I started a new project. I guess it will be something more of an extension of this blog, than its own entity. I plan on updated it very often, for these are images  I come across daily. I truly regret having not started this a long time ago as I look back on some of the most amazing images which I let slip through the cracks. At least to me.  Be easy, I just started putting it together.

Visit HERE.

my husband-to-be’s fascination and respect for the British sub-culture

The Teddy Boys.

I received these beautiful Ben Watts pics from him today and they’ve  got me remembering rainy nights at the Tractor Tavern filled up with oddball Rockabilly bands sporting extra-long sideburns and bright socks…

oh yeah — and London.

More here.

Photos : Ben Watts

Kudos to the BBC for bringing back Ruth, Peter and Alex, the Historians who lived and worked as Victorian Farmers in ‘A Victorian Farm’ for one year.  Working to the Farm Bible of the time, The Book Of The Farm, by Henry Stephens and Eliza Acton’s Recipe Book (The Actons own the farm that they are based at and is a living museum), they recreate the traditional methods.

The BBC has reunited this team, who are great friends and are really enthusiastic, for a 3-part Christmas Special and I’m really enjoying it.  If you go to the BBC Website, they have many activities you can do to recreate Christmas of this era from this team, although the actual programme replay is probably region-locked.

This wasn’t the first time that the team have worked together.  They first recreated Tudor Life in the BBC programme Tales from the Green Valley and at present they are involved in bringing the Edwardian era to life… this to be shown at a later date.

These programmes are absolutely a must for me and if anyone has English links at these times it’s well worth seeking the DVDs providing you have region-free.

© Karen Taylor 2009

I’ve always loved Victorian clothing, homes, and design, but I have to say, in researching the Edwardian period more than I previously had, it’s starting to win me over somewhat. Though the two have a modest amount of differences, the Edwardian clothing and styles have a bit more of a darker, romantic, gothic feel to them. The clothing that I select for myself has more of that same principle to it – I wear a lot of black and white and like to mix dainty lace and frills with contrasting dark accessories and garments that are more structured and have a less flowy quality to them.

Lily Elsie (left) was a and English theatre actress. When I spotted her while researching actresses of the Edwardian period, I was immediately intrigued by her look. I might do a post solely devoted to her one day after I’ve read a bit more about her! I haven’t looked that much into Phyllis Monkman (right), but I believe she was an actress and belly-dancer. The photo above is from The Butterflies and you can read an interesting little review of that performance here.

Daisy Jerome (left) and Mabel Love (right), two more lovely Edwardian actresses. Something about Mabel’s face reminds me quite a bit of Clara Bow.

Beautiful Edwardian inspired corset and children playing while donned up in clothing inspired by the era.

Items found while playing around on polyvore – some authentic Edwardian pieces and some other dresses and accessories that I thought fit nicely with the time period. The ModCloth dress on the left specifically reminds me of something that would have been worn then.

Edwardian style home and the most gorgeous dress ever. I need a dress like that in my life! Of course, I wouldn’t have anywhere to wear it, but hey. Maybe if I get married, my wedding dress will look like that? A girl can dream.

Edwardian inspired pieces from a Christian Lacroix (left) collection and an Armani (right) collection.

Isadora Duncan (left) was a highly acclaimed American dancer with an extremely interesting life story (check out her wikipedia!) and I can’t seem to find much on Ethel Oliver (right), but she was another beautiful Edwardian actress.

Känner mig en smula Edwardiansk idag;

x

One ingredient of one of my current projects–a series of large paintings of objets d’arts Americana. This is the left boot of a pair that belonged to my great-great grandmother. I’ve completed principal photography of my source objects and plan to begin work on these in mid-December during my Yule break.

steampunk n. a genre of science fiction set in Victorian times when steam was the main source of machine power.

(Lizzi Hayes) Mom was the first to introduce me to steampunk about a year ago. I remember she was really excited about it and showed me different pictures of the different things that are involved in the steampunk trend (you gotta see this modified PC):

I was very interested, but mostly in the jewelry, which is made out of different metals, watch and clock pieces, jewels, wires, stones, and so much more. This one is from The Steampunk Trunk on etsy:

But Mom was more interested in the fashion; tight corsets, full skirts, embroidered jackets, top hats, and long coats. Since Mom and I are so fascinated and interested in steampunk, we decided to show off the pieces of steampunk jewelry and the steampunk fashion we love!

As I was surfing the net, I found a great website full of steampunk clothing and accessories that every fashionista would love. It’s called Clockwork Couture.

This website provides lots of cool Victorian-esque clothing. Some of my favorite items were these:

Feel free to explore this wonderful site!!!

Now onto jewelry. Steampunk jewelry isn’t as simple as it looks. It seems as though you could just smash an old watch and glue the pieces onto a simple bangle. It’s actually a lot more beautiful than that…

edmdesigns on Etsey has wonderful jewelry. Some of it is extreme, others are very classy and simple.

An example of extreme would be this gorgeous steampunk cuff.

It also comes in many other styles.

There are many rings that I find actually very beautiful and fascinating:

This ring I’m putting on my Christmas List!!!!

Overall, I think the steampunk style and philosophy is great and very stylish because I love the intricate mix of mechanical and romantic.

(Erika/Mom) Maybe I’ve read too many Regency, Victorian, and Edwardian fantasy novels but for me steampunk is as seductive as Johnny Depp. And I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty tired of the same old, same old jeans and sweaters. Steampunk is escapism you can wear. Evoking the adventurous feminism of Amelia Earhardt, the tailored romance of Nicole Kidman in Australia and the everyday wackiness of Helena Bonham Carter, steampunk is a trip to the past when England’s love of mechanical innovation met its last days as an uncontested world power.

I discovered this new-old world of steampunk while working on a book proposal last year and am fascinated with the people who live it.

Jewelry is probably the easiest way to express your steampunkism. Etsy has many sellers who specialize in exquisite piecees as Lizzy pointed out. Dressing steampunk is a little trickier–the components are highly theatrical and you might easily be mistaken for an extra in Moulin Rouge. An example of toned-down steampunk is this little mineral wash jacket Lizzi and I spotted at Delia’s over the weekend:

Pair this with a ruffled white shirt, black jodhpur-style pants, a pair of black boots, and by jove, you’ve got it!

I don’t normally bother with china for many reasons — the after-market for it is weak, it is difficult to transport home, time-consuming to ship, etc.   Personally, I love the look and history of  it, but the profit-to-time ratio is usually just not good.

Last week, however, I came across a partial set of china at a local estate auction that was so pretty, I had to have it!   I didn’t know anything about it other than it was really old and in good condition.  So I packed it up, brought it home, started my research.  Here is what I learned…

The set was made by an English company called Dunn Bennett, which was eventually merged into the company we now know as Royal Doulton.   Based on the markings on the bottom,  these pieces can be dated to between 1886 and 1907.  The pattern name is “Coronation”, and it was very likely made in honor the the coronation of King Edward VII in 1902!   Was this on the King’s table?  No.  This type of china was much too common for the King himself, but the upper-crusty British citizens certainly would have displayed it proudly.  This type of ironstone china is called “transferware” — the green portion of the design is applied to the piece as a whole (like a sticker) prior to firing.  After the piece was fired, an artisan hand-painted the gold trim around the transferred design.  Gorgeous!

While this is not a Christmas pattern per se, with its green and gold design I think a piece or two on a Christmas table would look great!   Because  I prefer a shabby-chic mish-mash of all sorts of pretty dishes on my table rather than a matchy-matchy table, and I know most people these days don’t want to be bothered with multiple sets of dishes, I’m selling this set on eBay by the piece.   Buy one or buy them all, either way you’re guaranteed compliments and now you have a fun backstory to go with! 

Pictured above is the round butter dish from the set.  I also have a lovely covered vegetable tureen, an open side dish, a large lot of butter pats and next week. some plates and bowls.  I have a bunch of teacups too but no saucers, so I’m keeping them and making hand-poured beeswax teacup candles to give to my friends and family for Christmas.  Yes, this is a test to see who is reading my blog!  Mention this and maybe you’ll get two!

Yes, for things that glitter, there will be a sequel. You’ve seen cool cuffs and shoes that shine, so let’s take a look at the bag and crowning jewels to top it all off.
If I could spend $272 on a clutch, it would probably spend it on this one by Antik Batik.	But I can’t.  So I’m taking a second look at this “Sparkle-licious” eye candy from etsy.com.  This piece by Angee and Vincci is only $90 but still includes special touches like a big, crystal brooch and a bright pop of pink liner on the inside!
This regal Marni piece is made of wool, metal, and Swarovski crystals.  Of course, you have to be royalty to afford a $1,242 piece of bling.	This beauty is called Tangled Royalty, with light pink crystals and delicate charms in one big, sexy bunch!

And here’s one more, just for the heck of it.

This pair of Opulant Edwardian Rose earrings is by mythunderstood on Etsy.  They’re only $27, and they are absolutely elegant. These would  immediately turn your LBD into a breathtaking, feminine ensemble.

So, there’s your second dose of shine and rhinestones of the antique variety.  Happy hunting!

T & A (right & left) 1998

Look at us!! This was in 1998 when we first started costuming, and my goodness have we come a long way, T!

For our readers, the pattern we used at the time to make these Edwardian costumes was Simplicity 8375. I recall the pattern being easy to use and the finished garment comfortable to wear. We sure did get a lot of compliments on these gowns, and a lot of attention! And for budding costume tailors and designers I’d say we did pretty good with what we had – and let me tell you we had little! lol! Very quickly, T and I found that we were making costumes for everyone – neighbors, neighbors kids, relatives, and then eventually we started our own business!

Maybe for fun, T, we could revisit this OOP Simplicity pattern and see what we can cook up –

We have just released out latest two families, Slatterine and Stannard.  Slatterine is a ‘Streamline-era’ family drawing its inspiration from the ‘futuristic’ designs of the 1950s.  Stannard is a pure piece of advertising inspired Nostalgia from the 1920s.  Starting from November 5 both families will be offered at a 30% discount on myfonts.com.  Click on the images below to try them out on this site.

Last…..I’m not sure when actually, we got given our characters for this year. I pulled ‘Obstinate Butler’ from the bowl of impossible things. But not only a Butler, he has to be.. Edwardian… Which is a freakin’ vague era, Victorian would have been so much more obvious lol. BUT since most Butlers look alot alike, I’ve got it easy, my other teammates(super happy with my teammates btw :woop: I was lucky. Sooo lucky!), not so easy. Ladies and Heads of the House, Maids n got knows what.

As I sit here eating Monster Munch with my left hand and trying not to get my keyboard greasy, I present to you my preliminary sketches. I took obstinate to be obstinant, which I thought was grumpy, unwilling, that kinda thing, thankfully I was right, so it didn’t put  a kibosh on my plans. I want him kinda slimey and slinky, so tall n lanky are a must imo.

The parting of the hair seems to be sliding left ever so slowly lol, as you might notice in the other pics.

More pages below the cut.

After we(the team) decided on a style for our characters, we could actually get down to proper ideas, instead of random doodles. As we all associated Edwardian with pretty dark, dank times, we went for Tim Burton, sure he may be overused and common as hell in this course, but none of the other teams seem to have picked a Tim Burton style, which is very good for us lol. And Burton’s style isn’t terribly hard to mimic either, so all in all, not a bad thing getting Edwardian lol. Still lame that I could have got a ‘Dr Who Wannabe’ in the scifi group, BUT then I wouldn’t have ended up in an awesome team, AND its not ‘Dr Who Wannabe’ it’d be ‘The Doctor Wannabe’, being the Whovian I had to point that out, or rather, Tennant fangirl I am haha.

Anyways, sorry for the *slight* delay lol, been, preoccupied(?) lol. The little pudgy guy on the last page isn’t my Butler, who I need a name for now I think about it…. He’s a character we gotsta model for our weekly task, that we missed one week of cos our tutor was ill. And if you noticed the Bunny Butler on one of the pages, I thought it might have been fun to have anthro-whatever characters, animal-human combos or whatever, like Sonic n whatnot.

Research indicates that tweeting has been going on since the early 1900s. Seemingly compulsive communicators, the Edwardians exchanged almost six billion postcards – an average of 200 per person – between 1901 and 1910.

With an image on one side, the old-fashioned picture postcard only allowed a small space for the written message. In an interesting parallel with contemporary ‘text-speak’, postcard writers sometimes adopted ungrammatical abbreviations causing consternation in liteary circles at the time.

Unlike today, when so much communication is online, there were up to 10 postal deliveries a day in the major cities leading to a flurry of back-and-forth postcard writing. Reseachers at the Lancaster and Manchester Metropolitcan universities believe that the speed and low price of the Edwardian postcard communication represents an early form of micro-blogging.

Wouldn’t it be lovely if amid our busy, screen-based, e-enabled lives we made time to rediscover the joy of the humble postcard, pen, ink and stamp. Now it’s such a lost art, I wish I had hung onto all those picture postcards sent by holidaymaking friends from sunny spots around the globe. All those pictures of bullfighting, jugs of sangria, donkeys in straw hats…

$599.99

In honour of Fergie returning to Melbourne with The Black Eyed Peas for there E.N.D tour, I have decided to offer my readers a free accessory to the Value of $100 when purchasing this bespoke Tulle Hat! 
This hat will ship free & be presented in a lovely box also. 
Offer ends 16.10.09.

This top hat is made from wire & vintage tulle. It is embellished with Swarovski Crystals, Czech Crystals & Edwardian Feathers.

It is attached to a french velvet covered headband for easy wear.

This hat was also worn by Fergie of Black Eyed Peas fame on her Diva Tour with Carol King & Mary J Blythe in Japan in 2007.

Fergie saw this hat on me at her after show party in Sydney & literally plucked me out of the crowd & demanded that she have one too!

Her style for this show was taken from what I was wearing that very night!

I was deeply chuffed!!! *blush*

Lead time for this hat is 6 weeks.

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Production has begun!
We are, however, on track to run out of money soon. Please spread the word that we are still very much in need of additional donations to finish this project. A link to make a tax-deductible contribution is to the right.
Enjoy these production stills taken by Destiny Lane and Matthew King.
Thanks!
E.P. Davee

We’re currently offering The Bromwich Family (and the Bromwich Value Pack, including the associated Great Bromwich family) at a 35% discount on Myfonts.com.  Bromwichwas one of our earliest families and is something of a favourite with us and others.  It remains a solidly popular face and is also somethingof a signature family for us, being the basis our our Foundry logos.

I’m not certain how recent the addition is (a quick Google search tells me this may be less than breaking news), but I’ve just discovered that the excellent Victorian/Edwardian era clothing store Gentleman’s Emporium has added a new section to their site, appropriately entitled “Steampunk Emporium”.

The steampunk selection appears to be mostly rehashed versions of other outfits, although the new Egyptologist and Autoist outfits are very cool. As always, each outfit comes in the form of a character, with a name and backstory. These backstories are written as human interest stories from the era, and are typically quite witty. Take for example the biography of Barnaby Clifton, Intrepid Motorist:

“Further demonstrating his eccentricity, Mr. Clifton has procured several remote plots of land which he contends will become valuable simply because the unsightly patches of black oil upon them can be converted to fuel for these locomobiles. One can only hope that there are enough other eccentrics who share his love for speed and black smoke to make his property investments worthwhile.”

Other new additions include a selection of goggles and aviator caps (for aspiring airship pilots), and an assortment of brass acessories, such as compasses, binoculars, and even an X-Ray Monocle.

El platino es puro, raro, eterno y versátil: conozca las cualidades que hacen de este metal algo tan especial.

Puro

El platino es puro  , la expresión de lo íntegro, el reflejo de una verdad interior. La pureza del platino hace que tenga un resplandor brillante. Esto ayuda a que se refleje el verdadero brillo de los diamantes puesto que, por lo general, es puro al 95% (el oro de 18 quilates es puro al 75%), la joyería de platino no pierde en intensidad ni se empaña, manteniendo su aspecto durante mucho tiempo. La pureza del platino hace que sea hipoalergénico e ideal para pieles sensibles.

Raro
El platino es raro, un tesoro codiciado por las personas de buen gusto. En el planeta hay poco platino y éste se encuentra en pocos lugares del mundo. Tan exquisito material es 35 veces más raro que el oro. En efecto, se estima que si todo el platino del mundo se colocara en una piscina olímpica, apenas nos llegaría a los tobillos. El oro llenaría más de tres piscinas. Lo raro del platino es lo que lo convierte en tan exclusivo y único: la exaltación de la propia individualidad.

Eterno
La joyería de platino es la elección perfecta y duradera para usar cada día. Su densidad y peso hacen que dure más que los restantes metales utilizados en joyería. El platino no se desgasta y engarza las piedras preciosas de modo firme y seguro. Al igual que todos los metales preciosos, el platino se raya. Sin embargo, la raya en una pieza de platino es simplemente un desplazamiento del metal, que no pierde en absoluto su volumen. Así, si se piensa que llevándolo todos los días se puede ver comprometida su superficie, siempre permanece tal como es: un símbolo de todo lo que es eterno.