Gladys Boalt Ornaments from Weed House
Gladys Boalt is an American craftswoman who has been designing and making Christmas ornaments for over thirty years. To date she has designed and produced nearly 600 different ornaments. Her ornaments are made of cloth, fashioned into pieces of soft sculpture by a complex series of steps that blend very high quality needlework with the detailed use of various artistic procedures. Detail is one of the hallmarks of every Boalt ornament, all of which are signed and dated.
Her selection of topics for the designs ahs grown, over time, to include many areas- some traditional to the Christmas holiday season, some historical in nature; others relate to nostalgia, childhood memories, fairy tales, nursery rhymes, even dogs and cats. There are several governing ideas behind her designs. In the area of historical figures, for example, Gladys began with classic, well-known figures: Washington. Lincoln, Jefferson etc. But, in time, this category has expanded to include Betsy Ross, Marie Antoinette, Eleanor Roosevelt, Queen Victoria, Elizabeth I, Josephine, Abigail Adams and others who reflect Gladys Boalt’s interest in the role of women in history.
Another aspect of her ornament design is the gradual movement from the plain to the elaborate. Over the course of years, the ornaments have become more complex in design and more elaborate in costume. Progress in the evolution of her ornaments is both internal and external. Certain ornaments require an armature to establish their form and position. The observer cannot see this but it is there and its presence establishes the result that is observed. Consequently, her body of ornaments is never static, evolving as her ideas and/or viewpoints develop.
Weed House has been involved with Gladys Boalt’s ornaments for more than twenty-five years. We consider them to be the finest ornaments made in this country. We try to carry her complete line and strive to keep as many as possible in stock. But, as these ornaments are all completely handmade in the USA, there will be times when some are out of stock. That is always a temporary situation. There will always be plenty of her ornaments to enjoy.
