Victorian Belsnickel - Part 12

I had a busy week, but still managed to make some progress on the Victorian Belsnickel project.  A couple of posts ago I showed that I had tried sculpting hands for the doll.  Unfortunately, the hand I sculpted from bake in the oven clay burned in the oven.  It was very disappointing.  Next time I will try some different clay.  Anyway, sculpting the one hand took over four hours so I was not overly enthused about sculpting more hands at the moment.  Sometimes projects drag on for a long time and I tend to get bored with them.

I tried a couple of options for the hands.  A traditional Victorian Belsnickel is sometimes shown with his hands shoved into his sleeves.  Some people have postulated that this pose is showing that he is trying to warm his hands.  Yes, it does show that, but I suspect that the man reason is because making realistic hands is difficult.  Sewing the sleeves together so that the hands are not visible is one simple way of not having to deal with hands.   I was actually thinking about that for the next option, but I did not make add the extra length to the sleeves neededto make them meet in the front of the doll when I was making the the coat.  When I tried putting the sleeves together it made the arms look a little short.  So, on to the next plan.

I went to the old standby of mittens.  It is disappointing, but at least it allows me to get on with the doll.  I suppose I could have made cloth hands, but they would be a big let down after the hand I sculpted out of clay.  I was actually rather proud of the hand that I sculpted.  Anyway, mittens were made and sewn onto the doll.  Time to get this project moving again.

The coat is on the doll, but the hood is not yet up.  I have not yet added the trim for the front of the coat or the short cape that goes over the shoulders.  They will be next and then the doll will be close to finished.  The stand needs to have holes drilled in it for inserting the dowels that will hold the doll upright.  After that, the doll will be mounted into the stand.  Then, a few accessories and the doll will be finished.

I am working on an accessory that I hope will help tell the story of the Belsnickel.  A doll standing by itself is just a doll.  By adding the accessories I will be adding information to the doll.  The Belsnickel is a figure of folklore.  He is not a traditional Santa.  He does bring treats like Santa, but he also brings switches and coal for naughty children.  Unlike Santa who comes while everyone is asleep, the Belsnickel comes while the children are awake.  If they have been good they get a treat.  If they have been naughty they get a wallop with a switch.  The Belsnickel is a Germanic folklore figure, but the legend travel to America with German immigrants.  While researching on this figure I came across a family story of a visit by a Belsnickel.  I went back briefly to try to find the story again so I could add a link to it, but did not come across it.  That is the trouble with surfing the web, you never can remember which rabbit hole you went down while researching something.  I will recap the story here.  It said that the girl was so frightened by the Belsnickel that she hid under the bed and that the Belsnickel came and dragged her out from there.  She had a look of terror on her face and after the Belsnickel left, that expression never left her face.  It may have been that she had a stroke.  Or it may have been a family story they told to explain a facial deformity.  In any case, it illustrates the fear that children had of a visit from the Belsnickel.  

Check back on Thursday for the latest (and possibly the finish) of this project.