Something Old - Vintage Themed Weddings Part 1

I drove past the old parliament building in Melbourne on Saturday afternoon and as is usual for that time, there was a wedding party having their photos taken on the steps. It does make a wonderful backdrop and I have seen some great shots taken in this location.
Anyway, it got me thinking about some weddings I had been to recently and weddings in general. I am lucky enough to have gone to two vintage themed weddings lately and as you will see for yourself they were simply gorgeous!
The first event featured is the wedding of my lovely friends Nick & Alix. They chose the fun theme of 1920's flappers and gangsters ..think Bonnie and Clyde. All of the guests made up such a fun group of people with everyone getting into the theme.
Alix and Nick's wedding was held at Pepper's Resort, Daylesford.

Bridesmaid and groomsman 20's style and guests in gangster mode (check out the gun!)

The dashing groom and blushing bride. Alix's gorgeous beaded head piece made by her sister-in-law, miliner, Ann Shoebridge. (check out annshoebridge.com)

Alix and I 

Vintage Wedding Inspiration

Image from myweddingplace.blogspot.com. Please visit for more great wedding ideas.

Here are a few pieces from Fanantique that would help create a gorgeous vintage themed wedding.

Vintage Velvet Flower Head Pieces - Perfect for a Bride, bridesmaid or flower girl, we have several colors and styles.

Bomboniere idea- Scented soap

These pre-packaged MOR soaps make the perfect addition to your table setting. Choose from a range of packaging and scents.

Please stay tuned for more on vintage weddings coming soon.....

Ginger Joy (& Happy Champagne Friday Eve)

 The Mad Hatter and The Queen of Hearts- both 'interesting' red heads!

This week I am posting a Happy Champagne Friday cocktail early because tonight I am off to see Tim Burton's Masterclass in Melbourne and I am so excited!!!!!! I am sure I will be indulging in a cocktail or two at the 'Burton Club' that ACMI are running Thursday evenings during the duration of the Exhibition.(It is sad to say that tomorrow I might not be in a fit state to be putting together a quality blog post.)

Anyway, if it wasn't for my excitement about  tonight's events I would still be in a state of excitement over the news today that we in Australia have a new Prime Minister..and she's a woman! and she's a red head! As another red headed woman this is big news to me.  I will admit the there are some funny "ginger jokes" out there, but most of them are just down right rude,crude and annoying. ( blond jokes are much funnier)  Thanks to the Summer Heights High TV show , we red heads also have the lovely title of 'ranga' short for orangutang. This is one of my least favorite terms to be coined in recent times. (I much prefer Ginger.)

In honor of this momentous occasion I thought I would honor some glamorous and interesting red heads of days gone by. I'm still distracted by Tim Burton, so let's start with Tim Burton's favorite sometimes red head. Helen Bonham Carter. (She's more an 'interesting' type)

Tim B with partner Helena

Who doesn't love Lucy?! Lucille Ball

Clara Bow

 Ginger from Gilligan's Island

Rita Hayworth

Let's drink a toast to red heads everywhere, with a "Fred and Ginger" cocktail.

Fred and Ginger

highball glass

3 wedges lemon

1/3 fresh pear

1 cm fresh ginger

8-10 mint leaves

splash sugar syrup

30ml white rum

30ml Tuaca

Muddle lemon wedges, pear, ginger mint leaves and sugar syrup and build over crushed ice. cocktail recipe taken from 'Cocktails & Rock Tales' by Jane Rocca, Hardie Grant books

Purple Haze

Happy Champagne Friday! Let's celebrate with a Purple Haze.

Selected items from the Fanantique boutique:  Vintage purple wool coat with mink collar, Comer & King purple regency chair, Vintage Vogue print, Organza flower brooch and purple wool felt hat.

With now less than one week to go until the highly anticipated (especially by me) Tim Burton exhibition opens, I am indulging my adoration of him and of anything with a slightly Gothic edge. I have been digging through my old folios and drawings and I can see that his influence on me is very obvious through my work.

Catwoman, pen & ink, photoshop. from greeting card series 2004

Business Card Design for Gina McCauley, Texta, Photoshop 2005

 

Fashion Design Project for Domus Academy, Milan. 'The Global Garment" this was a fashion project where designers from around the world came up with a collection that reflected their country's heritage in some way. I considered our convict past when completeing the project. This is one page of the work.
Pencil and Pen Illustration, 2000

 back in the day..me with my friend Anthony of the Goth/Glam rock band The Redresser (often mistaken as the hairdresser)

But even before I discovered Tim B, I loved the color purple, and I mean loved. I was very lucky that my parents were happy with me to express my creativity (within the confines of my bedroom) and allowed me to paint my walls and furniture purple...and not a light lavender or a poor excuse for purple, but a deep real purple. (I also adored Prince...another lover of purple, but that's another story)

 Sorry! Couldn't resist adding this!

Now, I still like purple but my obsession has ended and I am enjoying other colors too, but for old time's sake I have selected a few of my favorite purple pieces from the store as well as some of my illustrations to share with you. Oh yes, and being 'Champagne Friday' I also threw in a purple cocktail. This one- 'Purple Haze" (this is a nice easy one- less time mixing more time drinking I say!)

Purple Haze
old fashioned glass

45ml Vodka
15ml black raspberry liqueur
splash of cranberry juice

Shake vodka and liqueur with ice. Strain into old fashioned glass over ice and top up with juice.
Enjoy!

recipe taken from Cocktails & Rock Tales, by Jane Rocca

Selected accessories from Fanantique

Gorgeous framed print, art by Jennifer Gordon. In store at Fanantique.

One Week and One Day and Counting!!!!

Tim Burton Exhibition Opening in Melbourne June 24th

Conceptual drawing 'the joker' for Batman by Tim Burton

As an illustrator (and a reformed goth kid) I have long been a HUGE fan of Tim Burton. Of course I admire him as a movie maker, but to me, first and foremost he is an artist. You may or may not know that he started his career with Disney as an illustrator before becoming a director. He is still largely responsible for all the art direction in his films and works the old fashioned way by HAND drawing many concepts from costumes & character development to set design. To me this is marvelous, while I dearly love both my Apple MACs (and Photoshop) there is nothing better than creating something the old fashioned way with pencil and paper.

Original Art by Tim Burton

Tim Burton was a major inspiration to me in many ways from the way that I dressed to the work that I produced as a design student. As a fashion design student at RMIT back in the mid 90's many of my design projects had an obvious Burton influence. Over the years and during my many moves and travels I ended up throwing most of this work out...but a few pieces still remain. (As do a few choice gothic outfits).

 Promotional Image from Sleepy Hollow

Considering the admiration I have for him, you can imagine my joy in learning that as part of the exhibition that is about to open in Melbourne next week, Tim himself is going to be here AND he will be appearing to talk about his work in a seminar AND I HAVE A TICKET TO GO SEE HIM!!!!!!
I am so excited!!!!
I am also excited that as part of the show that The Australian Centre for the Moving Image, or ACMI, are hosting an online gallery for fans to upload their own Burton inspired work. Of course I have to take part. Unfortunately, there is a 2 piece maximum. Obviously, I have a stack of work which could be appropriate....now just to find it and scan it etc. Most of the work I completed during my Uni days was pre-Apple Mac so it is stored in old-school folios, packed under beds and in other hard to reach places.
Another problem is that for some reason back in the early 1990's many Art teachers seemed to insist on all work being large scale..at least A1 size..(I never understood this, it sure did make train travel difficult going to and from University) anyway, this also makes scanning the work near impossible so will narrow my choice. So far I have entered one piece (because it was conveniently located on my hard drive) but my second and final choice will take more careful consideration.
Anyway, in honor of the exhibition, I have decided to have my own "Tim Burton" retrospective and pull out many of my projects  and possibly some photos, ranging from 1995-1998..my Art School years.

'Lady Killigrew' by Me!

(This piece was actually completed in 2000, when I was going through a collage phase. This work is created with photography and torn paper. I think it still works in the Tim Burton theme though)

More work coming soon.....

Wonderful Wallpaper (and Happy Champagne Friday!)

I was just visiting one of my new favorite blogs, "Anastasia, Drawing and Dreaming" and she has an inspiring article about using maps as interior decorating features (there are some gorgeous photos) Anyway, it inspired me to share some of the map themed items that we have in store at Fanantique at the moment, and it also reminded me of  another one of my favourite sites, www.designyourwall.com.

Vintage globe wallpaper

Porcelain trinket box and tray with vintage world map design

 World Map, set of 8, can be hung or used as trays

This is an amazing wallpaper store, that has some gorgeous designs. They custom designed papers that appear in movies and TV shows, such as Six Feet Under (one of my all time favourite shows) and these are available to purchase. They also are able to make your own design into a wallpaper, how fab!
I couldn't resist this gorgeous music note wall paper (you may have seen it featured at Lady Melbourne a few weeks ago.) This piece has been block mounted .

Music Note wallpaper, blockmounted

Here are some more gorgeous finds at designyourwall.com- be warned that once you visit this site, you could easily spend hours looking at all there gorgeous designs.

Imagine how cute some of these styles could look framed or as a simple feature panel in a room. Check out some of these great ideas using pieces of wallpaper.

So this Friday, given my theme of "Wallpaper" I thought, what cocktail could be more appropriate than a Harvey Wallbanger? (an oldie but a goodie!)

Harvey Wallbanger

Collins glass

• 3/4 oz vodka
• 1 1/2 oz orange juice
• 1/4 oz Galliano
• orange slice for garnish
• maraschino cherry for garnish

Preparation:

1. Pour the vodka and orange juice into a glass with ice cubes.
2. Add the Galliano.
3. Garnish with the orange slice and maraschino cherry.

Melbourne Martini

Made In Melbourne
 
It is obvious by stepping foot into the store that I am a complete lover of Parisian style, glamour and all things French, but did you know that many of our products are made here in Melbourne? Among the range at Fanantique, here are some locally produced brands.

Trouve

Trouve

(ok, so this is a French inspired range. ‘Trouve” means found in French.)
Eclectic accessories inspired by historical motifs and vintage embellishments. Created by RMIT fashion graduate, Heather Davies.

Fleurage

Fleurage
100% pure botanical fragrances. Glamorous and indulgent perfumes and bath and body products.
Created by Melbourne perfumer, Emma Leah.

Write to Me

Write to Me
Boutique handmade stationary range, featuring vintage style designs.

  Chanterlaine

Chanterlaine

Gorgeous and unique handmade hats and fascinators.

Percy Handmade

Percy Handmade
Unique purses made by hand with gorgeous silks and laces.
(Admittedly, this range is actually from Canberra)

Lizzy Lamb Greeting Cards

Lizzy Lamb Greeting Cards
Illustrated greeting cards designed and printed in Melbourne.

I thought in honor of our fair city, Melbourne ...we should celebrate it with a Melbourne Martini and what could be more Melbourne than a good coffee? Here is our version of an Espresso Martini.

Melbourne Martini

martini glass

1 1/2 Cups cracked ice

1 1/2 ounces chilled coffee vodka

1 ounce strong espresso

1/2 ounce Kahlua

1/2 ounce white creme de cacoa

sugar (to rim the glasses)

1. Sugar the rim of a martini glass and chill the glass

2. Fill a cocktail shaker with the ice and the remaining ingredients. Shake vigorously to blend and chill.

3. Strain the mixture into the prepared glass and serve.