...Meanwhile, THIS Four-Poster Bed is Totally Do-able.

Unlike the other four-poster bed in my previous post, this one can be put together in a few hours. And it would only take THAT long because you'd have the enjoyable task of having to drive out to some woods and take a long, relaxing stroll to find these branches, sling them over your shoulder like rustic fishing poles, and whistle all the way back to the car.

This image is courtesy of my favorite eccentric home decor photo blog, Canty Shanty. Picture copywrite credit to whomever they nicked it from first.

Finnish Fantasy Forest Bed

I've always wanted a four-poster bed, and wow isn't this one imaginative? I think if I could own it (not likely for poor little ol' me, it costs as much as my car!) I might hang silk fall-colored leaves in reds and yellows from the branches to create my cozy bedroom of Perpetual Autumn. However I'm also really enjoying this setting in shades of white the artist has chosen to showcase the bed. It's very gentle and ethereal.

"Under the Apple Tree" canopy bed

Crafted in Finland by Attiladesign, your material choices are Birch, Ash, and Mahogany, and can be made in single, queen, king size, etc. Check out the sale listing here and browse the other artsy items in this unique Etsy shop.

Plague Doctor mask

HOW, pray tell, has the amazing image of the "Plague Doctor" escaped me all these years?? The engraving below is from the Wikipedia entry on plague doctors, who were employed during outbreaks to treat plague victims. These doctors were "often were second-rate doctors not able to otherwise run a successful medical business or young physicians trying to establish themselves." Some doctors wore these beaky masks which were filled with "aromatic items" in an attempt to protect themselves from the infected, putrid air. I'm willing to bet that wasn't terribly effective... what an odious job to take on!

Doktor Schnabel von Rom ("Doctor Beak of Rome"), engraving by Paul Fürst, 1656

Apparently the plague doctor image has been incorporated into Steampunk imagery, and I am fully on board with this-- just Google image search "plague doctor" and some really cool artwork will come up. However right now I just want to collect and present images from one artist in particular, a leather mask maker in Penn Valley CA whose shop I found on (where else?) Etsy. His name is Tom Banwell and everything in his shop is absolutely fantastic! He has a website at tombanwell.com but it looks like most of his sales are made through his Etsy shop. There's a whole steampunk section but I'm going to rifle the "sold" items for additional plague doctor mask images-- the photos are so delightfully spooky!

 

black leather

"Ichabod" in black leather

white leather

brown leather

 These masks are definitely added to my mental list of things to jump on when it magically starts raining money. They are priced in the $300-$400ish range-- very reasonable for such a marvelous hand-wrought wearable work of art. It's a perfect addition to my imaginary Steampunk Victorian library in my imaginary tumbledown haunted country farmhouse. (sigh) ...Last but not least, please allow me to present the dapper (but rather sinister) "Dr. Beulenpest".

(...More steampunk delights from the artist on deviantART.)

Ornament Field Test goes well!

Does this little fellow look as if he has been hanging out in the weather unprotected since March? No, he doesn't! I was very surprised when I examined him closely after months of direct exposure to overnight freezes, downpours, hail, 100+ degree temperatures, and sunlight. Evidently the Krylon matte clearcoat spray I use to seal the stain is pretty darn good. Even the waxed hemp cord strung through him seems to be holding up well.

I still would not recommend that everyone who buys one of my ornaments should feel free to leave it hanging out in the elements, but I think this field test shows that an outdoor covered porch environment would suit my Wise Leaves and Cheerful Acorns just fine. I'm so pleased!

The rest of my little leaf and acorn friends can be viewed in my Etsy shop!

New Camera test

 

 

  

Here's a few pics I snapped of some cheap glowsticks I picked up after a show Saturday nite, to try out the digital camera my brother sent me... they were already losing their brightness by 3am but still looked very pretty in the darkness of my room. I left them collected in a drinking glass sitting on the bureau as a colorful nite-lite. I like the top photo best-- it looks like some sort of sea anemone, glowing away alone in the depths of the dark ocean.

Easing back into it.

Took a break from my blog for a few months to... be depressed?

Luckily, utter Joy may easily be purchased for the reasonable price of only $35 from a Lithuanian Etsy shop, Vaivanat.

FOX HAT!

It's a pagan-folk-costume-loving girl's dream come true. As soon as I can manage to afford it, this wonderful hand felted FOX HAT will be mine! Allegedly, it fits the average adult as well.

Victorian-esque Collage

Pretty pretty! This charming print is by Arizona artist Linda Norton and I found it in her Etsy shop.

The Carnival is Over

This exquisite Dead Can Dance fan video was created by Slovakian artist, sculptor, and director Ondrej Rudavsky. He posts on Youtube that the Warner Music Group had requested the video be removed for copyright infringement, so he wrote to Brenden Perry and got his personal permission for the video to be available on Youtube again. Not at all surprising, considering the high level of creativity and craftsmanship here! 

"So, here it is again, still not over, this carnival."  -Ondrej Rudavsky

Wonderful sculptures from the artist's website.

Perfect Studio!

I fall in love with spaces that would be ideal for a studio pretty often. This one I think may be the best I have seen yet!

Atmosphere is very important, and this space is just loaded with it. Imagine how cozy it would be in a rainstorm!

I took the photo from a wonderful website comprised of carefully selected borrowed images called Cantyshanty. The sense I get is that the poster simply enjoys collecting ideas for eclectic home decor and upcycling (and he/she probably is addicted to design magazines). It's a real treat to look through! If something doesn't grab you hard-- you aren't paying attention! Check it out at cantyshanty.com.

Here is another image I particularly fancied. As the website owner states "Images are copyright of their respective owners. I just don't know who they are." ...Enjoy!

Ornament Durability Field Test

I have placed two Wise Leaf ornaments and one Cheerful Acorn outside my mom's house to see how they stand up to the weather. Two weeks ago my friend got a leaf and asked if it was safe to put it on his covered porch... and I had to admit I didn't know! They are all sprayed with matte finish but I don't know how much protection that would offer. I'm also curious about how the waxed hemp cords will stand up to the elements.

Sooo, I hung the leaves from the plant hooks under our semi-covered porch and placed the acorn out in the open on a shrub. I feel kinda guilty sacrificing a happy little acorn fellow, particularly since it's pouring and freezing out today, but it's in The Name Of Science! (Hopefully I can fix him up again.) I'll see how they look in a week or two.

Shh! Sleeping Dollies...

I wanted to check on my dolly drawer today here at mom's house... These three Shirley Temple composition dolls are sleeping together in packing paper in my old nightstand drawer. They were my mom's when she was a child-- these dolls are in great shape considering how old they are! Mom says she didn't play with them too much on account of how pretty they were. Here are a few details about the line of dolls from shirleytempledolls.com:

 "Composition Dolls are made of a 6-piece (strung together with elastic) sawdust-based, wood-pulp material (composition), that was later painted flesh toned. These dolls had hazel eyes with hair upper lashes, and painted eyebrows, lower lashes, lip paint, and nostrils. The wigs were made of mohair and styled in golden curls similar to Shirleys'. The clothes were made to resemble Shirley's own clothes and the outfits of her movies. They were produced between 1934-1939. Most (except for the earliest dolls) were marked SHIRLEY TEMPLE on the back of the head and/or the back of the neck."     

Someday I think I'll make a shadowbox with one or more of these little ladies. Perhaps sometime sooner I'll take them out for a tea party...

...shhh!

 

The surface cracking effect is called "crazing".

 (I woke her up for just a moment...!)

Spooky Bag on etsy!

Wow! This little handmade bag posted on Etsy is constructed from fabric printed with an artist's charmingly spooky illustration on it. The digital painting is called "Pumpkin Harvest Day" and the artist is Lavennz Ooi Sin Yee. The seller, Julia, is from the UK and her shop Uniquely Different is full of unusual and affordable bags! More wonderful paintings by the artist, who is located in Malaysia, can be seen in her personal Etsy shop, where she includes a sweet little story or poem in her picture descriptions.

"Pumpkin Harvest Day: The girl named Anna, wearing black dress and her mood is very down because she was thinking of her parents that had passed away for a few years. Her parents left her a pumpkin field, where they spent lots of wonderful moments there. And today, another pumpkin harvest day. Anna carved the pumpkins, made them into lanterns and stand with these lanterns in a nebulous forest. She believe that the fairy tale of magic pumpkin lanterns can give her a miracle, let her meet her parents again....."

Wise Leaf photo shoot

Finally the weather is warming up (hooray!) and I find myself dog sitting for the third time this month. The house has a great little yard and I've got some free time, so I staged a Wise Leaf and Cheerful Acorn photo-shoot on location! The yard is nice and sunny, I may take some more ornament pictures tomorrow.

Dog Rescue!!

I just spotted this little fellow listed on Etsy. I LOVE antique dog and cat toys! I wish I could rescue this cute terrier, because the seller is extremely optimistic if she thinks he's going to sell for $175 (even with a neat springy neck and magnetic nose/bone accessory)-- he'll be hanging out for a while. Well I can't afford to adopt him, but I can at least enjoy these photos! The listing can be viewed here.

Hello~!

I ruv mah bone!

new Victorian Memorial Photography book

Say what you will about the recent horror film "A Haunting In Connecticut", but its got some great featurettes in the special features ...one of them being a documentary about the practice of postmortem memorial photography. The short film features interviews with Stanley B. Burns, MD, curator of The Burns Archive-- his extensive collection of historical medical and postmortem photos. He has published two acclaimed books of photos from his archives titled "Sleeping Beauty: Memorial Photography in America" and "Sleeping Beauty II: Grief, Bereavement in Memorial Photography American and European Traditions". I very much enjoyed the featurette!

I finally remembered to look for "Sleeping Beauty" the other day and was dismayed to find it's out of print, and goes from $400- $800 on Amazon. Well--guess I can't buy that one! Volume II is also fairly pricey. Further web surfing brought me to Dr. Burn's archive blog, which in addition to sharing interesting pieces of the collection has also announced that a third book in the series is now available! "Sleeping Beauty III: Memorial Photography- The Children" "enhances the history of postmortem photography and is intended as a reference for bereavement organizations, photographers, hospital staff and parents engaged in renewing the practice of memorial photography. This compilation of over 125 photographs documents images from photography’s earliest era (1840s) up to the present."

Keeping images of lost family members made perfect sense for the time, it's a pity that ordinary folks couldn't afford more photos while their loved ones were alive... especially their children. It's such an alien concept to us now to have pictures like this on display in our homes.

"Sleeping Beauty III" cover

"FAMILY POSED IN FANCY PARLOR ARRANGEMENT, STUKAS STUDIO, SOUTH BOSTON, MA, SILVER PRINT WITH SCALLOPED MATTE 10 BY 8 INCHES, CIRCA 1915" --selected images from the book blog

Dr. Burns appears to offer up these portions of his collection with a good deal of care and respect, and I look forward to reading this book. It's currently available for $29.95 at sleepingbeauty3.com.

Sweet Playful Kittens vintage tape measure

I've grown up seeing this tape measure knocking around the sewing drawer. The tape gets stuck a lot... but the charming kitty graphic makes up for this shortcoming! My mother said she purchased it in the 60's. I'm really glad she ignored it in the drawer for so many decades, because now I use it all the time when I'm measuring my art pieces to post the dimensions on Etsy. A touch of character makes any simple object so much better!

Wise Leaves & Cheerful Acorns

I posted five leaves and three acorns to my Frozen Charlotte Etsy shop today. The photos are not super great, and I'm eagerly looking forward to the warm sunny days ahead for further photo shoots. The Wise Leaves look a little on the cold side, but the Cheerful Acorns are putting up a good front as usual.

Secret Life of a Frosted Light Bulb

One day I was sorting through a pile of spare light bulbs at the antique/lamp repair shop I used to work in and I came across this frosted light bulb. It didn't work anymore and the paint was chipping off the glass, rendering it pretty much useless. Every time I shook it more paint would flake off... for some reason the snowy effect caught my fancy and I decided to press my camera up against it and take a few pics. The little broken filament looks so serene and stoic in the winter landscape.

Ill-Fated!

Last night I got a computer virus, apparently from downloading the pretty Victorian wallpaper that I've used for my blog backdrop! I had to spend an hour on the phone with a very patient friend who walked me through manually removing the hijacker virus using command prompts in Windows "safe mode". I haven't had a computer issue in 7-8 years, what total panic when the virus blocked all my attempts to go online to download some better Antivirus software!!

So part of the deal for downloading the wallpaper was to give the artist credit and post a comment below their piece linking back to my use of it, which regrettably I'm not going to do on account of wanting nothing to do with that website again (which was the popular Deviantart.com). Sorry, fellow artist, I'm certain the virus wasn't YOUR fault! Thank you for the wallpaper!