I'm still busy saving my photos, so no laptop yet. But that doesn't mean that we haven't been creatively busy.
This cute little toy crib is from the 1940's. Very shabby and very adorable, made in the same shape cribs were back then in Anatolia, Turkey.
With some brush cleaning and some black paint the body looked much better.
Then mum made a mattress, bedding and pillow.
The mattress is done the same style beds were made back then, between two layers of fabric there would be cotton, and it would be sewn together to keep its shape.
The blanket and pillow are made with a very traditional Turkish fabric.
Cribs were made without hardly any barriers as babies would be swaddled to the crib, so there was no way that they could fall out, needless to say that this system is hardly used anymore.
And I made an evil eye protection, as even toy babies can use some extra :)
The entire set is available at StarHomeStudio, perfect for doll collectors, especially folklore!
For the past few months I have been listing vintage and antique items in our home decor shop, StarHomeStudio. A few of those items are antique cradles from Turkey. These baby beds are for most culture extremely weird and exotic.
This one is entirely made out of wood and even have hand carved rings, most likely to distract the child with.
You might have thought where and how babies sleep in these, as it has hardly and depth, and when you add a mattress it has no depth at all and a baby would fall off. These cribs were used with a swaddled baby which would then be bound to the bed, making movement impossible.
This custom is not how I personally would raise a baby, swaddling is loved by many but binding them to a bed is pretty claustrophobic (we wrote years ago a funny blogpost about swaddling in case you are interested). I have not seen this custom done here anymore but I sometimes I see an adult with the back of the head flat, I've only seen this with men I suppose as woman usually have long hair you can not see it. The flat back head happens when the person as a baby was swaddled and bound to the bed for a too long period of time, lying in the same position when the bones are still soft makes the skull flat on the back, sounds pretty horrible doesn't it?
The cradles however are gorgeous and come in many shapes and motives. Mostly done in wood this iron wrought one is rare.
The handles on top are to rock the crib but you can also carry the bed including the baby.
These cradles are still used in some Eastern countries also in East Turkey, in the same way these old ones were used.
It is believed that as the baby can not move it stays calm and sleeps better, I think that the fact that in these regions women often have 8 or more children that the cradles makes it easier for the mothers to do their house chores without having to worry about the baby.
This picture was recently taken in a camp with Kurdish refugees. The beads are against the evil eye, you can also see fabric which is used to cover the crib when the child sleeps, often protection for again the evil eye but also against mosquitoes.
We even have a doll version one, this one is tiny and completely crooked and rusty, I think it needs some tender loving care :) The other 3 cribs are available in the Vintage section of our shop. These would be beautiful to showcase special dolls.
The first illustration is from this blogpost about baby sleeping believes and rituals, the second illustration is from here and the photograph from DailyMail.
Here a video of someone who still makes these cribs today in Turkey, according to the video he is the last person in Turkey who still makes them, but I doubt that :).
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