Page 42 of The Toymaker
“Those two are kinky, huh?”
Riju chuckled. “It’s just a joke.”
“They're all so different.”
One had a headband with ears made from wood, and a bitty mask on a stick lay by another.
“What’s the mask?”
“It’s supposed to be a fox, but like one a kid would make as a toy. I figured a doll could have a toy too. Let me show you how I make a doll.” Riju hurried to his desk, and when Kit stood by him, he pulled him into his lap. “I only have one chair, so you can use me.”
A couple of blank, soft bodies sat on the desk among sewing supplies. Hair and facial features could be stitched on, and other things like clothes, wings, and tails could be added. Riju showedhim a little book where he kept parchment patterns so he could cut out tiny clothes and make sure he wasn’t wasting the cloth. The book also had instructions on sewing teeny dresses and other things.
“I like cloth dolls, and they’re cheaper because you can use scraps to make your own too. Wooden ones that you put together yourself are also fun. Look.” Riju opened the top drawer of his desk where he had small boxes to keep pieces organized.
“Usually, boxes of arms and legs aren't something you want to find in a guy's desk,” said Kit.
Riju snorted. “See? These are the bodies. You snap the limbs into the holes here.”
Kit lifted one of the arms to look at it. “You made these?”
“Yeah. I had to be careful to get them all the same size, and it was hard at first. I messed up a lot too. I wrote down the measurements, and after I cut a little piece of wood and get it shaped, I have to shave it down a bit, sand it, and make sure it’s even.”
The hands were rather simplistic and small, which worked for a doll in Kit’s opinion. All of the pieces were even. The round heads were rather creepy since they had holes in them. That must have been for hair.
“This is amazing, and you made so many. You can put together a wooden one whenever you feel like it?”
“Exactly! Like right now!”
Riju had tiny pots for paint in another drawer, and he put his arms around Kit so he could rest his elbows on the desk and show him how to do a head.
He used a tiny brush and only a little paint. That kept it smooth so it wouldn’t clump. When Kit tried on a fresh head, he used pale pink for her cheeks and lips. He wasn’t as neat with his brush strokes as Riju who had more practice.
“When you’re done with the brush, you can’t let the paint harden on the bristles. It’s hard to get it off.” Riju placed the used brushes into a cup of water on a wooden tray close to the wall. “I probably need to change that. It’ll be fine for now.”
He showed Kit how to snap the limbs in. They had a little smooth ball where the shoulder and hip joints would be, and it took a bit of force to get them into the holes in the torso. The head went in the same way on top. For hair, yarn had to be poked through the holes, and a slim piece of hooked metal pulled it through another.
It was slow-going for Kit who hadn’t done it before. Soon, he was finished, and he bound the hair in two clumps with little ribbons to give her pigtails.
He had his first doll. She was about eight inches high, and he held her up to stand. He couldn’t imagine Perry ever taking the time to show him anything like this.
“She needs clothes, and I can give you cloth so you can sew her first dress,” said Riju. “Do you like her?”
“Hell yeah! Thank you so much. It was fun, and she’s so cute.” Kit kissed him, and the way Riju’s eyes lit up made it all better.
“She’s yours.”
“You could make dolls to sell so other people can enjoy them. I mean, look…” Kit gestured at the shelves. “You know how to make clothes for them and create the bodies too. Plus, if you can make dolls, you could make all kinds of other toys too. You’ve got the cats, and you could sew little animals.”
“I’d like to do that and have my own shop. Trig thinks I should stick with making sex toys since I’m good at it. He doesn’t like dolls or want me to run a kid’s toy business.”
“But you like dolls.” Didn't that matter more? He was also good at what he liked, and Kit never would have thought to make the body parts in advance. If a kid wanted a doll with a certain color hair or any feature, Riju could create it.
Riju shrugged. “Trig thinks the button-eye dolls are especially creepy and says they all stare. I don’t think they’re creepy. They don’tstare, and they’re my friends. They see me.”
“And you like that?”
“Yeah, because they don’t mind me.”
