Cornish Shallowpool Dolls

by Susan Brewer

Years ago, visitors to Cornwall were delighted by the dozens of handmade character dolls on sale in local shops. When they asked who made them, the story was always the same – ‘three elderly ladies’ – but no-one seemed to know who the ladies were. Today, collectors often come across these unmarked eight-inch-tall dolls dressed in British regional costume, sometimes confusing them with the similar dolls made by the Peggy Nisbet Company. Close inspection however, shows that the heads, hands and feet are plaster, not hard plastic, and they are more crudely made. The dolls were made by Shallowpool Handicrafts, and this is their story.

134 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2014

About the author

I wrote my first diary when I was six years old, and though I soon gave up on the diary idea, not returning to it until the 1980s, stories, poems and observations continually flowed from my pen. At primary school I was actively encouraged to write by my class teacher, who gave me an excise book and told me to write ‘a novel’ as well as giving me a position of responsibility on the school newspaper.

When I left grammar school in the mid-sixties, I worked in the library of a research organisation for a while, before finding work in a college library. The latter gave me a wide understanding of many book genres, while the former introduced me to a range of technical books, causing me to realise that, literally, ‘you should never judge a book by its cover’. Even the book with the dullest of covers and the most incomprehensible of titles will usually provide gems of knowledge if you trouble to look.

I can’t recall a time when I wasn’t writing but I didn’t attempt to get anything published until, in the mid-1980s, my life changed when I purchased a small portable word processor. Immediately I realised I had the means to ‘go professional’ and, as I had always had an interest in natural history, I began to send articles to natural history magazines about my observations. At the same time, I invested in a good-quality camera so that I could take my own photographs to accompany my work. Subsequently I became a regular contributor to a magazine that specialised in aquatic life.

I also began sending short stories to various magazines, and was soon a regular contributor to many publications, amongst them Woman’s Realm, My Weekly, Saga and Best. The majority of my stories were of the ‘Twist in the Tale’ type, often humorous, sometimes romantic, and covering a multitude of subjects. In the mid-1990s I was asked by the educational publishers, Ginn & Co. to write a book in their ‘Supersonics’ reading series. The book was Mike’s Bike, a book in verse intended as part of an early reading scheme.

Another of my interests is the history of toys, dolls and small collectables, and so in the 1990s I began writing illustrated features for magazines such as Collectables, Collect It and Antiques and Collectables. Also in 1990s, I wrote my book ‘Tiny Tears and First Love: A Celebration of Two Classic Baby Dolls’, an in-depth detailed study of the variations of these dolls and their history. In 2004 I started my own, quarterly magazine called Doll Showcase. This consisted of a full-colour 50 page publication, sold on a subscription only basis. It is still in production, with readers in Britain, Southern Ireland, Europe, Australia and America. Around the same time I was asked to take over as Editor of Doll Magazine which I edited for two years until the publishers sold the title to America where it was discontinued.

In 2007 I was approached by an editor from the publishing company Pen and Sword to write various I atitles for their new imprint, Remember When. My first book, ‘Children’s Playground Games; From Hopscotch to Simon Says’ appeared in 2008. The company then published ‘British Dolls of the 1950s’ and its follow-up ‘British Dolls of the 1960s’, as well as ‘Collecting Classic Girls’ Toys’, ‘History of Girls’ Comics’, ‘Collecting Autographs’ and ‘Famous Character Dolls’.

I then ventured into the world of Kindle with three books of short stories, ‘Twisty Ends and Tangly Tales’ 1, 2, & 3. Deciding to experiment with fiction, I took the plunge to self-publish some novels, using the Virtual Valley imprint. So far, three light-hearted paperbacks – ‘Nelly’s Knickers’, 'Nelly Makes a Bloomer' and ‘Birds, Beasts and Ben’ – have been produced, as well as the historical fantasy romance ‘Tintagel Fantasy’. 'Fenland Annie', a historical novel set in the 1880s in the fen country around Ely, was published a couple of years ago.