Vintage finds, Props & More

As a designer, I often have to photograph my wares and contextualize them with interesting gubbins. The best kind of gubbins is old, weird, and cheap! And, if it can be made from scratch...then that's the very best kind of prop!
So here are some interesting props that I've found and made. I start with a pair of deer horns. I made them from wire and papier maché. The little details were stringy bits of glue. I was very happy with the shape and originally I painted them to look natural, but they looked too dark so I repainted them with some Annie Sloane Chalk paint I had knocking around. I used a £1 scarf I got from a boot fair to cover up the wires at the bottom. I use that scarf for so many pictures... you'll see...

Here are the horns and we also used some paper pom poms I borrowed from my friend who made them for her wedding party.

As I said, I'm a designer, not a photographer so this pic is by Janice Issitt who I work with a lot.

I bought these 2 little china birds for next to nothing and here is my trusty £1 scarf as backdrop once again...

Normally I use objects as the props for my cushions etc but here, in a reversal of rolls, I'm actually using one of my cushions as the prop for my new tea set. I wanted to show this cute little tea set I bought for £15 on my blog and facebook page and needed something to liven up the background...

Steampunk Fashion

So I'm getting very excited about the Steampunk festival coming up in Alingsås Sweden this October. Obviously I need to make myself and my little girls some outfits to wear so here is my moodboard steampunk fashion taster...

This is one of my have outfits as I love black and cream together plus it really gets across the punky aspect of Steampunk.

I think I'm going to make this cropped jacket in tweed, teamed up with a lacy neck ruffly thing, going to be awesome!

One thing you don't see here are any of the guns that are so common in the steampunk look and I was thinking about this a lot over the last few days

...'to have guns or not to have guns, that was the question'...

And the answer was 'No'. I wouldn't have guns now, so why would I have guns in a parallel world? I just wouldn't! I don't like 'em! Besides which I take my steampunkery very seriously and there is no place for toys in my look. I apologise to fans of the nerf gun and steampunk pistol ray gun thingamabob  but they ain't for me. Might spray up one of the girls water pistols for them though... I also found some crap swimming googles I'll turn into some cool gold steampunk googles for one them too. I'll blog how to do it in the next couple of weeks...I don't know how to do it myself yet, but I'm dead crafty so it'll be fun trying to figure it out.

Sacred Hearts

 I get soo excited about beautiful things and then I just have to share them with you! My indulgence today is Sacred Hearts. This is a theme that has run strong through all my adult life. Basically, I've always loved them and not being bought up catholic means I don't have any weird associations with them. I just think they are beautiful! So here are my top Sacred Heart tips...

This piece of art is by Scott Cambell and I would so like to have it on my wall.

This beautiful pendant is by asunder at deviantart.com

And here is a little more traditional vintage sacred heart by Lilyofthevalley.

Okay, so I'm going a bit off beam here but still staying on the heart theme. These chairs were part of an exhibition from 2010 in Gloucester Cathedral  called ‘Crucible’ The piece was called ‘Till Death do us Part’ by Steven Gregory and they are just proper bonkers!

Here's some nice vintage assemblage...

I love the simplicity of this. What a nice thing to see on the table when you wake up in the morning, that some little pixie of love has left for you.... Next valentines, try this instead of a lame card.

Here is a bit of assemblage by artist JoeMilosevich

Some of the best sacred heart jewellery is to be found on genuine religious web shops like these little beauties from Rosary Workshop

And here is an antique French lamp dating from around the 1880's from Ruby Lane. It is too wonderful for mortal words to describe! And if you follow only 1 link from here today then let it be this, because there is a veritable cornucopia of vintage delights to be found down Ruby's lane!

Sacred hearts in Mosaic

And in stained glass

And finally on fabric. These are 2 of my cushions...

Skulls mean Life!

Okay okay, I know...I bang on about skulls a lot! I like 'em! What can I say?
I get a lot of people asking me why I use so many skulls in my designs and I say that it has nothing to do with death but quite the reverse. Skulls remind me that there is only this one life and that I should enjoy it in the here and now. I don't mean in some indulgent decadent type of way, I just mean to live in the moment and take my joy whenever I can. So here, in celebration of life, are my collection of favourite skulls....
Lets begin with my new collection of Delicious Skullduggery skull cushions...

These are the works of Magnus Gjoen and I love the mix of old traditional imagery and the skull form especially the blue and white porcelain one.

 Here is more of the mix of old and new, my favourite combination!

Okay, not strictly a skull but too wonderful to leave out this laser etched chair by artist Scott Cambell

And continuing on the chair theme, this dark little number by www.sylviaji.com

  No collection is complete without this by Damien Hurst but actually, 

It's my least favourite piece.

I'd like to have these skull door knobs by Krystal Touch of New York 

and I bet they would feel nice in the hand.

 My very favourite stained glass artist is Tom Spencer 

And no collection is complete with something by Juan Gatti. 

I love all his crazy botanical skullicious designs!

Love this vibrant day of the dead sugar skull, 

now if that's not a celebration of life then I'm a monkey's uncle

Clever little bit of illusion ....  Skull L'Amour de Pierrot 1905

And to finish, here are 2 of my latest cocktail trays