Nature Table Figures: The Spring Collection

Ever since 1987, I've wanted to write for the J. Peterman Company. Whenever I write a description for an auction catalog item, J. Peterman's influence is present. I keep meaning to dig out the letter J. Peterman wrote to me in response to an impassioned plea to bring back the "Jane Austen dress," a simple but elegant gown I wanted to wear for my theoretical wedding.

Here my Spring Shade Garden Collection nature table dolls for the school auction:


Johnny Jump-Up, Wake-Robin Trillium, and Bleeding Heart

1. Johnny Jump-Up is a 5 ½ nature table figure inspired by the part-shade perennial also known as heartsease and referred to as “Love-in-idleness” by Oberon, King of the Fairies, in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.* This garden jester is dressed in yellow, purple and green with a removable lined vest. He is created out of wool and cotton plus metal pipe-cleaners for the arms, legs and flower staff. He can stand without support as long as his legs are bowed. Johnny-Jump Up will bring color and joy to your early summer nature table for years provided he is kept out of reach from animals and children who still put toys in their mouths.

2.Wake-Robin Trillium is a 5 ¼ inch nature table figure inspired by the three-petal woodland perennial. Most trillium flowers are white, but Wake-Robin wears a skirt of three deep red petals complemented by three dark green leaves. A simple garland of green merino wool adorns her auburn French twist. She is created out of wool and cotton plus metal pipe-cleaners for the arms and flower staff as well as metallic embroidery threads that border the sleeves and underskirt. While you should never pick trillium from the wild without a permit, Lady Wake-Robin will gladly come indoors to grace your spring nature table. However, she should be kept out of reach from animals and children who still put toys in their mouths.

3.Bleeding Heart is a 5 ¼ inch nature table figure inspired by the heart-shaped garden perennial and created for the person who can’t get enough of the color pink. Her ball-gown is decorated with tête de boeuf, wheat-ear, chain, petal and point russe embroidery stitches. Gold metallic thread winds through her hair of many braids. She is created out of wool and cotton plus metal pipe-cleaners for the arms and flower staff. While her natural counterpart is a shade-plant, Lady Bleeding Heart does not shrink from the spotlight. However, in order to assure that she blooms for months and returns the following year, she should be kept out of reach from animals and children who still put toys in their mouths.

*That very time I saw, but thou couldst not,
Flying between the cold moon and the earth,
Cupid all arm'd: a certain aim he took
At a fair vestal throned by the west,
And loosed his love-shaft smartly from his bow,
As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts;
But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft
Quench'd in the chaste beams of the watery moon,
And the imperial votaress passed on,
In maiden meditation, fancy-free.
Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell:
It fell upon a little western flower,
Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound,
And maidens call it love-in-idleness.
Fetch me that flower; the herb I shew'd thee once:
The juice of it on sleeping eye-lids laid
Will make or man or woman madly dote
Upon the next live creature that it sees.
--A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act II, Scene 1