Orla & Hazel

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Orla & Hazel

The Autumn faeries are moving in. You can spot them on chilly mornings, going about the trees and fields of goldenrod, with tiny silk cocoon satchels slung over their backs, gathering acorn caps and other autumn treasures.

Today I met Orla, who shared with me that her name means ‘golden princess’, which seemed rather fitting as she sat their on the back of her Merlin, shimmering with every shade of gold.

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And sweet little Hazel, with her chickadee, who gave me a beautiful twig of acorn caps to add to my autumn decorations. When I asked what they planned to do with all of the caps they had collected Hazel told me that they would be sanded down and used as dishes for their big harvest feast. Orla had gathered a rooster feather as decoration as well. I smiled as they both flew off in search of more acorns, autumn is definitely here, soon the trees will start to change. I’ve been sewing faerie jackets that I’ll leave out when the first frost comes, with tiny thimbles of honey so they might make some faerie mead to stay warm over the long winter months.

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September

The goldenrod is yellow;
The corn is turning brown;
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit are bending down.

The gentian’s bluest fringes
Are curling in the sun;
In dusky pods the milkweed
Its hidden silk has spun.

The sedges flaunt their harvest
In every meadow-nook;
And asters by the brookside
Make asters in the brook.

From dewy lanes at morning
The grapes’ sweet odors rise;
At noon the roads all flutter
With yellow butterflies.

By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer’s best of weather,
And autumn’s best of cheer.

by Helen Hunt Jackson (1831 – 1885)

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Orla & Hazel will be in my shop (separately) this evening at 7PM (ADT).

They’re one of a kind art dolls. They are entirely hand stitched from natural fibres (with the exception of their wings). Orla’s dress is made from plant dyed silk and vintage lace, her cap is made from a silk carrier rod. Hazel is dressed in a vintage cotton dress, hand dyed with Queen Anne’s lace. There acorn caps were lovingly collected from a huge old oak tree in England and are being carried in tea dyed silk cocoons.

Orla & her Merlin will be $500 (plus postage), and Hazel & her chickadee are $275 (plus postage).

The Blackberry Faeries

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As fall creeps in and the mornings grow chilly, the blackberry faeries are out and about amongst the bushes gathering the last ripe berries, but they’re always careful to leave enough for the birds and other animals. With baskets full to bursting they fly home.

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Tuva empties her berries into a large cauldron where she boils it down with other herbs, turning it into a rich dark syrup, sustenance for the long cold months ahead. She has gathered blackberry roots as well and will make a tincture when the harvest moon is full. As she stirs the cauldron she sings a song of thanks.

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Ulla and Bran are gathering berries for her grandmother’s famous blackberry wine. A special treat to bring out at midwinter’s feast when summer is only a distant memory.

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Sorcha, the dyers apprentice, is stomping on her berries in an old barrel before pouring the juice into dye vats where they will turn the silk filaments that are soaking there a dozen shades of purple. Afterward she will hang them out in the autumn sun to dry before bringing them to the faerie weaver who will turn them into beautiful garments. 

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Kasja strings her berries out to dry before carefully placing them in boxes in the storeroom and stacking them away between the dried fungi and wild licorice root, and the other winter foods.

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This is the busiest time of year for the blackberry faeries, but they know that soon it will be time to disappear into their glowing halls beneath the hill, and wait for spring’s return.

The Blackberry Faeries are one of a kind art dolls. They are entirely hand stitched from natural fibres (with the exception of their wings). Their dresses are all hand dyed with fresh berries harvested from the woods around my house. Their hair is hand dyed mohair locks. The will be in my shop this evening at 10PM (ADT).

The Dandelion Faeries

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~ Soliel & Siofra ~

I spied Siofra and little Soleil just after sunrise moving quietly across the yard. They were gathering basketfuls of dandelions. Soifra explained to me that if you gather them as they open with the morning sun, they can be brewed into a special tea to chase away bad dreams (and conversely, if you gather them at sundown as they're closing their bright yellow heads, they can be made into a faerie wine that will keep you dancing and merry making all night). But it was the tea they were after this morning, for little Soleil who's been suffering from bad dreams. When their baskets were full to the brim they sat down to rest and Soifra told Soleil and I an old story about how long ago the faeries had hidden themselves from the human world in the form of dandelions, and to this day they still hold some faerie magic, which is why the plants can cure so many ailments.

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The Dandelion Cycle
By Emilie Poulsson

"Pretty little Goldilocks, shining in the sun, 

Pray, what will become of you when the summer’s done ?"

"Then I’ll be old Silverhead; for, as I grow old, 

All my shining hair will be white instead of gold.

"And where rests a silver hair that has blown from me, 

Other little Goldilocks in the Spring you’ll see!

"Goldilocks to Silverhead, Silverhead to gold, 

So the change is going on every year, I’m told."

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Soliel & Siofra, the Dandelion Faeries are original art dolls, they are entirely hand stitched from natural fibres (with the exception of their wings). Their hair and dresses are hand dyed with goldenrod flowers from the woods around my house. The dandelions are dyed with turmeric. The toadstools and wool moss are also hand dyed using a variety of dyes. This piece stands 12" high. They will be in my shop this evening at 9PM ADT. They are $400 USD (plus shipping).

"You cannot forget if you would those golden kisses all over the cheeks of the meadow, queerly called dandelions.” --Henry Ward Beecher