I made flower granny squares, with flower language themed for the characters and stories!
@universalmonstersweek
Dracula (Book specifically, here)
Dracula himself gets a begonia: fanciful nature, beware, be cordial, danger. With plenty of red because. I don't think I need to explain that one.
Next we have an aster, for our beloved Mina. Asters can mean elegance, hope, power, symbol of love, valor, wisdom, and like a star, and as Van Helsing says, “There are darknesses in life and there are lights, and you are one of the lights, the light of all lights.”
Our good friend Jonathan gets a peony, which among other things means anger, bravery, compassion, happy marriage, healing, life, and loyalty. Peonies are said to protect the body, mind, spirit, and soul, to fend off evil spirits, and can be used to chase away an incubus or as a cure for lunacy.
For Quincey and Lucy, we have a zinnia, for absent friends, loyalty, I mourn your absence, and I miss you. The specific colors have meanings too, with pink being for lasting affection, red for constancy, white for goodness, and yellow for haunting memories.
Last for Dracula characters, we have a narcissus for Renfield: deceitful hopes, egotism, faith, promise of eternal life, vanity and death, but also: appreciation of honesty, clarity of thought, forgiveness, and hope. I didn't mean for the light colors I picked for the flower to look like a sunrise, but I am happy with the way it turned out.
Frankenstein (1931)
First, we have Daisies for the Creature: beauty and innocence, childlike playfulness, decisions, gentleness, simplicity, strength. I think daisies also tie in nice with Little Maria in the movie :) Light and dark colors, for the good and the bad, how things went and how they could've gone.
It might be hard to tell from the colors, but I picked a marigold for the Bride, meaning among other things, affection, despair, cruelty, grace, joy, longevity, pain, passion, and trouble. I thought inverting the typical oranges to blue felt fitting for her, and gray for the border for uncertainty, the muddling of dark and light.
Lastly here, Henry Frankenstein gets a hollyhock: ambition, ambition of a scholar, fecundity, fruitfulness. I put black petals for mourning, and decided he gets the greens typically associated with the Creature.
The Mummy (1932)
Ankh-es-en-Amun gets a waterlily: life and death, rebirth, harmony, purity. Reincarnation, and I felt like it tied in with her devotion to Isis.
We also have a camellia for Imhotep, meaning deep longing, desire, passion, steadfastness, transience of life. Red for in love, and you're a flame in my heart, Yellow for longing, and White for adoration and waiting.
The Invisible Man (1933)
I went ahead and put the sequels with this one!
First we have a dahlia for Jack Griffin: Forever yours, instability, novelty, warning of change (and good taste, which he must have, because just look at Flora.) The darker meanings of dahlias are more generally associated with black dahlias (which are actually dark red) which influenced the colors I picked.
Next, for The Invisible Man Returns (1940), we have a clover, meaning (among other things) good luck, love, money, success, industry, and revenge. I wanted it to be three-leafed, for Geoff, Helen, and Frank, but since I couldn't figure out how to change the pattern, we can include Michael too even if he's not part of the polycule
Lastly, for The Invisible Woman (1940), we have a lily for Kitty! Pride and sweetness were listed under general lily meanings, but I focused mostly on the color meanings for orange and yellow: Orange- desire, dislike, passion, revenge. Yellow- falsehood, gaiety, happiness, lies, I’m walking on air, playful beauty. Kitty Carroll my underrated beloved.
The Wolf Man (1941)
I wanted to have more but I just couldn't put it together in time,,,, but I'd like you all to know that there is a superstition that if a pansy is picked still wet with dew, there will be death of a loved one and weeping until the next full moon :)
We have an anemone for Larry, meaning abiding love, being forsaken, expectation, estrangement, illness, sincerity, withered hopes, suffering, and death. Red for blood, and I liked the full moon look of the white flower on a dark blue background.
I also picked a geum for Maleva/the charm she gives Larry, meaning work as a prayer. If worn as an amulet, geum is said to protect against attacks from beasts, dogs, and snakes. The Ortus Sanitatis (published 1491, funnily enough) says “Where the root is in the house, Satan can do nothing and flies from it, wherefore it is blessed before all other herbs, and if a man carries the root about him no venomous beast can harm him." It also has an association with Christianity. I picked the gray, pink, and blue as lighter versions of the anemone colors, and gray also works for silver and with the idea of no clear divides between light and dark.
Creature From The Black Lagoon (1954)
I have one here, sort of for the whole movie. I picked a sunflower with its meanings of ambition, constancy, false appearance, lofty thoughts, opportunity, pride, and vitality.
Other Sequels
I have a coreopsis for Ilonka from House of Frankenstein (1944), meaning always cheerful, love at first sight, impatience of happiness, impatience of absence. Its also supposed to be a favorite flower of fairies, which I think is fun.
