Steam Punk tiara

This is my entry for the Vintaj January competition,
the theme is Ice crystals.. gorgeous!

Do go and vote for your favourite piece, the vote is only on this week though... new theme next month!

My new year resolution is to enter every month!

I absolutely love the colour and quality of the vintaj filligree and findings, I think I shall use them in a project for the next Tiara book, maybe with deep red or pink crystals.....

Just popped to Nottingham Trent University to have a look at Jenny Tiramani's micro exhibition of Elizabethan costumes from her time at The Globe.

The event, from 1 December to 21 January 2009 in the 1851 Gallery, features 3 complete costumes along with original 17th Century clothing artefacts and glimpses into the elaborate process of dressing the actors.

A costume and stage designer for more than 30 years and a graduate of Nottingham Trent University’s Theatre Design course, Jenny Tiramani is a major name in the world of theatre. She won the coveted Laurence Olivier Award for Best Costume Design (Twelfth Night, Shakespeare’s Globe) in 2003 and was a co-recipient for the Sam Wanamaker Award for Contribution to Shakespeare in Performance in 2007.

The exhibition is fascinating as all costumes can be seen up close and personal and every stitch has been put in by hand!! the video of an actor doing a "quick change" is interesting too!

Today I went with Lyssa to Chatsworth House to see the Christmas decorations! Absolutely gorgeous, they are all based around the beautiful paper art of Jan Pienkowski, creating wonderful tableaus of shadow puppet style cut outs at various intervals through the house.

All the trees were in white and gold and many of the rooms had been adorned with fabulous swags of fir and twinkling lights. A truly magical experience. Chatsworth is always spectacular but at Christmas it is even more so.

Before going round the house we wandered through the grounds, admiring the fabulous shapes of branches and contrasts of leafs and statues, then we got lost in the maze... but so did everyone else! hurah!

We had booked online and had a wonderful afternoon tea in the carriage restaurant, led to our reserved table completely by passing the queue. The food was lovely, with tiny sandwiches and scones and cakes. They kept replenishing our pots of tea and refilling the cake stand too!!

Because it got dark early we were able to admire the illuminated trees at the front of the house and the dramatic floodlighting, what a lovely start to Christmas ;0

The effigy corset

Thought you might like to see my finished version of the Elizabethan "effigy" corset. It was created for Harman Hay for whom I'm also making a lovely Tudor open fronted robe, mmmmmm. They will be used for a living history display I believe.

I used the Reconstructing History pattern as a base, adding my own touches where I felt it needed it.

It has four fabric layers, the top one is silk, and over 90 boned channels...

Just discovered this extraordinary photographer whose beautiful work focuses on lush lush costumes and exotic models. Vena-Art is the name of her company, based in Belgium. She also organises a fabulous Ball type event which would be well worth a visit.

Every picture looks like a film poster for a fabulous fantasy period drama that I'd be just desparate to see!!!

Hope to see a lot more of her work in the future...

Just had to share this fantastic site with you all. The costumers guide to movies

It contains encyclopedic information on every costume of note from every "fab-frock" film, with loads of close up photos and details of film costume exhibitions around the world.

Readers of the site are encouraged to send in pictures they have taken from exhibitions, as well as contributing to a wonderful "same frock different film" article where the stars are the dresses who turn up in (often wildly) differing films.

Regency Ball

We had an absolutely glorious time at the Regency ball in Bath.

It was held for the first time at the assembly rooms , Imust admit the sight of 100+ couples dancing away in fabulous costumes was truly magnificent.

We all attended the dancing lesson and cream tea in the afternoon which was great fun and gave us a head start on the dances of the evening!

I went down with "the ladies", looking ever so haughty here and dashing Captain Adam. It was lovely to see some familiar faces and we made some fabulous new friends who had an equal capacity for tea and cake!

Everyone made their own gowns with just a little pattern cutting assistance from yours truly, and Lesleys gloves, all her own work, were truly spectacular!

We stayed at Bath youth hostel which is a lovely regency townhouse, although looking a little shabbier than we remembered. and also visited the fabulous thermae spa for a twighlight relaxation and gossip session. All in all a delightful long weekend!