#Hairwork

[dozydawn]

georgian key brooches with rubies, emeralds, garnets, amethyst, and diamonds. the gems spell out “regard”

[ltwilliammowett]

A "Ships in the harbour" hairwork pendant (made of glass, hair and gold) from the late 18th century

[bunad]

Necklace of hair

Light brown hair woven into a spiral patterned necklace. Likely made in the 1830s or 40s

Photo by Freia Beer in the Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum

[sparkbirdmusic]

sure you could just bury your loved ones but what if you turned their hair into a bouquet

[ouroborossymbiosis]

Dresser Drawer by Melanie Bilenker: using a drawing technique inspired by historic hairwork, she glues individual strands of human hair to paper in an attempt to preserve and show fleeting time so that it can be revisited. (source)

[emmaklee]

mourning hairwork

[marzipanandminutiae]

wild how it’s all “victorians’ toxic wallpaper and gas leaks and prescription cocaine 😱” until it comes time for a twinkie to kill a victorian child 🙄🙄🙄

so that's not quite what I was going for

that post was inspired by another post where someone noticed a knife-sharpening van in their neighborhood (Canada, I think?) and remarked at length about how Ominous and Creepy it was

and I was just like. yes. that used to be a normal thing. I wish WE had that here still! how on earth is a basic convenience service "creepy?"

then I thought about other things people consider Weird and Spooky from the Victorian era, but that were actually normal and neutral or positive. hairwork- jewelry made from or containing human hair, often that of a loved one for sentimental reasons (sometimes, but not always, after the person's death) -and dolls came to mind

it struck me as ironic- not that the Victorian era had hazards that people seemed to forget, but that they brag about their music or food rendering Victorians catatonic when ordinary things from the 19th century have them screaming for holy water and a crucifix

[eriebasin]

A rare c1880 Victorian mourning pendant with delicate hairwork over abalone shell. The front has an anchor with the work "sister" and the back the letter "M" surrounded by flowers. A gold filled case.

eriebasin.com

[dozydawn]

[ltwilliammowett]

A gold lock for 3-row necklace depicting a ship, made of hair and black ink. Produced for Hoorn/Enkhuizen, Netherlands, late 19th century or early 20th century

[bunad]

Ring of human hair

Photo: Nasjonalmuseet/Frode Larsen

[omgthatdress]

The teeth are probably "milk tooth jewelry," made with children's baby teeth as a keepsake. like hairwork, it COULD have mourning connotations, but it didn't ALWAYS. and good gods, OOP is a pill. yikes. keep fighting the good fight, OMGTD!

(although I'm not sure I totally agree with the assessment that mourning unilaterally sucked- it COULD definitely be a financial and social burden on people, but you also see plenty of etiquette manuals- which we all know are infamous for trending towards unrealistic propriety -reminding readers that mourning is personal and intended to prevent unintended rudeness to or demands upon a bereaved person. many outright oppose putting small children in mourning clothes, for example, since they're too young to understand what happened. the were spans involved were also rather shaky; I found only a few primary sources for the infamous "widows mourn for a year and widowers for six months" statistic, and more opining that the death of a spouse meant a year's mourning regardless of gender. there were also garments that could be suitable for both mourning and non-mourning purposes, even the earlier stages if shiny or contrast-color trim could be removed, thus saving a family money)

(I have historian friends who've lost loved ones and say they wish there were some codified way to show their bereavement nowadays, so people would know to be gentle with them. which was the intent- though not always the extent -of Victorian mourning practices)

(but it's not either/or across the board, of course! a cultural practice can be good for some and less so for others! I'm sure being at the social mercy of some strict doyenne could make mourning a burden rather than a genuine expression of grief- it depended upon the understanding of the people around you)

yeah, all of this is true!

But the pieces in the post were all like really obvious modern pieces with modern design and adult teeth so yeah those aren't actual Victorian pieces.

[skyscrapergods]

You said something in sometime before that gods can change due to the beliefs in them yeah? That got me wondering if Twilight would become the God of information/knowledge as well as friendship with the whole twi-net thing, because there's bound to be a shitton of information shared there and it'd just. Get correlated to her even if it's by the ponies/others that use her hair?

The information on her hairwork is actually from other ponies writing and adding it, though there is plenty of her own contribution. I suppose she does get correlated with information and knowledge... But just like the real internet, it's not the internet that provides this; it's connection.

She is the goddess of connection, for better or for worse; and all the possibilities that comes with it.

[c0rpseductor]

i finally found a book from the 1700s about garden design and the uses of plants that seems to work, and one thing i find interesting about it that i also noticed in a different historical instructional book about hairwork jewelry from the victorian era is that like, there will be ads. in the book? like the author will write their instructions and then add "AND BTW YOU CAN HIT ME UP FOR MY SERVICES IN THIS DEPARTMENT. AT MY COOL BUSINESS. I AM OPEN FOR CONSULTATION." i feel like you dont see this as much in modern instructional texts

[marzipanandminutiae]

"hot cheetos would kill a Victorian child!" my guy you think hairwork jewelry is gross and all dolls made before the 1990s are possessed by Satan

you have no room to talk

[digitalnewberry]

Victorian keepsake: Skiff family hair album, ca. 1845

In this video, Manuscripts and Archives Librarian Catherine Grandgeorge combs through a family hair book from the Newberry's Midwest Manuscript collections. View the Skiff family hair album at Newberry Digital Collections

About Victorian hairwork

"As strange as it might seem today, Victorians often used human hair from friends and family to create wreaths and jewelry, commonly referred to as ‘hairwork.’ Victorian hair albums are a rarer phenomenon than other types of hairwork and are also a culturally different phenomenon. Hair wreaths and hair jewelry were often created as an act of mourning and generally the hair was removed from the deceased prior to burial. The jewelry served as a way to keep your loved one near you as you went on with your daily life, and was also a socially acceptable fashion accessory during the official mourning period. Hair wreaths were another mourning artifact and were fashioned in the shape of a horseshoe with the open end upwards to signify ascent into heaven.” 

Stella Skiff Jannotta scrapbooks, 1801-1996

"Hair albums, on the other hand, were often assembled using locks of hair from living friends and family and more closely relate to the concept of an album amicorum or friendship album. Friends exchanged locks of hair as a token of affection or sometimes remembrance if a friend was moving far away and it was unlikely that they would ever see each other again. The locks of hair were styled according to the abilities of the album creator, ranging from simple bunches tied together with string or ribbon to elaborate braided and looped creations. Asking one’s friends for a lock of hair seems almost unimaginable now, but in a time before the invention of photography, a piece of hair was the only tangible way to remember someone."

-- "Hair Today and (Not) Gone Tomorrow: The Conservation of a 19th-Century Hair Album," by Mary H. French

About Stella Skiff Jannotta

An American suffragist, eugenicist, genealogist, writer, and member of the founding family of Jewel Tea Company, Stella Skiff was born on October 29, 1867, in Newton, Iowa. After establishing a successful dry goods business in Newton, the Skiff family moved to Chicago in 1889. Stella studied music at the Chicago Conservatory with Italian maestro Alfredo Antonio Jannotta, an Italian composer, conductor, and voice instructor, and was considered a promising lyric soprano. Stella and Alfredo were married in 1893 and took residence at the Plaza Hotel in downtown Chicago before settling in Oak Park. 

In the early 1900s Stella became active in the women's suffrage movement and in rationalist religious organizations. She joined the Chicago Political Equality League (CPEL), the precursor to the Chicago League of Women Voters, and wrote several essays on eugenics and the related issues of birth control, overpopulation, prostitution, sex education, and spouse-choosing. Stella also spent a considerable amount of time researching her family history. Stella died in 1954. More information: Stella Skiff Jannotta scrapbooks collection guide