Author | Lightnews

Elizabeth Dearnley

@elizadearnley.bsky.social

2.5K followers 910 following 230 posts

Folklorist, writer, Lecturer in Creative Writing at Edinburgh Napier University. Editor of DEADLY DOLLS and FEARSOME FAIRIES (British Library). Fairy tales / horror / interactive stories / weird and eerie 🦇 Rep’d https://www.philippasitters.co.uk. She/her

www.philippasitters.co.uk.

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Reposted by Elizabeth Dearnley

HALLOWEIRD @johnnymains.co.uk · 16d

Charity shop going HARD on the haunted dolls this Halloween!

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Elizabeth Dearnley @elizadearnley.bsky.social · 16d

Oh wow!!! Yes that may be too many dolls even for me 😱

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Elizabeth Dearnley @elizadearnley.bsky.social · 24d

I fail to see why this is an either /or choice 🌿

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Elizabeth Dearnley @elizadearnley.bsky.social · 25d

Yay! Victorian lady botany automatically makes everything more joyful / less angry and fighty

Elizabeth Dearnley @elizadearnley.bsky.social · 26d

Slowly unpacking my study and filling a drawer with pressed seaweed, like a Victorian lady botanist 🌿🪸

A cabinet drawer filled with sheets of pressed seaweed in shades of red, brown and green.

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Elizabeth Dearnley @elizadearnley.bsky.social · Sep 16

Moving house in two days with all the essentials packed 🍄🌿🫙🪶

A series of packing boxes with increasingly weird labels.

Elizabeth Dearnley @elizadearnley.bsky.social · Sep 16

Thank you! I love it so much 💚✨

Elizabeth Dearnley @elizadearnley.bsky.social · Sep 16

🧚🏾🍄✨

Elizabeth Dearnley @elizadearnley.bsky.social · Sep 16

Thank you!!

Elizabeth Dearnley @elizadearnley.bsky.social · Sep 16

Thank you so much!

Elizabeth Dearnley @elizadearnley.bsky.social · Aug 31

Huge news! 🌿✨💍✨🌿 I’m overjoyed to be marrying my love Darrick, and also exceptionally excited about this ring, which is basically a forest in ring form 🌳💍💚 It is tourmaline, peridot and diamond!

A very sparkly engagement ring with a tourmaline centre stone, surrounded by peridots and diamonds, pictured against a moss-covered tree in the Hermitage of Braid.

Me and my fiancé Darrick in a wood at sunset.

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Elizabeth Dearnley @elizadearnley.bsky.social · Jul 10

Thank you much! That’s really great to hear - and your monsters thesis sounds right up my street! Hope you enjoy the rest of the book 🧚🏾

Elizabeth Dearnley @elizadearnley.bsky.social · Jul 7

I popped into @mediamuseum.bsky.social on my way back from the festival yesterday, and was so happy to catch up with my favourite exhibit, the Pepper’s Ghost darkroom!

I found this absolutely magical as a child, and still do now - there are so many throughlines between this and my work today! 🎞️✨🕷️

Pepper’s Ghost illusion at the Bradford Media Museum, showing a bathroom being used as a darkroom under red light.

Pepper’s Ghost illusion at the Bradford Media Museum, showing a bathroom being used as a darkroom. The red light is now white.

Pepper’s Ghost illusion at the Bradford Media Museum, showing an ordinary bathroom with a comedy spider in the bathtub.

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Elizabeth Dearnley @elizadearnley.bsky.social · Jul 5

On my way to @bradfordlitfest.bsky.social to take part in this wonderfully weird event tomorrow! Very excited to talk creepy dolls, toys and all things spooky 🧸🕸️👁️
www.bradfordlitfest.co.uk/event/tales-...

www.bradfordlitfest.co.uk

Elizabeth Dearnley @elizadearnley.bsky.social · Jul 4

Labyrinth David GIF

Alt: Labyrinth David GIF

media.tenor.com

Elizabeth Dearnley @elizadearnley.bsky.social · Jul 4

GOBLIN HAIR 🌿💚🌿 bringing me ever closer to my final fae form 🧚🏾

A selfie of Elizabeth with gobliny green streaks in her hair.

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Elizabeth Dearnley @elizadearnley.bsky.social · Jul 4

Haha yes, I’m already getting my goblin hoard together 🌿 and thank you!

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Elizabeth Dearnley @elizadearnley.bsky.social · May 23

Second avocado attempt was much more successful! This time the skins and stones were much fresher, and I also added three teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda to the dyebath to make it more alkaline.

🩷 darker pink skein with alum mordant
🌸 lighter pink skein no mordant
🤎 original avocado skeins

Four skeins of wool dyed with avocado skins and stones. The bottom two are a soft dusty rose colour, the top two are a browny peach.

Four skeins of wool dyed with avocado skins and stones. The right two are a soft dusty rose colour, the left two are a browny beige-peach.

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Elizabeth Dearnley @elizadearnley.bsky.social · May 23

Thank you - it really is! I can see how this could become addictive. I already have a few more dye pots on the go…

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Elizabeth Dearnley @elizadearnley.bsky.social · May 16

A VERY long shot, but I just found a ring in Bute Park, Cardiff, in case anyone has lost one! I left it where it was #butepark #cardiff

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Elizabeth Dearnley @elizadearnley.bsky.social · May 10

Results of the first experiments, L-R:

🤎 avocado skins and stones, no mordant
🤎 avocado skins and stones, alum mordant
💛 red onion skins, alum mordant
🧡 yellow onion skins, alum mordant

The avocado didn’t quite go the pink I was hoping for, but I’m really pleased with the onion skins!

Four skeins of yarn dyed with avocado and onion skins. The two dyed with avocados are a pale browny peach, and the two dyed with onions are a bright mustard yellow.

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Elizabeth Dearnley @elizadearnley.bsky.social · May 10

Thank you so much - this is all incredibly helpful! 🧶✨

Elizabeth Dearnley @elizadearnley.bsky.social · May 8

Haha, I have actually made avocado soup (although not from the skins which would probably be less tasty)!

I used a mixture of alum powder and cream of tartar as a mordant (roughly 8g alum and 7g of CoT for 100g dry wool)

Elizabeth Dearnley @elizadearnley.bsky.social · May 8

Thanks so much! I was actually wondering if you could recommend an iron modifier? I’m slightly scared to start experimenting with (a) possibly toxic substances that (b) can weaken the yarn 😬

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Reposted by Elizabeth Dearnley

RSPB @rspb.bsky.social · May 8

Happy 99th birthday to the man who gave voice to the wild. 🎉

Sir David Attenborough, thank you for a lifetime dedicated to the natural world, and for sharing its story with wisdom, wonder, and grace.

You've inspired generations to fall in love with nature.

This photograph captures Sir David Attenborough seated outdoors on the rugged terrain of Skomer Island. Behind him, the ocean and coastal cliffs form a scenic backdrop under a clear sky. Sir David, dressed in a khaki jacket and light trousers, looks towards the camera with a gentle expression, exuding a sense of warmth, calm, and wisdom. Around him, puffins can be seen flying and perched on the rocky ground, illuminated in rays of golden sunlight as the sun sets behind the cliffs.

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