Author: Yve
-
Petit Lenormand, No. 5-8
Here we go again, with the next four Lenormand cards. Baby Birch: Tree & Judgement This is the song for Baby Birch.I will never know you.And at the back of what we’ve done,there is that knowledge of you. Joanna Newsom, “Baby Birch” (Have One On Me, 2010) The narrator of “Baby Birch,” having made her…
-
Petit Lenormand, No. 1-4
Back when I was working on Anecdotes Tarot, I made a smaller and much more modest sister-project, a Petit Lenormand (which I never even properly titled). My main motivation was to break up one of those frustrating times when good ideas just refuse to come. The images of the Petit Lenormand fortunetelling cards are far…
-
Making Koschei
After getting a taste of making a standing doll, I couldn’t wait to try again and maybe improve! When I was posing Granny in the forest, I noticed that the “skeleton” of her legs and feet would wiggle around inside the felt, making her more difficult to balance. So, I set out to make a…
-
Making the Forest Crone
To celebrate Winter, I made a Crone doll! She is based loosely on Buschgroßmutter and more generally on any lady who lurks among the trees, but I’ve just been calling her “Granny.” This is my favorite season, where you can see all the vibrant colors of the earth, branches, and mosses, and I tried to…
-
Tarocchino Arlecchino: The World
Harlequin-as-Mercury stands triumphant above the disk of the World. For The Chariot, I mentioned the shared affinity between Mercury, Harlequin, and the tarot. The Chariot features a snappy winged helmet, but here we find the full mercurial regalia, with winged red shoes and the caduceus, entwined in white and black snakes. The horns on his…
-
Tarocchino Arlecchino: The Angel
At the end of the trump sequence, winged Arlecchino rises above entombed Colombina, Pierrot, and Pantalone. This is his tarocchino, after all, and his fellow denizens of the Commedia dell’Arte are here on his fancy. Colombina (left) was a maid character, wife of Pierrot but lover of Arlecchino. Melancholic and pale Pierrot complemented Arlecchino’s madness.…
-
Tarocchino Arlecchino: The Forces of Nature
Welcome. After a time of not wanting to write, I decided to cluster together these four new thematically-linked cards. In these pictures near the end of the trump sequence, Arlecchino becomes disembodied, playing out the interaction between humans and the forces of Nature. First is Lightning, unequivocally destructive. According to the Etteilla meanings, the Tower…
-
Tarocchino Arlecchino: The Devil
Here comes Harlequin, tip-toeing along in his snake-shoes! He prances deftly through spitting flames, looking back over his winged shoulder for watchers in the sky. With his horns, tail, and pitchfork, he makes a perfect charming antagonist for a morality play. The Devil is the most perfect trump for devious Arlecchino. I gave him his…
-
Tarocchino Arlecchino: Death
Harlequin-Reaper rides in on a golden horse with a ghostly face and ragged mane. His mismatched costume is sleek and form-fitting and he hefts an enormous scythe. As he passes, you hear the rattle of the serpentine spikes on his mask and see the air fill with red swirls. I was originally going to make…
-
Tarocchino Arlecchino: The Hanged Man
Among the forces natural and supernatural which inhabit the second half of the trumps, we have one more human adversary – the Hanged Man, or the Traitor. This devious Harlequin, in his eye-tricking costume and horned mask, hangs by an ankle between two massive, ornate columns. Upside down, he could be a fairy prince dancing…