This doll has been sold, thank you for stopping by to see her. Here she is! I just finished her this afternoon. While making this doll I became quite enamored with an Izannah Walker that was very briefly for sale on eBay. This same doll first came to my attention when it was up for auction at the Sandwich Auction House in April. It is similar to an Izannah Walker doll pictured in a daguerrotype owned by Elizabeth Isenburg who writes the Steamboat Arabia blog. I loved the scalloped waves around her face accompanied by two long curls over each of her ears. I really wanted to paint that hair!
More of a “Rose Red” than a “Lady in Red” or a “Red Hot Momma” she has a second skin made from vintage red polished/glazed cotton.She has a long chemise made from fine antique linen.
Her second dress is made from antique red and blue paisley fabric.
Rose Red has bare feet. She comes with a chemise, pantalettes, petticoat, red and cream print dress and second dress made from red and blue paisley. $1450.00 If you would like to add her to your doll family, please visit my website where she can be purchased via my secure automatic check out. Email or call me with questions (paula@asweetremembrance.com, 850-355-5709) or to arrange lay away payments. You can add socks and hand made shoes, sheer white cotton undersleeves, a bonnet, a necklace, or additional dresses to her wardrobe. Please inquire for the cost of any of these custom made accessories.
I have always loved antique dolls that have acquired a myriad collection of possessions throughout their long lives. I have endeavored to give True Blue a good start on a hope chest of her own, one that can be added to for generations to come. She is true blue through and through with a blue second skin made from antique glazed cotton.
Her undergarments consist of a long lace trimmed chemise, pantalettes, and two petticoats trimmed in blue crocheted lace and tatting. In her antique trunk she has four hand made dresses, a tiny antique tintype photograph, a chatelaine to keep all of her sewing essentials close by, a vintage silk flag to wave at the 4th of July parade and a miniature feather tree to help her celebrate Christmas. She also owns two necklaces to wear on Sundays and to parties, as well as two aprons to keep her clean while doing everyday chores. Rounding out her possessions are a signed copy of August 2012 Early American Life and an Early American Life Craftsman Directory recognition tag. Her adoption fee is $2900.
All of her dresses are made from antique fabrics. The first is a wonderful indigo print cotton, with a banded neckline and sleeves and two growth tucks in the skirt. The second is a lively red and blue paisley print, with short straight sleeves, a deep hem and two growth tucks.
Her third dress is a very early Prussian blue and brown cotton paisley that almost, but one quite as sheer as gauze. It has tucked and gathered sleeves and a banded neckline. The fourth dress is True Blue’s wardrobe is a very sheer woven cotton fabric, that is reminiscent of cheese cloth in its open weave, with woven white and blue “dots”. It has a very full bodice, skirt and sleeves, with bands of cotton tape at the sleeves, neckline and waistband.
All of True’s possessions fit neatly into to her fabric covered trunk. The trunk itself is not perfect. It shows signs of having been lovingly played with over the years. I think that it fits very well with the amount of “aging” that True exhibits. I came across this trunk in Brimfield in May. At the time I bought it, the trunk was lined with a modern “country” print wallpaper. I have swapped out the lining for some much older vintage wallpaper that I just happened to have in my stash.
If you’d like to add more items, such as additional underwear, dresses, bonnets, etc. I would be happy to make them for her. Just inquire at paula@asweetremembrance.com for prices.
“True Blue” my reproduction Izannah Walker doll pictured in the August 2012 issue of Early American Life magazine. She is shown here with her antique trunk, one of her three extra dresses, her miniature antique tintype photograph, signed copy of the magazine and her Early American Life tag.
I’m extremely honored to have been juried into Early American Life’s 2012 Directory of Traditional American Craftsmen. This is the 25th and 26th time I have been chosen for the Directory. This year in the categories of Toys and Dolls and Clothing or Accessories.
I know not everyone is familiar with Early American Life and their Directory, so here is a copy of the official press release. The magazine editors wrote such an elegant and informative description of the Directory, there is no way I could explain it better.
National Magazine Honors Area Craftsperson
June 2012 – Paula Walton of New Milford, CT won the highest award as a traditional artisan in this year’s Directory of Traditional American Crafts, and her work is showcased in the 2012 August issue of Early American Life magazine. She ranks top in her field, according to a panel of national experts convened by the magazine. The experts – curators from such prestigious institutions as the American Folk Art Museum, Frontier Culture Museum, George Washington’s Mount Vernon, Hancock Shaker Village and Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, the National Trust, Old Sturbridge Village, Southern Highland Craft Guild, Strawberry Banke Museum, and Winterthur Museum as well as antique dealers, independent scholars, and professional instructors – selected the top craftspeople working with traditional tools and techniques for the magazine’s 27th annual Directory of Traditional American Crafts. Walton’s handcraft showed mastery of the art form, heritage techniques, and workmanship, according to the judges.
The Directory of Traditional American Crafts is a special listing that appears in the August 2012 issue of Early American Life, a national magazine focusing on architecture, decorative arts, period style, and social history from colonial times through the mid-19th century. The Directory has been used for nearly three decades by curators at living history museums, owners of traditional homes, and motion picture producers to find artisans to make period-appropriate furnishings and accessories for displays, collections, and use.
“The judges look for authentic design and workmanship, whether the piece is a faithful reproduction or the artisan’s interpretation of period style,” said Tess Rosch, publisher of Early American Life. “Scholarship, as well as use of period tools and techniques, is particularly valued in this competition.”
One goal of the Directory is to help preserve traditional handcrafts, part of our culture that is rapidly being lost in the digital age. Many of these skills were passed down from master to apprentice for hundreds of years, but now few new people choose to learn and master them. “If our traditional arts are lost, we have forgotten a part of who we are as Americans,” Rosch said.
The August 2012 issue of Early American Life, on newsstands June 19th, lists all artisans selected for the Directory as well as contact information for those wanting to own their work. The Directory layout features lush color photos of many of these artworks photographed at Renfrew Museum and Park in Waynesboro, Pennslvania.
“The Directory is a source for collectors and historic museums eager to own fine handcrafted, period-accurate objects and also a means of supporting those who perpetuate the art forms that are such and important part of our nation’s heritage.” Rocsh said. To learn more about Early American Life, for subscription information, or to purchase a copy, visit www.EarlyAmericanLife.com.
Early American Life is a bimonthly magazine with a circulation of 90,000. The magazine was founded in 1970 and is owned by Firelands Media Group LLC, Shaker Heights, Ohio.
A Mad Scramble
I was thrilled when EAL asked if I could send one of my dolls to Pennsylvania to be photographed. Unfortunately, I did not have any unsold dolls available when they asked. The good news was that I did have several dolls that I was working on at the time, so a wild and intense two weeks of painting and sewing ensued! I finished True Blue, just in time to send her Express Mail to the photo shoot. I love this doll!!! I was sorely tempted to clutch her to my breast and declare her “not for sale”… but I have decided that I could have fun spending extra time with her by creating a trunk full of possessions for her to keep in the antique doll’s trunk I found for her in Brimfield, on my May shopping trip. So True Blue is going to be for sale just as soon as I put the finishing touches on her third and fourth dresses and make her chatelaine. If you are interested in learning more about her before I get her final photos and write up posted on my website, you may email me paula@asweetremembrance.com or call 860-355-5709.
In reading through Early American Life editor Jeanmarie Andrews’ August column, I learned something that I hadn’t known before. Jeanmarie states ” It might seem like we pick our favorites to photograph year after year, but we don’t. Instead we rely on antique dealers and collectors, museum curators and directors who know which colors, designs, dimensions, joinery techniques, and finishes harmonize to produce a masterpiece.” The Early American Life Directory has been in existence for 27 years and gone through many changes to reflect the mission of the various publishing companies who have owned the magazine during that time. I’m not quite sure when they changed the method of selecting items for photography, but I will say that it made me even more humbled and thankful that they chose to photograph one of my dolls.
True Blue and a copy of the August 2012 issue of Early American Life that I am putting in her trunk as a remembrance of her journey to Pennsylvania and the time she spent at Renfrew Museum during the EAL photo shoot.
True Blue and her Possessions
I think that I have given True Blue a good start on her hope chest. She is dressed in a chemise, pantalettes, two petticoats and an indigo print dress. In her trunk she has three more dresses, a tiny antique tintype photograph, a chatelaine to keep all of her sewing essentials close by and a flag to wave at the 4th of July parade. She also owns several necklaces to wear on Sundays and to parties, as well as two aprons to keep her clean while doing everyday chores. All of her clothing and keepsakes fit into her antique trunk. Her adoption fee is going to be $2900.
If you’d like to add more items, such as additional underwear, dresses, bonnets, etc. I would be happy to make them for her. Just inquire at paula@asweetremembrance.com for prices.
May You Live in Interesting Times…
I’ll try to get her dresses finished and get her posted for sale sometime next week, but I can’t promise… I’m working around a wedding. One of my sons is getting married on June 30th, so there are only 15 days left on our wedding count down!!! Not a problem unless you happen to be the mother of the groom who is also the head seamstress for the bridal alterations department, the chief baker of the wedding cake, groom’s cake and an entire tower of tiny heart shaped tarts, and art director in charge of wedding decorations 🙂 I also have to figure out how to get the house cleaned before out of town relatives arrive for the wedding and get my drivers license renewed!!! Never a dull moment at our house… but at least there is no time to get bored 🙂
Several months ago when I was working on Anne Marie’s doll, I developed a method of transferring the paint surface from the shoulders of my original antique Izannah Walker dolls to the cloth shoulders of the reproduction dolls that I make. I was really striving to make Anne Marie’s doll blend in with the other dolls in her collection, since she only owns antique dolls and my doll would be her first reproduction.
I’m very pleased with the results that I managed to achieve. I basically wound up doing the equivalent of theatrical make-up, using artist mediums (making me really happy that I’d taken that theatre make-up class in college) 🙂
In these photos you can see one of my antique Izannah Walker dolls on the left, c.1860, and my newly made reproduction doll, c. 2012, on the right. I love old, original paint surfaces! You can probably tell that, right???
I am currently working on three dolls, all of which have more refined, less distressed surfaces. I would say that they will be finished soon, but with one of my sons getting married in 25 days my work schedule is in serious disarray! Especially since I am working feverishly on Paula C.’s custom order doll too…
If you would like me to send you an email to let you know when I have finished dolls available for sale, just ask. I would be happy to add you to my “new dolls” list if you email me at paula@asweetremembrance.com. You can also email me with any questions you may have about my dolls, or if you’d like to discuss having me make a doll to your custom specifications. I love taking a break to “talk” about dolls!
Charlotte’s doll has put on her socks and shoes, packed her bags, and is ready to travel. Because she’ll have a lengthy journey, with a stop in customs, I’ve made a short video for Charlotte to watch while she waits.
If you love Izannahs too, grab a cup of tea and enjoy the show! Be sure to watch for the “coming attractions” feature at the end to see the two other dolls that I’m working on, one of them inspired by a doll that recently sold a the Sandwich Auction House on April 21, 2012 & the doll shown at Steamboat Arabia: A Historian’s Blog, and for more information on my 2012 Izannah Walker Doll Making Retreat.
Recently I have been working on a number of custom order dolls so I haven’t had many new dolls to post for sale. Because I normally work on several dolls at once, during some parts of the construction process, I have two dolls that are partially finished.
I still have one more custom order doll to complete, but if you would like a sneak peek at the two other dolls that are currently coming to life in my studio, just email me 🙂 at paula@asweetremembrance.com .
Charlotte’s doll is almost ready to begin her journey to her new home. She’s just waiting for her pedicure to dry 🙂 It’s raining here , which is glorious for the flowers but not so wonderful for drying varnish! So she currently is resting with her feet up, luxuriating in the cool breeze from a fan.
How are you spending the day? I am making the most of this wondrous extra day to make dolls. Well truly, it’s not that I don’t spend most days making dolls… but today I am trying to let doll making reign and allowing other less important things wait for tomorrow.
It’s the perfect day to sew and create. There are snowflakes sprinkling down outside the windows and I am snug inside with the smell of woodsmoke and yeast dough in the air.
I’m in the midst of making dolls for Charlotte, Anne Marie and Paula (another Paula – not me). Lovingly planned and long desired dolls for three very special women. Quite an exciting project for a Leap Year’s Day!
I would greatly enjoy helping you plan a custom made doll. If you would like to chat please call me at 860-355-5709 or email paula@asweetremembrance.com. There is no additional charge for custom orders, although you do need to make a deposit when you place the order. After making a deposit you may either pay the balance when the doll is completed, or you may choose to make lay-away payments.
Still no electricity or heat in the studio, so I'm working in the house until better weather returns...
Farewell post 🙂 This is my recent most favorite project. I made the reproduction all cloth Izannah Walker doll and then added her image to this altered antique photograph ♥
Please meet my newest Izannah reproduction. I just put the finishing touches on her this afternoon. Her clothing and accessories were inspired by the little girl in the photo above. THIS DOLL IS NOW SOLD. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR COMING BY TO MEET HER.
I’m so glad that you stopped in for a visit. I always love company, so sit down, get comfy and stay to play dolls 🙂 I hope you enjoy the video! I made it especially for you.
If you are fond of dolls that have obviously led a full life and been well loved, then you will appreciate the finish and appearance of this doll. She has two curls in front of each ear and seven more ringlets along the nape of her neck. Her clothing consists of a cotton chemise & pantalettes, an embroidered flannel petticoat, a linen petticoat, and a dress made of brown madder dyed cotton. All of the fabrics, lace and buttons are antique. She has scallop topped painted boots and a real coral necklace.
To purchase her please visit my website, A Sweet Remembrance. If you would like to see additional photos, or have any questions, contact me at paula@asweetremembrance.com or 860-355-5709.
Izannah Walker Journal 