Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Victorian Hair Art


One of our special events in early 2018 featured "Victorian Hair Art". Our presenter, Lucy Cadwallader  learned about this art form through her involvement with Civil War Reenacting. It was quite common to save a lock or length of a loved ones hair before they went off to fight the war.

Small brooches or lockets could be made with the basket weave woven pieces of hair.  Gentlemen would have pocket watch chains created out of hair. Large family heirlooms could be made with pieces of hair from multiple family members. 
Lucy brought this "Remembrance" bracelet, created to remember Queen Victoria, to display at Sweet Remembrances.

2 comments:

Angela McRae said...

I would have enjoyed this program so much! Twenty-five years ago, I discovered the book "On Women and Friendship" by Starr Ockenga, and it featured hair art, which I found lovely for so many reasons (the creativity, the sentiment, the intrinsically *personal* nature of it). I'm not sure I've heard this mentioned anywhere since, so I'm happy to know this art form is still being discussed today!

Marilyn Miller said...

What a special event. Making things from hair has always intrigued me.