As I wandered through the little gallery today I noticed the sign Hairwork, and looking at the delicate black and white images framed on the walls, I at first thought it must be the name for a detailed form of etching that I hadn't heard before. Oh no, much creepier than that, to quote the Bury Council press release;
"The pieces are an example of a special style of embroidery popular in the last quarter of the 18th Century when ladies would skilfully reproduce engravings of the most popular paintings of the day. The embroideries were often worked with human hair in a palette of black and dark ground stitches of various sizes onto silk."
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| picture courtesy of Bury Council Press release, full article here |
Why would seem an appropriate question I think. Apparently these were often done as a memento on someones death, or even presented to a bride on her wedding. There were also items of jewellery made containing the hair, beyond the standard locket.
Now I still found this a little creepy, but doing a quick google to check some facts for this post, I'm even more disturbed to discover there are still people doing this craft. So if you want to join the Victorian Hairwork Society, start saving that old hair in your brush!
Of course you may like to buy Barbara Hegne's book 'Victorian Hairwork and Fun Hair Crafts' for that slightly disturbed craft person in your life.
I'm heading off to clean my hairbrushes and see how much stock I have to sell on line.
