Tonic of the Woods
  • Home
  • About
  • Gallery
  • Journal
  • Etsy
  • Locations
  • Home
  • About
  • Gallery
  • Journal
  • Etsy
  • Locations
Search

"A Room of One's Own" in miniature

8/31/2017

Comments

 
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.
Picture
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.
Picture
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.
Picture
 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.
Picture
Comments

The Banshee

8/16/2017

Comments

 
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.
Picture
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.
Picture
Picture
This fairy dress measures two inches by six inches and is crafted from decayed leaf and dried brambles. The dress is suspended above the ragged wood slab with a hollow reed. Her "wings" are made from hand collected bird feathers.  Justin gave the slab a couple coats of poly stain to give it a high gloss.
But wait...it gets better. See what happens when darkness falls....
Picture
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.
Picture
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.
Comments

Beach Rose Red Fairy

8/10/2017

Comments

 
Picture
© 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.
Picture
©Kay Stephens
Picture
© Kay Stephens
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.
Picture
*Excerpt from The Story of Fairyfoot by Francis Browne (Through The Fairy Halls of My Bookhouse, Chicago Publishers, The Bookhouse for Children, 1920)
Comments

Beware The Sentinels

8/9/2017

Comments

 
Picture
©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.
Picture
©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).
Picture
©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.
Comments

The Honeysuckle Sidheog

8/8/2017

Comments

 
Little fairies, the ones who dwell on land, are called Sidheog and I caught this one yesterday sunning herself in the blue hydrangea bush.
Picture
©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.
Picture
©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. 
Comments

    Tonic of the Woods

    the inspiration behind the creations
    ​


    Photos, stories and concept ©Kay Stephens

    Where to buy one
    Look up the story behind a fairy dress by clicking on the name below

    Archives

    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017

    Categories

    All
    A Room Of One's Own
    Artist Receptions
    Ballet Dress
    Beach Rose Red Fairy
    Bridal Gifts
    Buttercup
    Craft Shows
    Driftwood Vases
    Edna St. Vincent Mllay
    Fairy Encounters
    Fairy Furniture
    Fairy Of The Stream
    Fairy Potting Bench
    Fairy Sculptures
    Fairy Wreaths
    Fall Fairies
    Fernald's Neck Fairy
    Flapper Dresses
    Fly Away Fay
    Forest Fairy
    Home Goods
    Lady Of The Greenwood
    Lady Of The White Thorn
    Literary Dresses
    Maiden Mother Crone
    Manga Dresses
    Miniature Furniture
    Pine Nymph
    Pixies
    River Fairies
    Shadowboxes
    Spring Fairies
    Steampunk Dresses
    Summer Fairies
    The Banshee
    The Brides
    The Celtic Fairy
    The Cranberry Fairy
    The Faery Maiden
    The Fairy Healer
    The Fairy Mistress
    The Fairy Nurse
    The Fallen Angel
    The Fuin Fairy
    The Gatherers
    The Honeysuckle Sidheog
    The Huntress
    The Maiden Fairy
    The Merrow
    The Queen Anne's Lace Fairy
    The Queen's Handmaiden
    The Queen's Muse
    The Reindeer Muse
    The Sentinel
    The Solitary Fairy
    The Spring Maiden
    The Warrior
    The Wee Sinann
    The Witch Hare
    The Yule Fairy
    Tree Shifter
    Wee Folk
    Where To Buy
    Winter Beauties
    Yuletide Fairy Collection

    RSS Feed

  • Home
  • About
  • Gallery
  • Journal
  • Etsy
  • Locations