I can't believe this is September already! That is the only bad thing about getting older, I've found--the years just fly by with frightening speed. But, I guess doing something you love makes the time go quickly, but very pleasantly!
I wanted to let you know I have added some dolls for sale on my Etsy page. Check them out; just go to my website, www.ladywithapast.com, and then click on the "Shop" button; it will take you directly to my Etsy shop. As I've said before, I will take custom orders. Also, I am advertising in Antique Doll Collector magazine in their "Emporium" section.
The three little gals on the picture above are all sold, but I wanted to show them to you. All three dolls have cloth bodies, and their heads and shoulder plates are sculpted of paper clay, then oil painted. The doll on the left is about 12" tall, and she has molded hair. The little 10"Izannah-type in the center has a rather whimsical expression, and the larger 14' Izannah- type on the right has a downright pouty look! Perhaps she is upset to be sharing the spotlight. Her dress was fashioned of two antique brown print fabrics from the 1860's.
The following doll started off with a different outfit, but since it is a ladies prerogative to change her mind, we decided this was a better look for her!
Her story is based on a true one from the Civil War era. She represents Lizzie Scott, carrying her little doll Nina. Lizzie is sold, and has gone to a wonderful new home in Massachusetts! During the war, many ladies tried to smuggle medicines, food, etc. to the troops by hiding things in their hair, or sewn inside their voluminous hoop skirts. Perhaps Lizzie was the youngest smuggler on record. Her uncle was a Major General in the Confederacy, and Lizzie traveled with his wife, her aunt, to Tennessee to visit him. Totally unknown to her, the doll she was carrying had a hollow head, and it had been filled with quinine, perhaps by her aunt, to take to the Confederate troops under her husband's command. They passed through the Union checkpoints with no problem. What soldier would ever suspect a young girl with her beloved doll? The real Nina, along with another paper mache doll, are on display in the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia.
"LIZZIE SCOTT AND NINA"
