American Horror Story: Barbie Coven

Yeah, okay, so maybe that doesn't really strike horror into most hearts, but have you ever stared into the vacant, vapid, blank stare of a Barbie doll for very long? Terrifying...

"A witch ought never to be frightened in the darkest forest, Granny Weatherwax had once told her,
because she should be sure in her soul that the most terrifying thing in the forest was her."
-- Terry Pratchett, Wintersmith

A n y w a y... yesterday, I was working on something else which led to me deciding to finally fix the spooky tree that was sitting on the witch doll shelf in the guest room (before it fell over, taking half the dolls with it). I had to dismantle the base, remove the guts, re"stuff" it with a thick dowel leftover from something else and reglue it all. Then I had to repair the paint that got messed up because it's made of pipe cleaners, masking tape and paper, and some of the paint flaked (surprisingly little!). While I was at it, I added some lichen-y and mossy greens to the roots and knothole. It gave it quite a bit more dimension, I think.

Round about the cauldron go; / In the poison’d entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone / Days and nights hast thirty one
Swelter’d venom sleeping got,  / Boil thou first i’ the charmed pot.
Macbeth, Act IV, Scene 1

I mentioned on Twitter that I was trying to tie this collection to some of the other things in the room, to make the room cohesive. The guest bedroom is currently an odd mix of children's library (it's adjacent to our daughter's room, so the logical place for kid's books after we ran out of room in the library downstairs), some memorabilia and art from New Orleans/Mardi Gras, and witches.

After I put up the shelf holds all the dolls, I had decided it would be cool to tie them to New Orleans by printing out a background of family crypts*, as if they were all meeting in a New Orleans cemetery. So that's what I did yesterday, printing out some altered photos on cardstock, then gluing them to foamcore. The idea is that they look like they're a bit in the distance, so the detail isn't sharp on purpose. I wanted the concept of the crypts without the images themselves fighting for prominence on the shelf. Unfortunately, the shelf is so crowded that now you can't hardly see the crypts at all. ::sigh:: (The one to the left of the tree is alleged to be Marie Laveau's true resting place. Of course, I had to include the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans!)

Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hekate, Demeter, Kali, Inanna

I do have a solution to the crowded shelf problem, however. There is room above the headboard on the opposite wall for another shelf, and I do have another identical shelf waiting to be put up. I'm mostly waiting for more dolls to justify the trouble. I might need to find a new home for my old promo print of Bugs and Witch Hazel, though.

Witch Hazel: I warn you, dearie, I'm going to worm all your ugly secrets out of you. Tell me. Who undoes your hair?
Bugs Bunny: Do you like it?
Hazel: Like it? It's absolutely hideous!
Bugs: I did myself up tonight.
Hazel: There's nothing like a home permanent.
Broom-Stick Bunny, 1956

Flanking the bed are the taller bookcases, and more random doll assortments.

L-R: 2003 Halloween Fortune (Target excl.), 2000 85th Birthday Halloween ed. Raggedy Ann,
2004 Boo-tiful Halloween

Top: 1997 FAO Schwarz excl. Samantha Stephens Bewitched (Exclusive Premiere)
Middle: (mostly hidden behind the plush dragon) 1972 Emerald the Enchanting Witch (Milton Bradley)
Bottom L-R: Disney Store Evil Queen, 2010 Bewitched Barbie, Disney Store Maleficent
Right: three Mardi Gras prints from NOLA artist Mousie
(clockwise from top, 2001 "Mardi Gras Moon Goddess", 1998 "Perfume", 2000 "Mardi Gras Eyes")

The shelf with the little plush dragon (Leviathan, to be specific, he was a parade throw) and Emerald (who is sadly nekkid) holds my modest collection of modern and vintage witchy kids books. I've written one of my own that I'm still in process of working out the illustrations for, and writing a second.

Then there's one of my recent acquisitions, and the source of much frustration for Jill Thompson, who worked for years to bring her to life: the Scary Godmother doll. She was a Kickstarter project (my husband backed it for me, and I even got to meet Ms. Thompson, who is lovely) and I was thrilled when she finally arrived. I don't plan on taking her out of the box until I have a dome to put her under.

"Here's a treat that's fun to make and helps you get a word in edgewise. Take two of your favorite crackers, spread one with jam, one with peanut butter, smoosh them together, and jam them into the mouth of a chattering werewolf."

Next to her on the shelf is a little experimental doll I made. Above the shelf on the wall is a collection of doubloons from my collection, and a drape of beads attached to the frame below it. I had a brief, mad obsession with doubloons and their history, and have a big 3-ring binder full of them, carefully sorted by year and put in little cardboard/mylar coin folders.

Finally, the last part of the collection in this room sort of serves as a warning, and is a souvenir from Salem, Massachusetts, so I suppose it's not all New Orleans...

By the way, in Colonies, they hanged "convicted" witches. Burning is what they did in Europe.

Resources
If you're a witchy sort of collector, too, here's a fantastic resource for the Barbie Halloween dolls:
http://www.fashion-doll-guide.com/Halloween-Barbie-Dolls.html
For more witchy children's books, visit A Mighty Girl's blog:
https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=10117 "With Broomstick in Hand, 40 Books Starring Mighty Witches"
...and Red Tricycle's "Which Witch is Your Favorite? 14 Witch Books We Love":
http://redtri.com/witch-books-for-kids/
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*If you are unfamiliar, many burials in New Orleans are aboveground, because NOLA is below the water table. Any coffins that are buried have ledger stones to keep them down, or have stone walls around the coffin to keep out rising water. More info about those: http://liverytours.com/2014/10/new-orleans-cemeteries-and-graves/.