“It’s taken two and a half weeks for me to recover and get caught up enough to write this post 🙂 ”
I managed to write the previous sentence last Saturday… now here it is almost a week later and I still haven’t found time to get retreat photos posted. So I am going to stop everything else for a few minutes and concentrate on finishing this post!
All ready and waiting for everyone to arrive at my studio!The first morning of the retreat and already hard at work…Day 2 started out with a “road trip” to the home of a local doll dealer and collector who very generously gave us a tour of her private collection, which includes this glorious large Izannah Walker doll!
The end of day three meant saying good-bye to Peggy and one of her lovely Izannahs that she brought along to class. We all hated to see her go!!!
Favorite Moments:
Susie and two of my dolls, the one on the left came back to visit during the retreat and to pick up her new sister, on the right.Another visitor to the retreat was Peggy’s wonderful new Queen Anne wooden, made by Kathy Patterson.A champagne and jelly bean toast to celebrate a successful end to Part 1 and the first half of the retreat 🙂One last hug at the end of day three! Vicki, Peggy, Susie and Charlotte the world’s most wonderful quartet of doll makers!!!
This is just the tiniest glimpse at the fun, laughter, sharing, learning and friendship that we experienced during the first half of the retreat. It was a wonderful experience having all four of these incredible ladies, who were willing to journey to my small corner of New England, come make dolls with me! I simply can not express how much I truly enjoyed getting to know them and sharing our mutual love of Izannah Walker’s dolls. The only two difficult obstacles we faced were actually being disciplined enough to work – since it was all too tempting to just have fun and play dolls – and the rain!
My name is Paula Walton. I’m a working craftsperson. I’ve been self-employed since 1986, when I started selling the items that I make under the name A Sweet Remembrance. Among other things, I am a doll maker, a dressmaker that specializes in reproduction women’s and children’s clothing, maker of spun cotton ornaments and holiday figures, and a freelance designer. Upon occasion I write magazine articles and am a Craftsperson in Residence. I teach and do demonstrations quite frequently, plus I was previously the director and curator of a small museum in Connecticut.
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4 thoughts on “A Look Back at Part 1 of My 2012 Izannah Walker Doll Making Retreat”
how lovely, I wish I were there too :0) I am in the u.k. Paula, do you plan to run any izannah workshops for overseas students one day ??? It would be lovely ! x
Deborah,
I wish you could have been here too! I don’t have any plans to do any workshops away from home at this point, but you never know… Actually Vicki and Charlotte were kind enough to come to the U.S.:) Vicki all the way from Australia and Charlotte from the west coast of Canada!!!
Paula
oh if you do another–i would dearly love to come over to you for it—it looks beautiful :0) I am due to begin my artists residency at the national trusts museum of childhood, so I will be studying antiques dolls closely, although they sadly dont have any izannahs :0( but i will look to you for guidance there, my hubby is going to buy me your booklet course for christmas :0) they are my most favourite doll of all, but sadly hard to find in the uk,
blessings
Deborah x
The National Trust’s Museum of Childhood? Is that the same as the Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood? I love the V&A Museum of Childhood, they have some spectacular things there!!! In any event your residency sounds like it should be a wonderful adventure. I was craftsperson in residence at Old Sturbridge Village (a living history museum in a village setting) one summer. I really enjoyed it. I wish you all the best during your residency!
I would be thrilled to have you in my class. I think you’ll enjoy the class by mail. Having the class member Ning site makes it a lot more personal. What a nice Christmas present 🙂 I would say that I would gift wrap it for you, but I’ve been told that makes the customs agents crazy and that they unwrap the parcels…
Izannah’s dolls are not exactly plentiful here, but there are a handful of museums that do have them. If you should ever get to the U.S., even if it’s not for my retreat, I would be happy to have you come see my Izannahs in person.
Izannah Walker Journal 
how lovely, I wish I were there too :0) I am in the u.k. Paula, do you plan to run any izannah workshops for overseas students one day ??? It would be lovely ! x
Deborah,
I wish you could have been here too! I don’t have any plans to do any workshops away from home at this point, but you never know… Actually Vicki and Charlotte were kind enough to come to the U.S.:) Vicki all the way from Australia and Charlotte from the west coast of Canada!!!
Paula
oh if you do another–i would dearly love to come over to you for it—it looks beautiful :0) I am due to begin my artists residency at the national trusts museum of childhood, so I will be studying antiques dolls closely, although they sadly dont have any izannahs :0( but i will look to you for guidance there, my hubby is going to buy me your booklet course for christmas :0) they are my most favourite doll of all, but sadly hard to find in the uk,
blessings
Deborah x
Deborah,
The National Trust’s Museum of Childhood? Is that the same as the Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood? I love the V&A Museum of Childhood, they have some spectacular things there!!! In any event your residency sounds like it should be a wonderful adventure. I was craftsperson in residence at Old Sturbridge Village (a living history museum in a village setting) one summer. I really enjoyed it. I wish you all the best during your residency!
I would be thrilled to have you in my class. I think you’ll enjoy the class by mail. Having the class member Ning site makes it a lot more personal. What a nice Christmas present 🙂 I would say that I would gift wrap it for you, but I’ve been told that makes the customs agents crazy and that they unwrap the parcels…
Izannah’s dolls are not exactly plentiful here, but there are a handful of museums that do have them. If you should ever get to the U.S., even if it’s not for my retreat, I would be happy to have you come see my Izannahs in person.
Paula