About Anatoly Zaya-Ruzo
Anatoly has had a lot of very interesting jobs in his life. He made and restored musical instruments, rebuilt pianos, made puppets for theater, built stereoscopes and models of ships, to name a few. But making automata (mechanical dolls) is definitely his favorite in the recent years.
One of the reasons he loves making these dolls is the great variety of techniques needed for these creations. Zaya-Ruzo "collects" these technologies, like other people collect stamps. They include:
- Clockwork
- Casting and firing porcelain
- Sewing
- Cabinet making
- Woodworking
- Soldering with silver and lead
- Machining steel and brass
- Wood and metal finishing
- Powder coating
- Glass cutting and grinding
- Papier-mache
And so forth, and so on...
About Doll Making
Probably the most intricate stage of creation is designing a new doll - making sketches, engineering blueprints, and calculating the action. Anatoly bases his dolls on historical automata and timeworn mechanical ideas, but just making a copy is not his goal. He tries to go further. For instance, he adds more movements to classic models (the "Lutenist" doll moves her eyes side-to-side, and opens and closes them). He also tries to make the character of the doll more "theatrical" and expressive. Sometimes he adds his own "trick", like blowing soap bubbles with the air coming from the dolls' mouth.
Anatoly has many new action ideas. A powerful spring winding motor has been designed especially for his mechanical actions. Another innovative invention of his is a new flexible system of wire rope connection between cams and a doll's moving parts.
Zaya-Ruzo thanks those of you who have inspired him by ordering or purchasing his automata for your collections. He is open to more ideas, and would be happy to custom build and create more of these wonderful mechanical creatures!