Plastic Dolls
Doll manufacturers started using celluloid in the 1860s when it was developed by the Hyatt Brothers in New York. Made from pyroxylin and camphor, it became a highly popular material with manufacturers because it was easily produced and, by the 20th century, very cheap to produce. The drawbacks of using celluloid to make dolls were that it faded if exposed to bright light, it could be easily crushed and it was highly flammable. By the 1950s plastic was invented and materials such as vinyl became more popular.
Tiny Tears
Drink and wet dolls were developed in the USA in the 1950s. Tiny Tears was one of the first and was launched in the UK in 1966 when it won UK Toy of the Year.
Cabbage Patch Kids & Rice Paddy Babies
Cabbage Patch Kids were invented by the American art student Xavier Roberts in the late 1970s. They started off as 'Little People' with sculpted heads and bodies. Roberts experimented with a process called needle sculpture to make the dolls.
Teenage Dolls
Teenage dolls of the 1940s and 1950s were conservative and meek. However, things changed with the arrival of Barbie, Sindy and more recently Bratz...
