Anne Walker Mini Part Two

After a bit of delay, I am back at the hobby table. 

When last we met with Miss Ann Walker of Crow Nest, I was contemplating some additions to bring the miniature more in line with actual historical dress of the 1830s. For inspiration, I am basing her on images taken from the BBC series, Gentleman Jack (2019). The show is magnificently scripted by Sally Wainwright and supported by a fantastic cast including Suranne Jones as the titular character and Sophie Rundle as her wife, Ann. The costumes were designed and created by Tom Pye, who based his designs from extant examples, including one that used actual period textiles. Therefore, flawlessly accurate.

This is the costume I am working towards (Walker is on the right):

I approached this part of the project with a bit of trepidation, to be honest, because I am not very experienced at sculpting. And by that I mean that while I can take a piece of soapstone or tagua nut or wood and remove bits to create something, I am really, really bad at taking clay and shoving it around to make it look like anything other than an ashtray made by your typical six-year-old.

But, what the hell, right? The first step to being good at something is to suck at it first. So, off to the races!

The medium in which I am working is a two part epoxy called Milliput. It is essentially two tubes of stuff that, when blended together, eventually harden into a rock hard finish. In the soft stage, you have about two or three hours sculpting time. So I had to work against time as well as a steep learning curve!

The first attempt was...unsuccessful. When I tried to roll the putty out to a suitable thickness, it stuck to the tool. I added water, not knowing that water will degrade the putty and cause it to fall apart. Time to rethink. So I asked the guys down at Hobby Wholesale for guidance, and got some pointers. Turns out, I did everything right except they recommended I used cling film over the putty while rolling it out. And only use water to sculpt details!

Et voila!

My approach was to actually make a shawl laid out flat, then scrunch it up and  drape it on the figure in order to approximate the way the wool would actually fall. And while I had to do it in two parts (there is an invisible join running vertically down the centre), it worked. Unfortunately, the shawl doesn't hide the misshapen hand the way I wanted it to, but I have an idea about how to fix that with a really small rotary tool in the next stage of the project.

Walker figure rear view, showing shawl and bonnet

In addition to the shawl, I also had to add the bonnet/tam she wears and a long braid down her right side. While the bonnet was relatively simple and needed only basic soft folds to suggest volume and gravity, the braid was completely unfamiliar territory. I think it's pretty good for a first try with the clock ticking.

Now I am waiting for the putty to harden completely before I fix that finger, then prime the whole deal prior to getting to work on the paint.

Please follow along as we progress through this project and let me know in the comments if you have any questions!

Ann Walker of Crow Nest Mini

To celebrate Pride, I am doing the companion piece to my previous project.

This is the brave and pretty Ann Walker, who "married" Anne Lister on Easter Sunday in 1834. They took the sacrament together at Holy Trinity Church in York and exchanged rings, thus performing the first gay civil union in British history. Lister and Walker lived together in Lister's ancestral home of Shibden Hall, Halifax (Yorkshire). They also traveled extensively, visiting France, Spain, Germany Scandinavia and Russia. It was in Georgia that Lister caught a fever and died in September, 1840.

Walker returned to England, making arrangements for the transport of her wife's remains over land and sea, a journey of six months and many thousands of miles. Lister was, according to her wishes, interred in Halifax Minster with her father, aunt and uncle.

Lister's Will specified a life interest in Shibden Hall for Ann Walker on the condition that she never marry (a man). Unfortunately, Walker's mental health--a lifelong concern--and a spate of legal issues meant that after only three years, Walker left Shibden Hall and was declared mentally unsound. She spent some time in a private asylum, but later retired to her family's estate, Cliffe Hill. There, she died on February 25, 1854, aged 50, of "congestion of the brain" (probably a series of strokes).

Walker's family did their best to erase her from history, possibly out of embarrassment over her relationship with Anne Lister. And they would have succeeded if Lister's diaries had not been discovered hidden in the walls of Shibden Hall by one of her descendants. In 2020, a volume of Ann Walker's journal was also discovered. In addition, the West Yorkshire Archives hold a number of Walker's letters, underscoring her generousity of spirit, and one memorable phrase:

"Go on bravely."

Today, Ann Walker is the subject of much celebration and scholarly interest. In Search Of Ann Walker leads the way in learning more about the mercurial Lister's quiet partner. Sophie Rundle played Walker with charm and compassion in the BBC series Gentleman Jack.

The Miniature
The figure was designed using the powerful tools at HeroForge and 3D printed by my good friend, Robert Harkema. The photo is of the figure the way it came to me, straight off the printer (although I have cleaned up the edges a bit). Overall, I am pleased with how this turned out, given Hero Forge's limited options for a historical figure. I am not pleased with the misshapen right hand, however.

And these are the garments I want to reproduce:

Here, Sophie Rundle as Ann Walker is seen in a casual walking out outfit typical of a wealthy heiress of the 1830s. It consists of a linen shirt with silk tie worn over her stays, a silk brocade jacket and a woolen plaid skirt. On her head is a woolen cap and she is carrying a silken shawl. She is also wearing kid leather gloves. 

I will need to add the bottom of her cap, her tresses, and build up her gigot sleeves a bit at the shoulders. Adding her shawl will also help hide the right hand. This I will do with Milliput, an epoxy putty that hardens when mixed together and exposed to air. When I am happy with that, I will spray the whole figure with primer to provide "tooth" for the paint, and then I can begin actually painting!

Stay tuned to progress updates. Any questions? Hit me up in the comments section on Facebook!