Classic children's stories are a wonderful source of inspiration for stuffed animal and doll makers. Many of the classic tales are now in the public domain which means that they either have expired copyrights or are ineligible for copyright protection. No permission is needed to use works that are in the public domain and that's great news for artists because we are free to interpret the characters from these stores in any way we choose.
I shy away from creating characters from stories with active copyrights, and I certainly wouldn't sell work based on those characters, but the public domain is open territory and there's so much incredible material to be found there.
Here are just a few of the children's stories in the public domain:
- Peter Pan
- Alice in Wonderland
- The Wizard of Oz
- Black Beauty
- all of the Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes (one of which inspired my Humpty Dumpty doll)
- The Tale of Peter Rabbit
- The Wind in the Willows
- the Raggedy Ann stories
- Red Riding Hood
- Goldilocks and the Three Bears
- all of The Brother's Grimm fairy tales
- Aesop's Fables
And I know there are many more. If you know of other stories or fairy tales that are in the public domain, please add them in the comments so that we can have an even longer, more inspiring list.
For my newest pattern I took inspiration from the classic Edward Lear poem, The Owl and the Pussycat, a piece that's in the public domain, and created a felt Owl and Pussycat set.
As you can see they are sailing in their pea green boat and the Owl is serenading the Kitty. Here's the first stanza of the poem:
The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!'
-from Edward Lear's The Owl and the Pussycat
And here they are out of their boat, ready to get married. The pattern for this set will be available at the end of next week.
The next time you're looking for inspiration try interpreting characters from one of these classic stories. Each one is so rich in visual imagery and surely provides enough ideas for a whole lifetime of making.
Oh my goodness, they are too cute! Andrew Lang’s books of fairy tales are also in the public domain. Like the Grimm brothers, he collected folk tales some of which are familiar, others aren’t.
Also, Hans Christian Anderson’s stories are in the public domain as well! The original version of the Little Mermaid is so much better than Disney’s. He also wrote the Ugly Duckling, and the Little Match Girl–another tear jerker!
How do you find out what’s considered public domain?
Ooh! I absolutely love these! Sue x
Adorable! The owl may be my favorite of your softies yet.
You’ll need to be careful with the Wizard of Oz! If I remember correctly, the book is public domain, but the movie is not. So, you have to make sure your imagery comes from descriptions specifically written in the book. And there are characters that were made up for the movie & they shouldn’t be used because Warner Bros. agressively defends their property.
You’d also have to be careful with Peter Rabbit, as the Beatrix Potter characters and illustrations are all trademarked. While the text of the story may have passed into the public domain, the trademark still stands, so using Peter Rabbit’s name or likeness would be a problem, as I understand it. (Which is a shame, as I’d love to design a Peter Rabbit amigurumi pattern!)
You guys raise some really important points about these public domain works. From what I'm gathering the text of these stories is anybody's territory, but the images from the movies that have been made from them or the books that have been published are still copyrighted material. Thank you so much for clarifying this and if anyone else has light to shed, please do. I also wasn't able to find a single source listing all of the children's stories in the public domain. A link to one would be welcome as well.
Thank you, Sue!
Thanks, Hilary. I enjoyed designing him!
I'm still searching for a definitive source.
These are some great additions, Vanessa. My mind is already working at the suggestion of The Ugly Duckling.
I believe stories/books enter the public domain a certain number of years after publication, or the death of the author, which is why it would be hard to find a complete list … it’s always changing. Quick google found this list from Cornell: http://copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cfm
Thank you so much for this link, Holly. The seed for this post was planted from our conversation way back when!
I love these! They’re so cute. The Little Engine That Could is public domain, I know.
While this doesn’t definitively answer whether a particular work is in the public domain, it may help to get to the answer. See the chart on public domain at: http://copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cfm and the catalog of works registered since 1978 at:
http://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&PAGE=First
Further information on copyright can be found at http://www.copyright.gov/.
The copyright situation with Peter Pan is complex, as the rights were bequethed to Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, who have since been granted special extensions of those rights. As with several of the other stories it’s more confused by there being multiple versions of the story (play and book) and the copyright & trademark claims of producers of various adaptations – a Disney princess-style Tinkerbelle or Cinderella would obviously be a no-no but I’m sure there’s lots of grey areas.
Your owl and pussycat are gorgeous! The poem holds a special place in my heart since my sister asked me to recite it at her wedding, so seeing them really made me smile.
Thank you for this information, Christine, and thanks also for the nice words about my owl and pussycat!
I still have that idea on the back burner … someday! Your owl and pussy cat are just adorable. So snug in their little boat!
I Have two characters from kids books on the go at the moment, one close and the other needs a complete overhaul. I am working from the texts and not the movies although it is hard to unthink and unsee some of the things that seem to belong to those characters. Your owl and pussycate are gorgeous…. Are they kind of fist sized ? For holding?
Hi Jodie,
I can't wait to see your new characters! And yes, the owl and pussycat are palm-sized. I'll take a picture of them sitting on my hand.
Thanks, Holly, and hang onto that idea because it was a really good one.
It’s usually lifetime of the author + 75 years after his/her death. HOWEVER, nothing is entering the American public domain, thanks to the lawyers at Disney. They keep getting the laws changed so Mickey Mouse and his friends don’t enter the public domain.
It’s a very complicated answer but you can find public domain books and images over at gutenberg.org
Fantastic post! Copyright is such a complex issue. An important discussion to have. Add to the mix caveats for derivative work, and satire and parody, and the waters get really muddy.
And Abby, I adore your owl and pussy cat! That has been one idea on my list of things to make for a solid year by now, but yours is so good, it seems silly to try my own!
Another suggestion: Think about music. I’m a K-5 music teacher, and I would love to come across someone making stuffed animals (or even better, puppets) for “Carnival of the Animals,” “Tubby the Tuba,” “The Firebird,” etc. These are staples of music classrooms, but the more we can have that the kids can touch and manipulate while listening, the better their focus is. This idea could be expanded to more “popular” music as well: The Beatles’ “Octopus’s Garden,” etc….
Wow! Great idea, Julie. Classic children's songs and rhymes are terrific toy and puppet inspiration!