Closed Casket Dolls

Profile of Lucy Westenra

The Story of How They Lost Their Heads

I must have been in a particularly morbid frame of mind when the primary idea came to me.  I was drawing with pastels and asking whomever it was that was there at that moment—Why do people have open vs. closed casket funerals?  Whose decision is it? What would be the criteria for the one over the other?  Do family members of the deceased ever insist on a closed casket? Do they insist on open ones?  What if the deceased person’s head or face is horribly disfigured, unfixable—what if the head is missing? I had continued drawing all throughout this possibly inappropriate discussion and came up with the solution:  Suppose flowers were blooming from the neck instead of the head? Flowers are beautiful, colorful, vibrant and alive.  Somewhat.  A perfect substitute for any cranium—and biodegradable. It has been several years ago since I had this vision.  Only a month or so ago, I decided to make it materialize as a doll.  My prototype—Marie Antoinette.  I have since added Lady Jane Grey, Mary Stuart the Queen of Scots, Catherine Howard and two versions of Anne Boleyn to the collection—all headless—with bouquets in place of them, and all quite worthy of their “insisted upon” open casket showings. Of course, the heads of these women probably had not been damaged or turned up missing once detached, but I felt the need to entertain the idea of what if they had been?

About the Dolls

All of my dolls are handmade by me.  Because I assemble them and their costumes from the remnants of my overflowing fabric chest, they are all custom made and unique.  So far, no two are alike and unless I happen upon a huge amount of material that I simply cannot make into anything for myself, no two ever will be.  Some of the gowns are modeled after paintings of the women the dolls portray, and some are of my own design.  All are at the very least as historically accurate as possible. I chose these historical women to create the dolls after because they were all beheaded for one reason or another—quite a few of them possibly innocent of their crimes—and most are fairly recognizable.  At least by name.

The following dolls are available for custom order: Anne Boleyn                                 Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots Marie Antoinette                           Catherine Howard Lady Jane Grey                            Charlotte Corday Benita Von Falkenhayn                  Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury Madam DuBarry                           Elisabeth Philippine Marie Helene Madam Roland                             Sophie Scholl Saint Columba of Spain                  Any other historical female  who, you know--lost her head  **Each doll comes with her own wooden casket and is removable from it if the desire strikes for her to be played with. **Pricing on the dolls vary but start at $75.  I accept personal checks and money orders. Please contact me at Dolface1973@aol.com if you are interested in purchasing one of my dolls, if you have questions or a special request. They will have their own site soon, but for now, you may view them here.