C is for Curios

The bracelet from Iran

Like many authors, I immerse myself in story as I write. For Night Mirrors, I dug up meaningful objects from my past or found acceptable replacements where I could, then gathered other items to add to my box of curios. I collected for inspiration, to put myself inside scenes, and to move deeper into my characters, especially my protagonist, Andie.

Immersion helps us add depth and layers to our storytelling. Whether while holding a paper cup, an inlaid box, a plastic doll, or a tattered book, whether hanging art above my desk, or studying an homage to Edward Hopper to imagine into existence a painting central to my story, each of these items let me inhabit my characters and helped me to understand their desires, fears, hopes, and dreams.

Now I share parts of my collection with you, my readers. I hope you enjoy my Curio Cabinet.

The boxes from Turkey

Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards

~ Soren Kierkegaard.

The Lost Girl ©Elisabeth Ladwig. Used by permission.

British Artist Phil Lockwood's homage to Edward Hopper

In Night Mirrors, I used this hand-painted ivory story bracelet my mother purchased in Iran in 1947 as the bracelet Andie sneaks out of her own mother's jewelry box. When I was a small girl, I would sneak this out of Mom's silk-covered jewelry box and make up stories about each panel.

The woman who inspired Aunt Ruby painted this watercolor depicting one of my sisters napping. It, in turn, was the inspiration for Lily's “Rückenfigur” (figure from the back) watercolor of Claire.

A restless summer nap

Paper cups from Uncle Ned's cooler on his truck

I drew my inspiration for Andie's large art box from these table-top boxes my parents collected in Turkey in the late 1940s.

For years I knew Lily would create an oil on canvas that she would name The Doppelgängers, but I couldn't bring all the fuzzy bits and parts in my head into a concrete image. I searched through scores of images online, and then accidentally stumbled across this homage to Hopper. Each window holds a Hopper painting, just as in The Doppelgängers, each window tells a story.

When I first chanced upon this talented photographic artist, Elisabeth Ladwig, online, I found her photographic composites enchanting and inspiring. As I wandered her virtual gallery, I discovered this work, The Lost Girl, a perfect depiction of Andie Chambers, my not-quite-plain but never-pretty and always "the one who fades into the background" protagonist. I bought a framed print of this work, and hung above my desk. The Lost Girl helped my finish Night Mirrors.

My uncle Doug had an aluminum cooler on his work truck, and when we came to visit, I loved drinking his "work water" from these little cups. The four sisters in Night Mirrors loved it too.

When we were little, my sisters and I loved to play with these little plastic dolls known as "pony-tail dolls." We usually pretended they were fairies, although sometimes we pretended they were a family of run-aways. Of course these little run-away girls always found a deserted but perfectly clean and well-stocked house to live in, and the house was always in an enchanted forest .

Pony-tail dolls

Visit Elisabeth on Earth to learn more.

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