csitkenye

/ˈt͡ʃɪtkɛɲɛ/

Meaning: rosehip. The fruit of the wild rose and the Japanese rose. Demotic expressions in Hungarian: csipke, csitkenye, hecsedli, bicske.

Dear Reader!

You are holding the little booklet titled Csitkenye in your hands, which contains the stories of my tiny foxes. Through the pages of this book, you can learn about the process of creating our gentle fox companions, as well as the events that led to the birth of this idea.

Beginnings

From a very young age, I have always loved doing crafts and I also felt drawn to toys and plushies that were detailed, unique, and realistic. There were times when I couldn’t find the kind of toy I wanted, so I made them myself instead. It was a great help that my beautiful mother taught me how to sew when I was around six years old. As I grew up, life sometimes swayed me in other directions, but I always found my way back to this path. After high school, I had the opportunity to study art more seriously, and over the years I was able to find what I really love doing. This includes sculpting, mechanical design, character and costume design, assembling small details. It is the complexity of all these aspects that makes puppet-making truly exciting.

Why specifically a fox?

My maternal grandparents come from Markaz. This beautiful little village belongs to the Mátra Mountains. Whenever we visited Markaz, we’ve always used to make time for a hike in this forested area. The Markaz Fortress Ruins in the mountains can easily be reached from the village on the tourist route, as it is only one and a half kilometers away from the village center. My family and I have walked this route countless times. My grandfather used to work in the forest, so he shared a lot of stories about the animals when me and my siblings were younger. This also played a big role in developing my love for wildlife and nature. A very fond memory of mine is the children’s book titled The Painted Fox by Ivan Franko. It was a favorite of my siblings and mine. Whenever my grandmother read to us, we were always put to bed with this story. Including other aspects, I wanted to incorporate these memories - which hold great value to me - into my little figurines. I am particularly fond of the forest fauna, so in the future, I would like to create other animals or various fantasy creatures related to nature.

The process of creation

When making a puppet like these, the first and most important step is to create a thorough plan, which will be of great help when shaping and assembling the puppet later on. Once the plan is completed, the head and smaller details such as hands, shoes, and ball joints are made of polymer clay. Different colors are often mixed together to create unique color combinations for the visible parts.

Next, the body is sewn together using recycled materials such as leftover fabric, thread, or even newspaper as stuffing to minimize waste. A taut elastic band is threaded through the joints, allowing the limbs to hold the desired pose. To achieve the appropriate range of motion for each body part, the openings of the ball joints must be shaped in different ways. Once the body is assembled, the only thing left is to color the head, and sew the clothing.

The head

The head is definitely the most detailed part of the doll, and it needs to be shaped with lengthy and careful work. The individual hairs are carved onto the surface one by one, and the tiny nose also receives a separate texture. In the elegant fox ears, small tufts of fur are hidden. As eyes, the foxes are given decorative glass stones, which can be easily customized using colored paper, or different types of special paints. For additional coloring, powder pastels and ceramic markers are being used.

As all the pieces are made by hand, each of the puppets are truly unique. They are not always the same, which makes them particularly special. During the creation process, I always strive for perfection and I enjoy getting lost in the meticulous details. It feels good to spend time on, and to put in such effort into something exceptional. It’s like the energy put into the little foxes fills them with life during the work process.

In addition, their mobility also makes them even more lively, allowing them to perfectly utilize any hidden nook and cranny in our homes.

With the completed figures and their surroundings, I would like to take the observer back to childhood, to its lightheartedness, even if only for a little while. I believe that childlikeness has a place in our lives, even as adults.

I would like to convey a feeling of an intimate environment, to show how we can use the materials surrounding us in so many different ways, and how small and simple things can contain a multitude of positive emotions. I think the latter is particularly important nowadays, as the urbanization of life often goes hand in hand with monotony, rush, and stress. Their world can be a refuge for us from today’s overstimulation of weekdays. In addition to conveying an abstract idyllic mood, the characteristics of tangible materials used in creating the dolls (and other various components, such as jewelry) should also be mentioned. The applied textiles weave a story into the figures, making them extremely personal. Materials such as clothing, or bedding with distinctive characteristics can be used.

It can be a childhood handkerchief or an item belonging to someone who is no longer with us. That’s why the first prototypes are so important to me; I used textiles belonging to my grandparents and from my childhood to make the clothes, which hold a deep sentimental value to me.

Contributors: Bálint Csúri and Gréta Szilágyi

Although this concept is deeply personal to me, it’s important to me that it’s just as heartwarming for others as it is for me. I want to give a drop of joy with my work to those who truly find it valuable. I want to celebrate the bond of enduring friendships, the birth of a new life, the protective arms of our families, or even help with processing grief. This subjective underlying meaning is just as significant as the physical appearance of the little foxes. Let’s dare to express these great emotions, for it’s through them that we can truly live.

Thank you for reading!

If you have any thoughts you would like to share, please write them down!