It's Not All Izannah Walker


Northdixie Designs was born out of a chance lot I bought at auction last year. It was a lot of dolls in a basket at an antiques auction in Eddington, Maine. At the time I was purchasing collectibles and other old stuff at auction and reselling on Ebay as a kind of money-making (?) hobby.

Well, those vintage dolls made me very little money at all, but they did open up for me the whole world of folk art doll-making. I saw some charming creations being made by Ebay artists in the primitive doll section. I had gone to art college for two years and had a lot of experience sewing slipcovers and such, and decided to try my hand at making primitive dolls and other folk art. It has been such fun! I've loved applying some of the sewing techniques I learned in other venues to dollmaking. And it has been so fun to use the painting and drawing techniques I learned back in art school for creating unique creations. It's definitely been a learning process!

The picture above is one of the first dolls I made and sold on Ebay which I thought expressed something uniquely me. I was making it as someone special to me was in the last weeks of his 100 year old life. I wanted to participate in a process that helped me internalize the kind of person he was -- someone who brought light and life to others. He is such an example to me, because he didn't have an easy life, and spent a good portion of it caring for ill family members, but always, always, he was able to look for the bright side of a situation. He dealt with realities in life, but chose to look at the possible positive outcomes of life. Granddad, I miss you!

In some ways I wish I had saved that doll - it was one of my first creations that had a lot of myself in it, as well as the person I was thinking about. I've found that my best creations are ones that somehow express my hopes, dreams or thankfulness for what God has given me.

1 comment:

saffron said...

I really love this doll. The colors, face, crown and especially the story. Very nice!


"Do not let what you cannot do
keep you from doing what you can do."

John Wooden