"The Nursery Group"

"The Nursery Group" were Dam's adorable babies, consisting of "newborns", "infants", and "toddlers". The newborns (model #510) were in lying down positions, the infants (model #511) were sitting down, and the toddlers (model #512) were standing.

They most often had short, cropped hair, or short, fluffy hair. Every now and then you'll see one with long hair, but not very often.

They have been a long time favorite of mine. Several years ago, I did two Photoshop pieces to illustrate each pose found in the Nursery Group.

They would often come in a plastic container with handles:

Dam Prototype Trolls

Prototype = A first or preliminary model of something, from which other forms are developed or copied.

When developing new ideas for trolls, a prototype would be made first to test it out. Not all ideas went on to be produced. Many times the reason for this would be complications due to mechanical reasons, such as difficulty getting it out of the mold. Often prototypes are not airbrushed, or have simple airbrushing, with out eyes and hair. It is really, really exciting to find one - only a very few, if not just one, are ever made.

The following are rare prototypes that didn't make it to production.

 

This guy is really cool! He has 3 faces that you can change. You twist the orange knob on the top of his head, and it turns his head inside his helmet to reveal the next face. Its a little hard to turn his head - the noses of the other faces impede the rotating process.

The angel is the first prototype that I fell in love with. Her wings are part of her mold, and since she is made to be suspended and flying, she is unable to stand on her own. I was told that her wings made it difficult to pull her out of the mold. The hair and eyes on the angel below are not actually attached to maintain the integrity of the prototype :-). 

Søren Petersen (he worked at the Dam Factory for many years) was experimenting with making baby animals. Above is the baby giraffe prototype he made (standing with the dog prototype, reindeer prototype, and rare spotted cow).

The Bee, before and after airbrushing.

This guy is incredibly cute! His eyes would have been probably painted on.

The Viking's head rotates side to side, and the face plate of his helmet comes down. I love how detailed he is!

This little Penguin is just precious. The photo on the left shows his bank stopper, and the photo on the right shows his Dam imprint.

In the 60's they made a really beautiful prototype of a Santa and Reindeer. There's only one of these in known existence.The set was broken up and sold separately several years ago. Sherill became the lucky owner of the Reindeer. For Christmas in 2009, the Dam Company released (to much excitement) a Santa and Reindeer set that was inspired by the prototype (though it looks rather different).

Large Reindeer prototype with rare small Reindeer.

 Reindeer with rare Dam riding stick horse head.

The Viking's head rotates much like the Knight's does.

There are an extremely small handful of these young monkeys. They come with both rooted hair (which is more unusual), and regular glued mohair.

Young Monkey with Forrest clothing.

Rooted-haired boy, and another that Stuart remade into a girl.

Young Monkey prototype (in the middle) with other Monkeys.

Making of Trolls Video

I've always thought this video was too cool. It is a 1991 video, posted by Soeren Petersen (who used to work at the Dam Factory), about the making of trolls. It is in Danish  with no subtitles, but it is really neat to watch.

"Troll Hole"

One of the Yahoo Damthings group members posted this NPR link. It talks about a feline museum, but at the end, it has an amusing, troll related addition :-).

Types of Hair

Recently on the Damthings group, a question on the different types of troll hair was asked, and I thought Timm gave a very nice answer:

Naturals:

Icelandic wool - long , soft - weight can vary

Tibetan - very soft /usually curly but not that long- 1-4 inches normally and lighter in weight

Mohair - finer than icelandic, not so much under coat and usually shorter- very soft as well

Sheep Wool - many of the the trolls produced in New Zealand use this hair- shorter, coarser and curlier - looks great for the boy trolls

Hemp - the Arensbak trolls use this natural fiber for the hair/body- very straw like but softer

Man Made:

Acrylic - typically coarser than than natural, not as long- 3 inches about the max

Nylon - these are long , thicker individual strands

Saran - this was an early troll hair used on the Marx trolls- flatter strands , not very long, tend to be brittle

Polyester - there are a few type of Japan trolls that use this hair- soft, no backing, tends to be wavy

Coarse Polyester - some of the Wishniks used this hair- very long, very coarse- like a brillo pad, no backing and simply one end glued to the scalp. Does not hold up or brush well.

Fashion Show

One of the things I love to do is to try and find new outfits for my larger trolls. The 16 inchers (Livvy, Henry, & Greta) have the most doll-like proportions of the Dam troll line, so therefore have a greater possibility of fitting into pre-made doll clothing. "Possibility" is definitely the word for it though - most clothing does NOT fit. Their arms are big, and their chest is small. It is an adventure to try and find clothing that I can alter without it ruining the look of the garment. Build-A-Bear is often a good place to start. There are a lot of returns, and a lot of alters, but it is so exciting to see your troll looking so cute! Iggys are another large sized troll that I love to try and outfit.

Since this is something that tends to be a continual process, this post will be updated periodically with new looks.

The following are what my girls are currently wearing :-).

Suzette


Marcella

Chelsea

Kimi

Dam Angels

I find that I love to collect certain categories of trolls. Angels are one of them, so I thought it would be fun to put together a post of all the Dam Angels. There are many Angels made by other brands, but since this blog focuses mainly on Dam trolls, other brands have, for the most part, been excluded.

Click any of the photos to make them larger.

She is the largest of the Dam Angels currently being made.
The smaller 6.5" version is below.

The Angel on the left was made primarily in the 80's. The Angel on the right is much newer, made around the year 2005. She was part of a short lived series where they tried to reintroduce Dam trolls into the American mainstream market.

The Angel on the left is the newest of the Angels, having been made by Dam in just the past couple of years. The harp is removable - it is held in place by a stem protruding from the back, which is inserted into a hole in the right hand. The Angel on the right is named Glenda Goodheart. She is part of the second series of Totally Troll. Around 2001, Playmates Toys released 2 series of Dam trolls (5 inchers in cute outfits, with cute names), and called the line "Totally Troll." Unfortunately, they were rather unsuccessful, and were very short lived. They all had colored shapes on their hands that when warmed by the heat of your finger, they would fade and reveal the one word message underneath. Glenda has a blue butterfly that says "Faith."

There are a series of Christmas ornaments that were made in the 80's/90's (all made out of the 2.5" Norfette mold), one of which was a cute little Angel. The 5 inch angel next to her is for size comparison (plus I think they are cute together ;-) ).

This is a rare prototype of an Angel troll made at the Dam factory. There are only a few of her in existence. Her wings are part of her mold, and since she is made to be suspended and flying, she is unable to stand on her own. No problem, she always has a handy Angel friend ready to help!


Though Cupid is not an Angel, he is sort of celestial...
Well, I couldn't resist adding him. He's just so darn cute. The Dam cupid on the right (his Ace brand cupid friend is on the left - another pair I think are cute together ;-) ) is a new Dam, having been made in the past couple of years. He has a bejeweled belly button, white cloth diapers and booties, and holds a fabric bow and arrow in his hand. His other hand holds a plush heart, and heart antenna adorn his head. His golden cloth wings are topped by tufts of white hair.

This is a redone Dam Angel in my collection that I just love! Her wings are real feathers, and I love the hue of her hair. (Redone by Transplash on eBay :-) )

"Addicted to Trolls" song

A member of the Damthings Yahoo group created some awesome alternate lyrics to Robert Palmer's song named "Addicted To Love" recently, and I think it is rings such hilarious truth!

ADDICTED TO TROLLS

Your lights are on, but you're not home,
another troll horse, you'd like to own,
Your head is spinning, your body shakes,
Another Iggy, is all it takes !!

You can't sleep, you can't bid,
Your Ebay spending, is off the grid,
You're getting nervous, you're drinking wine,
one more Scandia, and you'll be fine !!

Well, you like to think that you're immune to the stuff, oh yeah
It's closer to the truth to say you can't get enough
You know you're gonna have to face it, you're addicted to Trolls

You're at the auction, You make a fuss,
until you find out, that its a Russ,
Up comes a tailed troll, and you go nutty,
you can not see straight, your mind is putty !!

You bought a lot, and its not funny,
you're high and dry, spent all the money,
its an addiction, its not greed,
a second mortage, is all you need !!

Well, you like to think that you're immune to the stuff, oh yeah
It's closer to the truth to say you can't get enough
You know you're gonna have to face it, you're addicted to Trolls