Cobweb the Cobbler is the Shoemaker to Elves, Fairies and all in the Land of the Fae, and inside this tiny box are a pair of shoes that the esteemed Cobbler is secretly rather proud of.
Made for a young, sweet, impish, dis-orderly, tousled haired and ever so slightly rumpled, teenage, 140 years old Fairy who recently discovered that she kind of likes the Goth scene – only without the grumpy bits. She has the blackest of black hair, which, if she’d only stop back-combing it, would be long, sleek and shiny. She has a variety of fairy wings – but does favour her black insect wings which were found among the autumn leaves last year and fashioned into fairy wings by Drucilla herself.
She wears (mostly) her much-loved, slightly raggedy, black Fairy tutu, teamed with her very most favourite top in the whole world – a cream and black stripe top with long sleeves which droop down onto her hands. The sleeves are just loose enough for her to hide her fairy wand up them, but tight enough to hold the wand there safely.
Onto her top she pins the thing she’s known for best …. a red rose brooch pin which was made for her by her Grandmother. Whatever she’s wearing, whatever the day, time, or occasion, she is never seen without that red rose.
But … she was in need of some special shoes for her ‘look’ to be complete, so Cobweb the Cobbler came up with an idea, and the Drucilla Penny Red Rose Fairy Shoes were born.
The tiny 2″ long shoes were rather difficult to photograph, – you see … they’re actually the darkest of black, but they have a very special silver dust finish to them which makes them twinkle madly – however the camera has picked up that shimmery twinkle and made the shoes look as if they’re a steel grey. They aren’t. They’re truly black!
They have a gold, hand-made buckle on the front, and red roses on a vine which winds its way around the shoes.
On the edges of the shoes, just where Drucilla puts her feet into them, are round, amber glass beads on golden wires, which arch gracefully outwards, with the amber beads loosely suspended from them so that the amber glass ‘tinkles’ and makes the most wonderful sound as they move against each other when the shoes are worn. (Imagine a small bag of coins being gently shaken – but then turn the sound down so that it’s really gentle and only just audible. That’s the closest I can get to describing the sound!).
Drucilla Penny loves her new shoes and can’t stop looking at them. Pausing over ponds and lakes so that she can admire her shoes in the reflection in the water. Aw, bless her heart.
Where Did Drucilla Penny get her name from?
Many years ago I was a big Carpenters fan and had almost all of their records. One of the songs on one of their albums was a fabulous little bit of fun called ‘Druscilla Penny’, and it was this song which I was singing to myself as those fairy shoes (above) were being fashioned. Once finished, I decided that they’d have to be for a fabulous fairy called Drucilla Penny (different spelling), in honour of the song. And that’s how the Fairy Shoes came to ‘be’.
I found a video of Richard and Karen Carpenter singing the song and I did originally put the video here, but I found it was (for some reaon) attracting tons of spam messages, apparently from some very odd WordPress blog sites, so I’ve removed the video. But if you visit youtube and put ‘Carpenters’ and Druscilla Penny’ in the search bar there, it will give you a choice of a couple of videos you can watch and listen to.
Lyrics – so that you can sing along if you’re in the mood!
Druscilla Penny, what a name
Are you sure you didn’t make it up yourself?
Youre very pretty, yes you are
But with all the junk you wear, its hard to tell
Man you must work hard to get your hair to look like that
I don’t need a horoscope to tell me where you’re at
Your family’s probably given up on you
Since you began to follow groups of long-haired rock ‘n’ rollers
I can hear your mother crying for her daughter
Druscilla Penny, what a girl
Where’s the purpose to the crazy life you lead?
It doesn’t matter after all
You’re so sure that instant love is all you need
I’ve seen your face at least a thousand times
You’re always standing there behind the stages at the concerts
Waiting for an offer to be with someone after
Druscilla Penny, how’s your head?
Do you ever wake up lonely in the night?
It isn’t easy for a girl when she can’t decide if love is wrong or right
I hope I live to see a change, could you ever really love?
Ever really care? Ever really get it together? No.
Thank you for coming to visit my blog, and for taking a look into the fabulous world of Fairy Shoes. I loved making these shoes. They’re so detailed, and I really love those little details in art works – whatever they’re made from! Hope you like them too.
Have a wonderful weekend, and a truly blessed rest of your day!
The Art of Cobwebs 