Paula Walton’s doll-making notes
Today I finished Carole’s special order “Ismay”. After popping Miss Ismay’s shoe laces in their dye baths, I hurried to take photos of her before dark. 🙂
In the morning Ismay’s shoe laces will be dry and I’ll teach her how to lace and tie her shoes!
Many thanks to all of you for your thoughtful notes and expressions of sympathy. I truly appreciate all of your kind words more than I can possibly say.
REMEMBRANCE IS THE SWEETEST FLOWER THAT IN THE GARDEN GROWS…
Laughter and tears are the lights and darks that make up the patchwork quilt of my life. These past few weeks have been filled with sunshine and shadows, but most of all love. Thank you for your friendship. Plus a huge additional thank you to all of you whose dolls I am working on, your kind understanding has taken a tremendous weight off of my shoulders.
BACK AT WORK
While I am not totally back up to my regular pace yet, I am back at work. So please feel free to call or email me with any questions about your doll orders and classes. New things have been continuing to happen in my studio. Yesterday Hannah joined my Izannah Walker doll family. I already have molds of her in progress, so in the not too distant future I will be making reproductions of her, which will bring the number of original antique Izannah Walker dolls that I can reproduce for you up to ten.
Due to a death in the family A Sweet Remembrance is closed until sometime next week. I will check email as I am able to and telephone messages when I return to work. Thank you so much for your patience and understanding. ❤ Paula
Lately,if I have a poured and dried composition head sitting around in my studio, when I’m ready to begin painting one of my pressed cloth heads I will paint them in tandem. It always feels like the painting goes much faster when I’m painting more than one head at a time. 🙂 I’m not at all sure that is actually true, but it is convenient and I do get to cut down on the number of brushes I have to wash!
This head is one of my tandem painting projects. If you are looking for a fun and rewarding summer project this pre-painted head is available. The head comes with my Izannah Walker Doll Making Kit, which has patterns and instructions that you can use to finish the doll. The price of the kit with the painted head is $375.00. If you want to do your own painting you may order a kit with an unpainted head for $200.00. Custom painted heads may also be ordered if you would like a different hair style. If you have already purchased one of my kits or my full Izannah Walker Doll Making Class, you may also order this as an extra head to use with your patterns and instructions. I haven’t posted this head on my website yet, so if you are interested in purchasing it, email me at paula@asweetremembrance.com or call me at 860-355-5709 during east coast business hours. Would you like to know more about my Izannah Kit, click here to see a video about the kit in a previous post.
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Once again I am honored to announce that I was chosen for inclusion in Early American Life’s Directory of Traditional American Craftsman. The August 2015 issue of EAL, which includes the directory, has just been mailed to subscribers and should also be out on newsstands soon. This is the 32nd time I’ve been in the directory, many years in more than one category, and each and every time has been just as thrilling as the first! It gives me such a warm feeling to know that the highly knowledgeable jurors, made up of museum professionals and other experts, have closely examined my work and named me as one of the top craftsmen working in my field(s).
Young Miss Isane traveled to Delaware earlier this spring to take part in the EAL directory photo shoot at Winterthur Museum. She had a wonderful time posing and exploring Winterthur. Now that she has returned safe and sound, she is looking for a new home to call her own.
6/22/15 UPDATE SHE IS NOW SOLD Isane is 18 inches tall and is one of my all cloth, reproduction Izannah Walker dolls. She has two painted ringlets in front of each ear and a row of five more along the nape of her neck. Isane has bare feet, with stockings sized down from antique socks, and two pairs of hand made leather shoes – one to match each of her dresses. She is wearing a chemise, pantalettes trimmed with pintucked ruffles, a cotton petticoat and an embroidered woolen petticoat. Her floral printed white dress is modeled after the dress worn by the Izannah Walker doll owned by the Worthington, Ohio Historical Society. I am excessively fond of that doll and she was my inspiration for this Isane.
Her second dress is made from prussian blue and olive brown print fabric, with short ruffled sleeves and a growth tuck in the skirt. All of her clothing is made from antique fabric, laces and buttons. A signed copy of the magazine will accompany her to her new home. Isane may be adopted for $1675.00. Insured shipping to any United States address is free of charge. If you live outside of the U.S., exact USPS international mail shipping charges will apply. As always lay-away is an option. ❤
This doll has been sold – thank you so much for coming to look at her. If you have any questions about Isane, or would like to purchase her please email me anytime at paula@asweetremembrance.com or call me at 860-355-5709 during east coast business hours.
You may see more photos of Isane by clicking on this link.
For the past week my dolls and I have been entertaining a most delightful house guest. She is a little doll that belongs to my dear friend Susie, and she has come to stay with us in the hopes that a New England summer will give her a clear complexion, bring roses to her cheeks, and a sparkle to her eyes.
After the girls came up with a plan for the afternoon, they quickly scurried to find their India Rubber Shoes, so that they could run out to the garden in between rain showers and pick strawberries.
This post is especially for Susie and the doll family that lives with her. The girls and I hope that the rest of you enjoyed it too
Intrigued about the connection between Jane Austen’s Emma and strawberry season? Then you may want to peruse this blog post http://austenonly.com/2010/01/27/austen-only-emma-season-mr-knightleys-strawberries/ . It is equally as fascinating as the post about India Rubber Shoes 🙂 http://www.jmisc.net/jm980331.htm
Were you wondering what ever happened to the beautiful papier-mache doll that I was restoring several months ago? She has finally gone home. ❤ I had planned to return her to her owner at our March doll club meeting. Unfortunately the weather interfered with our meeting, which was cancelled due to snow 😦 I couldn’t attend the April meeting because I was out of town, so this doll got to stay with me until May. She was a perfect house guest!
Here are a few photographs of her after I did some minimal restoration. Just enough to let her beauty shine through, without erasing her age and grace.
Thank you for stopping by to visit!
*Read more about this doll here https://izannahwalker.wordpress.com/2015/03/13/a-wonderful-large-papier-mache-doll-in-need-of-a-little-loving-assistance/
Izannah Walker Journal 