Recently I've started collecting Thomas Dam trolls. Growing up as a kid in the 80s and 90s, I had a couple Treasure trolls (the kind with the gem on their tummies you were supposed to rub to make wishes come true), and I remember playing with a friend's large troll collection at recess during the 4th grade. It wasn't until recently, however, that I found out that trolls were originally a 1960s craze from Denmark. They were created by a Danish woodcutter named Thomas Dam, who carved the first one for his daughter when he couldn't afford to buy her a Christmas gift. Isn't that sweet? Like something straight out of a folk tale! The troll doll apparently caught on with kids in Mr. Dam's town, and was later picked up for mass production, leading to a troll craze that made it all the way over here in the States as well. Depending on who you ask, they're either adorable or ugly or so ugly they're adorable ^_^ To me they look like fairytale woodland creatures, something you'd see in a Brian Froud book or in the movie "Labyrinth."
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| JB's troll, Fred, a vintage 1960s Dam troll. He has his original green glass eyes and blue mohair. |
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The little 2.5" blue-haired guy above belongs to my husband, JB. Of the things I collect, JB seems to like my trolls the best. I suspect it's because of their friendly, wrinkly faces--JB also has a thing for pug dogs. I picked this particular troll to give to JB because of his nice blue hair (JB's favorite color). He's been affectionately named Fred by JB, and I was able to make him the little felt pants he is wearing now. I made the pants (overalls?) by altering a vintage troll clothing pattern.
I found this adorable set of vintage 1960s patterns on ebay, and I'm going to try and make all of them. Fred's overalls were based on the caveman pattern. So far I've also made the nightgown and bonnet :)
The Dam company continues to make trolls today. For a long while, a problem with the Dam copyright allowed other companies to manufacture and sell trolls. The popularity of trolls led to many imitations (Russ trolls come to mind as the most prevalent...I remember when those things were
everywhere in the 90s). It wasn't until 2003 that the
Dam copyright was restored and they are now the only legit producer of trolls.
I also own a couple of 6.5" modern Dam trolls. The larger variety of Dam trolls (6.5" and up) are still produced in Denmark, while smaller modern trolls are produced in China.
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| We've named her Trollita. |
Just looking at her makes me happy!
