This very large papier-mache doll can wear children’s size clothing.
Today I have been rendering a bit of loving assistance to this damaged, but still beautiful papier-mache doll. I’ve been asked by her owner to stabilize her condition, more than restore her. I have glued the very large crack in her head and started repairing the holes in the back of her head. Her antique underclothing is currently soaking in a solution of Orvis and distilled water. The idea here is to conserve the doll with a very light touch. I’m doing just enough to keep her together and stop her from deteriorating further, while allowing the story of her life and enchanting time worn appearance to shine.
This doll has a very nice hand sewn body, with magnificent fingers and hands!
Come back to visit next week to see how she looks when I’m finished working on her…
I love these little pink shoes with their scalloped edges ❤
3/11/15 2nd update – both heads are now sold. Thank you! The sun is being much more cooperative today and providing nice soft light, just perfect for taking photos! Photos have been something of a challenge for me lately, due to the 2+ feet of snow cover outside my door. Not only has it made it impossible to take outdoor photos, but I can’t even open the barn door that I would need to walk through to get to all of my lighting equipment! Yes, I do actually own professional photography gear 🙂 , even if my photos don’t look like I do! – LOL
Same information as yesterday’s post: If you are interested in purchasing this head please email me at paula@asweetremembrance.com or call me at 860-355-5709 during east coast business hours. The head sells for $375.00 with the full kit or $340.00 if you already own one of my Izannah kits or classes.
SOLD Here is my painted composition head #1 sitting next to the real Isane. This composition head was formed in a mold that I made directly from Isane, who is an authentic antique Izannah Walker doll in my personal collection.SOLD I am excessively fond of the way this head turned out! I debated long and hard about whether or not I should paint her and if I did, if I should offer her for sale, since technically she is not a perfect reproduction of the original Izannah Walker doll I made her mold from. I’m extremely glad that I decided that a little variety is sometimes a very good thing. To enhance the baby like look of her face, I chose a rather uncommon Izannah hair style for her. The Carmel Doll Shop once had a magnificent antique Izannah Walker doll with hair painted similarly. If you frequent their website, you may remember her. She was dressed in an amazing off white dress with a great deal of white braid work trim and she wore a necklace of white beads. This hair style has very short wispy center parted bangs, with little fringes of hair at the temples brushed towards the face and six ringlets at the back of the head. Six is a very unusual number of long curls for an Izannah Walker doll, it is much more common to see five or seven. The large Izannah that I reproduce has nine.SOLD Here is another view of Isane and my painted composition head #1. The oil paint does look a bit different on the composition than it does on the pressed cloth heads, but the composition is still a nice alternative if you want to use my kit to make your own Izzy, rather than buying one of my more authentic all cloth reproduction Izannah Walker dolls.
Composition head #2 is painted with the same hair style as the original Isane. Isane is the antique Izannah Walker doll that I used to make the molds for the composition heads I sell with my Izannah Kits. She lives her with me and all of her sisters that make up my collection of original Izannah Walker dolls. SOLD
Another view of Isane and her young descendant. You may purchase this painted composition head on eBay, or order one painted especially for you, with any hair style you prefer, by contacting me directly. SOLD
If you would like to see more photos of these two composition heads, simply scroll down the page to the previous post.
SOLD – For use with my Izannah Walker Doll Making Kits. The painted heads are an option that is available with the kits, if you don’t feel confident enough to paint the head yourself. Patterns and instructions are included in the kit, along with the composition head. If you have already purchased one of my kits or are a member of my Izannah Walker doll making class, you may purchase the head separately to use with the patterns and instructions that you already own….
HEAD #1 SOLD
SOLD This little girl was a very happy accident. When her head came out of the mold her face tilted forward. At first I was horrified because she had almost no neck!!! After I got over the shock, I noticed how sweet and baby like this made her face look. ❤
I am excessively fond of the way this head turned out! I debated long and hard about whether or not I should paint her and if I did, if I should offer her for sale, since technically she is not a perfect reproduction of the original Izannah Walker doll I made her mold from. I’m extremely glad that I decided that a little variety is sometimes a very good thing.
To enhance the baby like look of her face, I chose a rather uncommon Izannah hair style for her. The Carmel Doll Shop once had a magnificent antique Izannah Walker doll with hair painted similarly. If you frequent their website, you may remember her. She was dressed in an amazing off white dress with a great deal of white braid work trim and she wore a necklace of white beads. This hair style has very short wispy center parted bangs, with little fringes of hair at the temples brushed towards the face and six ringlets at the back of the head. Six is a very unusual number of long curls for an Izannah Walker doll, it is much more common to see five or seven. The large Izannah that I reproduce has nine.
SOLD – THANK YOU FOR LOOKING If you are interested in purchasing this head please email me at paula@asweetremembrance.com or call me at 860-355-5709 during east coast business hours. The head sells for $375.00 with the full kit or $340.00 if you already own one of my Izannah kits or classes.
Here are three painted composition heads (all for use with my Izannah Walker Doll Making Kit). Notice the difference between the two in the back, compared o the younger more baby like features of head #1, in the foreground.Another photograph showing the difference between the two in the back, compared to the younger more baby like features of head #1, in the foreground.
I currently have this head available for sale on eBay. She is painted like Isane, my antique Izannah Walker doll that I made the mold from for this head. SOLD
I’d like to introduce you all to Melissa’s doll. She is a wonderful example of one of my custom ordered reproduction Izannah Walker dolls. Melissa requested a doll with a very thin neck and downward tilted head, that had an appearance reminiscent of one of her favorite antique Izannah Walker dolls (a doll that was previously part of the Popp collection and later owned by R. John Wright). She asked me to give her doll a pale complexion, but one without the grey tint that many antique Izannahs have. Melissa also wanted a paint surface that showed some moderate wear and age, but preferred her doll to have a “perfect” nose. She chose the antique blue paisley print dress fabric from my fabric swatch book and found a photograph of a dress she loved in a museum collection for me to use as a reference.
Because the dress Melissa wanted for her doll was of a slightly earlier style than those worn by most Izannah Walker dolls, the two of us created our own imagined history for the doll and her dress. We decided that the grandmother, of the little girl who first owned this doll, sewed a dress for the doll just like the dresses that she had made for her own daughter. As I sewed on this dress I daydreamed of a grandmother taking apart a worn out dress that she has made many years before, when her daughter was a young girl. She set aside all of the best pieces of fabric, then carefully cut them out in a miniature version of the original dress. Then as she sat sewing all the pieces together, she told her granddaughter stories of how much the little girl’s mother had loved the dress and the things she did when she was a child.
I’d like to thank Melissa for sharing her vision of her dream Izannah with me, and giving me the opportunity to bring it to life. I also have to thank her for having the patience of at least two saints, and not minding how long it took me to make this doll! ❤
My friend Edyth O’Neil, a long time doll collector, antique dealer, artist, and rug hooker extraordinaire, has a new doll blog, Dolls for My Red Cape. She currently has some wonderful posts up about her collection of early papier-mache dolls, antique quilts, and fabulous mid-19th century doll and baby clothing. I hope you will enjoy reading about Edyth’s dolls as much as I do!
There is no better way to spend an afternoon than playing dolls with your friends! This is a photo of Edyth and Peggy along with my dolls and Peggy’s after just such an afternoon. ❤
Just a little something pretty to dream about as winter storms bring mountains of snowflakes swirling down. Photos of a beautiful antique Moravian cloth doll to muse over next to a roaring fire…
This doll is part of the New Milford Historical Society Museum collection.
Ismay and Zanna are counting how many hours are left until my Special Christmas Sale ends…. “If the sale ends at midnight on New Year’s Eve and it’s after 5:00 now…” “How many hours is that Zanna?”
If your New Year’s resolution is to learn something new, and you were thinking of ordering one of my classes by mail, my new Izannah Doll Kit, or my Izannah doll clothes pattern they are only on sale for the next 53 hours, until midnight December 31st, 2014. To make my new kits extra special for the Christmas sale, your Kit order will include one tiny cut and stitch Isane panel so that you can make your doll a little Izzy of her own. Plus, you receive a coupon for 10 percent off any of my classes by mail or a finished reproduction Izannah Walker doll, through June 30, 2015. Visit my website A Sweet Remembrance to shop the sale.
Also don’t forget …
!!!CONTEST!!!
I’ve thought up lots of ways to use my new printed fabric doll panels, but I bet you can dream up even more great ideas of your own! Just for fun, I’m having a contest to see who can design and make the best project using my printed doll panels. The rules are simple. Buy a doll panel, make it into something wonderful, take a photo and email it to me – paula@asweetremembrance.com – before January 31st, 2015. I’ll post all of the photos on my blog, then invite readers to vote for their favorite. The winner will receive one panel each of my complete collection of tiny cut out and stitch fabric dolls, which is a prize worth $100. Good Luck!!!
The girls spent this morning helping out around my office. We are busy getting all of the classes people have ordered during my Christmas Sale made and ready to ship.
Isane and Isabeau are manning the phone and answering questions… “Yes, we do ship your classes for free if you live in the U.S.”
“Zanna, when I count to three, we both jump on the hole punch at the same time.” “One, two…”
“Izzybelle, make sure you have the holes lined up with the rings.” “I will Ismay. Do you think someone in the class will make a doll that looks like me?”
“Let’s take a break.” “We really got a lot done this morning.” “I’m sure we were a big help!”
“Wasn’t it nice of Mary, Anna and Pauline to bake us a Christmas treat?” “Anna and Pauline are such good cooks.”
Izannah Walker Journal 