Toy Talk – The Toy Factory

Meet Lottie, a “real” role model!

Posted on March 8, 2026 by Dan Viau - Toy Talk

“Hey… it’s a doll just like me!”

Lottie dolls are simply delightful and delightfully simple! These cute, poseable dolls are a brilliant, healthy alternative to Barbie. Unlike the unrealistic body shape of Barbie dolls, Lottie dolls are shaped like real 9-year-old girls and have fun, realistic 9-year-old adventures.

Lottie literally stands on her own two feet.

Responding to increasing demand from young parents, Lottie dolls were designed in Ireland over 18 months by a group of child development experts, parents, nutritionists and child psychologists. More than 100 different “action points” are incorporated into Lottie dolls and accessories to empower children to be themselves, embrace individuality, enjoy their childhood and have meaningful and inspirational adventures.

Lottie dolls have different skin, hair and eye colors, and they don’t wear make-up or high heels. Instead, Lottie promotes diversity and exploring science, nature and different cultures.

Fossil Hunter Lottie is a budding geologist with a backpack, fossil hunting tools and fossils and Stargazer Lottie is an amateur astronomer.

Stargazer comes with her own telescope & tripod, solar system collector cards, info on famous women astronomers, and she holds a very special honor in the doll world.
Stargazer Lottie was the first doll to go to space!

CLICK HERE to watch our 90-second YouTube video to find out how Stargazer Lottie was inspired by 6-year-old Abigail from British Columbia and watch Lottie blast off for the International Space Station with British astronaut Tim Peake in December 2015!

“These sweet dolls encourage imaginative play, but also challenge negative body image concerns and premature sexualization”, says Melissa Taylor of imaginationsoup.net. “Each Lottie doll has a diverse personality, just like the children that play with them.”

Since they were introduced in 2012, Lottie dolls have won more than 20 international toy awards. Here’s what Lucie Follett, the co-creator of Lottie, says about designing Lottie:

“The main issue was protecting childhood and to stop allowing our kids to grow old too soon. To address these issues, Lottie has been based on the scientific proportions of a 9-year-old child, with the exception of her head, which has been increased to accommodate hair play.”

“Lottie does not wear jewellery, makeup or high heels, and her clothes are very much activity based, in line with those of a 9-year-old instead of an adult. She wears pretty dresses, as well as hard-wearing clothes for muddy, outdoors play.”

“Lottie is a feisty character; she can stand on her own two feet, and whilst she occasionally makes mistakes, she learns from them. In many ways, she is inspired by the spirited female characters in books we loved as children like Pippi Longstocking and Anne of Green Gables.”

Lottie’s Motto: Be Bold, Be Brave, Be You!
CLICK HERE to see our complete collection of Lottie Dolls.

Free Gift-Wrapping!

Posted on July 1, 2025 by Dan Viau - Toy Talk

We offer FREE GIFT WRAPPING!

If you’d like us to gift-wrap your purchase, please let us know in the Order Notes at the checkout.

We have colorful wrapping paper that’s suitable for girls and boys and perfect for all special events. At Christmas, we use colorful seasonal wrapping paper. (Santa is one of our best customers!)

We’ll include a little gift card too, just let us know what to write on it for you.

When it’s gift is wrapped, we’ll e-mail a photo to you before we ship it so you’ll know how awesome your gift looks. Then, when your gift is delivered, the shipping box can be opened without giving away the surprise inside!

Hands-On @ The Toy Factory Workshop: The Airplane

Posted on April 10, 2025 by Dan Viau - Holidays, Toy Talk

Hands On @ The Toy Factory Workshop: The Airplane.

Turning a block of white pine into an old-fashioned wooden toy airplane is a multi-step process in our workshop.

It starts, like all our wooden toys, with simple templates we’ve designed – in this case for the airplane body, wing, tail & propellor.

Step 1:

We trace the airplane body templates on blocks of 2″ pine. Then we cut them out with our bandsaw, and drill holes for windows and wheels. We cut the other parts – wings, tails and propellors – from pine and maple using our table saw and bandsaw.

Toymakers Tip: To keep costs down, we try to always make our toys in “bunches” – 6 or 10 or 12 at a time. That way, we only set up our jigs and tools once, but we use them several times before moving to the next step in the toymaking process. It saves time, which helps us keep our prices low and save money for our customers.

Step 2: Sanding. And more sanding.

Kathy is sanding an airplane body on one of our big 6″ x 48″ belt sanders. It takes strong wrists, dexterity and plenty of practice to hold, turn and manipulate the airplane, to make sure every surface, edge and corner is perfectly smooth.

Kathy will use two other specialized sanders and a unique grinder before all the airplane parts are ready – no rough surfaces, sharp edges or pointy corners.
Toymakers Tip: With most toys, we spend more time sanding than on any other step in the toy-making process. That’s because Smooth = Safe.

Step 3: Pegging the wings & tail. This step is the most old-fashioned & unique: No Plastic or Metal Parts Found Here.

We use wooden pegs, white glue and sturdy clamps to secure the wings, tails and propellors to our toy airplanes. That means using special jigs, and a multi-step drilling and pegging process.

To allow us to drill down into the wing for the pegs that will attach it to the airplane, we fit the body into a special jig. It lowers the airplane’s nose, which levels the upper wing surface for easy drilling.

With white glue between the wing and the airplane, Dan holds the two pieces together, and drills the holes for the pegs.

Next, with a drop of white glue in each hole first, the pegs are pushed into the holes through the wings. They’ll be tapped down tight with a little toymaking hammer to lock the wing onto the airplane body.

Here, the airplane is flipped over into another special jig for drilling and pegging the tail.

Step 4: It’s time to install the propellor, and there’s no wasting time. The airplane needs to get into its clamps quickly after the wing and tail pegs are put in, before the glue starts to dry.

Step 5: Into the clamps. In 30+ years of toymaking, Dan has developed a knack for holding the airplane in its special jigs – inside an adjustable C-clamp – while tightening the clamp with his other hand. It’s not as easy as it looks.

Notice how the little jig under the airplane makes that bottom surface level with the top surface of the wing, so the clamp will work properly. It also protect the airplane from the clamp – we tighten our clamps with a lot of force when making our toys. In toymaking, jigs are very important. We have dozens of original jigs in our workshop, designed specifically for making our wooden toys.

The Final Step – Time to Dry

With wings and tails securely clamped, our airplanes will hang to dry for 24 hours in our workshop.

When we remove the clamps the next day, we give the wings and tails a quick sanding to smooth off the tops of the pegs. Then, we give the propellors a test spin, and our new Airplanes fly out to their landing strip in our store.

Hands On @ The Toy Factory Workshop is a special feature designed to give our customers an exclusive look inside our toymaking workshop… where we make our wooden toys the “old-fashioned” way: handcrafted one toy at a time, with care and attention.Â

Shop for our Airplane – or to see all our Toy Factory Wooden Toys, please click here.

Nebulous Stars: Creativity & Positivity for Girls

Posted on April 10, 2025 by Dan Viau - Toy Talk

NEBULOUS STARS

We rarely see a line of creative “toys” as brilliant as Nebulous Stars. The creativity, quality and quantity is fantastic, with positive messaging specifically designed to boost self-confidence and self-esteem in girls between the ages of 7 and 14.

Nebulous Stars is created by Tween Team, a Canadian company located in Montreal. It was founded in 2018 and it’s headed by a woman. With many years of experience in the toy industry, much of it specializing in creative toys for girls, Geneviève Lecompte’s vision was to create a toy brand with a “unique environment that combines aesthetics, well-being, and positive values.”

Tween Team President Geneviève Lecompte

THE NEBULOUS STARS UNIVERSE
The Nebulous Stars universe offers girls from 7 to 14 years old a wide variety of artistic and creative activities that are entertaining while encouraging their personal development. In a world where children are affected by the chaos of modern life, Nebulous Stars art & craft kits can help girls reach a state of calm and well-being.

Nebulous Stars artistic activities are paired with positive, uplifting messages from our Stars. As girls enjoy our Nebulous Stars arts and crafts, they’re introduced to the calming practices of relaxation and meditation, while at the same time getting a boost to their self-esteem and inspiration for creativity.

Best of all, Nebulous Stars kits make it easy for girls to create truly beautiful art and to hand-craft pretty jewellery, unique decor and accessories and delightful gifts for their friends. Everything in the Nebulous Stars line is designed around supporting creativity, generosity and sharing… and encouraging lots of fresh air and exercise all year round!

POSITIVE MESSAGES

– The Universe is Listening to You
– Believe in Your Dreams
– Never Give Up
– Focus on the Positive
– Stay Calm
– Beauty is Everywhere

To see our selection of Nebulous Stars: CLICK HERE.

NEBULOUS STARS

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