Rooidoppen

Body intervention

Rooidoppen (roughly translated to "potato harvesting caps") are pointed thimbles used by impoverished Dutch agricultural workers during the 1930s and 40s for harvesting potatoes.

These workers were impoverished laborers who traveled from all over the country during the harvest season to earn a small amount of extra income by harvesting potatoes. The potatoes were dug out of the earth by hand, a task that often would resulted in damaged nails. To protect their hands, they crafted small thimbles from pieces of tin, which were soldered together to form a mole-like claw.

I found this story fascinating and was inspired by how we adapted our hands into tools for digging.

Since there is little information about this practice, I wanted to recreate this piece of history

so that others can experience it firsthand, while also giving it a new purpose.

Perhaps as a gardening tool, or even as part of a cosplay costume?

You can find and download the design here for 3d printing: Thingiverse.