“Welcome to our Valentine’s Day Tea Party! I’ve poured you a cup of violet tea. I hope you like mace shortbread cookies.”“Yesterday we baked cookies all day long.”“These are my very favorite cookies! They smell so good. Would you write the recipe down for me?”“If I hurry!”“Let’s pose for a family portrait while we are all together, so that we’ll always be able to remember today!”“One more! Everyone smile and say TEA!”… Three little sisters join their elders in wishing you a very happy Valentine’s Day.“Now that we’ve eaten and taken photos, let’s make make Valentine presents.”“My heart is in your hand.”“I’ll keep it on my desk so that I can see it every day and think of you.”“One last cup of tea?”
– Savannah is slaving away on a very special heartfelt letter to Charlotte.
– Ruthie is on her way back home to Brooklyn after visiting for a “spa day” to have the damage caused by the post office repaired. She says that she is ever so much better now and that she feels beautiful again. Plus she loves her new warm flannel petticoat and can’t wait to show it off to Paula C.!
– I’m getting ready to go on a double date with my husband and our very dearest friends Joy and John…
Today is baking day. The air is filled with the scents of mace and nutmeg. My kitchen is humming with activity as we prepare for our Valentine’s Day tea party!
Mace Shortbread
3 cups flour
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
1-1/2 cups butter
1/2 tsp. yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 tsp. mace
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
*Proof yeast in warm water for 5 minutes. Measure flour, powdered sugar, mace and nutmeg into a large mixing bowl. Add slightly softened butter and mix until all of the butter is worked into the dry ingredients. Pour proofed yeast/water into bowl and beat until thoroughly incorporated. Cover bowl with a clean dry cloth and set in a warm place for 1 hour, then chill for 30 minutes.
Roll dough out on a well floured surface to a scant 1/4 inch thickness and cut out with heart shaped cookie cutters. Emboss the cookies by stamping them with new, washed rubber stamps that have been dusted with flour. If desired, lightly brush ground nutmeg into the stamped designs before baking. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 – 10 minutes, until just starting to very lightly brown at the edges. Cool completely before removing from cookie sheets.
Little Izzys add an extra helping of sweetness to these Valentine cookies.
* 18th century shortbread receipts call for the addition of barm (yeast). I followed this tradition when I developed this recipe. I love mace and decided to add it, along with nutmeg to the cookies (both spices are part of the seeds of the nutmeg tree).
You are cordially invited to join us tomorrow for tea. We hope that you can come!
For the past few days I’ve been exchanging notes with Martha Bishop, a dedicated and prolific doll maker who is a member of my Izannah Walker Doll Making Class. We started out talking about one of Martha’s dolls Taloulah, then as is often the case, our conversation moved on to other topics. Martha’s correspondence warmed my heart and has given me a little glow that I’ve been carrying around with me ever since. People like Martha are why I love teaching! With her permission, here are some excerpts from her emails:
... “I wanted to tell you that a lot of people have been trying to figure out how to make doll heads using molds. I’ve told them many times that I came to you to teach me how to do this, and it was one of the most important things I could have done for myself. After taking your class I was able to do what I wanted, without still floundering around with unanswered questions. I have directed them to you and encouraged them to take your classes. I don’t know if anyone takes my advice, but it is what so many people need to do. People are stubborn and waste time and money trying to figure out how to do things themselves without the benefit of a knowledgeable teacher. Just wanted you to know that.
“I saw your article in Prims with your three Izannah dolls. They did a good job, but then the dolls were beautiful. It was very nice. I am looking forward to the Alabama Baby class. I have read it and intend to get started before too long. These dolls appeal to me in a big way too, especially the black ones. I’m sure I will have lots of questions when I start.
… “I think you should put my comment on your sites, wherever you want. I am glad to let people know that there is help for them, and this class you teach is the best and only place I know of to get the training to make an authentic Izannah Walker doll, made the way Izannah made them. I’ve told people that it’s not just about making a molded head, it’s a comprehensive course that includes so much more about making the dolls, that they would need just as much as mold making . Please use this where ever you want to. I am glad to help. It’s all true.
P.S. the cost of the course is nothing compared to all (they) will benefit from it in every way.
Love, Martha”
Thank you Martha, your words are good for my soul!
Today is the perfect day to indulge in one of the forgotten pleasures of winter, snow ice cream! During the night, while we slept, snow continued to fall from the sky, aided on it’s earthward journey by brisk winds that swirled it around tree trunks and blew it into every corner. We awoke this morning to a world thickly frosted in a foot of snow.
Clean unblemished snow is plentifully available every where I look…
Today my kitchen helper and I decided that it was high time to treat ourselves to another batch! Here is the recipe for any of you who would like to join in. If you aren’t living in the land of ice and snow, you can use an ice shaver that is used to make Hawaiian Ice to turn ice cubes into “snow”.
Snow Ice Cream
fresh clean snow
milk
sugar
vanilla or other flavoring*
Put in as much milk as you would like to achieve the consistency that you prefer. The sugar and vanilla are added to suit your taste. Stir well and eat immediately.
* We used a combination of vanilla extract and ground vanilla beans, which is why you see tiny brown flecks in the close-up photos.
Delicious to the very last bite!
Time to move the creativity from the kitchen to the studio…
With winter weather and the promise of snow in the air, I’ve been dreaming of tiny woolen and flannel petticoats. Today I stoked the wood stove in my studio and aired an armful of antique baby woolens and flannels in front of the fire.
Tomorrow , when the snow is swirling past my windows and piling in soft mounds outside my door, I’ll cut, stitch and gather to my heart’s content, making miniature winter wardrobes…
One of the members of my Izannah Walker Reproduction Dollmaking Class was kind enough to share photographs of her 17 inch antique Izannah with the class.
If you are a member of my Izannah Walker class, be sure to drop into the class member site to see all the photos that Mary has shared of Anna, her tiny Izannah Walker doll.
I put the final few stitches in my two latest dolls today! The winter weather has made me nostalgic for dolls reminiscent of rural New England. Sweet dolls that have passed through many hands and generations, saved by mothers and grandmothers… Dolls with stories of their own and history in their faces. Can’t you just tell that both of these dolls have had adventuresome lives? What bedtime stories they could whisper in a child’s ear…
Recently I have talked to several people who would dearly love to have a reproduction Izannah Walker doll to sew for. I have to say that these are wonderful dolls to dress. They are a very nice size and the styles and fabrics of the mid 19th century are a joy to work with.
These dolls are currently undressed. If you are interested in either of them, they are available with the “Dressmaker Option”, which includes the bare doll, my Izannah Walker Doll Clothes Pattern (for a dress, 2 petticoats, a chemise and pantalettes), plus written instructions for a second classic mid-1800’s dress. The price is $925 for the doll with painted boots and $975 for the doll with bare feet.
OR you may choose their dress styles and fabrics and I’ll do all of the sewing. The cost of the fully dressed dolls is $1250 for the doll with painted boots and $1300 for the doll with bare feet.
Neither doll is up for sale on my website yet, if you’d like to buy one please email paula@asweetremembrance.com or call 860-355-5709. I’m going to start making clothing for them this week, so if you would like an undressed doll or would like to pick custom clothing, please don’t delay.
Leather shoes may be ordered for $75. in your choice of colors. Hand knit socks are included with the shoes.
If you have any questions about either of these dolls or would like to see additional photographs of them, just ask. I always love to take a break and talk to you about dolls!
One of the very best things about being a doll maker is that I am constantly surrounded by creative people. Doll people, both collectors and makers, are inventive, resourceful, dedicated, steadfast, and giving. They add humor, friendship, inspiration, awe and an amazing number of grace notes to my life that I would hate to do without.
I’d like to say thank you to two of them, Vicki Leeke and Peggy Flavin. Both of these wonderful women were members of the truly outstanding group of dollmakers who came to my Izannah Retreat in September.
Some Vicki’s lovely flower and leaf leather art, made from kangaroo leather.One of the special pins Vicki made for everyone attending the retreat.Vicki made this set of pins just for me, with photos of True Blue, one of my dolls. One pin for me and the other for True Blue!
Vicki was organized and kind enough to make some very special keepsakes for all of the class members and haul them all the way from Australia! Vicki also makes lovely felt dolls, click here to take a peek at her blog.
Peggy’s adorable flower fairy.
Peggy was sweet enough to send me a wonderful Christmas surprise. She created a magical fairy to grace my Christmas tree, although truthfully I love her so much that I intend to keep her out all year round.
My February copy of Antique Doll Collector magazine arrived in my mailbox today. When I ripped the protective plastic sleeve off I was greeted by the most wonderful sight… the Izannah Walker doll belonging to the Worthington, Ohio Historical Society is this month’s “cover girl”. I consider the beautiful photos of this doll to be the perfect Valentine from Antique Doll Collector to all of it’s readers ❤
I am currently working on three new Izannah reproductions. I’m not sure exactly when I’ll have them ready for sale (because I’m fairly positive that I’ve caught a cold). If you would like a sneak peek, just email or call me and I will send you photos of them in progress…
It feels like I’m always rushing from one deadline to another. I’ve spent the past few weeks working on several new dolls for a photo deadline. I finished this doll today, just in time to rush her photographs down to the post office before they closed, getting them post marked on the very last possible day!
Actually this doll is one I had been planning to have finished before Early American Life came to our house in December. For some reason people always have the mistaken idea that I have shelves full of dolls, spun cotton ornaments and all of the other things that I make to sell. They imagine that coming here is like going to a secret hidden shop full of treasures, set inside the perfect 18th century New England farmstead… This is so far from reality ! 🙂 I normally don’t have any dolls here at all, unless there are one or two on lay-away. In real life most of my dolls get packed up and shipped just as soon as I get the last stitches finished. Plus doll making is messy, so my studio rarely looks tidy and there is a trail of thread and fabric snippits leading from the studio, across the yard, to the house, and into the parlor, where I sit in the evenings to do hand sewing. So part of my grand plan, when Early American Life asked if they could come photograph our house at Christmas, was to create three or four new dolls and a whole tree full of ornaments. None of them actually got finished 🙂 . By the time the retreat was over and I kept up with orders, then cleaned and painted throughout the house like a mad woman, there was no time left! So I postponed making this doll until my latest deadline instead.
Now that she is finished, she will be keeping me company in my kitchen. I created her for myself, incorporating all of my favorite Izannah details. I even added a third ringlet in front of each ear, like the ones on the lovely antique Izannah that was just up for sale on eBay last week. I doubt that I will ever be able to afford the $22,000.00 opening bid on the eBay doll, but I decided that I can treat myself to one of my own dolls.
My c. 1860 antique Izannah Walker doll in red, on the left, and her newly made offspring c. 2013 dressed in dress made of rare “double violet” mid-19th century fabric, on the right.
Tomorrow is going to be another busy day in my studio, as I move on to more orders and deadlines, but for tonight I am relaxing and enjoying my new Izannah, with nothing more taxing to do than decide upon the perfect name for my newest friend…
A steadfast new friend to share in my kitchen adventures!
Izannah Walker Journal 