Welcome to the world of Melangell’s Mystikal Maidens, where I hope you will enjoy looking at my creations and finding out a little more about who I am and what I do. If you have any queries at all then please don’t hesitate to email me.
I live in Newcastle under Lyme, which is situated in North Staffordshire roughly half way between Manchester and Birmingham. Although it is not the most beautiful place in the world, it has the advantage of being surrounded by some beautiful countryside - to the North the landscape consists of wild moorlands and rocky outcrops as we near the southernmost foothills of the Pennines, whilst the Southern part of the county is softer and more pastoral as the River Trent winds its way seawards. The countryside provides a rich source of inspiration and is a wonderful place to escape to and find invigoration and renewal both physical and spiritual. Staffordshire is popularly known as the creative county due to its history of artistic innovation and development in both the pottery and textile industries - we have a rich seam of creative and inspirational individuals, which, together with the talented craftspeople of the area, have led to a varied and exciting legacy of art and design.
Each of my Maidens is an embodiment, in her own small way, of the feminine spiritual path chosen by many women, with its celebration of love, fertility, nurturing and growth. While many people these days follow more defined pagan spiritual guidelines, it is my belief that yet more people quietly choose their own personal route towards a relationship with a higher presence, deity, or collective energy - call it what you will - and I create my dolls to reflect this theme.
Although I use a mass-produced doll as the blank canvas for my creations, they are all otherwise totally individual - her clothing is all handmade, as is her jewellery (occasionally using lampwork beads made by another very talented Etsy artist) - and accessories too. Each doll is put together to create a harmonious and one of a kind being to reflect varying themes of paganism, witchery, nature, the sabbats, the Goddess and so on . These dolls are most definitely not playthings or suitable for children (I know you know this, but I would hate there to be even the tiniest bit of misunderstanding) - they are decorative items, and should be treated as such - I've seen them used as altar pieces, or simply to echo personal spiritual feelings, or to mark the passing seasons.
If you would like to take a look at the blog archive you can find it on my old website by clicking the link below
MAILING LIST NO LONGER IN USE - SORRY!
Apologies to anyone who signed up to join my mailing list from the old website - I have decided to discontinue using it as lots of my emails were coming back rejected by spam filters or defunct addresses. So you'll have to check on here instead for new dolls - I try to update each Monday but don't hold me to that!
