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In 1929, Virginia Woolf's essay "A Room of One's Own" imagined a literal and figurative space for women writers. As a writer myself, I made this miniature room out of a vintage cigar box that imagines that space.  I made the furniture myself, a rustic ladder back chair and a simple writing desk, as well as a tiny cork board and a "picture window" made from a vintage postcard of the Camden Harbor. When you have a room like this, you need a beautiful view.  The feminine space includes a blotter, a calendar, a letter opener,a blank note pad, a pot of white tulips and a bottle of wine.  The cigar box can even close so you can take it with you. Normally these custom made shadow boxes go for $75 (not including shipping or tax). There is one more that can be found at Beyond The Sea in Lincolnville. It is an ideal, one-of-a-kind gift for the writer in your life. I can also do custom work where your favorite miniature book is included on the desk. Contact me for more info.  In July, 2017, Coastal Mountain Land Trust donated nearly a hundred slabs of ragged wood to Midcoast Maine artists for them to fashion an art piece from it. (Read more details about that here.) My husband, Justin and I collaborated on this sculpture, a suspended fairy dress, calling it The Banshee.  This art piece is named for the Irish fairy who has grown solitary with sorrow. She shows up at the moment of death and wails out her grief. Some say she is really a ghost, wronged by the ancestor of the dying.
But wait...it gets better. See what happens when darkness falls....  Buried beneath the wood slab is a tiny red LED light that can be clicked on and off, turning her sinister heart light on at the moment of someone's impending death. Created exclusively for Coastal Mountain Land Trust's "Ragged Wood Art Project," this fairy dress will be donated to CMLT and sold as part of their campaign to protect 1,400 acres of land on Ragged Mountain. This dress comes from the woods and it will go back to the woods.  Justin and I are actively working on a body of work this year around literary shadowboxes, altered book arts and "Wee Folk" Irish fairy tales embodied in sculpture. Our interests are on the darker side of literature designed for a show in libraries and galleries that lean toward the alternative. If you are interested in having us display our work with you, please contact us.
 © Kay Stephens These are sociable fairies and they hide in the beach roses lining the ocean during the day. On a full moon, like we had the other night, they come out to watch the seals in the cove as they dart around and flank the translucent squid, attacking them for their meal. The Beach Rose Red fairies find that completely amusing and "in the grove of great rose-trees, with the moon shining on it as bright as day, and thousands of nightingales singing in the branches"* the Wee Folk dance the night away.
Here is a closer look at them. They are made from birch bark collected on my property and dried beach roses collected by the sea in Maine. They smell wonderful. The back of the bodice is laced up with pale pink thread.  *Excerpt from The Story of Fairyfoot by Francis Browne (Through The Fairy Halls of My Bookhouse, Chicago Publishers, The Bookhouse for Children, 1920)
 ©Kay Stephens Far from sociable, these fairies are to be avoided at any cost. Pictured here are two sisters after the full moon we had recently. They were raised, as all Sentinels are, like the Amazons, a tribe of warrior females who protect the raths or "forts," the ancient fortifications in fields encircled by ditches. The Sentinels are always watching for human interference. Should you stumble into a field and see a curious mound of raised earth in a circle, know they are nearby, watching you. They have been known to attack people and dive into their hair like bats. They will lure you to the fort and drag you down for eternity. They are most keen to keep Man away from the sacred fairy dens, so beware. And don't ever go out walking alone on the night of a full moon.  ©Kay Stephens A closer look at one of the sisters. This one-of-a-kind fairy dress can be found at The Flower Goddess in Rockland with her own custom hanger ($45).  ©Kay Stephens And the other. Their decayed leaf bodice, dried bramble and bird-like wings allow them to blend seamlessly into the duff of a forest.
Little fairies, the ones who dwell on land, are called Sidheog and I caught this one yesterday sunning herself in the blue hydrangea bush.  ©Kay Stephens Like a hummingbird, she doesn't like to be seen up close and she quickly hurried away. She is a sweet, summer fairy, the most sociable kind when they get to trust you. I have heard them all around our property at dusk playing their fairy music. It's like the way the light changes blue into dusk. All of my worries sort of fade into the background in a pleasantly numb way, listening to them. That's the only way I can describe it; it's like being slowly intoxicated. Here she is again sunning on the rock.  ©Kay Stephens The dress is made from birch collected on my property and dried ferns and honeysuckle collected in Maine's Highlands, which are very similar in topography as the Scottish and Irish Highlands. A dried daisy is her corsage. This is one of my favorite, all dusky greens and whites, reminiscent of the fading light of summer.
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Tonic of the Woods
the inspiration behind the creations Photos, stories and concept ©Kay Stephens
Look up the story behind a fairy dress by clicking on the name below
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