I am so pleased to have permission to do a feature on Kathy Patterson of Babes From The Woods blog who resides in Ontario, Canada. Kathy is well known for her German Santa Candy Containers that she has created for the past 19 years.
She began adding beautiful reproduction dolls to her repertoire and has been making these gorgeous Queen Anne wooden dolls since 2008 and also started creating Izannah Walker-type dolls. She had been wanting to try her hand at creating Izannah's and after having them "in the works" for some time she felt she had to just challenge herself to
do them. I for one am thrilled. I have some photos to share with you from her blog post yesterday and from the past few months . I was absolutely blown away by these pictures of these dolls, you will drool all over you keyboard if you love these dolls as I do, and when you see the remarkable detail that went into these dolls you will have to look at them again and again. This little lady's name is "Laurel" and she's completely hand carved and fully jointed and she stands 15 inches tall. Her clothing right down to her little slippers on her dainty feet has been made from authentic 18th century silks. Her underclothes are made from vintage fabric as well. What I wouldn't give to own one of these beauties. It looks just like originals I have seen. Join me in this lovely pictorial:
Did you see the little "pocket" that 18th century ladies tied under their skirts? Hand embroidered and such authentic detail. She is faithfully reproduced in every way. The colors are just scrumptious. I just can't say enough about this beauty. Words just don't do Kathy's work full justice.
Now for her reproduction Izannah Walker dolls. They literally look like they just came from a trunk in an attic perfectly preserved through the centuries from a big old colonial house somewhere. You'll see what I mean:
Here's how her Izzies start, and as all doll makers know the little sweethearts "speak" to us after their features are set and then we know how to dress them and in what colors.
One of her Izzies "told her" she is partial to browns.However, Kathy will do their dresses in your choice of colors.
This is an earlier doll Kathy made back in May of this year. It's a reproduction
1680 William Higgs style doll. She is hand carved and and has straight wooden legs jointed at her hips. Her upper arms are made of linen. Her undergarments and dress are both simple but as with all of her dolls Kathy uses early vintage fabrics:
The only disappointment in this story is that only one of Kathy's Izannah dolls are available as of this posting. But you can call or email her anytime to place an order and to find out which dolls she has available for sale. The information is on her blog under her profile.
For those of us that haven't mastered the art of making English Woodens and Izannah Walkers we are truly fortunate to have master doll makers like Kathy Patterson to keep this very important part of history continuing on for us and furture generations to enjoy for centuries to come.
I encourage you to visit Kathy's blog Babes From The Woods
by clicking
Babes From The Woods HERE to view all of her many previous works by clicking on the posts in her Archives. There are many more dolls that I could not post here.
Thank you for taking this "journey back in time" with me, Primmies.
Susan
