Black Widows and Boudoir Dolls

The other year my dear friend Lindy Lou was bitten by a Black Widow spider.
She is fine and is still the crazy Olde Broad she has always been.
I am slightly sad that she hasn't become a Superhero though...
(Or has she, I mean, they have to keep their secret identity, well, secret don't they? mmmm)

So, I had this idea floating around my head, (usually in bed when I'm really trying to sleep), of creating a Boudoir Doll who was also a Victorian Mourning Doll.
Then after this horrific encounter with an arachnid (he he) I thought maybe I could also add Black Widow to the list of ideas.
After all, to the Victorians, more was most certainly...more.

So here she is in all her Gothic glory.
Mistress Charlotte (see what I did there?).
I thought that rather than make a 'spider' I would use the colours of the Black Widow instead. I also thought she would look nice with velvet and lace, who doesn't ?
She has big spider eyes which also look like she has been weeping, even spider widows cry.
'My my Charlotte, what big eyes you have...'
'Well, my dear, I am a Spider'

I love Mourning Dolls and the idea of a Victorian Spider Widow is just so absurd that I think she could get away with anything.
Hence, the hair...wild and pouffy...(my children think her hair is like Helena Bonham Carter's).
I have added a very soft veil, it's so soft to stroke...
I like being able to see through the veil to the world beyond, sorry I'm getting lost in metaphysical things again. :o)

She has really big feet, no idea why, I just love big feet (mine are not big, maybe I'm overcompensating?).
Maybe I just like my big dolls to be much bigger than my teeny dolls, so everything is bigger?
Who can say...

I hope Lindy Lou will not mind me using her encounter with the Black Widow in this way, but I'm sure that when she climbs down from the web in the corner of the ceiling, she will let me know :o)

So now comes the part any creative person has learned to love...
What will the next thing be?
We never know where or when that odd thought will prod us and the Muses will wake us from our dreams and demand we do something to satisfy their desires.
I'm not complaining though, I love the Muses.
How else could we turn something so nasty as a spider bite into a doll? :o)

I think it's time for some tea...

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...

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...