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.
Thank you all for coming to meet my latest reproduction of Sarah Alice, one of the antique Izannah Walker dolls in my personal collection ❤
Information that you will find helpful if you wish to buy this doll ~ Buying one of my dolls is very straightforward. Here is what you need to know: All of my dolls are sold on a “first come” basis. I only have one doll to sell today.(Please be aware of how much the doll costs BEFORE you send your request to buy.) You are welcome to ask questions, but please note that asking a question is not the same as making a commitment to buy and will not “hold your place in line” if someone else asks to buy the doll. When this Sarah Alice sells I will mark her SOLD asap. I offer a discount if you pay by check or money order. Paypal is also accepted for payment. Free priority mail shipping & full insurance to any U.S. address. Unfortunately I am not shipping to any other countries at the current time. To purchase this doll please email me at paula@asweetremembrance.com after this sale starts at 12:00 Noon Eastern Time today 12/16/25.
Sarah Alice ~ $1725 ($1675 if paying by check or money order) SOLD THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR COMING TO MEET HER
Sarah Alice is an 18 inch tall reproduction of my antique doll of the same name. Her second skin body covering is made from antique blue linen. Especially for Christmas I have combed through my stash of antique undergarments to find her an antique Chemise and Petticoat. I made her pantalettes from vintage white cotton sheeting and used a bit of my treasured hand crocheted waived braid lace to trim them. I don’t usually use reproduction fabrics for the doll dresses that I make, but I did make an exception in this case because this particular reproduction fabric (that I’ve actually had in my fabric stash for so long that it is almost vintage) is very reminiscent of the fabric that my original Sarah Alice’s dress is made from. The dress is a bit unique in that it has quite slim puffed sleeves, without the usual fullness you would expect, and broader sleeve bands that are trimmed with lace. I chose an antique lace that I felt mimiced the dots in the dress fabric. Her black painted boots have laces and a red band around their tops.
It’s very cold and snowy day here in New England. Sarah Alice swore that she could see ice forming on the bedroom window, so she very sensibly gathered up all of her clothing and went down to the parlor to get dressed in front of the warm and toasty woodstove.
Sarah Alice’s dearest wish is to find a wonderful, loving home before Christmas. She would be a very special Christmas treat for you or someone very dear to you on Christmas morning.
Only 10 days until Christmas! If you have been dreaming of an Izannah Christmas, I can make a Christmas wish for one of you come true. I will be offering a reproduction of Sarah Alice for sale tomorrow, December 16th at noon Eastern Time (11:00 a.m. Central time, 10:00 a.m. Mountain time, 9:00 a.m. Pacific time).
My latest Sarah Alice ~ Timeworn, Beloved, and Beautiful.
Buying one of my dolls is very straightforward.
Here is what you need to know: All of my dolls are sold on a “first come” basis. I only have one doll to sell tomorrow. To purchase her email me at paula@asweetremembrance.com after I post her for sale at 12:00 p.m. Eastern time (noon) 12/16. (Please be aware of how much the doll costs BEFORE you send your request to buy. The base prices of all of my reproduction Izannahs are shown here: https://asweetremembrance.com/2018/08/24/izannah-walker-reproduction-dolls/ ) The actual price of the doll may vary a bit due to clothing details.You are welcome to ask questions, but please note that asking a question is not the same as making a commitment to buy and will not “hold your place in line” if someone else asks to buy the doll. When Sarah Alice sells I will mark her SOLD asap. I offer a discount if you pay by check or money order. Paypal is also accepted for payment. Free priority mail shipping & full insurance to any U.S. address. Unfortunately I am not shipping to any other countries at the current time.
I’m trying my best to get one more doll finished before Christmas, though that may be slightly unrealistic. If she isn’t ready to look for her new forever home before the 25th, she certainly will be slightly afterwards. She is a reproduction of Isabeau, the second antique Izannah Walker doll that came to live with me.
After Isabeau, Zanna will be next in line for clothing and finishing touches. Plus there are two sweet Lizzybits somewhat impatiently waiting in the wings for final detail painting and clothing.
Thank you so very much for your interest in my work, and for patiently sticking with me during my recent challenging times! I truly appreciate all of you.
(Unfortunately I am currently only accepting payment in U.S. currency and only shipping to U.S. addresses.)
Wishing You & Yours a Magical Christmas and a Wonderful 2026,
A few things to know before we move right along to the “good stuff”. Buying one of my dolls is very straightforward. Here is what you need to know: All of my dolls are sold on a “first come” basis. I only have one doll to sell this evening. To purchase this doll email me at paula@asweetremembrance.com after today’s sale starts at 8 p.m. Eastern time. (Please be aware of how much the doll costs BEFORE you send your request to buy.) You are welcome to ask questions, but please note that asking a question is not the same as making a commitment to buy and will not “hold your place in line” if someone else asks to buy the doll. When Thankful sells I will mark her SOLD asap. I offer a discount if you pay by check or money order. Paypal is also accepted for payment. Free priority mail shipping & full insurance to any U.S. address. Unfortunately I am not shipping to any other countries at the current time.
Thankful ~ $1895 ($1825 for checks or money orders) SOLD Thank you so much for looking
Thankful is a 19 inch tall reproduction Izannah Walker doll made from Isadora’s mold. Since she is just a smidge taller than my 14-18.5 inch dolls I have priced her the same as her shorter sisters and brothers. ❤ Thankful’s dress is made from a vintage cotton gingham. It has drawstrings at the neckline and waist (just like the clothing of young children did in the mid-19th century) and three growth tucks in it’s skirt. Underneath her dress she wears a chemise, pantalettes, and a petticoat. The trims and buttons on her undergarments are all antique, as is the cotton sheeting fabric they are made from. Her petticoat has a broad tuck, both as decoration and to help give extra support to her dress skirts. Over her dress she wears a handsewn pinner apron with a pocket, made from antique fabric. I intentionally tried to make this apron look like it was sewn by her original young owner, giving her a bit of a headstart on her imagined history…
I was very strongly influenced by Izannah’s single remaining black doll when I made Thankful. As most of you probably already know, I make my reproductions using molds I have taken from actual antique Izannah Walker dolls. The mold I used for Thankful is “Isadora” which is the closest in appearance that I have to Izannah’s original black doll. In order to get her wigged hair to closely resemble the one lone example of her black dolls I hand dyed her sweater knit wig cap and wool hair. To add age to her appearance I did leave small areas of her wig cap showing, as if the hair had been worn away. If her new owner would prefer to have those bits filled in with more wool hair I would be happy to do that before she leaves my studio. ❤
Thank you for coming to meet Thankful! I currently have 5 more dolls on my work table, so there will be more dolls coming in the near future. There will be 1 reproduction of Isabeau, 1 reproduction of Sarah Alice, 1 reproduction of Zanna, and 2 reproductions of Lizzybit ❤
I think for many of us that love Izannah Walker’s dolls that the “holy grail” we would love to find is one of her rarer than rare black dolls. There is currently only one lone known example. She was acquired from the Izannah Walker family by Maureen Popp who was a doll dealer, and Izannah Walker collector. Next she moved on to the collection of Richard Wright. When his collection was sold the doll was acquisitioned by the Rosalie Whyle Museum of Doll Art. She was then sold by Theariault’s at their “Rosalie – A Life of Dolls” Part 2 auction held on January 11-12, 2025. Donna Kaonis wrote an article about this amazing doll in the September 1993 issue of Antique Doll World.
I was very strongly influenced by Izannah’s single remaining black doll when I made Thankful. As most of you probably already know, I make my reproductions using molds I have taken from actual antique Izannah Walker dolls. The mold I used for Thankful is “Isadora” which is the closest in appearance that I have to Izannah’s original black doll.
I will be offering my 19 inch tall Thankful for sale tomorrow evening, at 8 p.m. Eastern Standard time.
These are a pair of “getting ready” shots from Thankful’s photo shoot this afternoon. You can view all of her more decorous photos, and read about her clothing details tomorrow evening.
If you’d like to read more about Izannah Walker’s original black doll here are some of my previous posts about black Izannah dolls and a link to Theariault’s “Rosalie part 2” auction:
My 19 inch reproduction Izannah Walker doll will be available for sale on Monday December 1st at 8 p.m. Eastern time (7 p.m. Central, 6 p.m. Mountain, and 5 p.m. Pacific).
Good morning everyone! I hope all of your Thanksgiving plans and chores are going well! Just two more days to go!
Here at home and in my studios there is quite a bit of frantic activity. I have a wonderful new black Izannah Walker doll almost complete!!! She is just waiting for buttons, buttonholes, drawstrings and a pocket to be sewn onto her apron ❤
I also have 3 18inch tall Izannahs nearing completion ~ an Isabeau, a Sarah Alice, and a Zanna. Plus there are two sweet Lizzybits somewhat impatiently waiting in the wings for final detail painting and clothing. After more than 2 years of crazy house repairs, some emergency and some planned, plus an autumn of various illnesses shared by my 5th grade granddaughter and teacher son, things are finally slowly getting back to a more normal state. Hooray! It’s so nice to have more or less uninturrupted studio time, and such joy to be surrounded by little cloth girls instead of workmen.
I haven’t quite decided which day to offer my latest black Izzy for sale, since it’s such a busy holiday week. If you have been longing for a black Izannah Walker doll please feel free to email me at paula@asweetremembrance.com with days and times that you would prefer. I’d be happy to take a look at everyone’s preferences and try to choose a time that would be good for the majority of interested buyers. This black Izannah is VERY strongly influenced by the single known remaining example of Izanah’s black dolls. If you aren’t familiar with her go take a look at the Theriault’s auction where she last sold . My reproduction has faded wool hair like the original, along with her lovely rich skin tone.
I have been juried as one of the top traditional craftsmen for 2025 by Early American Life magaine in the catagory of Toys and Dolls. This is the 45th time, in the course of 24 years, that my work has been featured in their directory, many years in more than one catagory.
My packet of Directory signs and tags arrived about a week and a half ago, and my personal subscription copy was in my mailbox last Thursday. If you are a subscriber to Early American Life and haven’t received your September 2025 issue yet, it should be delivered soon. (Yes September 2025, they are running a bit behind.) If you would like to place a subscription, or read more about the magazine their website is www.earlyamericanlifemagazine.com
These are 5 the images that were submited to the judges.
Zanna, ever the budding entrepreneur, pointed out that my directory listing should actually include ALL of my Izannah Walker doll’s names too ~ since they play such an important part in my reproductions of their younger sisters! I assured her that I considered all of them to be beloved staff members of A Sweet Remembrance and offered to share signs and tags with her when she and Hannah are ready to open their Wish Emporium ❤
postscript~ In case you have been wondering about the 6 new reproduction dolls that I am currently making I have had to take what has turned out to be a rather long break, due to catching a prolonged bout of the flu, and my responsibilities as head family costume maker. ❤ ❤ ❤ Halloween is approaching ever closer and 10 year olds grow up all too fast, so it’s important to keep family childhood traditions..
I had fully intended to write “this look behind the scenes” post yesterday, but when I sat down to write I actually fell asleep sitting up! LOL It’s been such a busy week that apparently my body decided I really needed a nap. The thought that it would undoubtedly be a much more coherent post if I waited to write it until today kept me from feeling too guilty. I hope this inspires you to play with your dolls! You’re never too old to enjoy the magic of dolls…
Even Cleaning Is Much More Fun When It’s Doll Sized
Just like in real life, the first thing on the list of party preparations is cleaning! I started cleaning the doll’s house about two weeks prior to the party. I basically dusted, swept, tidied, washed dishes, and cleaned windows. The antique library steps that you see in some of the photos are what I use to reach the bedroom and the attic. ❤
I love my painting studio! It’s filled with windows and generally has wonderful light all day long. When the week prior to the party started to have weather forecasts that were filled with dark clouds and rainy days I knew that I might run into difficulties trying to photograph the doll’s celebration and all of the little details in their house. My solution was to pull the umbrella photo light stands, that I bought over 20 years ago from local artist and dollmaker Rainie Crawford, out of the top floor of my tack barn. At the time that I bought the lights my youngest son was getting ready to apply to several art schools. I knew that I was going to have to photograph his portfolio and thought they would also be great when photographing my own work. The lights were far from new when I acquired them, as Rainie had used them for years to photograph her own dolls and bears for the ads she ran offering her patterns for sale in the back pages of popular women’s magazines.
Getting the light stands out of the barn and cleaned up was a chore! The whole time I was cleaning them I was keeping my fingers crossed that in the end they would actually work. Thankfully they still work perfectly and they made such a huge difference! You can’t even tell from the photo images that it was a dark stormy day outside.
P.S. The lights were excellent for photographing portfolios too! He was accepted at both Pratt and University of the Arts, and chose to attend Pratt. He graduated with a degree in illustration which he has used throughout his very diverse career. ❤
Minature Baking Is More Fun Too!
An important part of every good party is food! This year I baked Joe Frogger cookies, which are a great favorite of both the dolls and mine. The recipe that I use comes from my very worn and tattered 1982 copy of Better Homes & Gardens Classic American Recipes. One of the things I’ve always loved about this cookbook is the little bits of history that accompanies each recipe. “Uncle Joe was an old man who made molasses cookies in Marblehead, Massachusetts. They were called Joe Froggers because they were as big and dark as the frogs in Joe’s pond. Fishermen found that they kept well at sea and traded them for rum, one of Joe’s secret ingredients.
Joe Froggers
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
3/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup dark molasses
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons rum
Beat butter with an electric mixer for 30 seconds, add sugar and continue to beat until fluffy. Stir in molasses, water and rum. Stir dry ingredients together separately then add to the butter and sugar mixture. Beat until well blended. Cover and chill several hours or overnight. (I don’t always do this. Sometimes I bake them immediately, especially when I am just using plain circle cutters.)
On a well floured surface roll dough to 1/4 inch. Cut with a 4 inch round cutter. Place on greased cookie sheet. (baking parchment paper or silpat mats will also work) Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool about 60 seconds before removing to a wire rack. Makes 18 – 22 cookies. I often sprinkle my cookies with plain sugar before baking for just a little bit of sparkle.
The dolls also requested ice cream for their party, which turned into a bit of a challenge. Even though it was a dark rainy day the outside temperature was a steamy 79 degrees. Inside the studio the photo lights, which create a LOT of heat, made things even warmer. In order to keep the ice cream from melting too quickly on it’s trip out to the studio I took it out of the freezer then immediately placed it in a well insulated cooler with multiple ice packs. Once the lights were in place and the entire vignette inside the dollhouse was ready to be photographed I scooped the ice cream into the little bowls using a very small scoop, like you would use to scoop batter into a mini muffin pan.
If you’d like to follow Zanna’s example and make homemade ice cream, this is the one she and I always use.
My Favorite Homemade Ice Cream This is my favorite recipe of all the ones that my mother used for Vanilla Ice Cream. It wasn’t her favorite though, she was known to cut down on the sugar as she thought it was too sweet. I think that it is just about right the way it is listed in the recipe. Use very good quality vanilla. I like ground vanilla beans or vanilla bean paste because of their added depth of flavor.
Directions: Heat Eagle Brand, eggs, and sugar in top of a double boiler stirring constantly. While continuing to stir add half & half, cream and vanilla. remove from heat, transfer to a large bowl and add one quart of milk. Cool in refrigerator. Freeze in ice cream freezer.
Ice Cream Magic!
The combination of the very cold ice cream, the extremely hot photo lights, and high humidity, caused the ice cream in the bowls to start smoking like dry ice! It would have been so nice to share such a fun magical moment with you, but try as I might the effect didn’t show up in the photos.
Did you guess that the tiny ice cream spoons in the photos are antique silver salt spoons? The doll’s routinely take turns polishing them to keep them bright and shiny.
And then it was time for presents!
As I’m sure you’ve guessed by now, all of the odd occurrences and secret meetings leading up to Thursday’s party were because the dolls were busy creating presents for each other this year. ❤
The Paper Silhouette from Ismay ~ In reality this is a silhouette that I cut from parchment paper, using an x-acto knife, aged with tea in the oven, then mounted on black cardstock.
The tiny printed and stuffed kitten & hen that the sisters made for Izzybelle ~ These miniature marvels were actually made by the extremely talented Lolly Yokum of Laurel Leaf dolls. She also makes a variety of miniature cloth dolls that include amazing tiny Izannah Walker dolls https://laurelleaf.com/toys.htm
Izzybelle’s Seed Envelopes~ The little seed envelopes were inspired by an amazing gift I received from one of my very dear friends, Sandy Conners, another very talented artist who’s original art graces her beautifully hand carved wood blocks and letterpress prints. I love these perfect little seeds packets and glassine envelopes so much that I haven’t yet been able to decide what seeds are special enough to put in them ❤ So for the time being I keep them with my favorite antique gardening implements and admire them frequently. When Izzybelle caught me daydreaming over these tiny works of art she begged me to let her have them for the seeds she’s been saving. Instead we compromised and I agreed to help her craft her own using the sweet little printed sheet of all the packet illustrations that came in Sandy’s gift. To create a template for Izzybelle’s seed envelope I carefully took apart a commercial seed envelope and reduced the outline using my office copier (I couldn’t bear to do that to one of Sandy’s). Izzybelle’s seed envelopes have red wax seals on their back flaps to hold them closed.
Charlcie and Eliza Jane’s Packets of Tea ~ The smaller one cup packets are actually tiny parchment paper envelopes that I cut with a scrapbooking die cutter. The larger packets are simply a folded rectangle of parchment paper (the actual real paper kind and not what you bake with). Both packets are sealed with red wax that I stamped with the sister’s very small antique ivory handled stamp. Inside the packets contain either dried peppermint, apple mint, or lemon balm. All three herbs were cut from the herb garden outside of my kitchen door. Normally Charlcie, Eliza Jane, and I lay the freshly washed herbs on clean dry towels in a shaded room to dry. If we are in a hurry, we lay a single layer of clean herbs on a clean paper towel and microwave them in 15 second intervals just until they begin to feel slightly dry. then place them on a counter or table to cool down. They should finish drying as they cool, if they aren’t completely dry they can go back in the microwave for 15 additional seconds. Do not microwave too long, as the herbs can burn.
Tilly Lamb & Sarah Alice’s Gift of Dried Pressed Flowers in a Gold Frame ~ This gift was really quite straight forward. It is made from flowers cut straight out of my flower beds, pressed between two sheets of white of paper, weighted down with bricks! Of course you could also use a flower press, which would undoubtedly be easier. After the flowers had completely dried I carefully used a dab of glue to attach them to yet another piece of parchment paper cut to fit the inside of a small gold painted wooden frame.
Isabeau and Zanna’s gift of a Sewing Sampler Book for all of the sisters to share and contribute to. ~ I will be writing an in-depth look at girl’s 19th century sewing sampler books in the near future as the little cloth girls begin working on theirs in earnest. We would love you to follow along, and perhaps be tempted to make one for yourself or your dolls.
The Repurposed School Book Turned Scrap Book that Cloe and I gave my Izannah Sisters ~ This was a fortunate antique find. I love the idea of someone reusing this little book to hold their treasured clippings and colorful paper scraps!
Once upon a time there were 10 well loved painted cloth dolls, who had all been brought to life by an amazing dollmaker named Izannah Walker. Because the little dolls had trouble remembering back, all those many years ago, to when they were very, very new they have all decided to treat their dearest Izannah’s birthday as their own. So every year they have a big, lovely birthday party to celebrate Izannah Walker’s birthday, as well as each others ❤
At the moment Zanna and Izzybelle are in the kitchen putting the last finishing touches on the refreshments. The dolls had quite a discussion about exactly what to serve today. Last year Isabeau and Sarah Alice were in charge of the kitchen and got a bit carried away! There was soooooooooooo much cake left over when the party ended! https://izannahwalker.com/2024/09/ After talking about it for quite some time, they finally decided to put the very sensible Zanna in charge of baking this year. Izzybelle insisted on being Zanna’s kitchen helper, even though the rest of the dolls were silently shaking their heads no.
Zanna proposed that each of them should name their most favorite birthday treats and then everyone would vote on them. After the votes were all counted Zanna announced that she would make the top two favorites, Joe Frogger cookies and vanilla ice cream! Charlcie and Eliza Jane were quite worried that there wouldn’t be enough ice left in their ice house from last winter to freeze ice cream, but somehow Zanna managed to come up with exactly enough.
“Izzybelle how many times have we told not to kneel in the kitchen chairs? Eliza Jane is going to have a fit if she sees you doing it again, and she’ll be sure to scold you about behaving like a proper young lady!” “But Zanna I can’t reach everything if I sit that way!” wailed Izzybelle.
“Alright, but just this once, and only because we need to hurry!” “We still have to put the candles in the Joe Frogger cake and the candle sticks”
“OH IZZYBELLE!” “What have you done now?” exclaimed Zanna with a huge sigh. “Carefully carry the platter of cookies upstairs please, without any more tasting like a good girl, while I scoop the ice cream.”
Such a great deal of excited chatter greeted Zanna in the parlor, with all the little cloth girls talking at once! “Oh my goodness Zanna, you and Izzybelle out did yourselves!” “Look at the ice cream!” “What a magnificent tower of birthday cookies” “Which one of us should blow out the candle?” “Tilly Lamb you blow out the candle while the rest of us make wishes ❤ ” “Remember Izzybelle don’t tell anyone your wish or it won’t come true!” “Are you sure we shouldn’t open presents first?” No Izzybelle, tea and treats first, then presents. You know that’s the way that we always do it.”
“NOW is it time for presents?” asked Izzybelle squirming with excitement. “Yes!” chorused all of her sisters!
(So THIS is what they have all been planning!)
(The dolls aren’t the only ones keeping birthday secrets…)
“Izzybelle you can go ahead and start opening presents now!” “I’m going to start with the one that has my name on it!” she declared. “Now the one I made for all of you!!! ” “It’s seeds for our garden!” “Are you surprised?” asked Izzybelle. All of her sisters tried to hide their smiles as she proudly announced “Look! I saved lots and lots of seeds from my runaway tomatoes!”
After Izzybelle made a start in unwrapping the birthday gifts, some of the other dolls joined in. Ismay gave her sisters a lovely hand cut silhouette. The lovely blue indigo wrapped parcel contained peppermint, apple mint, & lemon balm teas from Charlcie and Eliza Jane. Isabeau opened the framed flowers that Tilly Lamb and Sarah Alice gathered from the garden and pressed. (Which explains why there was a brick on top of the books!) When it was Ismay’s turn she unwrapped a sewing sampler book, made from hand made paper, that Isabeau and Zanna started to keep all of the sister’s needlework examples in. The very last birthday was the one from Cloe and me. I think Hannah was quite surprised to untie the twine and find a somewhat tattered schoolbook!
Once the dolls looked inside, they could see that the little book was actually a scrapbook full of verses, essays, and pretty lithographed paper “scraps”.
“This has been the best day” murmured a tired, but happy Izzybelle. To which all of her sisters agreed…
We hope you have enjoyed attending the doll’s birthday tea party. If you’d like to read a bit more about the behind the scenes activities necessary to set up all of the party scenes, as well as a more detailed description of how their birthday gifts were made (including Izzybelle’s seed packets ~ which were inspired by a lovely gift from our dearest, most talented friend Sandy Connors of Honey Bee Press ) please join us here tomorrow for our “After Party” post.
I’ve been noticing a few out of the ordinary little things for several days now. For example the parlor door, which is never closed, is mysteriously shut at odd times through out the day.
When I peeked through a crack in the door, I spied the little cloth girls whispering excitedly to each other…
… and then there are all the little out of place bits and pieces that keep mysteriously appearing and disappearing in their very tall house.
First it was tiny baskets of herbs in the kitchen, with little bits dropped on the floor, as if someone had hurriedly just left the room.
Next I noticed tiny bits of paper on the parlor table, at the same time as Ismay was scurrying out of the room on silent stocking feet.
After Ismay departed I saw that there were sewing implements inexplicably tucked under the shawl draped over the parlor bench!
Even odder sights awaited me upstairs in the bedroom. A trail of pansies and leaves led me to a stack of books, with a BRICK on top, that had been hastily shoved under the bed??? There was yet another book protruding from beneath the mattress of the adjoining bed! It looks to me as if the sisters are keeping birthday secrets. Won’t they be surprised when they find that I have a birthday secret of my own!
Please join us here tomorrow September 25th at 5 p.m. Eastern Time for a grand birthday tea party in honor of Izannah Walker’s 208th birthday.
As I am sure most of you know every year my family of antique Izannah Walker dolls and I have a multiday celebration of Izannah Walker’s birthday on September 25th, which also includes a release of my newest reproduction Izannah Walker dolls for sale. I always try to time the doll sale to coincide with the birthday celebration, though occasionally I run into issues that delay the doll sale a little bit. It looks like the sale will be delayed this year because the paint on the dolls isn’t quite dry enough for me to sew them together. The lamp black paint on their boots takes an especially long time to dry, and after looking at their boots for a few days I think they are going to need at least one more coat of paint. There is high humidity and rain in the forecast for the rest of this week, so I honestly don’t know exactly when I’ll be able to finish them, though it should be relatively soon.
This delayed time line gives me a bit of flexibility about the exact day the dolls will be making their debut. Generally I try to alternate days and times to be as fair as possible, since I obviously can’t tailor the release to match everyone’s personal schedule. If anyone wants to drop me a note at paula@asweetremembrance.com and give me an idea of the best online doll shopping times for you I’ll set up a file that I can look through whenever I schedule doll releases. This doesn’t mean that all the release days and times will be exactly what you want, I’m sure they won’t – it just means that I’ll try to take your preferences into account as I rotate days and times.
This year I am making six dolls which are all sentimental choices. Two of them are 16 inch Lizzybits, which are one of my smaller dolls. I would say that the majority of the antique Izannah Walker dolls that I am personally aware of are 18 inches tall. The smallest that I have ever read about is 13 inches. Next in my current line up are Zanna, Isabeau, and Sarah Alice who are all 18 inches tall. Zanna was my very first antique Izannah Walker doll and Isabeau was my second, so they both have a very special place in my heart. Sweet Sarah Alice is named after Sarah Alice Langworthy the little girl pictured in an antique carte de visite that I own. You can read about the real Sarah Alice here https://izannahwalker.com/2017/09/25/remembering-sarah-alice-langworthy-happy-birthday-izannah-walker-part-2/ . The last doll that I will be offering for sale is a special 20 inch tall black version of Isadora – based on the only known black Izannah Walker doll (18 inches) that sold most recently during day one of the Theriault’s “Rosalie – A Life of Dolls” Marquis Doll Auction.
There is a somewhat long story as to why I have chosen to make this doll 20 inches tall, which I will be relating in her description when she is offered for sale.
You can read about the various molds that I make my historically accurate reproduction Izannahs from, see the original antique dolls that the molds were made from, and see a few previous examples of reproductions of those dolls here https://asweetremembrance.com/category/izannah-walker-reproduction-dolls/
My 14 – 18.5 inch dolls sell for $1695.00*. 20 inch dolls are $1900.00*
Prices include free shipping and full insurance to any U.S. address. (at the current time I’m unfortunately only selling and shipping dolls within the U.S. due to all of the tariff and exchange rate issues).
*Dolls with bare feet, or clothing that is especially elaborate and/or made from more expensive antique materials, cost more.
If I do happen to have time to make any extra dresses or accessories, they will be sold separately this time around to give everyone as many options as possible.
I’ll send you all another update with the date and time of their debut when the dolls are dry enough to sell.
In the meantime I hope you all enjoy all of the other birthday happenings. The main party will be posted at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time Thursday, September 25th on www.izannahwalker.com, with a few other birthday posts in the days before and after. (We like to make birthdays last as long as possible here!!!).
Thank you all for your interest in my reproduction Izannah Walker dolls! If you ever wish to be removed from this mailing list, just reply to this email with the word REMOVE in the subject line.
Sending Huge Hugs from all the little cloth girls!
Izannah Walker Journal 