Hi Diana. Happy New Year. I have a question to get the Yarn Ball rolling; Do you know of anyone who has created fiber art with Human Hair? I would imagine that would be a very expensive project, unless one was able to collect a few old wigs.
"Do you know of anyone who has created fiber art with Human Hair?"
Um, not personally, no. I have Angora Goat friends, and Angora Rabbit Friends, and I crochet a fair amount of dog and/or cat hair into everything *I* make, LOL!
It was 'all the rage' in Victorian Times. Gee. Wonder why it fell out of favor? *SHUDDER* It appears that it was a 'mourning' thing when a loved one died. Which was pretty often.
The Curious Victorian Tradition of Making Art from Human Hair
https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-curious-victorian-tradition-making-art-human-hair
On Facebook (yes, I’m still using it) one of the groups I’m on is called “Home For Peculiar Artists Part 2”. I have no idea what part 1 was, I never looked for it. But, part 2 is a group where people post photos of stuff they’ve made. Some of it is awe-inspiring, and some of it is just odd.
Today, one of the posts was from this artist: https://www.resininbloom.com/
She had been commissioned to make several pieces incorporating locks of hair from someone who had died, along with flowers from the funeral. I don’t see those exact pieces on her website, but they were incredibly beautiful. Not tacky or ghoulish at all, they clearly were meant to be cherished by someone who loved that person.
Do an image search for "antique woven hair jewelry"—it was a very big thing in Victorian times, especially for mourning.
Years ago I inherited a watch fob chain made of blond hair that I didn't recognize for what it was—probably a courtship gift from my grandmother to my grandfather, who always had a pocket watch—and thought it was "hairy" without realizing it was literally hair, and I tossed it. Could kick myself.
I believe those who made the jewelry for other than mourning collected their hair from their brushes. They used to make special containers for it to sit on the dressing table. Of course, all the women had very long hair in that era, done up in a loose bun on top of the head. I suppose they had to comb the loose hairs together the same way people do who weave sheep's wool to make yarn or fabric--I think they call it "carding."
One thing I noticed when doing the image search is that with the hair jewelry for mourning, you would expect most of the examples to be gray or white hair, but surprisingly many are of brown hair. One surmises that the deaths of younger people would hit the mourner harder and give more impetus for making the necklaces, brooches, or bracelets from their departed loved one's hair.
There is a tradition/superstition that knitting a strand of your hair into a work will tie the recipient to you. I think this was most common in Estonia, Latvia and Russia.