Melusine, Faery Serpent Woman Teddy Bear from Scratching at the Window, soft sculpture creations by Karen Waschinski

"... and of regrets, I have not one."

--from Claire Delacroix's "An Elegy for Melusine" in the book To Weave a Web of Magic

Melusine, the Serpent Woman

Melusine visits us from the 14th Century French faerytale. She is the beautiful but cursed daughter of a faery/human coupling, forced to live out the remainder of her years as a serpent woman because her husband could not keep his promise.

Melusine not only has a serpent's tail, she also has reptilian wings. Her tail is a silvery blue snakeskin while her wings are in shimmery white and blue, the traditional colors for this fey. They are fully wired and poseable, with shell "thumb" claws.

In the faerytale, Melusine's upper half is untouched by the curse, but I felt that the reptilian parts should be connected. Therefore, the snakeskin spreads up her back to where the wing buds erupted through her skin, pictured below.

Measuring approximately 22 inches from the top of her curly auburn hair to the tip of her slithery tail, Melusine was created in white German mohair, with her tail in a synthetic imitation snakeskin fabric. She has white leatherette paw pads, metallic brown embroidery floss claws and blue glass eyes accented with eyelashes. Her hand-stitched nose and mouth are embroidery floss. Long curls of auburn hair tumble about her lovely face.

Her wired arms and wings are connected to her Flexlimb spine which extends all the way through to the tip of her tail. Therefore she's fully poseable, however she does need the support of a stand to remain upright. After all, she'd rather be flying or in her bathtub!

(If you're a more modest sort, Melusine does have a cover-up that she can wear, a suede like bikini top.)