Wooden Spinning Toys

Wooden Spinning Toys

　　Wooden Spinning Toys — TaiShun wooden spinning toys are an extension and development of the local puppet head carving tradition. In the 1980s, puppet head carving artisans, based on the technique of wood turning, created these toys by incorporating traditional puppet painting and decorative methods. Holding a “spinning knife,” they carve rotating wood into cylinders or spheres, then paint them or assemble them into certain types of handicrafts. These items carry distinctive local characteristics and ethnic style. Particularly notable are the metal-spring wooden spinning toys, which use harder types of wood and break away from the previously single technique of just “spinning.” They are crafted into moveable and sound-producing pieces, which have gained considerable popularity both at home and abroad.