have names of a similar vein, I decided to rename her Liesel, which is related to the Hebrew names Elisa and Elizabeth and the German name Liesl. The meaning of Liesel/Liesl is "God's promise." The name was used for the character Liesel Meminger in the novel The Book Thief, and Liesl Von Trapp, the dreamy-eyed eldest daughter who featured in The Sound of Music.
If you look closely, you may notice all these littlies have tiny teeth showing through their very cheeky smiles. However, not all the Wichtel dolls have them, I just prefer the ones that do.
