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.
If you are a frequent reader of this blog you will know that I am constantly searching for antique fabrics to fashion into doll clothes. I hunt for antique quilts and garments that are far too worn to be restored, but are still in good enough condition to sew with. One of my favorite places to shop for antique textiles is at the May antique shows in Brimfield, MA. My husband and I had planned to spend two days in Brimfield, but heavy rains made Friday a washout, so we packed all of our shopping into one day on Saturday!
I’m feeling a bit like the princess and the pea with this new waist high stack of antique quilts in my studio!
Our textile scavenger hunt started out slow, with only a single white wool baby blanket in my shopping bag when we took a break for lunch. Things picked up in the afternoon, after a few disappointing instances where we found great quilts that turned out to be very over priced. By the end of the day we had accumulated almost more quilts than we could carry, along with half a dozen pieces of antique underpinnings.
Some of the white textiles that we found on our weekend shopping expeditions.
On Sunday we ventured out to the Elephant’s Trunk, our local flea market, where we purchased another quilt and an additional armful of antique petticoats and nightgowns. In the afternoon we went to a car show, since turn about is fair play and Brian certainly deserved a reward for all of the miles he walked and pounds of fabric he carried for me during the rest of the weekend. ❤
Chandeliers were a very popular item at Brimfield this year.Lots to see…A great counter!We’ve owned and sold several similar carousel horses, so it was fun to see this one and compare prices.Loved the train!A terrific paint brush advertising display 🙂so cool…Yes, there were dolls to see and drool over!a long day…An unplanned purchase, simply too great to pass up!An amazing sewing machine.I spent a few minutes trying to figure out how this machine should be threaded…We saw this little horse on Sunday at the Elephant’s Trunk and thought it looked like a lot of fun!Two of our Sunday buys, a child’s rocking chair and a Christmas tree fence.Good thing the dolls are willing to share… these antique nightgowns are destined to be summer dresses for me!
On Saturday I hosted the May meeting of my doll club, the Jenny Lind chapter of the United Federation of Doll Clubs. The topic of our meeting was Izannah Walker dolls. Given the topic, you probably aren’t too surprised that the meeting was at my house this month. 🙂
It was a wonderful afternoon and I really enjoyed having the Jenny Lind members here. They’ve all been incredibly nice to me and I was happy to be able to repay the hospitality that they have shown me. Best of all two antique Izannah Walker dolls came along to the meeting! My girls were thrilled at the chance to see their sisters and have a family reunion.
My dolls plus their guests at Saturday’s meeting of the Jenny Lind Doll Club.
Who needs a bulletin board or an over head projector when you have a refrigerator and a handful of magnets???Part decoration, part visual aid!What a thrill to get to see these two Izannahs in person at the meeting!Sisterly reunion of Izannah Walker dolls!
Isn’t this large 22-1/2 inch tall Izannah magnificent?Very early and very wonderful Izannah Walker doll.Amazing face! Still beautiful after more than a century and a half.My dolls, plus their new found relatives!A charming 18 inch Izannah Walker doll.
Once everyone arrived, we began the day with a business meeting. After sorting through all the current club issues, we took a break for an outdoor lunch on the patio. Here is a copy of the menu…
A 19th Century New England Picnic
Pounded Cheese with Crackers
Salad of Field Peas and Early Greens
Baked Ham and Pumpkin Biscuits with Cherry Relish and Mustard
Baked Beans
…
Vanilla and Violet Pound Cake
Rhubarb Pie with Whipped Cream
Dried Apple Bread Pudding
Fresh Blackberries
…
Violet Iced Tea
Iced Tea with Fresh Mint
Lemonade
Coffee
Water
…
Eli Whitney’s Grandmother’s Ginger Cookies
&
Shrewsbury Cakes
to nibble on your journey home…
Freshly baked rhubarb pie, with the first of this year’s rhubarb from my garden, & vanilla violet pound cake.
After lunch, we moved back inside for my program on Izannah Walker’s dolls. I gave a brief over view of Izannah’s life and how she made her dolls. Then I told a bit about the Izannahs in my collection and learned about the two visiting dolls as well. We talked about other collectors we know who have Izannah Walker dolls, then finished the day with a trip out to my studio for those who wanted to see my reproduction dolls in progress and find out what they look like “underneath it all”.
This article was the basic core of my lecture on Saturday, with many added bits and pieces along the way. If you look down at my sources, you will see that one of them was an article written in 1968 by Maurine Popp of the Jenny Lind Doll Club!!! Several of the members recall going to the auction when Maurine’s collection was sold.
A Doll Maker’s Reflections on Izannah Walker and her Dolls; With Insights on Pressed Cloth Heads By Paula Walton
Many articles have been written about Izannah Walker and her hauntingly beautiful, iconic cloth dolls. I have found all of them extremely interesting and well worth reading. However, it occurred to me that none of the articles that I have seen were written by someone who has actually made full size reproductions of Izannah’s pressed cloth heads and has experienced firsthand the joys and frustrations of this unique type of doll making. So I’ve decided to join the ranks of doll lovers and historians who have gone before me in writing about this fascinating woman and her exceptional dolls.
It feels like I have loved Izannah Walker dolls for my entire life, although I know that can’t be true. When I look back, I think that I first became aware of her dolls right around the time that we moved to New England, 24 years ago. I do know that since my very early childhood I have loved and wanted to own antique dolls. As soon as I knew that such things as really old dolls existed I longed for one (or more!).
Izannah Walker and her dolls hold a very special place in doll history. On November 4, 1873, she was the first woman to receive a United States patent for making dolls.
Izannah Walker was born in Bristol, Rhode Island on the 25th day of September in 1817. I have read there is documentation that she started making dolls in 1828. She would have been 11 years old in 1828, the same age that I was when I first learned to sew. Norma H. Robertson, Izannah Walker’s grand-niece, stated that her great aunt began making stockinette dolls in 1845 for friends, and as her business developed, she put her three sisters to work painting faces. Other research and information that I have seen states that Izannah had two sisters, plus several older half-siblings, and that Izannah, her older sister Jane and her aunt Jane Hintz were all three doll makers.
One of my favorite Izannah stories is a reminiscence by Mrs. Helen Pierce of when the Walker sisters were living on Main Street in Somerset Village, MA. Mrs. Pierce tells a tale of the Walkers hanging their dolls out on the clothesline to dry when it was too damp in the house and how the air in the neighborhood was then permeated with the smell of oil paint. I can certainly relate to that, having hung my share of dolls out on the clothesline!
The Mystery of Molds and Lessons Learned About Pressed Cloth Heads
One of the things that I find most endearing about the Walker dolls is their differences. This may be because three individual women had a hand in their construction, either working together or apart. It is also, in my opinion, a very basic fact of life when a doll maker is creating dolls with pressed cloth heads. While all of the original dolls are recognizable as Walker dolls, they do come in many sizes, from 13 to 27 inches* in height, and often have very striking differences from one another. The majority of the dolls are girls, although there are a few boy dolls and even fewer black dolls, with lovely short, nubby, black wool hair.
There has been a great deal of speculation in the doll world about the number and origin of the molds Izannah Walker used to make her dolls. I can’t offer any clues about how the molds were made. Did she sculpt her own prototype heads and then have them made into metal molds? Did she hire others to create both the original sculpt and molds? Or did she commission molds from commercially available European dolls? Her patent information shows the use of a metal mold and dye, but did she always use metal molds? Is it possible that her earlier dolls were created using plaster molds, which were long established in the doll making industry at that time, and would wear out and need replacing more frequently?
What I can say with some confidence is that it is very likely that she used fewer molds than many people think. Obviously, she had to have a variety of molds for the different sized dolls that she made and it is equally obvious that her early dolls used very different molds than her later, patented dolls. What I have found when making pressed cloth heads is that heads made using the same mold will turn out quite differently from one another. When making pressed cloth heads, you do not get the same consistency as you do when casting materials such as bisque, papier-mâché and wax that can be poured into a mold and hardened. Izannah’s pressed cloth heads were made in sections that had to be joined together, a process that sometimes causes individual heads to come out a bit larger or smaller than each other. After the front and back sections of the head were sewn and or glued together, the head was stuffed with cotton, horsehair, sea grass or other materials. The pressed cloth heads are not rigid like the heads of a china or porcelain doll. They are somewhat flexible and their shape can be altered by how tightly the stuffing is packed into the head. All of these factors can and will change the appearance of the finished pressed cloth head.
Another point that I would like to mention here is that when studying photographs of Izannah Walker dolls, it is important to remember that the photographs do not always look the same as the doll does in person. I am by no means a professional photographer, but I am a person who takes an inordinate number of doll photos, using several different cameras and lenses. The type of lens used to take a photograph will have a big impact on how the doll looks, as will the lighting and angle from which the photo is taken. People who have only seen Izannah Walker dolls in photographs are often very surprised when they first see one of the dolls in person. The dolls are smaller and much more delicately proportioned than they often look in photos. Their eyes are not as large and their foreheads aren’t quite as curved and pronounced as people expect. I am fortunate enough to have been able to visit several museums and view dolls in person that I had previously only seen in photos and I can attest that there is a real difference. I see this same difference when I photograph both my antique Izannah Walker dolls and the reproductions of them that I make. So some Walker dolls may look more similar in person than they do when compared in photographs. Especially when they are photographs taken by different people, using different cameras, lighting, etc.
The painting style is another variable from doll to doll. Again, this may be due to more than one person wielding her brush, or it may be because when a doll maker paints a doll, each one is slightly different from the next. Even if you have never made a doll in your life, I’m sure that you can relate. Think about your signature. It is something you do over and over again. Is it exactly the same every time? When you make your favorite recipe, the one you know by heart and don’t have to look up, does it turn out just the same every time? Izannah Walker’s dolls were made over a long period of time. Even if a single person painted them all, it is natural that they would change. When I paint my dolls, the colors will vary a bit since I don’t use a “recipe” to mix my paints. Some days, I paint finer lines than others, paint better curls, make more blushing cheeks and crisper bootlaces. Such is the nature of hand-made artistry and it is why Izannah Walker dolls are so well loved and enduring. The hand of the doll maker shows in each and every one of them. They are similar and yet individual works of art.
I like to think that the women all worked together, even when they were separated by distance (which they were during different periods in their lives). My sister and I make reproduction samplers together, even though she lives in Nebraska and I live in Connecticut. Both of us work on every sampler that we make, each doing our own part to create the final product. It would have been possible for the Walker sisters and their aunt to do the same, and I hope that they did. My sister and I enjoy working together and I’d like for the Walkers to have had the bond that shared goals and joint work brings about.
Construction Features of the Walker Dolls
Like any other reproduction-sewing project, making an Izannah Walker doll is an eye opening experience to the difference between 19th century and 21st century sewing construction. People in the 1800’s obviously viewed pattern making and sewing construction differently than we do today. The shapes of many of the pattern pieces used to make these dolls and their clothing are unfamiliar to modern seamstresses.
Izannah’s earliest dolls had heads that were made of molded and pressed cloth joined to the bodies at the neck. This is different than the later patented dolls that had molded and pressed cloth heads and shoulder plates that were glued onto the bodies. I think the early dolls are prettier than their later sisters, and they are the type of Izannah Walker dolls that I prefer to reproduce. The front of the pre-patent doll’s head is joined to the back just in front of the ears. The back of the head has a partial center seam.
Often you will see that the dolls have repaired ankles. This is because they have a seam at the ankles that connects the foot to the leg. Modern cloth dolls are seldom made this way. The dolls have narrow waists, with wide shoulders and hips. The unpainted portions of their bodies are covered with a “second skin,” which gives them a neat, finished appearance, and points to the care with which they were made. I find all of these details intriguing. They are part of what draws me to study Izannah Walker’s dolls and have kept my interest in them so strong for many years.
Izannah Walker dolls were made using molds. That does not mean that they took less work or are less desirable than a doll that has a one-of-a-kind sculpted face. For me, understanding how the Walkers made their dolls and using those same techniques to make dolls of my own gives me an even deeper love and appreciation for the originals. Through years of experience, I know exactly why some of the dolls have that characteristic crease at the hollow of their throat, why the paint on the earliest dolls cracked and peeled, why the hands have such a wonderful shape and how to make that slight curve at the wrist. I treasure the experience, the knowledge and the insight, and I would urge you to try your hand at making a doll using Izannah’s methods. It will give you a wonderful glimpse into her world and her art.
Izannah Walker managed to capture an evocative moment of American history and very firmly convey a sense of her time and place in a child’s toy. These toys continue to be treasured, loved and marveled at today.
* There are rumors of a “life-size” doll that was owned by members of the Walker family.
Sources for some of the information used in this article and additional reading:
American Folk Dolls by Wendy Lavitt (Knopf 1982)
American Rag Dolls Straight From The Heart by Estelle Patino (Collector Books 1988)
“An American Master of Cloth” by Helen Nolan, Dolls, February 1995 (this article is about Martha Chase and only has a brief mention of Izannah Walker)
“The Art of Dolls 1700-1940” by Madeline Osborne Merrill, Doll Reader, April 1985
Cover Photo by Dorothy McGonagle, Doll News, 1989
“Dolls by Izannah Walker” by Donna C. Kaonis, Antique Doll World, September/October 1993
The Doll Collection of Helen Gage, Auction Catalogue by Marvin Cohen Auctions, December 1984
“Dolls of Rhode Island” by Carolyn Guise, Two Hundred Years of American Dolls, The New London Doll Club United Federation of Doll Clubs Region Fourteen Meeting, May 1977
Early American Dolls in Full Color, by Helen Nolan (Dover Publications 1986)
“Early American Stockinette Dolls: Part 1- Izannah Walker and Martha Chase Dolls” by Judy Beswick, The Cloth Doll, Fall 1998
Encyclopedia American Dolls by Ruth S. Freeman (Century House 1952)
“The “Holy Grail” of Early American Dolls” by Catherine Riedel, Yankee magazine, November/December 2009
“Izannah Walker – Godmother to Cloth Doll Makers” by Susan Hedrick, Soft Dolls & Animals, Summer 1998
“Izannah Walker’s Iconic Dolls” by Edyth O’Neill and Dixie Redmond, Early American Life, Christmas 2011
“An Izannah Walker Reunion” by Carol Corson, Antique Doll Collector, August 2011
“Izannah Walker: The Mystery Deepens” by Helen Nolan, Dolls, August 1994
“The Little Doll With The Little Curl” by Maurine S. Popp, The Jenny Lind Doll Club of Southern Connecticut Region 14 of The United Federation of Doll Clubs, April 1968
Made to Play House: Dolls and the Commercialization of American Girlhood, by Miriam Formanek-Brunell (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998)
“The Mystery of Izannah Walker” by Helen Nolan, Dolls, September 1993
“The Search for Izannah Walker” by Monica Bessette, Doll News, Spring 1994
“Stitches in Time” by Diane Goff, Doll Reader, July 1993
Summer in Marseilles at the Turn of the Century Auction Catalogue by Theriault’s 1993
“They’re Just Down-Home Folk” by Wendy Lavitt, Dolls, May 1993
The Treasury of Beautiful Dolls, by John Noble (Weathervane Books, 1978)
“Walker Dolls: A Family Affair” by Monica Bessette, Doll News, Summer 1998
This article and the accompanying images, like all posts and photographs on http://www.izannahwalker.com, are copyrighted by Paula Walton and may not be published or reproduced in any form without the express written consent of the author.
Sophie and Mae have the same size bodies as my 18 – 1/2 inch Izannah Walker dolls, so all the girls can share clothes.
Thank you so much for coming by to see Sophie and Mae. Both of them are now sold.
Sophie and Mae, the two portrait face New England rag dolls that were in my article in the Winter 2014 issue of Prims are back home, in all their Sunday finery, just in time for Easter! Sophie and Mae are two of the five flat face head variations that I made for my Izannah Walker doll making students. Class members can use the five different heads with their Izannah class patterns. The bonus patterns are available to class members through the class discussion site free of charge. Follow this link to read more about my Prims article.
Now that the girls are back from California, they are ready to find new homes. I’ve just listed them for sale on my website. If you are interested in buying either of them you can go through the secure automatic checkout at http://www.asweetremembrance.com or you may call me 860-355-5709 or email me paula@asweetremembrance.com. Shipping is free to any US address and lay-away is available with terms to fit your budget.
Sophie
SOLD Sophie shows off her magazine debut.
SOLD Sophie is dressed in a pink and black print dress made from antique late 19th century fabric, a petticoat with lavish pink crochet trim and a cap made from antique crocheted cotton lace. Her face, head and shoulders are painted with artist’s oils.
Mae
SOLD Mae and her photo spread.
SOLD Mae’s face, head and shoulders are painted with artist’s oils. She is wearing a silk plaid dress with cartridge pleated skirt and velvet ribbon trim, a white scalloped petticoat, black hand knit socks and handmade brown leather shoes with purple silk laces.
Sophie, Mae and I Wish You a Happy Easter!
“This would be a good hiding place for the chocolate eggs!”“I wonder where Sophie hid those eggs???”
I have long dreamed of finding a late 18th century doll to live here with us in our 224 year old home. Last year, more or less by accident, I happened across a c.1790 English Wooden doll for sale on Mary Ann Spinelli’s website. I had an immediate crush on her! She was just what I was looking for, a plain everyday English wooden that could have been found in a New England farmhouse such as ours. Mary Ann is gracious enough to offer lay-away, so I have been paying her off over the intervening months since I first saw her photo.* Today I finally got to meet her in person!
anticipation…I can’t wait!Tah-Dah!Blue glass eyes!Sophronia’s clothing was replaced in the mid-19th century. She is currently wearing a dress that is made very much like those I make for my Izannahs. The dress is made from a thin, gauzy cotton with a Prussian blue print. It fastens with a glass button and brass hook.Underneath it all!Amazingly after more than two centuries, Sophronia still has all of her fingers!
When my life calms down a bit, after I host a meeting of my doll club in May and return from selling at the UFDC convention in July, I’m really looking forward to pulling out my tiny stash of 18th century fabrics and sewing a new wardrobe for my English wooden doll. I’ve decided to name her Sophronia after Sophronia Guild Ferris the first woman known to live in our house. (You can read more about the original Sophronia and the history of our house here.)
This doll belongs to my friend Rainie Crawford. The doll was passed down through a New Milford, Connecticut family. See how she compares with my doll.Another view of Rainie’s doll.Still lovely after all this time ❤
Today the dolls and I have had to bid farewell to Cindy’s doll. The girls were all sad to see her go, especially her older sister Isabeau…
” Did you remember to pack everything? Have you got your red dress… and both of your shoes?”“Is this box comfy enough? It’s going to be a long trip!”“What do you suppose it’s like in Minnesota?” “I’ve heard that it gets very cold there, so promise me you will wrap up well & keep warm.”“I’m going to miss you!” “Me too!” “Promise you’ll write?” “Everyday, I promise!”“I love you!”
Even though Isabeau found it hard to say good-bye she knows in her heart that her younger sister is going to a good home where she will be loved, especially after I let her read the letter that I just received.
“Dear Paula,
The best surprises are those that unfold gradually. The process of making “Cindy’s Doll” has been all I imagined and hoped for when I first called you last November. Once I’d set things in motion I watched with much satisfaction as Cindy studied her choices, showed them to (our daughters) and me, and after due consideration, settled on one or another.
When “Cindy’s Doll” is actually here in hand she will become part of a loving family. I will be sure to let you know when Cindy has chosen her name. We’ve had several discussions of names, but need to hold her and know her to find out which name is really hers.
To you I extend my compliments on your skill and creativity. To take an almost forgotten art and bring it back to life as you have, mainly by just “figuring it out” with hand and eye and inner motivation is a gift, and I thank you for sharing it with us.
We are so excited to meet our doll, to have her join our family, to give her a name, and to cherish her.” …
What more could a loving big sister or a doll maker ask for… ❤ ❤ ❤
I’m happy to say that Cindy’s doll is finished! I had a couple of little issues to over come yesterday, like finding out that I did not have enough black silk ribbon to lace both of her shoes – then having the black dye I was warming up explode all over the inside of my microwave!!!, & unexpected rain yesterday afternoon and this morning which made it impossible to take more photos. Such is the life of a doll maker 🙂
For the past few months I’ve been working on an excessively romantic project. From time to time I receive very sweet calls from husbands who want to do something special for their wives. Before Christmas I was contacted by a very thoughtful gentleman in the midwest who wanted to give his wife a custom made doll. He wanted her to be able choose exactly how she wanted the doll to look, so with a little plotting and planning we decided that he should present her with a gift certificate for Christmas that would allow her to plan a special reproduction Izannah Walker doll. Our original scheme called for the doll to be ready in February in time for his wife’s birthday, but during the planning stages after the New Year, Cindy the recipient of our joint endeavor, told me that there was no hurry. So she and I took our time sorting out all of the details for her doll and coming up with a very complete design plan. I loved that fact that this doll has been a family affair, with Cindy’s daughters helping her choose the fabrics and styles for her doll’s dresses.
This doll is an excellent example of what my dolls look like when you request that they look “new”.
This project is now coming to a close, as I finish the last touches on Cindy’s Christmas doll. Tomorrow I will be sewing yards of black velvet ribbons onto her second dress and fashioning her leather shoes. Cindy asked that I make her doll look almost new, with just a few hints of age, as the doll will have years ahead of her to age gracefully on her own.
I think that Cindy an her daughters choose a wonderful dress style for this doll. The split, lace trimmed sleeves look very striking made from this red striped fabric.
It was such a nice afternoon that I couldn’t resist taking a few photos of Cindy’s doll to remember her by, since she will soon be leaving here on her journey to her new forever home…
The bright, late afternoon sunlight was behaving quite rambunctiously while I was taking these photos, so this young lady’s sister loaned her a bonnet to protect her fair complexion.
The girls and I are getting ready to take to the road on a trek to the UFDC convention in San Antonio.
There are busy times ahead! I have been invited to exhibit at the Doll Artist’s Showcase, on July 19th, at the United Federation of Doll Clubs convention in San Antonio, TX. The Doll Artist’s Showcase is new to the convention this year and is being held in the sales rooms during Public Day. Wild days and nights are in my future for the next few months as I prepare for the convention. I’ll be taking along as many dolls as I can make between now and then, plus I’ll have fabric sample books with me and I’ll be taking orders for custom made dolls.
Both of the dolls I’ve been working on from my latest mold are finished and ready to find new homes. This is a long post with many photos, so scroll down to see them all. You can enlarge any of the photographs by clicking on them. If you are interested in buying either doll they are both posted for sale on my website Paula Walton’s A Sweet Remembrance – Plain & Fancy Hand Wrought Goods, or you may email me at paula@asweetremembrance.com or telephone 860-355-5709.
Isa #1 has been SOLD. Thank you so much for coming to see her.
Isane 2 has been SOLD.
The original Isane, or Isa for short. The name Isane has a German origin and means “strong willed”. I bought this antique Izannah Walker doll from Edyth O’Neil, a charming strong willed woman, who lives in an area of Texas that was settled by German immigrants, so the name just seemed to fit her. Edyth called this doll Patience, but that was the name of one of our family cats, so a rechristening was in order.
ISA #1 – SOLDSOLD
The paint on this doll’s face has the aged, worn look that you will sometimes see on the paint of certain papier-mache, wooden and cloth dolls. The base skin paint is intact and smooth, but the the paint on the lips, cheeks and hair has rubbed away from a lifetime of play, and dust and dirt have collected in the depressions and corners of her features. No doubt left over from her adventurous days of making mud pies. I was trying for a very refined look of age on this doll. I know for certain that the original Isa had very little paint remaining on her face before one of her recent owners covered her with brand new paint (prior to when Edyth – then I bought her) . I wanted to acknowledge her worn and rubbed off paint. I also decided to use the Izannah owned by the Worthington Historical Society* as my inspiration for what her paint could have looked like when it was intact. When I combined those two themes, this is what I got!
SOLD
SOLD
NOW SOLD -Isa #1 is wearing a plum and white print dress made from antique cotton. The dress has full gathered sleeves, and double, graduated, growth tucks. It fastens in the back with a drawstring at the neck and an antique plum colored milk glass button at the waist. Her underwear consists of matching split pantalettes, a long chemise and a petticoat, all with scalloped hems. The tops of her black painted boots are also scalloped. Tiny delicate tatting edges the neckline and sleeves of her chemise. To protect her fair complexion from the sun, while she is picking strawberries in the garden, Isa is wearing a sunbonnet made from a piece of antique plum colored fabric that has never been washed. I decided to not to clean the fabric so that it would retain the original sizing, which adds stiffness to the bonnet. Her hair is painted in ringlets, two in front of each ear and five along the back of her hairline. SOLD
SOLD
SOLD
SOLD
Isa #1 looks ever so much nicer in person. Her delicate coloring and very old looking paint do not show up all that well in photographs. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about her. She is $1350.00, which includes her bonnet and free, fully insured, postage within the United States. She may be placed on lay-away, or she is ready for immediate shipment. ISA #1 HAS FOUND A WONDERFUL NEW HOME. IF YOU WOULD LIKE A SIMILAR DOLL, YOU MAY PLACE AN ORDER FOR ONE. ALL ANTIQUE FABRICS ARE ONE OF A KIND.
ISA # 2 SOLD
SOLD Isane #2 is a very sweet girl with the look of a younger child. Izannah Walker’s dolls were usually painted with very pale, almost white, skin or with a warmer flesh colored paint. I decided to paint this doll with the darker coloring. I left tiny, subtle bits of her stockinette visible on her face. The weave of the stockinette can only be seen upon close inspection and I love the way it looks. Being able to see the weave of the fabric reinforces the fact that this is an all cloth doll and it is one of the details I love seeing on some of Izannah Walker’s original dolls. You will see areas of worn and rubbed paint, as well as subtle variations in the paint color that denote places where the oil from tiny hands would have touched her during her imaginary past life. This version of Isa has short wispy hair around her face, with a close cropped fringe at the nape of her neck.
She is dressed in a wonderful thin olive brown and Prussian blue cotton print dress. The dress has one growth tuck in the skirt, and two tucks in its sort frilled sleeves. Antique cotton tape forms a drawstring at the neck of the dress and the waist is closed with a mid-19th century, blue painted, milk glass button. Her chemise and pantalettes are made from antique lace trimmed linen and her petticoat was fashioned from an unworn baby’s flannel petticoat with embroidered, scalloped edges. I had been looking through scores of images of antique Izannah Walker dolls prior to painting Isa #2 and some of those photographs showed dolls wearing blue shoes. I took a bit of license and used the inspiration of those blue leather shoes when choosing the color for Isa’s painted boots! Isa #2’s bonnet is made from a wonderful antique brown and white print cotton fabric. I’m making the bonnet optional on this doll because I have many other brown dress fabrics that it would also look great with. Around her wrist is a tiny chain that keeps her sewing scissors near, so that she can always find them when she needs to snip a thread. She is priced at $1250.00 and you may add the bonnet for an extra $100.00. Free, insured shipping to any U.S. address is included and of course she can be placed on lay-away if you need to. Feel free to contact me with any questions you have about this doll. You may purchase her by calling 860-355-5709, emailing paula@asweetremembrance.com; or fastest and easiest of all, by clicking here and going through the automatic checkout on my website.
Isa #2 is really much better looking in the flesh… or should that be cloth??? 🙂
A Few Additional Notes
Before anyone asks again, no I don’t have a bonnet pattern for sale. 🙂 I cut both of these bonnets free hand. The plum colored bonnet comes purely from my imagination, aided by years of collecting antique bonnets and looking at even more examples in photos, at antique shows and shops, and in museum exhibits. The brown bonnet is based on a tiny antique doll’s bonnet that I purchased last year. When making bonnets I take into account the amount of antique fabric I have available, then hold the material up to the doll and start snipping away with my scissors!
Why all of the petticoat scallops? It’s been cold and snowy here in Connecticut, which has made me long for red flannel petticoats. A week or two ago I brought out my favorite example, which has a scalloped flounce around the bottom, and that along with the contents of my antique white linens bin inspired the scallops on the girl’s underthings.
*If you would like to read more about the exquisite Izannah Walker doll in the collection of the Worthington Historical Society I suggest you peruse the article about the museum in the February 2013 issue of Antique Doll Collector magazine.
*** a late night addition to this post. It’s 11:00 p.m. and I’m quitting for today. One doll is finished and the other one is waiting for her arms to dry. Last photo of the night, with more to follow in the daylight!
Here is a quick glimpse of two dolls that I have been working on for the past month. I’m so pleased with the way they are turning out that I just had to share a few photos with you before I go out to my studio for the day. Both of them are made from a mold of the Izannah Walker doll I bought in November.
The original Izannah is on the right. She was recently repainted by a previous owner – so this is not her original paint. My reproduction is on the left.Another view of the girls as they sat with me this morning over tea.The second doll I’m working on from the same mold.One last photo…
Now back to work so that I can get these girls completed!
Please feel free to contact me if you would like more information about either of these dolls. paula@asweetremembrance.com or 860-355-5709
Izannah Walker Journal 