Sunday 31 August 2014

Mistress Lillian, the Ghost Bride.


As promised, here she is, a little the worse for wear after roaming around the mountains looking for her ghostly lost love.


After hearing the news of her love's tragic accident, she put on her bridal gown and locked herself in her boudoir until, overcome with grief, she died of a broken heart...

I do hope that they will embrace once more..I hate sad endings...

For those wanting to see a little more of Lillian, she can be found hiding in my photo albums on facebook
https://www.facebook.com/OldLaceAndLaudanum/photos_stream?tab=photos_albums
Or Etsy
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/OldLaceAndLaudanum

As for me...I'm still trying to tame that unruly redhead's mane...




Wednesday 13 August 2014

In memory of E. H. Steele






 Among some of my Victorian photographs there is one which I found so poignant that it slipped into my dreams.
The dreams were a little sad as I thought about how short some lives are and of the sadness for those we leave behind.
This made me think about a loved one, grieving, which in turn led to the creation of  Mistress Lillian, a Gothic Bride Doll, who sadly, never got to marry her beloved. (Photo's of Lillian will be shown in another post)




The reverse of the photograph says this...

'E. H. Steele, Townsend
Killed by a fall from a cliff near Montreux
Aug. 10 1864-
aged 24

This carte given to me by his dear mother.'

Really, if I had tried to imagine a sadder tale for my doll I do not think I could have found one.
Twenty four is so young it is just so tragic.
I cannot find any more information about this person (and I have tried) so all I am left with is this little photograph of his face peering through the years back at us...a moment caught in time.

I do hope that he does not mind me making Lillian for him.
At least now, his story is not altogether forgotten...


Tuesday 12 August 2014

Ever had a bad hair day?





Sometimes you just feel like pulling your hair out!
This poor miss has been waiting for her maid to sort out her locks all day but she is nowhere to be seen.
(probably off with the stage-hand somewhere)
Looks like it will have to be me then....now which hair style shall I try?
'I do believe this season all the most fashionable ladies are wearing their hair swept up madam.'

I'll let you know if I manage to tame these unruly locks, I may be some time...




Thursday 15 May 2014

What becomes of the broken-hearted dolls?







I've been gathering together all of the little broken hearts I have made...seeing them all lying there made me feel a little sad.
They are going to hang beneath my doll's skirt as she is collecting them.
This lady has turned out to be quite a challenge but I am enjoying creating her!
She has no hands as yet so I don't want her to face the public...soon though...

I wonder if it will take long for the little broken hearts to mend?


Tuesday 13 May 2014

Whatever Happened to those Beautiful Edwardian Theatre Ladies?



 I've been thinking about all of the lovely ladies who performed to an adoring public over a hundred years ago...and how sad that they are almost forgotten now.
I suppose the fact that they were too early for the motion 'flickers' means that their stage performances were only seen by those who were in the audience at the time.
Old photographs are all we have left of the way they looked, some did make recordings but these are now scarce.
Such a shame that these faces who gaze back at us through time are becoming lost.


Popular stage productions were most likely to have been a 'variety' show or revue, this had a mixture of acts, song and dance routines, acrobatics- including the ju-jitsu waltz, comedy acts and also drag artists.
Costumes played a big part in these acts, some ladies would change many times in one performance.

Edward VII was known to have frequented the shows, which no doubt aided in their popularity.
Many ladies of the stage would be admired by wealthy gentlemen, eager to be seen with them.
Many went on to marry these wealthy patrons and then retired from the stage.
Others, tragically fell prey to mental illness and spent their lives in asylums...never to leave.


Every time I see these adorable faces I want to drag out my pencils and capture them within the pages of my sketchbooks, somehow it makes me feel that I am keeping them safe, that by drawing or sketching them for a painting, or even  making them into a doll, that I am honouring their memory.
I feel somehow, they would approve...