Quick Specs
- Type: Gothic fairy figurine with character card
- Height: About 3 inches
- Material: Hand-painted resin
- Colors: Black dress and hair, cream skin, red eyes and wings
- Base: Round, black
- Includes: Double-sided collectible character card
- Series: Spirit Fairies
A Gothic Fairy With a Frown and Red Bat Wings
Mortina’s face does most of the talking. Her cream-colored head is large for her body, and two wide, glossy red eyes fill much of it, edged with heavy lashes that slope down at the outer corners. Under a blunt black fringe, two tiny dots mark her nose, and her mouth is a small, firm frown. Her hair is straight and shiny, gathered into two high pigtails whose tips flick outward. The dress is black as well, with a high collar, a frilled bodice, ruffled cuffs, and a skirt that falls in three tiers. Her small pale hands are clasped at her waist, which gives the pose a stiff, formal shyness. Behind her shoulders, a pair of scalloped wings is shaped like a bat’s and painted red with darker shading. The finish is glossy from her hair to the hem, so the ruffles catch the light in ridges. The pigtails and wings flare out from her outline, which gives a figure this small a distinct shape across a room.
Mortina is one of the Spirit Fairies, a range of small gothic fairy figurines made of resin and painted by hand, in which each character gets its own look and personality. Hers is a deadpan one. The palette stays tight, with black, pale cream, and red, so her eyes and wings carry the only color on her and the frown does the rest. The shapes are soft almost everywhere, from the round head to the full sleeves and the layered skirt, and the scalloped points along the wings are the one sharp contrast. Her head takes up close to half her height, which gives her the big-eyed, small-bodied look of a character piece. The hand-painting shows in the small details, such as the thin dark lashes that follow the lids, the fine lines that mark her fingers, and the bright gloss over the red eyes. A double-sided collectible character card comes with her, a keepsake that belongs to the series. At this size she is small enough to sit beside books or crystals without crowding them, and her round base gives her a small footprint.
Practical Display Applications
Mortina works best where a small dark figure can catch light. On a bookshelf she stands out against pale spines or a light wall, and a windowsill with side light brings out the gloss on her hair and eyes. A desk gives her an audience of one. If you keep a shelf of oddities, she fits at the edge beside black candles in their own holders, dried flowers, or small crystals, a small character among the larger things. In a dim room, a small lamp placed beside her lights the glossy eyes best, and a lit candle belongs in a holder a safe distance away. As a gift she suits someone who collects gothic or fantasy figures, since she arrives as a finished character. For more figures to stand beside her, browse my statues collection.
How to Display and Care for Mortina
Three steps from choosing her spot to keeping her finish clean.
- Choose a Steady Spot
Set her on a flat, stable surface a few inches back from the edge, where a bump or a curious pet can't tip her. Her wings and pigtails stick out from her body, so leave room around her. Light from the side shows the gloss on her hair and eyes, but long direct sunlight can alter the colors of paint, so indirect light is better. Keep her away from candle flames and heaters.
- Display the Card
Take the card from her packaging and look at both sides before you decide how to show it. A card sleeve, a small photo stand, or a book propped at a slight angle keeps it upright beside her. If you want both sides to stay in view, place it where you can pick it up and turn it now and then.
- Dust Her Gently
Lift her by the base, not by the wings or pigtails, since thin and protruding parts take the most stress. Dust with a soft, dry brush, such as a clean makeup brush, working around the ruffles and behind the wings with no pressure. Skip detergents and wipes, which figurine care guides advise avoiding.
The Tarot Fellow Standard
I stock Mortina as a character piece: a small, hand-painted resin fairy with a clear point of view, a frown, red bat-shaped wings, and a collectible card that comes with her. She is made for display, which makes her an easy fit beside a Tarot deck, a candle, or a stack of books. For people who like their fairies with some edge, the frown, red eyes, and bat-shaped wings make her a darker choice, and the card adds a small collectible extra. Browse my novelty and gift ideas collection for more small curiosities.
Frequently Asked Questions
Rarely. Traditional accounts seldom describe wings; folk fairies flew by magic and were said to perch on ragwort stems or the backs of birds. The winged fairy took hold in art, where wings became common in Victorian and later pictures, and modern illustrations often give fairies dragonfly or butterfly wings. Mortina's red bat-shaped wings follow that artists' habit of adding wings, in a darker shape than the usual butterfly or dragonfly.
Both, depending on the fairy. One fairy-lore writer answers “it depends”: some fairies help, some are cruel, and most are ambivalent, indifferent to people who treat them well and quick to punish anyone who breaks their rules. Scottish folklore sorts them into the Seelie Court, more benevolent but still dangerous, and the Unseelie Court, more malicious. A gothic fairy like Mortina fits that older, less sugary picture.
In Celtic folklore, baked goods are a traditional offering to the folk, along with cream and butter. Fairy lore also stresses manners: food and drink left out should be clean and wholesome, and a little stale bread would not offend, though spoiled food was said to bring trouble. These are recorded folk customs.
Not always. Reference guides often call fairies diminutive, and reported sizes range from quite tiny to the size of a human, with small sizes sometimes assumed by magic. Among trooping fairies small is common but not universal, while solitary fairies are rarely tiny, and some are bigger than any person they meet. A palm-sized fairy like Mortina follows the small picture, which is one among several.
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