Lupita Dolls

       Miss Lupita is named after “Lupita” (diminutive for Guadalupe) dolls. These are hard papier-mâché dolls with origins in the late colonial to early Independence period, created by poorer families to imitate more expensive imported dolls from Spain.

4" tall Lupita dolls from our family doll collection.

 

      The papier-mâché technique is properly called cartonería, making a very hard surface when dry. The body and head are made separate from the limbs, which are attached with cords in order to allow them to move. This technique has been used to make a number of crafts up to this day, most notably to make alebrijes and skeletal and other figures for Day of the Dead. However, Lupita dolls have lost popularity. Today they are made and sold only in workshops in Celaya in the state of Guanajuato, often as collectors’ items.

                         Children learn to make traditional Lupita dolls using paper mache and paint.

Video is in Spanish. 

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