THE FOLK CARVINGS ***

A late Uliana Babkina from Kargopol used to say about her clay toys: "Take it, take it, the Lord allows I will bake them some more." "Baking" her beautiful creations, she had no idea that she had made something special. As a pervasive and integral part of everyday life, beauty was not put in the rank of exclusivity.
 Uliana Babkina believed that a toy can be made and painted by anybody; there just had to be a desire and a good clay. To some extent, this is true. But grandmother, in her traditional-folk modesty, ignored the degree of talent, not noticing that one would do well, secondly do better, and the third encompasses both of them.
A peasant household environment allowed to identify more artistically inclined in childhood, although talent was not constantly developed and strengthened in subsequent periods of life. The first sculptural experience could be building a snowman. A born modeller secretly from the adults sculpted "people" from breadcrumbs, only after chewing them, to throw out or misuse bread considered the greatest sin.
In the spring, when barely showed up under the sun golden-yellow eyes of the colts-foot flowers, children extracted clay from the clay pits left by clay miners. They sculptured birds, human figures, houses.
Nobody knows what looked like a wooden sculpture of a pagan god Perun. But, according to the chroniclers, the ancient people of Kyiv were thrown into the Dnieper river during the baptism, beaten with iron bars and pushed from shore.
 Artistic sculptural tradition, rooted in the thick of paganism, appears to have been interrupted. In the bosom of the Orthodox religion, the art of sculpture was almost wholly superseded by painting. But the need for 3D skills has lived in many ways: in the clay and wooden child's toy, consumer and religious wooden sculpture, in small objects made of metal, seal tooth (i.e. ivory).
Wood was the best material, bringing an ordinary artisan on the same level as the artist. It links folk art to make a smooth, fuzzy transition from one trade to another.
 For example, making gingerbread and print boards, for a good master possessing the artistic ability, does not cost much to create sculptures on religious themes. Graphics of wood carvings, floral and geometric ornament of wooden architectural decorations themselves were, to some extent, 3D art. From ubiquitous wood carving to the high stone relief is just one step. The usual "chicken" holding on the roof the flow, had a purely constructive role, was at the same time an architectural detail. But it also harboured, although a very generalized, but still a sculptural image. Utensils made from birch burls in birds also have sculptural art elements, visible even with the inexperienced eye.
The planar woodcarving and bone carving in good hands transformed into the spatial, three-dimensional, evident in the numerous carved altar doors, revetments, so-called "meagre" candles, etc.
However, the carving masters, for some reason, did not rush to become sculptors; the Altar Gates with three-dimensional shapes are very rare.
 A sculptural image is a worthy rival of a colourful toy in the vast world of children's toys. These inseparable friends and rivals could not do without each other, especially in clay toys. A sculptured and fired Polkan (dog name) is yet not the Polkan; it becomes the Polkan only in the painted form.    
  Symbol, simplicity and conciseness in traditional clay toys are equally present in sculpture and painting. Painting and sculpture are fused together and are impossible to separate. It is inherent in the entire Russian clay toy. Style as artistic features evolved in different places in different ways. It would be a mistake to think that, except for Vyatka Dymkovo settlements (which now, incidentally, has deservedly become world-famous), clay toys never made anywhere else. They were made wherever there was pottery.
The wooden toy was a traditional part of folk life. Along with bast, utensils, spoons, spindle production, wood masters developed the toy industry. Also, in every house with at least one child, you can be sure to get into a wooden horse with a flax tail or a toy carriage. We loved to cut out birds and bears, and bears are often involved in the combination toy. Bear-sawyer, bear-smith and now are not uncommon in the gift sections of department stores.
Sculptural images, non-religious or toy themes, are very rare, but sometimes some naughty carpenter carved a wooden dummy and gave him a name. Sometimes beekeeper made a hollow in the form of an old man and woman. When from the mouth of a peasant or the ear of wooden women, bees flew - it was pretty funny.
The favourite figures of sculptors of religious subjects, in addition to Christ, were St. Paraskeva-Friday, and St. Nicholas, of course, St. George killing the Serpent. Christ is often depicted as not on the Cross but in a dark prison cell.