The Making of the Brontë Collection

If we want to talk about when I was first inspired by the Brontë's, I would have to take you back to when I was 13. My sister got a copy of Jane Eyre with our homeschool material, she read it and raved about the book. So once she had finished reading, I snuck it away from her and read it at night after she was asleep. I kept it under my pillow. 
Before I could finish it, she found out that I was sneaking her book and took it back. But I'm a patient girl. I waited until she forgot about it and then I snuck it again, stuffed it under my mattress this time, and was able to finish the book.  After that I devoured any and all Brontë books and movies. 

In The Year of Our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty-Six, I decided it was time to immerse my brain once again in the raw world that is all things Brontë. 

After reading articles, watching movies, and refreshing my memory of the books, I started making my color/mood board. 

This is my starting collage that I made and worked from with Pinterest: 


I wanted colors that looked like moors that are covered with a ghostly mist. 
Lines of conversation that feel like poetry.  
Strong and steady feelings or ideals. 
Things that are raw and a little gritty tied with gracefulness.

With the exception of one purple and one grey test batch that didn't make the final set, this was my final outcome: 



Instead of getting the feeling behind the books just right, I focused on the Brontë siblings. What colors would they wear? What one would relate to maybe their moods or aura's? Their personalities? What colors would they make shawls and socks with? And then instead of the pulling in their actual names, maybe keeping the anonymity they craved by assigning them with their pseudonyms? 

And Branwell. Maybe an interesting choice to pair him in with the sisters as his story is not the happiest. I felt that representing part of themselves and their writing needed to include him. Their childhood creativity as siblings spurred on their inventive and bold writing that we know and love to this day. 

This has been one of my favorite sets to make. Taking a look into another lifetime and trying to pull out bits and pieces of inspiration has been so much fun. 

If you would like an immersive experience when working with the Brontë Collection, might I recommend these that I watched and listened to when making it: 
Music: Les Failles by Pomme 
Books: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, or The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
Movies: To Walk Invisible - BBC Masterpiece Theater