Dymkovo Toy

Dymkovo toys are modelled from local red clay, fired, whitewashed with chalk in milk, and painted in flat bright colours with squares of gold leaf stuck on top - ladies in crinolines with parasols, horsemen, roosters, turkeys, nannies with children, whistles shaped like animals. The tradition is tied to Svistunya, a spring whistling festival in Kirov whose origins connect to a fifteenth-century incident in which two allied forces fought each other in the dark by mistake, and clay whistles were made for the commemoration. Making them stayed a women's craft in the Dymkovo settlement across the river, passed down in families, and each figure is modelled by hand from a coil and slab - there are no moulds, so no two are the same and pieces cannot be mass produced. The museum in Kirov holds the collection and workshops can be visited. Every genuine piece is signed by its maker.

What you actually see

• The chalk-white ground - figures whitened with chalk in milk before painting.
• The gold leaf squares - small diamonds of gold applied over the paint.
• The hand modelling - no moulds, so every figure is different.
• The whistles - animal whistles tied to the Svistunya spring festival.

When to go

All year; the Svistunya festival is in spring. Two hours. Workshop visits are arranged in advance.

Honest expectations

Genuine pieces are individually made, signed and expensive; the cheap look-alikes sold widely are moulded. Workshops are small and take limited numbers. Labelling is Russian. Kirov is a long way from Moscow, about twelve hours by train.

Nearby

Kirov's museums and the Vyatka embankment are in the same city.