Previously, it was in many kindergartens, and orders for production came even from above. Now it’s very difficult for the Bogorodskaya toy. The state doesn’t care about fishing. The craftsmen who work in the factory for pennies do not let her die completely. Even with private woodworking orders you can’t go far; they lift your spirits more than the work. Factory workers still remember how one day a new Russian came and asked to make a stupa for his mother-in-law as a gift. With a hint)

Today it is the Bogorodsk Toy Factory.
The toy is about 350 years old. Then, under the control of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, wood processing began to develop in the nearby village of Bogorodskoye. They carved iconostases, platbands, wooden sculptures and toys. Later, a school of master carvers and a professional artel, the current factory, appeared.

A more romantic version talks about a peasant whose children got tired of playing with a wooden doll and abandoned it. The peasant took the doll to the fair, where he was lucky - a merchant saw the toy and ordered a shipment. This is how the residents of Bogorodskoye began to engage in the “toy business.”

1. A toy is made from linden dried for 3-5 years. This soft wood is good for cutting

2. After drying, the tree is sent for cutting. Process the future toy manually or on a lathe

3. The product blank is first cut out with an ax or cut out using a hacksaw according to a template

4. Then they process it with tools - chisels and special very sharp Bogorodsk knives. Yes, the knives were also local. Once upon a time, while one part of the village was making toys, the second was preparing knives and chisels for their manufacture. Now craftsmen use imported tools or make them themselves, only the name remains

5. An experienced worker spends 15-20 minutes cutting one piece. However, the working day of the foreman at the factory is short - until lunch. Then many go home to private work or to fulfill factory orders. We arrived just in time for lunch, and all the craftsmen had already left. I had to show everything to the escort

6. According to the norm, 130-140 products are delivered per month. Cuts and abrasions are a common occurrence at work, but people do not lose heart

7. They work here. It smells like wood inside

9. After processing, the toy is assembled in parts

10. And these are the future Carlsons. Below will be colored

11. Although traditionally the toy was not painted, now this rule is sometimes deviated from. It turns out no worse)
They work with gouache and then cover it with a harmless oil varnish.

12. Previously, things were going well at the factory and several hundred people worked. Now there are fewer and fewer workers, some workshops are even empty. They say that in 12 years the team has shrunk by half and has aged a lot

13. However, the toy is still wonderful. Look how cool the Carlsons are

14. Kind and cheerful

15. Simply cool. The toy is held in the hands, the ball rotates - Carlson moves his hand and eats jam, a jar of which has not yet been assigned to him

16. But the spoon has already been given out

17. And he is happy)

18. There are toys with heroes of other fairy tales. Here the ball is spinning, and grandma and grandpa are baking buns

19.

There are different moving scenes - a cat catches fish, chickens peck grain. This toy develops imagination and hands.

20. An unpainted toy often depicts the life of a peasant, who is “helped” by animals. However, there are many plots, and what the heroes will do depends on the imagination of the master. There are also mobile ones, like this one - the most famous - “Blacksmiths”

21. Just toys with animals

22. Mostly with bears

23. Or a panel

24. In the museum at the factory you come across compositions on fairy-tale themes

25. Craftsmen also carve unique things, like this “Northern War” chess set. Peter and Charles XII with their queens

The factory's big problem is new personnel. After graduating from the local art school, young people either leave or take up private cutting. Otherwise, you won’t survive. So workshops are being created at home. Many workers also find it more profitable to work at home and receive a percentage of the factory’s order than to go to work for a ridiculous salary of several thousand.
The situation is also spoiled by the “masters” who sell fakes. According to the workers, there are many of them. Their quality is low, and the client can be easily deceived.
The Zagorskaya PSPP, located in Bogorodskoe, also helps the factory. The museum and some of its premises have been renovated, craft festivals are held, and traditions are not allowed to be completely forgotten.

In addition to toys, the factory’s craftsmen make custom-made carved furniture, wooden wall panels with three-dimensional image people and animals. There are no problems with raw materials. In the village, traders sell linden trees from their cars. The prices are affordable - one cubic meter costs several thousand, and it will last for a year of work.

Some people say that the creation of a single factory ruined the fishery. Making a toy is a creative endeavor, and putting a craftsman in an office for a working day and demanding a monthly quota from him is a mockery. In such conditions, no one will remember about inspiration; you will have to work for the plan, and not for the soul. There is something truthful in this.

I also remembered Masha recently walking around the Internet. It’s a pity, such producers are now better off than good industry


Photo from the Internet

Bogorodskaya toy was not included in the symbols of the Olympics in Sochi, she was not called at the top a beautiful, but in fact an empty set of television words like “the pride of the region, with the help of which Russia continues to be revived.” It is not given to foreigners at receptions. Today, the times of higher and mass orders are gone. But the toy is alive. The remaining masters, mostly women, are fans of their craft.

There is a store at the factory. Prices start from several hundred rubles, there is a choice. It will probably be more expensive in Moscow stores. And in general, is it possible to buy this toy in Moscow?

Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences L. REZANOV, technology teacher at Education Center No. 1828 “Saburovo” (Moscow).

From the history of the fishery

Science and life // Illustrations

Blacksmiths Mishka and Muzhik are a symbol of the Bogorodsk craft.

Toy with a balance ball.

The old building of the main educational building of the Bogorodsk vocational school. Photo from 1958.

Hereditary carver S.I. Balaev shows students of the Children's Academy of Russian Culture of the Saburovo Education Center how to make a pendulum toy.

The work of a master on a moving toy is no longer likened to the art of a sculptor, but of a designer who assembles a composition from various parts.

Pupils of the Children's Academy of Russian Culture in the home workshop of the hereditary carver V. G. Eroshkin (sitting on the right).

Handcrafting a toy takes quite a lot of time. First, the workpiece is cut out with an ax, then they begin to process it with chisels and special Bogorodsk knives.

Science and life // Illustrations

Science and life // Illustrations

Science and life // Illustrations

The village of Bogorodskoye is located on the high bank of the Kunya River, not far from Sergiev Posad. The toy craft originated here in the 17th century under the influence of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery - at that time one of the largest centers of artistic crafts in Moscow Rus'. Local craftsmen carved figures of people and animals from wood. Often such figures had symbolic meaning. Bear, a character of many folk tales, according to pagan beliefs, was a symbol of power. The goat personified good power, patronized the harvest. The ram and cow symbolized fertility, the deer - abundance, a successful marriage.

The first figurines of people, animals and birds were single and, as usual, unpainted. The beauty was created with patterned carvings. From the second half of the 19th century century, carvers began to make sculptural groups of several figures on a common basis: “Peasant Farm”, “Troika”, “Cavalry”, “Tea Party”, etc. “The Man and the Bear” in various plot settings became the symbol of the craft.

In 1911, local residents decided to organize training workshops. In 1913, the Main Directorate of Agriculture and Land Management created an Educational and Demonstration Workshop with an instructor class in carving. Methodology educational process It was first invented and introduced into the school by master Andrei Yakovlevich Chushkin. Children were taught drawing, woodworking technology and wood carving.

At the same time, craftsmen founded an artel - a small joint production, where they jointly solved the problems of acquiring material, improving the quality of tools, marketing products, etc. The creators of the artel are considered to be A. Ya. Chushkin and F. S. Balaev. The enterprise was called: “Handicraft and Toy Artel.” It included 19 talented carvers. They worked according to the charter approved by the Vladimir Governor-General I. N. Sazonov.

In 1914, a dormitory for 10 students who were on full government boarding appeared at the Educational and Demonstration Workshop. In 1922, the workshop was renamed the Vocational School, which in 1990 became the Bogorodsk Art and Industrial School.

The artel in 1923 received the name “Bogorodsky Carver”. Since 1961, it has been the Bogorodsk factory of artistic carvings. In 1993, the name “Bogorodsky Carver” was returned to the factory.

The chronicle of the craft includes many generations of famous master carvers: the Boblovkins, Barashkovs, Bardenkovs, Eroshkins, Zinins, Puchkovs, Stulovs, Ustratovs, Chushkins, Shishkins, etc. These names are the embodiment of brilliant performance skills and creative thought.

Toy manufacturing technology

Before a toy hits the shelf, it goes through a long journey. First you need to find a linden tree with fewer knots. Knots look bad on products, so they are either bypassed or cut out. You can remove a linden tree from its roots only in winter, when all the sap has gone into the ground and there is less moisture left in the tree. Why are toys made from linden? Yes, because it is the softest for the carver, pliable, and easier to work with. After removing the bark, the linden tree is dried for two to three years outdoors under a canopy. The bark is left only on the edges of the log in the form of rings so that the wood does not crack when it dries. The dried log is sawn into “churaki”, that is, short trunks. And only after this the master begins the planned work.

Bogorodsk products are made both by hand and on lathes. Manual work is much more difficult. The workpiece is first cut down with an ax, the so-called notching is performed, and cuts are made with a hacksaw. These operations give the product general outline. Then they begin processing with chisels. The finished unpainted toy is called “linen”.

Dynamic, expressive, funny...

Bogorodsk toys are kind, funny, instructive, “alive”. You pull the string of the smiling Teddy Bear, and he will spread his paws to the sides, greeting us. Blacksmiths Mishka and Muzhik - the main characters of the Bogorodsk craft - hit the anvil with hammers if you move the bars one by one. The toy “Soldiers on Divorce” was made using the same principle. You move the wooden slats apart and the soldiers move apart; when you move the slats, they converge into orderly ranks. The Nutcracker chews hazelnuts when he touches the lever behind his back. “Chickens on a circle” peck grains thanks to a spinning ball-balance. And there are toys that work on a spring mechanism hidden in a block-bedside table. When you press a button connected to a spring, the figures begin to move. The bear rocks the cradle, washes clothes, and can even iron them. To enliven genre scenes, carvers introduce into the composition images of trees with oscillating leaves attached to thin wire springs.

Pump and spin, pull and push, push and slide - these universal elements of moving mechanical toys serve to develop dexterity in children and develop fine motor skills of the fingers. For kids, such fun is the best.

Home workshop tour

Together with the students of the Children's Academy of Russian Culture of the Saburovo Education Center, I had the opportunity to visit Bogorodskoye more than once. Our last ethnographic expedition to these regions took place in February of this year. Moscow schoolchildren observed the work and worked themselves in the home workshops of V. G. Eroshkin and S. I. Balaev.

On the facade of the house of Sergei Ivanovich Balaev, whose grandfather stood at the origins of the creation of the artel, there are white painted carved figures of birds and animals. As you pass by, you can’t help but stare.

Sergei Ivanovich invited us to visit. Everything in his house reminds of the traditional way of life of a kind and strong peasant family. A large whitewashed stove, a red corner with icons, a high bed with numerous pillows, an old chest of drawers, black and white photographs on the walls. Of course, there is also a workbench. It is located near the window, where there is more natural light, so that the eyes are less strained. The tool is in the cells of a rag folding bag, which is easily laid out on a workbench and just as easily rolled up without taking up much space. The incisors in such a bag do not become dull and will not hurt anyone. On the front side of the workbench there is a short stop board, all pitted with cutters that jump off during work. Thanks to this board, which can be easily replaced with a new one, the workbench does not deteriorate. Above the workbench are hung the carpenter's tools and cardboard templates for various products. The template is applied to the workpiece and outlined with a pencil.

Next to the workbench there must be a stump on which the workpiece is hacked or cut out with a hacksaw. Only after this does the processing of the product begin with chisels and sharp Bogorodsk knives. The carver prepares the tool and material in advance. To prevent the wood from drying out, in winter it is stored in a plastic bag, and sometimes even wrapped in a damp cloth and placed in a bag. Dried material is more difficult to cut.

Professionals do not have large waste of linden in their work. They value every piece and use it for all sorts of little things. And only shavings and knotty trimmings go into the stove.

Sergei Ivanovich gladly showed us how he makes the pendulum toy “A Boy Holding the Firebird by the Tail” using the simplest tools - an ax, a knife, chisels and chisels.

How to become a toy maker

You can master the technique of carving and obtain the profession of an artist-master of a unique Russian folk craft at the Bogorodsk Art and Industrial School. Entrance exams for applicants in grades 9-11 are held annually in August. During the period of study (four incomplete years), students master academic drawing, sculpture, painting, and design graphics.

Teachers develop students' powers of observation and creative initiative and make a lot of efforts to ensure that students can participate in various competitions and exhibitions. Every year, students’ works are exhibited at the Moscow Fair of Russian Folk Art Crafts “Ladya”, in the “City of Masters” at the All-Russian Exhibition Center, at the All-Russian Exhibition “Young Talents of Russia” and often take prizes.

Over the 95 years of its existence, the Bogorodsk Art and Industrial School has produced hundreds of carvers, many of whom have become high-class artists. The museum of samples and diploma works of school graduates complements the huge collection of exhibits from the museum of the Bogorodsky Carver factory. Both collections preserve the history and heritage of the Bogorodsk craft.

Products of Bogorodsk craftsmen are exhibited in the State Historical Museum, the All-Russian Museum of Arts and Crafts and folk art, in the Toy Museum and the Historical and Art State Museum-Reserve of Sergiev Posad and in many other cultural centers of the country. They are also known abroad. Bogorodsk toys and sculptures were widely presented this fall at an exhibition in the Stroganov Palace, one of the branches of the Russian Museum (St. Petersburg).

The article is illustrated with photographs provided by the teaching staff of the Bogorodsk Art and Industrial School.

Variegated wooden chickens on a stand, figurines of blacksmiths, a man and a bear - pull the bar and they will knock with hammers on a small anvil... Funny toys, known in Rus' since time immemorial, have become the main folk craft for residents of the village of Bogorodskoye near Moscow.

LEGENDS AND TRADITIONS OF THE VILLAGE OF BOGORODSKOE

The history of the Bogorodsk toy begins with a legend. They say that in a small village near modern Sergiev Posad there lived a peasant family. They were poor people and had many children. The mother decided to amuse the children and make them a doll. I sewed it from fabric, but after a few days the children tore the toy. She wove it out of straw, but by evening the doll fell apart. Then the woman took a sliver and carved a toy out of wood, and the children called her Auka. The children had fun for a long time, and then they got bored with the doll. And her father took her to the fair. There was a merchant there who found the toy interesting and ordered a whole batch from the peasant.

Since then, they say, most residents of the village of Bogorodskoye have taken up the “toy” craft.

But seriously, folk craft originated under the influence of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery - one of the largest centers of artistic crafts in Moscow Rus' 350 years ago. Traditional Bogorodsk toys are unpainted figures of people, animals and birds made of linden, compositions from the life of a Russian peasant. The “man and the bear” are still considered a symbol of the craft in various plot productions, the first of which was the movable toy “Blacksmiths”.

WOODEN TOY FACTORY

At the beginning of the last century, the first production appeared in the village of Bogorodskoye - the handicraft and toy artel of Andrei Chushkin. Later the artel received the name “Bogorodsky Carver”. During Soviet times, the craft flourished; the artel, which became an artistic carving factory in 1960, employed 300 people and had large state and foreign orders. Now the situation has changed. Walking through the factory workshops, I was amazed - no more than five craftsmen worked in each of them, and most of the premises were simply empty.

According to the head of the sales department, Andrei Lunev, over the last decade, the factory’s staff has decreased by exactly half. And there were much fewer orders, mainly exhibitions and metropolitan vernissages. Moreover, the capital's handicraft competitors tortured us. “They cut up crude fakes and sell them to resellers for pennies. Naturally, it will cost less than our work. So people buy, out of ignorance.” Andrey showed factory and homemade versions of the “Blacksmiths” toy. The difference is immediately visible. In the toy, made by the hands of Bogorodsk carvers, the proportions were observed, the smallest details of the figures of a man and a bear were cut out. And the fake looks more like the clumsy work of a junior high school student.

IN lately people don’t want to go to work in a factory. The salary is more than modest. Some “exclusive craftsmen” work from home, completing complex, original orders from the factory, and receive a percentage of their cost. An ordinary carver at the factory receives no more than one and a half thousand rubles, painters - about a thousand. Carvers in creative workshops are “richer”, the salary reaches up to 2500, and their work is more interesting. Once a month they must present two toys to the factory’s artistic council for production, plus exclusive orders. In this case, you can also earn interest from each. The rest of the employees have not seen any bonuses or “13th salary” since the early 90s. The team has noticeably “aged”; the young people, having graduated from the local art and industrial school, either go to work in Sergiev Posad, or do carving at home, and hand over their products to resellers.

“BIRTH” OF A TOY

Before reaching the store counter, a toy goes through a long journey. It starts with a well-dried linden log, a soft wood that can be processed. Products can be turned or hand-made. With the first, everything is simpler - the parts of future toys are turned on a machine, assemblers connect them, and painters paint them, if necessary, and varnish them. But manual work is much more difficult. Carvers process linden “churaks” themselves. The wood may be soft, but most of the craftsmen at the factory are women. The product blank is first cut out with an ax or cut out using a hacksaw according to a template. Then processing with tools begins - chisels and Bogorodsk knives with very sharp blades. So cuts are a common thing for craftsmen: they will cover the wound with a plaster and get back to work. It is necessary to develop a standard; each carver must deliver 120 - 130 products per month.

“They don’t pay us enough,” the carver Tamara, an elderly woman who had worked at the factory for 42 years, complained to me. - If a finished sculpture costs about a thousand, then the master receives one hundred rubles from them. And you can’t make many such products in a day, at most one or two, although everything depends on experience. From the carver, the products go to assembly, painting, or directly to the warehouse. In the workshops I saw a lot of blanks, future “bears”, “hares”, “young ladies” and “dogs”. But I was able to get an idea of ​​the famous Bogorodsk toy only in the factory museum.

FOR FUN AND BEAUTY

Finding myself in the factory museum-shop, I felt like a child again. The shelves behind the counter were filled with toys and wooden sculptures. Here are the painted hens familiar from childhood on a stand, with a round balance underneath it. Unwind it, and the chickens begin to knock their beaks together. Here is a fisherman cat with a sly face - also a moving toy. And also many different bunnies, bears, mice. All the dolls are painted with bright colors, you just want to pick them up. I knocked with the blacksmiths’ hammers, “pecked” at the chickens, “feed” the bunny with carrots... Our photojournalist rocked the balance of the “fisherman cat” for a long time, and when the wooden paw with the fishing rod began to move, he burst into happy laughter. Museum methodologist Natalya Vyunnik watched the entertainment of the journalists with a smile.

Many of us “relapse into childhood,” said Natalya. “And when schoolchildren come, it’s impossible to tear them away from the counter.” Choosing is a problem; you want to buy everything at once. For small children, our toys are the best: when you set the toy in motion, your hand develops, and you can chew on wood, after all. We paint with gouache and then cover it with oil varnish, it is harmless.

HOW TOYS “COME TO LIFE”

Children mostly prefer bright turning toys. You can buy them at the factory for 70 - 80 rubles, in stores - three times more expensive. Here are the toys and sculptures self made They cost much more, about a thousand rubles. Some of them are motionless, while in others, only a certain part “comes to life” with the help of a spring inserted inside. The “Russian beauty” shakes her head, the leaves on the birch tree and umbrellas in the hands of the “ladies” tremble... There are also compositional toys where each character moves.

In “The Peasant Yard” all the characters are busy with their work: the mother milks the cows, the father chops firewood, the daughter feeds the chickens and they chatter with their beaks, and the little son swings on a swing. The figures are driven by a push-button mechanism. Natalya explained that the parts are attached with a strong thread to the inner bar. The bar has moved - and the figures “come to life”. Another traditional mechanism is considered to be a divorce, when the figures are attached to sliding slats. This is how “Blacksmiths” and “Soldiers on Divorce” work.

WORKS OF MASTERS

In addition to traditional toys, the craftsmen of the Bogorodsk factory make custom-made carved furniture, wooden wall panels with three-dimensional images of people and animals, large sculptures and accessories. I saw these works in the factory warehouse and in the creative workshops of carvers. I wanted to buy a watch framed with penguin figures - it turned out to be a bit expensive, about five thousand.

Sometimes you come across “cheerful” customers,” says Sergei Pautov, a carver at the creative workshop. - One day a guy came from the cool and ordered a carved stupa as a gift for his mother-in-law. With a hint, so to speak. And an employee of a Russian museum in Germany asked to make several sculptures in explicit erotic poses. I still don’t understand why the Russian museum needs such exhibits. They order carved devils and even wooden shoes. Several years ago I had to make a panel - a portrait of Luzhkov, I wanted to present such a gift to the capital's mayor former governor Moscow region Tyazhlov. Now an order has arrived for Putin and Gromov.

A REAL FOLK CRAFT

After talking with the local population, I learned that factory orders are not the main means of income for carvers. Most work from home and sell their products to resellers. Otherwise you won't survive. Many are believers and have many children. How can you feed your family on a zero salary, at today’s prices? Therefore, each house has its own small workshop. There are regular customers from resellers, and there is also one-time work, for example, carved furniture for a bathhouse or a country house. “Individual workers” also have no problems with raw materials. Traders come to the village and sell linden by the cubic meter, from their cars. Prices are quite affordable; one cubic meter can be purchased for one and a half thousand rubles. This amount of wood is enough for a craftsman to work for a whole year.

At the factory, part-time work for its employees is frowned upon. Only everyone continues to “tinker.” The profit is obvious, as one of the village women told me: in just five years, her daughter’s family was able to earn enough for a two-room apartment and a car, and now they are building a country brick house. In addition to woodcarvers, there is another folk craftsman in Bogorodskoye - an old blacksmith. At seventy years old, grandpa is still the only one in the village who makes woodcarving tools - Bogorodsk knives and chisels. He sells a set of ten items for one and a half thousand rubles, and brings his goods directly to the factory or vocational school. True, recently carvers have become accustomed to making tools on their own, but only a few. So the old man's business is booming.

Source - Newspaper "Solidarity"

20.10.2010

Capital of Bogorodskaya Toy

The “Bogorodskaya toy” owes its birth to the village of Bogorodskoye, now located in the Sergiev Posad district of the Moscow region. In the 15th century, the village was owned by the famous Moscow boyar M.B. Pleshcheev, after whose death, the village along with the peasants was inherited by his eldest son Andrei, and then by his grandson Fedor.

Since 1595, the village of Bogorodskoye became the property of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, and the peasants became monastic serfs. It was the peasants who laid the foundations of wood carving in the 16th-17th centuries, which glorified Bogorodskoye, the current “capital of the toy kingdom,” throughout the world.

Legends of the village of Bogorodskoye

Residents of the village of Bogorodskoye no longer remember which of the peasants carved the first wooden toy, which marked the beginning of folk art, but for more than 300 years two interesting legends have been passed down from mouth to mouth about this event.

The first legend says: “A peasant family lived in the village of Bogorodskoye. So the mother decided to amuse the children - she cut out a funny figure from a block of wood and called it “auka”. The kids played with the “auka” and threw it behind the stove. So the peasant woman’s husband went to the market, and took the “auka” with him to show the traders. “Auka” was immediately bought and more toys were ordered. They say that from then on the carving of wooden toys began and they began to be called “Borogodsky”.

The second legend tells how a resident of Sergiev Posad once carved a nine-inch doll from a linden block. He went to the Lavra, where the merchant Erofeev was trading, and sold it to him. The merchant decided to put a funny toy in the shop as a decoration. Before I had time to deliver it, the toy was immediately bought, and at a great profit for the merchant. The merchant found the peasant and ordered him a whole batch of the same toys. Since then, the Bogorodsk toy has become famous.

History of the development of folk arts and crafts

According to historians, in the 17th century, peasants in many villages were engaged in wood carving, including in Sergiev Posad and Bogorodskoye. So both of the above legends are true.

At first, the carvers of the village of Bogorodskoye were dependent on the buyers of Sergiev Posad, fulfilling their orders. The Sergiev craft was based on the purchase from peasants of the so-called “gray goods”, which were then processed, dyed and sold. Around the middle of the 19th century, the center of folk crafts moved from Sergiev Posad to the village of Bogorodskoye, which by this time was “the personification of local woodcarving traditions.” According to researchers, on late XIX century, the Bogorodsk carving industry flourished. Much credit for the formation of the “Bogorodsk style” of toys belongs to such the oldest masters, like A.N. Zinin. However, the close cooperation of Sergiev Posad and Bogorodsk carvers also had a great influence on the formation of a unified system of images and plots of toys.

In 1913, on the initiative of the oldest carvers F.S. Balaev and A.Ya. Chushkin, an artel was organized in the village of Bogorodskoye, which gave the Bogorodsk craftsmen complete economic independence from the Sergiev Posad buyers. In 1923, due to the addition of new craftsmen to the staff, the previously created artel was transformed into the “Bogorodsky Carver” artel, under which a school began to operate, teaching children, starting from the age of 7, the art of wood cutting. In 1960, the Bogorodsky Carver artel received the status of an artistic carving factory. This event was timed to coincide with the 300th anniversary of the birth of folk art in Bogorodskoye.

How is the Bogorodskaya toy made?

Bogorodsk toys are traditionally made from soft wood - linden, aspen, alder, since soft wood is easier to work with. Harvested linden logs are dried using a special technology for at least 4 years, so harvesting linden is a continuous process. Dried logs are sawed and sent for logging. The master marks the resulting blanks according to the pattern and then cuts out the toy with a special Bogorodsk knife. A chisel is also used in the work of a carver. The finished toy parts are sent to the assembly shop, and final stage they are painted. Toys that cannot be painted are coated with colorless varnish.

Features of the “Bogorodsky style” toy

The history of Bogorodsk wooden toys goes back more than 350 years. The products are known all over the world, and in their time they were appreciated not only by children, but also by world-famous sculptors. Distinctive feature Bogorodskaya toys is the absence of obvious details and strict carved forms in sculptural products. Thanks to this manufacturing method, the toy developed creativity and imagination in children, and did not bother them for a long time.

Movable toys were no less interesting. Their thoughtful design worked for a long time and did not break.

The Bogorodskaya toy got its name from the village where craftsmen who made wooden blanks lived. The Bogorodsk toy became so firmly established in the life of the local population that one of the products became a symbol of the village and is depicted on its coat of arms. This is a moving toy with a man and a bear.

History of the fishery

The production of Bogorodsk toys began in the 15th – 16th centuries, in the village of the same name near Sergiev Posad, Moscow region. Initially, craftsmen in processing and artistic cutting of wood worked on orders from buyers. They prepared the base, which they then painted in Sergiev Posad.

Finally, as a craft, the production of Bogorodsk toys was formed at the end of the 18th - early XIX century, when the entire process of making toys was transferred to craftsmen from the village of Bogorodskoye. They developed them, determined the theme, made the bases and, if necessary, painted them.

At the beginning of the 20th century, an artel was organized in the same village, which trained masters of cutting toys, transferring to them the accumulated knowledge, techniques and skills. Due to the war and economic turmoil, the artel was temporarily closed, and after new strength started working already in Soviet times.

Bogorodsk wooden toys were actively exported to European countries. At first, the themes were presented by the life of the common people; later, after the end of World War II, the masters went into fairy-tale themes. In later years, the appearance of themes for making toys was influenced by events taking place in the country, for example, sending a man into space, popularizing sports, etc.

Types of Bogorodsk toys

Bogorodsk wooden toys were of two types:

1. Sculpture toy

2. Movable toy

The sculptural figures were distinguished by the absence of clearly defined features. In them, children, due to the development of their own imagination, could see a bear, a fox and other animals.

Bogorodsk craftsmen also carved toys with moving structures. The figurines were attached by the craftsmen to dies that moved relative to each other; springs with buttons were also placed inside them, and another part of the toys consisted of figurines attached to a dies with a counterweight on threads.

The most famous Bogorodsk wooden toys are:

Blacksmiths, fixed on dies;

Dancing man with a spring inside;

Chickens pecking grains on a circle with a counterweight.

Episodes from ordinary life, the crafts and professions of that time were often covered. For example, a shoemaker was depicted at the moment of making boots, a spinner sat with a spindle at a spinning wheel, lumberjacks chopped wood, hussars sat on horses, young ladies were depicted with flowers in their hands. In later stories, bears accompanied by space satellites, vacuum cleaners, carpet cleaners, football players, etc. appeared.

Manufacturing technology

Traditionally, Bogorodsk wooden toys were carved from solid linden. Among all trees, this wood is the softest and most pliable.

First, the harvested and dried trunks were sawed into logs and only after that they were sent to work by the craftsmen.

Craftsmen split the chocks themselves, with a couple of strokes, into four parts. It was this form of workpiece that was most convenient for work. The figures were cut out using special Bogorodsk knives and files. Expensive types of toys were made from a single piece, and simpler toys were made from the remaining chips.

When selecting logs, we tried to take those that had the smallest number of knots, since wood with knots is difficult to process for this type of fishing. Wood carvers were usually men.

Painting of Bogorodskaya toy

(Colored (painted) Bogorodsk toys)

After preparing all the elements of the toy, it was assembled and sent for painting. If the composition was not a single structure, but was assembled from many figures or wood chips, the elements were fastened together using PVA glue and wooden glazing beads.

Most often there were Bogorodsk toys that were not painted at all. They allowed children to develop their imagination. If the toys were painted, the paints used by the craftsmen were bright, rich and very rich. The toys showed elements of Khokhloma and Gorodets painting, but at the same time they were devoid of the techniques characteristic of these small parts, since the toys were designed for children.