Hi and welcome to this website.

My name is Chris Harvey and I make Jig Dolls as a hobby/retirement project. I have always liked working with wood and I have made many musical instruments such as an Appalachian dulcimer, mandola, mandolin, and bowed psaltery. I once made a Hurdy Gurdy, but we won’t talk about that! The word cacophony comes to mind.

Further information about the dolls and acknowledgments, see below.

This site is devoted to my current passion for jig dolls, but I have included some information on some of my other instruments below, some of which I have for sale.

Traditional hour glass design hand made with spruce table and mahogany sides and back. This fine instrument provides an interesting addition to any musician’s collection. It can be tuned to play in Ionian, Aeolian, or Mixolydian modes. Price £150. Hard case is available for £25.

Also design with short neck as played by Jean Ritchie. Price £80.

The dolls are NOT toys! They must be handled carefully and not given to  children.

In particular you must not bend any of the joints laterally as they would be easily damaged.

Does anyone remember the folk duo Bitter Thorn from  1970 -90 ish?

If you do then I have just made a CD of our original cassette tape made in 1974. This is available for sale if nostalgia gets the better of you!

Please email me if you wish to buy a copy.

The dolls are all made from a selection of wood. I can vary the choice of wood on the made to order dolls to suit the dancing style you may prefer for them. For example Jack is made from willow. He is very light and nimble and is therefore good at keeping up a fast pace. The Landlord I made from beech and he is much heavier and therefore sluggish. I generally use willow now as the dolls are much lighter and easier to dance.

The more basic dolls such as Jollity and Coster are made from a mix of  pines. This ensures they have a good ring sound and are hard wearing.

The Kipper dolls are made from a mix of piranha pine, and other pine. The hard piranha smoothes down well to provide a good surface to show off the Kipper tie!

Henery and Funniful dolls are  turned on a lathe and the body is made of willow to keep them light. They also have part metal joints.

The joints on the Buy Online dolls are made of wood. On the more expensive dolls in the Made to Order section the joints are made of brass. Obviously the brass joints will last a lot longer than the wooden ones. They also make the dolls louder.

All the dolls are painted with acrylic paint and then varnished . This provides a hard durable finish.

The boards as supplied are exterior birch ply wood which has been painted with floor grade varnish to increase their durability.

Where to begin?

• Firstly my wife Caroline who plays her melodeon on many of  the tunes and dances. (Otherwise, most tunes are from the Morris Dance Music Album.No MCCD 376) or from the Hosepipe band with kind permission. (www.hosepipe.dial.pipex.com)

• Secondly, most of the material about Music Hall Artistes has been gleaned from the website below which is devoted to the Music Hall.

http://www.peopleplayuk.org.uk/default.php

• Thirdly to Phil O’Dwyer for use of his tune “Tennents Stupor” on the Rocky Dancing Video.

• Fourthly to Roy Hudd for his recording of Leslie Sarony  in 1980 singing “Jollity Farm”.

• Next to Rennie and Pat Pickles for inspiration from their book Jig Dolls “The Brightest of Entertainers”

• Lastly to my session friends Pris, Mike, Roman, John, Bill, Dave, et al for enduring many years of me dancing my dolls.