I’ve done it again! “What’s that?” you call out in unison. I’ve only gone and overthought something relatively simple and made it a massive task to come back around to pretty much where I was at the start! But, to be honest, what else could you have come to expect from me? Certainly not slap-dash careless mini design! (read the research here if you missed it)

It’s been a while, but I can finally present you the designs for Anne Bonny and Mary Read. As with many of the figures we design, it starts off like “yeah, easy”, and then before you know it, you’re deep in the comments section of how to load and fire a flintlock pistol and reading trial documents from 1720’s Jamaica.

I think what overwhelmed me was the sheer amount of depictions of these ladies- the majority, of course, not historically accurate, and a fair amount of those somewhat… risque! Female pirates sure have captured people’s imagination and inspiration for quite some time.

The goal is to make these believable for the era, yet still compete with fantasy design for cool miniatures that you’d use in fantasy settings in addition to historical. This was similar to the brief for fellow pirate Jeanne de Clisson. Hopefully, we shall achieve these two as we did Jeanne.

Starting with Anne Bonny

As the two women were of the same era as well as crew-mates, it could have been easy to put them in the same gear. However, I have decided to use this as an opportunity to show off two styles of pirates – the working on the deck and the fancy “out on the town” look. I won’t even tell you off if you wish to swap their names around either (gasp).

USUAL DISCLAIMER: These sketches exist only to inform the sculptor what goes where, I’m not a professional artist and the further details are given via photo references which often can’t be put on the blog for copyright reasons (private collections and the such). The sculptor (Alan Marsh) also tweaks the design as he goes long to make sure it works for single piece casting and 28mm scale.

It is said that when she went to land, Anne Bonny would dress up in all the finest styles, a common act of pirates. She could have been in a dress (future mini perhaps?) but I’ve gone for men’s clothing as it suits her story better. Also, she may well have been more comfortable in men’s clothing after all this time, and it could help protect her. And, well, this gear is cool. She has very similar clothing to our Julie d’Aubigny figure, being of a very close period and high society. The references for the coat and trousers are the same, as well as the buckle shoes. And I think it would be very daring of Anne to wear the red-heeled Louis fashion while being a criminal.

Operating in more of a lawless environment, she’s going to have her jacket OPEN (how many times can we gasp during this?), showing off her pirate shirt and… maybe a scarf? I pondered a scarf after scribbling, what do you think? Around her waist is a tied sash, with a belt over (it’s handy to tuck things between the two, guns and such) with the scabbard.

She can be painted historically with long white socks or all sorts of stripes, making her very versatile. I feel the shirt should be more fancy (or have the scarf), so it’s not the same as the standard sailor’s shirt. You can see the ruffled sleeves poking out of the coat.

The tricorne was very fashionable in the 18th century and, of course, another popular pirate icon, so she’s wearing one of those, probably with a nice gold trim! She’s off to shore to have a good, absolutely law-abiding* time, so she has to look her fanciest.

*ha!

“Two women, prisoners at the bar, were then on board the said sloop, and wore men’s jackets and long trousers, and handkerchiefs tied about their heads, and that each of them had a machete and pistol in their hands… the reason of her knowing and believing them to be women then was by the largeness of their breasts.” – An account of Dorothy Spenlow’s testimony during the trial.

What is Mary wearing on deck?

Sailor gear of course! Accustomed to being at sea from her early days in The Royal Navy, I decided she should be in the same outfit as the chaps. It was said the pair dressed as men, but outside of that is pretty much speculation. I’ve come to the conclusion that they weren’t in disguise, especially on deck, but wearing comfortable sailor clothing because – sea is pretty treacherous!

Because she can’t rely on fancy fashion for a cool model, I got really stuck on Mary. I decided to show you my first attempt, bravely. It was a great pose but wouldn’t translate to sculpt very well, so I went with something a bit more classic. A miniature’s silhouette is important, and I feel this works much better. If you do think the first one looks better then shhh don’t tell me.

I’m a sucker for big curly hair, and in this case, it can help set them apart from the male figures with shorter cuts. The sea air would give them fluffy locks- I can’t quite see them in the cabin with their ghds somehow. With Mary I’ve decided she is going to go for a “half up half down” as she’s tied it up out her face, with the help of the handkerchief, and kept the lower bit down to protect her neck from the sun.

The shoes are drawn the same as Anne’s, but that was from habit; they’re going to be the more simplified sailors buckle shoes, though at 28mm, they won’t look much different, just softer leather and less of a heel. She’s gonna have a machete with no scabbard and no holster for the pistol, as she just tucks them between her belt and sash – much less faffing for a busy pirate.

What’s next?

Next up, this very evening is…… Olga of Kiev! Whether the blog post goes up tonight is another thing, but it’s totally getting started. We’re also very overdue the relaunch and slight switcharoo, so again thanks for all the patience. It’s just been a heck of a year for me running from task to task!

I also need to send this to the sculptor Alan, with all the photo references and additional notes that I have gathered – after a nice cup of tea though.

Thanks all

Annie.