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Welsh border fan,

Alec Coker (Maker)

Corn dolly, ‘Welsh Border fan’ made by Alec Coker. Consists of a core of plaited corn leading to a downwards-pointing fan of 13 ears of corn.
This corn dolly, known as a ‘Welsh Border fan’, was made by Alec Coker. It consists of a core of plaited corn leading to a downwards-pointing fan of thirteen ears of corn. There are numerous types of ‘Welsh fan’ corn dollies, all of which are flat in cross-section and fringed with corn ears.

1 corn dolly: corn

MERL miscellaneous note Greta Bertram, 20 August 2013 – The 'Coker Collection' of corn dollies was bequeathed to the Museum by Alec Coker, who devoted his retirement from 1965 until his death in 1986 to spreading knowledge of and teaching the craft of corn dolly making. He first became interested in the craft when working at the BBC when he encountered dollies as props on the set of ‘Lorna Doone’ in the 1930s. ‘Corn’ is a term for the family of grains which includes barley, oats, wheat and rye. ‘Corn dolly’ is a wide-ranging term which includes figures, love tokens, crosses, Scandinavian star designs, and Far Eastern shrine dolls made from ‘corn’ straw. Techniques used in the craft include tying, plaiting, weaving and marquetry. The corn dolly was originally an object used in rites and rituals, and in many parts of the world it was believed that the ‘Corn Goddess’ lived in the crop and died when it was harvested. Images of the Goddess, or other talismans, were woven from the last sheaf to be reaped and carefully preserved to ensure an abundant crop the following year. By the twentieth century, corn dollies had lost their ritual associations, and from the 1950s there was a concerted effort to preserve the craft of corn dolly making., MERL 'Handwritten accession' form (Institute of Agricultural History) – ‘Description: Welsh Border Fan // 1. Core is of plaited corn leading to a fan of thirteen ears of corn. // 2. Core is of plaited corn with a fan of 24 ears of corn. // Dimensions: 24cm x 13cm // 32cm x 6cm // Associated information: A whole array of dollies comes together under the title of Welsh fans. They are all flat in cross-section and fringed with corn ears like bearded faces. // The Welsh Border Fan Is hung with the corn ears pointing downwards. // References: S. Charlton, Strawcraft and Corn Dollies p.27 // A. Coker. The Craft of Straw Decoration p.22 // A. Coker’s Collection List of Corn Dollies no.38 & no.31’