Taught online via Zoom

Tuesdays May 6 - May 27, 2025
6-9 pm ET (NYC time)
$175 Patreon Members / $195 General Admission

PLEASE NOTE: All classes will be recorded for those who cannot attend live. Also, this class requires supplies! List will be sent to students upon registration.

In this four-week class, students will learn about the history—and create their own piece—of Victorian hairwork.

We will explore—via readings, lectures, and making—the ways in which hairwork functions as a “secular relic,” and how this relates to the Catholic tradition of human relics as well as what has been called “the Victorian Cult of Mourning.” We will examine the genesis of Speaking Reliquaries, or Redende Reliquaire, and the transformation of human remains into objects of veneration, power, and sentiment. We will trace this idea to the 18th and 19th centuries, when the fascination with preserving human hair became popular as a means of keeping a physical relic or memento of a loved one—living or deceased—near. We will also examine how this developed in the context of Queen Victoria and the cult of mourning she inspired.

This course will also delve into the history of the veneration of human remains as memory objects, and participants will design and create their own memory objects utilizing classic techniques in Victorian hairwork which will be taught over the course of this class. Methods covered will include wire (gimp) wrapping, palette work, and sepia work. Other, less common, materials may also be included such as teeth, nails, pieces of fabric, etc. In this manner, animals or beloved pets may also be honored.

In the final class, students will present their final project.

A supply list will be emailed upon registration.

Karen Bachmann has over 30 years experience in the fine jewelry industry, and was on staff at Tiffany & Co for several years as a custom order jeweler. She is a professor of fine art/ design and art history at both Pratt Institute and Fashion Institute of Design. Her MA thesis focused on Victorian ornamental hairwork, which is a subject she is considered to be an expert on.